Robert Mueller, ex-FBI chief who led Trump-Russia investigation, dies at 81
Mar. 22nd, 2026 01:04 amThe Longest View on Earth is 329 Miles
Mar. 22nd, 2026 04:56 am
The Kunlun Mountains form the northern boundary of Tibet. If you stand on summit of them and look northwest, you should be able to see Pik Dankova, the tallest mountain in the Tian Shan range of Kyrgyzstan 329 miles away--provided that the weather is clear.
This is the farthest line of sight on the planet Earth.
Google Maps Mania directs our attention to All the Views, a fascinating interactive tool that allows you to calculate the farthest line of sight from any location on Earth.

It's an interactive tool that is fun to explore. I learned that the farthest line of sight in Texas is Guadalupe Peak which has a line of sight of 140 miles to the southeast.
-via Nag on the Lake
Even When Bunny Is Relaxed Those Eyes and Ears Are Always Working
Mar. 22nd, 2026 11:38 amThe Beatles’ Favorite Beatles Songs
Mar. 22nd, 2026 12:00 pmDisaster Otter
Mar. 22nd, 2026 11:18 am
You can’t tell me this doesn’t have the same energy as this old meme - and more so when you know the mischief behind it! Via MTSOfan:
Piper was torn. As I squatted on the other side of the window, she wanted to interact with me. On the other hand, she'd had a quarrel with her roommate, Luani. She wanted to watch what he was doing.
Just one thing: 22 March 2026
Mar. 22nd, 2026 06:34 amComment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!
Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
A Royally Sapphic Rescue
Mar. 22nd, 2026 11:20 amby Digieykid
Young Elven Princess Emira Blight needs to cool off after an argument with her cruel mother. But when danger finds her as she takes a ride in the forest will a certain knight be able to help her with both of those issues?
Words: 2810, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
- Fandoms: The Owl House (Cartoon)
- Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
- Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
- Categories: F/F
- Characters: Viney (The Owl House), Emira Blight, Odalia Blight
- Relationships: Emira Blight/Viney
- Additional Tags: Mentioned Amity Blight, Mentioned Luz Noceda, Mentioned Camila Noceda, Mentioned Edric Blight, Bad Parent Odalia Blight, Odalia Blight Being an Asshole, Elf/Human Relationship(s), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Elf, Knights - Freeform, magic knights, Damsels in Distress, damsel to the rescue, Emira Blight-centric, Lesbian Emira Blight, Lesbian Disaster Emira Blight, Lesbian Viney (The Owl House), Protective Viney (The Owl House), BAMF Viney (The Owl House), Elf Princess Emira Blight, Human mage Knight Viney, Alliances, War, Minor Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Emira Blight Needs a Hug, Viney-Centric, Rescue, Heroism, Gay, Gay Panic, Useless Lesbians, Magic, unicorn, wolf - Freeform, Cute, Meet-Cute, First Meetings, Fluff, Light Angst
Cold Weather and Warm Hearts
Mar. 22nd, 2026 10:31 amby Digieykid
Lia, Lucia, and Salix join their family their extra dimensional family for a Winter Solstice celebration. Mimi, Luci, and Wynn are happy to receive them. Sibling love and holiday cheer are abound, with a few wacky interactions along the way.
Words: 3630, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
- Fandoms: The Owl House (Cartoon)
- Rating: General Audiences
- Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
- Categories: F/F, Gen
- Characters: Amelia Blight, Lucía Noceda, Winona Park, Camila Noceda, Hunter | The Golden Guard (The Owl House), Salix Park
- Relationships: Amelia Blight & Amelia Blight, Lucia Noceda & Lucia Noceda, Salix Park & Winona Park, Amelia Blight/Lucia Noceda, Amelia Blight & Lucia Noceda & Salix/Winona Park, Amelia Blight & Hunter, Amelia Blight & Camila Noceda
- Additional Tags: Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Christmas Party, Fun, Love, Sibling Love, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Family Fluff, Found Family, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Beta Concept Art Amity Blight/Beta Concept Art Luz Noceda, Beta Concept Art Luz Noceda, Beta Concept Art Amity Blight, Beta Concept Art Amity Blight and Beta Concept Art Luz Noceda, The Owl House Beta Concept Art, Beta Concept Art Willow Park, Alternate Universe - Beta Siblings | Beta Concept Art Luz Noceda and Canon Luz Noceda are Siblings, Beta Concept Art Amity Blight is Named Amelia, Beta Concept Art Luz Noceda is Named Lucia, Alternate Universe - Siblings, Alternate Universe, cross universe travel, Mentioned Philip Wittebane | Emperor Belos, Abusive Philip Wittebane | Emperor Belos, This fic will not make sense to anyone, Based on a roleplay with a friend, You've seen Beta Siblings, Now get ready for two sets of Owl House betas emotionally adopting each other, Gift Giving, Nicknames
Elastic Heart
Mar. 22nd, 2026 04:32 amby ZombieQueen
Original Storyline:
stranger than earth (May 6th, 2022 to Apr. 18th, 2024)
Glitter and Gold (Dec. 30th, 2024 to Feb. 11th, 2025)
Summary:
A princess is sent to Earth as her true identity is hidden from all including herself, an idol star finds herself reincarnated and a pair of traveling twins find themselves separated once more years after reuniting.
Words: 848, Chapters: 1/30, Language: English
Series: Part 8 of The Overlapped World - Our Remixed Universe
- Fandoms: LoliRock (Cartoon), Ben 10 Series, 推しの子 | Oshi no Ko (Anime), 推しの子 | Oshi no Ko (Manga), 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game), The Owl House (Cartoon)
- Rating: Mature
- Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
- Categories: Gen, Multi, Other
- Characters: Iris (LoliRock), Kong | Aether (Genshin Impact), Ying | Lumine (Genshin Impact), Hoshino Ai, Hoshino Aquamarine, Hoshino Ruby, Carissa (LoliRock), Lyna (LoliRock), Talia (LoliRock), Auriana (LoliRock), Izira (LoliRock), Jodan (LoliRock)
- Relationships: Hoshino Ai/Kong | Aether (Genshin Impact), Rook Blonko/Ben Tennyson, Jodan/Talia (LoliRock), Carissa/Lyna (LoliRock)
- Additional Tags: I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Cross-Posted on deviantArt
And in the absence of sympathies Won't you hear me out?
Mar. 22nd, 2026 05:32 amYesterday, not long after I closed my computer, Yoda and my sister got up, and after his breakfast, he demanded walks. Still has a bit of the runs, and I'll admit to gagging as I was getting it up. I have a very sensitive gag reflex, and it just triggered it. He was a good boy, and we got back inside as Jess was getting up. After that, it was off to the pharmacy to get a metric ton of medication. It wasn't quite as bad as when Jess and I both have to get our psych meds, but close. I had an inhaler, plus the Mounjaro and scopolamine patches, plus a new Statin medicine the doctor had recommended. I do a coaching session with my insurance for my diabetes and asthma medications, so a chunk of the meds were free to me. Basically, I chat on the phone with a nurse case manager once a month, and Hopkins pays my copay. So the Mounjaro, the inhaler, and the Rosuvastatin, all are free. The other meds ended up being about $8. Can't really beat that.
Of course, the moment I got home, I popped the Mounjaro open and read the verious papers. Then I yanked my pants down and stabbed myself in the thigh with it. Good lord, it burned like hell. In cool things, though while the serum needs to be refrigerated, it is also shelf stable for 21 days at room temperature. Which is going to make the trip SO much easier. When the pharmacist pulled the package out of the refrigerator, my brain starting running the hamster wheel, trying to figure out how that was going to work.
Instead, it'll work just fine. I'll just have the pens in my bag, along with everything else.
I do know that next time I do it (I have an alarm set for Saturday at 9am) I'll leave it out overnight, and see if room temp makes it burn less than it did cold. It wasn't a dealbreaker, but it was somewhat unpleasant as the burn stuck around for about half an hour.
Today, my leg is a bit achy, but not horrible.
Then, I hoped onto the smaller server to play a quick oneshot called "The Town where nothing goes
I suppose if the wifi is as good as it's supposed to be, we could probably play something on the ship on Friday night, but that might be tough. Though there is a vanity in the closet that one of us could play at. Might be tough, but it could be fun. We'll see.
The rest of the day was quiet. We took the dog out again and relaxed until it was time for the Crooked Moon game. I really enjoy the game, but it's definitely some heavy lifting as many of the more immersive games are. But the characters are wonderful. I put out the call for a folk horror game and my players, as always, understood the assignment for their characters. They're all disasters, and I'm looking forward to playing more with their backstories. I love each and every character.
Today, I have Strixhaven at noon, and that is going to be super fun, and then I have the rest of the day to cook. When I finish this entry, I'm going to go clean out the cast iron dutch oven and get some chicken boiling to make Yoda's broth. Then, later, I shall clean out the cast iron again, and fry up some spinach, and make the filling for my stuffed shells. They shall go in the oven with a liberal amount of mozzarella on top, and will be hopefully delicious. I'm looking forward to them.
Some of my packages came yesterday, so I am once again the proud owner of a glucose monitor and blood pressure cup. The swimsuit from Torrid was a tiny disappointment, as it again does nothing to make the boobs look good, which made me sad. It's pretty suit, so I'll keep it. It's just not great in the chest region. That'll give me three suits to rotate out for the cruise. That should keep me from having to wear a very wet one.
Another package is coming today with a few t-shirts, a sleeveless top and a couple of pairs more of shorts. It's my spring package! It's a shame they won't come early, because it's supposed to be a fairly warm day. I wish the downtown farmer's market was open. I could go down and get some things. Probably nothing that I desperately need, but it would be fun. But alas, not til 4/12, and that day I have a game at 9. Of course, the market opens at 7 am, so its still possible. I'll mark it as a solid maybe.
If I can source my meat from farmers, I'd much rather. But the farmers market by us (which doesn't open til the end of April) only has poultry and pork, and I do like my beef. If I'm going to frequent them this year, I might need to consider a wheeled cart, especially for downtown where they have a ton of stuff.
There is a year-round one on Saturdays, but it's not as big, and Saturdays can be difficult with work and games. Next weekend we're free on Saturday, so it's possible that I could head down there. I'll see what I feel like doing.
Yoda is doing so much better. He's eating his chicken and rice and acting like himself again. Still maybe slightly subdued, but SO much better than he was. He really likes the rice and chicken, and I'm not sure we're going to convince him that kibble is better after this.
I've been looking at new desks, and have come to the conclusion that I have expensive tastes. I like the heavier, solid wood desks with a little character, and they are all freaking pricey. There was this one that was perfect. It had a hutch, and it was big enough for both monitors, and I loved it, and it was $3400, which is excessive. I do want something that'll last, but it doesn't have to last quite that long. I may go up to the Amish Market and see what they would charge. I'm sure it's expensive, but maybe not quite that much? I also want to get a new chair, which is always a crapshoot. I may just get that off Amazon. The last time I spent extra money on a chair, it actually made my back worse, but the cheapo off Amazon has worked fine.
Okay, time for me to contemplate a shower, and also starting Yoda's soup. Everyone have a super Sunday!
Sunday 22/03/2026
Mar. 22nd, 2026 10:19 am2) Excellent coffee on my sunny balcony to start the day
3) Nice hot shower
BBC in Cuba as island plunged into darkness
Mar. 22nd, 2026 08:40 amPhoebe and Her Unicorn - 2026-03-22
Mar. 22nd, 2026 12:00 amComic strip for 2026/03/22
Jules Renard
Mar. 22nd, 2026 12:00 amGarrison Keillor
Mar. 22nd, 2026 12:00 amP. G. Wodehouse
Mar. 22nd, 2026 12:00 amWilliam Safire
Mar. 22nd, 2026 12:00 am(no subject)
Mar. 22nd, 2026 07:15 am“Oh, good heavens, no, Gladys—not for me. … I ate my young just an hour ago.”
(no subject)
Mar. 22nd, 2026 07:15 amScene from The Crying Game II: The Rural Version
Heavy Mist
Mar. 22nd, 2026 07:39 amThis morning there's a heavy mist. But perhaps the sun will burn it away.....
Last weekend we were very busy, gallumphing all over the Midlands. This weekend we are busy enough. On Friday we drove up to Basingstoke to see an exhibition of women's art that my sister had curated at the Willis. Yesterday we were househunting in Eastbourne with and on behalf of Wendy and Mary.
There are lots of artistic women in my mother's half of the family. I have on display around the house a couple of accomplished still life watercolours by my great-grandmother, a number of wood carvings by my grandmother, one or two ceramics by my mother and several paintings by my sister. Four generations of female artists in a direct line....
Today at the Meeting House one of our chaps is starting a discussion group which he's calling (I think) Quaker Explorers. He wants us to talk about the deep stuff. In his other life he's a psychotherapist....
Trump at a crossroads as US weighs tough options in Iran
Mar. 22nd, 2026 12:50 amDid Australia's under-16s social media ban work?
Mar. 21st, 2026 07:06 pmBTS make live return in front of huge crowd
Mar. 21st, 2026 01:24 pmDid Australia's under-16s social media ban work?
Mar. 21st, 2026 07:06 pmShakespeare and Caesar and Contradiction: “Elements so mix’d.”
Mar. 22nd, 2026 06:01 amLast week, I discussed how Shakespeare used the Ides of March assassination of Julius Caesar to explore human complexity—moving through skepticism and beyond cynicism to show that it’s in the contradictions that we see the real person.
In JC, Shakespeare uses characters’ actions and reactions to reveal their character’s real intent. But more subtly (and sometimes not so subtly), he shows their complicated mix of motives and conflicts by juxtaposing their actions with their words and declarations. That doesn’t mean the character speaks the intent clearly, rather that the truth has such power that it will influence the speech and action in ways that we can understand. That is, Shakespeare’s voice “gives voice” to the truth, but not in some obvious way. His world view is not transparent– nothing is clearly clear, and he starts, I think, with acknowledging the complexity of humans.
Late in the play, Antony remarks of Brutus, but he could be talking about Caesar also:
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix’d in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world ‘This was a man!’
That is, the measure of a man is the mixing of elements— the depth is in the contradictions. Shakespeare’s skill, however, took contradictions and never allowed them to become incoherence. That’s because, I think, his view was that the contradictions made the character– he respected the contradictions as having meaning.
So, for example, Mark Antony was a libertine, a cynic, a manipulator. (I admit to being overly influenced by the performance of James Purefoy, not in the Shakespeare play but in the TV show Rome— he did an amazing job of showing Antony’s complexity.) But there was one thing noble about Antony– he actually, truly, deeply loved and esteemed Caesar. That was not an act, and not just a triviality. It was the core of him. He loved Caesar. Caesar’s murder fired him to revenge– but his way of revenge was characteristically manipulative. The nobility, however, was what fired him to action.
That privileging of the single “off” or contradicting characteristic is, I think, part of Shakespeare’s approach– that “off” trait might actually be closer to the center of the character than all that nice consistent stuff. Antony, for all his faults, is a lover. He loves life, he loves Caesar, he is soon to love Cleopatra– and all with an abandon that shows that love really is the most important thing to him.
In the excellent 2009 performance of the play I saw in Stratford, Ontario, Antony insists on shaking the hands of each and every conspirator, thereby covering his own hands with Caesar’s blood. But as he goes from one to the next, their glee at killing their enemy begins to change to something not quite shame, but at least embarrassment, at being so clearly revealed as conspirators. This was, even more than the great funeral oration, the pivotal moment in the play, when these little men symbolically confessed to killing a far greater man.
While Antony’s willingness to shake the hands of the murderers might seem to show his cynicism and corruption, a deeper view might be that it shows that love is more important than his self-respect and honor, for this is the only way he’ll be able to insure that Caesar gets an appropriate burial (and it also sets up for his vengeance).
(Brutus, a betrayer with yet some honor (more about that next week), accedes to this request for a proper sendoff to the dictator– against his co-conspirators’ wishes. More on him next week.)

Antony takes advantage of what was supposed to be a discreet ceremony to grandstand, with one of the grandest funeral orations ever, you know:
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
Notice how adroitly Shakespeare uses contradiction—setting up a “truth”, then immediately negating it. (He’s definitely going to praise Caesar.)
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.
This rhetorical device of assertion and then immediate refutation sets up the crowd to know later that Antony is insulting Brutus when he calls him “noble” and “honorable”—over and over and over.
The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest–
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
Antony’s speech is, of course, highly manipulative. But there are moments of such love and anguish:
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
===
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.
Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
In Shakespeare’s world view, the truth always comes out in one way or another, usually in a character’s words and actions. And so even here, when Mark Antony is trying his damnedest to manipulate the mob, the anguish keeps surfaces. There’s always a “bursting out,” even in as careful a speech as Antony’s funeral oration. (That the emotional burst-outs help his cause doesn’t mean they aren’t real.)
So consider that as an aspect of Shakespeare’s voice– that characters reveal, whether they want to or not. Dialogue in Shakespeare is never on one level, meant simply to convey external information. It’s also meant to conceal and deceive, and while it’s doing that (with the other characters), it’s also revealing (to the audience) the truth about this person. This is part of his voice, part of his world view– humans are complicated, but they are not incomprehensible. Caesar can be ambitious, but also altruistic. Mark Antony can be obsequious, but also courageous. Brutus can be noble, but also a traitor.

Next week, I’ll see how Shakespeare’s Brutus fulfills and fails Antony’s ironical characterization: “For Brutus is an honourable man.”
Project Hail Mary movie
Mar. 21st, 2026 10:57 pmYou can read my (positive and spoilery) reactions to the Project Hail Mary book at this post from 2024.
If spoilers matter to you, I recommend very strongly going in as unspoiled as possible, including not watching the trailer.
( Talking about the movie some more, and movie vs book )
Just Another Sweeney
Mar. 22nd, 2026 05:27 amNot by anything real.

Right now, Nuclear Man's being Sweeney at me. This is a haunt, two steps down from seeing him standing in a room going Wooooh, severe enough to make me wonder if he's dead or something. And I'm not experiencing proper memories of him either except for his declaration that if he couldn't have me in this life we would be together in the next, that in some way he would be kissing me and making love to me forever. He was utterly romantic and utterly cringeworthy. The cringe outlasted the romance by decades.
I don't regret the end of our liaison at all, in fact, I pretty much forgot him. Some of that might have been the burial of embarrasment and guilt, but some of it was a natural response to a dead fire. Because of him I burned through disasters and dead ends, it was not pleasant and it left a scar or two but it helped me to find and respect true love. If he's OK and I'm OK, it's just another Sweeney.
So why is he here now? Gosh mate, do something or go away. This is so peculiar.
Goals Achieved Saturday
Mar. 21st, 2026 11:46 pmAs for me:
Cleaning & Laundry: Twas another long Cleaning Saturday, but we’re not surprised by that these days, are we? I started the whole process at around 10:40 AM; broke for lunch shortly after 1 PM, with almost all of my dusting completed; then picked up again around 1:50 PM and finished the last of my dusting, along with my Swiffering and vacuuming, by 2:40 PM (all the while listening to someone play a “lone wolf” version of Baldur’s Gate 3 with an asshole nobleman dwarf Great Old One Warlock (who was constantly screwing over the “peasants”), and then someone else go through the BG3 take on the warlock class and the three pre-final-patch subclasses (Fiend, Great Old One, and Archfey) in detail – it was what I was in the mood for!). First load of laundry, meanwhile, went into the washer around 11:50 AM, and the second load came out around 4:10 PM. *shrug* Just the way of things – and at least I have the pleasure of knowing I won’t have to do it next weekend!
Little Corners: I returned to my virtual stickerbook game today after I was done with the cleaning/first round of laundry, and I’m happy to say that I had a mostly good time with it, with just a bit of unfortunate screwiness at the end –
A) After folding up my sheets, I loaded up my latest save and proceeded to pick up where I’d left off with my latest project – the Ruins corner! You know, the one that is two broken-down walls and features stickers of things like a sad skeleton that you can dress in rusty armor, broken-down pillars and old fountains, lots of plants, and – if you can unlock it – an adorable squirrel in his own rusty armor! :D Here’s what I did with that today:
I. I moved the “nest full of baby birds being fed by their parent” sticker I unlocked last time off the big squat pillar I’d put them on at the end of my first session and onto a convenient little ledge on the crumbling left-hand wall above, and got rid of the squat pillar entirely – decided I didn’t actually like the look of it in the end. That’ll happen sometimes!
( More Nattering On About Decorating Below )
Writing: I got almost two pages of Chapter 6 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” edited tonight, I am pleased to report. :D Said two pages featured:
A) Alice, Van, Terrence, and Mercurio being escorted out of LaCroix’s office by the Sheriff – Alice saying that she’d see LaCroix when she had the sarcophagus in hand, and LaCroix going back to his city-gazing with an annoyed “nothing is ever easy in this city,” which Alice had to give him – and Van stating how relieved he was that LaCroix didn’t chew him, Terrence, or Mercurio out...before sheepishly going “No offense” to Alice XD
B) Alice telling Van that she wouldn’t take offense – but as that comment had been a bit rude, she’d take anything he knew on Gary and the Nosferatu, as her own experience with the clan was limited. Unfortunately, Van didn’t know much about Gary in particular – he and Terrence hadn’t been down to Hollywood since the Camarilla entered L. A., since it was solidly Anarch territory – but he was able to tell her that the Nosferatu, while not easy on the eyes, were a clan you didn’t get on the bad side of, as they knew everything about everybody. Terrence followed that up by stating they were tight-knit too, and if you pissed off one, you pissed off the lot...before quickly reassuring the suddenly-uneasy Alice that she shouldn’t see any reprisals for killing Brother Kanker; his decision to join a Gehenna death cult dedicated to spreading disease had probably made him persona non grata among the Nossies before she got to him
C) Terrence then telling Alice that the best advice he could give her when it came to dealing with Gary was to be polite, as he loved screwing with rude people (well, people in general, but ESPECIALLY rude ones) – Cheshire, however, told Alice that his take should be tempered, as Gary’s idea of “rudeness” might be a little askew from the norm, and he did enjoy it when people matched wits with him. Alice noted this and said she hoped Gary had wits worth matching
D) Alice confirming that none of the men had an idea of where to start looking for Gary – Terrence confirming he and Van had not been in Hollywood in ages, and Mercurio saying that he’d been stuck in Santa Monica all this time, so Alice was going to have to rely on Isaac’s good graces (though if she wanted to see him to get some gear, he had some new goodies to share with her). Alice, curious, asked how things were going in Santa Monica – Mercurio immediately bitched that they were boring, even with this sarcophagus business –
Only for Van to tell him things would be getting more interesting soon, as Therese Voerman had petitioned LaCroix for the position of Prince of Santa Monica, and was likely to get it. Mercurio noted that this was probably why Jeannette had loudly decided to go officially Anarch and pester Nines for a Baronship, and that she was likely to get it too, causing Terrence to complain that the city would end up neutral ground just because those two couldn’t stop fighting. He followed up with that it at least made it easy to keep them distracted…
While Alice quietly noted that the sisters’ plan to see who wanted them distracted fighting was working out perfectly. They just had to hope that no one noticed they were never in the same room together! XD
E) And Alice heading out with the excuse that she had to do some “housekeeping” before her trip to Hollywood – then warding off a somewhat-suspicious Terrence by saying that she needed to pack (as it would probably be smarter to rent a hotel room down in Hollywood rather than constantly going back and forth) and get a snack (as she’d burned a lot of blood in the museum). He bought it and told her just to get herself down there sooner rather than later – she promised that she’d head out tomorrow evening at the latest, and parted ways with the men (Mercurio jokingly telling her not to get murdered).
Hooray for progress! We’re now about seven pages from the end now, folks – next time, we’ll pick up with Alice asking the Wonderlanders if she actually convinced Terrence that she wasn’t about to immediately run off to the Last Round and warn Nines about the Blood Hunt. XD
Other: I got to these a little later than I’d intended, but I did get to them – and now Moose’s messages are all answered again! Sorry about the long pause, but – that just seems to happen between us, doesn’t it? :p
So yes, all goals achieved for today, w000~ And now it is time for me to go to bed and try to get some sleep. Tomorrow's goals: Either work on some of my drafts or go through my tracked tags on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler); revise my gift fic for Newt so it's ready to go on the 26th; play some Portal 2 and conquer at least one more test chamber; get in a workout; and watch Jon's latest F:NV YOLO Remastered episode (HOPEFULLY those last two can be combined, but who knows anymore). We'll see how I do on those -- night all!
Unmatchable email sent
Mar. 21st, 2026 10:51 pm(no subject)
Mar. 21st, 2026 10:19 pmLet's see...
- whirlwind week of interviewing 3 candidates was horrible, but we have actually successfully hired 2 of them, and I'm pretty excited!
- then it was a week where Miss R got sick about halfway through the week, which threw everything off-balance. I was coughing a bit and descending into illness, but it was also the weekend of the comics pop-up so I just kind of .... pushed through it.... which is ultimately not great, because this week I really should have just called out from work, but instead I dragged myself into school and taught my classes while hacking my lungs out, yay. (I was masked and made sure to stay 6+ feet distant, and I only had to teach 3 classes, so it's actually not *that* bad. And I stayed in my car in-between classes so that I wouldn't infect anyone.) Wed-Friday was parent teacher conferences on Zoom, which was its own flavor of miserable, but at least I wasn't infecting anyone, and I did get to catch up on some work on Thursday. Friday afternoon (yesterday?!!) was when I finally started feeling better and getting energy back. And Miss R finally felt good enough to go back to school after missing 9 days, so ... yay!
- Just in time for the resumption of Chinese school today, and tomorrow Miss R has a joint minecraft-themed birthday party! Wow she is entering the double digits!!! I printed a bunch of minecraft block textures at work and last night I made some minecraft cubes (crafting table, furnace, cake, and chest).
Spouse is awesome and has made a Creeper piñata :)
So tomorrow is the big party!
Gotta remember to do tomorrow morning:
- make Minecraft cake
- buy candy to fill into Creeper
- maybe buy some chips/salsa? uncertain
- maybe buy some gluesticks and tape?
- disambiguate and put colored cubes in bags?
Gotta remember to bring:
- tape!!!
- boxes, made
- boxes, raw
- scissors and maybe exacto knife. ruler
- markers for folks who want to draw directly on the boxes
- cake!
- creeper!
- bandana for piñata hitting
- picnic blanket or tablecloth
- foods and snaxxx (cheese balls, chips & salsa)
Oh, I finished the Community Center in Stardew Valley on Year 2 Summer day 10, so now.... I've got nothing to do except to wait for Grandpa's approval, I guess. (I'm so disinterested in the late-game stuff lbr)
The Bachelorette's messy break-up with its unlikely star Taylor Frankie Paul
Mar. 21st, 2026 11:03 pm2026 Cherry Blossoms
Mar. 21st, 2026 10:13 pm![]() Tom McCall Waterfront Park • Portland, Oregon March 21, 2026 Nikon Z8 • Minolta MD Tele Rokkor-X 135mm f/2.8 f/5.6 @ 135mm • 1/250s • ISO 200 |
My news sources indicated that the cherry trees on the waterfront were in bloom, so I made plans to visit and get some pictures. I had volunteer work commitment for my church that took my entire afternoon Friday, extending into this morning. Everything this morning ran late.
My plan was to use my vintage Minolta MD Tele Rokkor-X 135mm f/2.8 lens on my newest camera, the Nikon Z8. I had forgotten exactly what I did in 2023, when I ran this experiment on my Nikon Z6. I had to do some research. In the process, I configured the Z8 to use focus peaking with yellow highlights, like the Z6 does. I also configured the Z8 to recognize the Minolta lens. EXPEED 7 allows the camera to learn a name for the old, non-CPU lens, the focal length, and the maximum aperture. That information gets passed to the image EXIF data. Much nicer than the null fields that get supplied by the Z6.
( A Portland Excursion, Below This Cut )
Zine: my love is strange
Mar. 22nd, 2026 12:57 amAnd then we were like, "Hey... what if we shared some of these?"
So here's our newest fun thing: my love is strange: an anthology of eight hundred years of unusual care. It's just a commemoration of being together in ways my current society would like to pretend doesn't exist and never did. Alt-texted, illustrated with pictures from the public domain. Table of contents:

