2017revival | Member Posts

I went to the third annual Seattle Fetish Ball last night. I'm awfully grateful to Past Nun for springing for a "VIP" ticket. That meant I got a seat when I needed one, which was much of the time because I was, of course, wearing my Fluevog Grand National boots. Yeah, the ones with the 4" cloven heels. The balls of my feet feel a little bruised, but I don't feel any connective tissue damage.

Most eye-catching outfit: dude made a Vatican Swiss Guard uniform out of latex. You know, the ones that haven't changed since the 16th century. A colorful and complicated piece of work.

Dark Garden Corsets was there. I had to say hi because a) I was wearing their work, and b) they were literally on the way from the bar to my table. Autumn offered to re-lace my corset (!) but then got busy, so one of her employees did it. Let me tell you, I could feel the difference. I could feel as I was doing it earlier that even by my own necessarily low standards, I'd messed up lacing myself in. But the folks at Dark Garden are experts. And believe it or not, getting laced in properly is more about aesthetics and long-term comfort for me than it is about the act of getting laced in. And I note that I didn't need to hold onto anything, even in my murderous heels.

The crowd wasn't as large as last time, but I think the performers were better this time. ( I should probably put this under a cut. ) Ah, the hysteresis of recurring events. It's good to be amongst People Like Me in all our finery.

And speaking of people like me, brunch on the hill at 0900 (ungh – A-the-lady couldn't get a later reservation, try as she might) for the Lambert House trans group facilitators. Yes, there was talk about the horrendous political situation: at least one university in Texas has deputized freelance potty police, and that's just one example. But we like hanging out together so much that we were reluctant to go our separate ways.

Napped for two and a half hours starting at 1100. I think I can function. I need to get some work done because I'll be out most of tomorrow and Friday.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: the living room of the Devil Girl House
Current Music: LCD Soundsystem, "I Can Change"

james_davis_nicoll

First contact as conducted by two groups of field researchers, both of whom want to observe the other without being observed.

seleneheart

The Gales of November: The Untold Story of The Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon

Blurb:

For three decades following World War II, the Great Lakes overtook Europe as the epicenter of global economic strength. The region was the beating heart of the world economy, possessing all the power and prestige Silicon Valley does today. And no ship represented the apex of the American Century better than the 729-foot-long Edmund Fitzgerald—the biggest, best, and most profitable ship on the Lakes.

But on November 10, 1975, as the “storm of the century” threw 100 mile-per-hour winds and 50-foot waves on Lake Superior, the Mighty Fitz found itself at the worst possible place, at the worst possible time. When she sank, she took all 29 men onboard down with her, leaving the tragedy shrouded in mystery for a half century.

In The Gales of November, award-winning journalist John U. Bacon presents the definitive account of the disaster, drawing on more than 100 interviews with the families, friends, and former crewmates of those lost. Bacon explores the vital role Great Lakes shipping played in America’s economic boom, the uncommon lives the sailors led, the sinking’s most likely causes, and the heartbreaking aftermath for those left behind—"the wives, the sons, and the daughters,” as Gordon Lightfoot sang in his unforgettable ballad.

Focused on those directly affected by the tragedy, The Gales of November is both an emotional tribute to the lives lost and a propulsive, page-turning narrative history of America’s most-mourned maritime disaster.

I really enjoyed understanding the economics of Great Lakes shipping, the science of why November is the worst month on the Lakes (not say, January), and the detailed descriptions of what happened on November 9-10, 1975 on Lake Superior (funny how the other 4 lakes retain a form of their Indigenous names; I suppose English speakers didn't want to call it any variation of Gumee or Gami). The author spoke to many, many people with first-hand knowledge of the Fitz, including former crew members, family members of the lost crew, and various people on both ends of the journey who interacted with the Fitz and her crew.

It's amazing that the ultimate cause of the sinking remains a mystery. Weather, obviously, and lack of reliable data about the weather. But also, capitalism, I would say. There were three captains that sailed that day. One of them decided to hell with his bosses and parked his ship in Thunder Bay, even though he knew he would lose his 'on-time' bonus. The second captain and his ship, the Arthur Anderson, survived through pure luck. The third captain, Captain McSorley of the Edmund Fitzgerald, made every possible wrong decision he could have made due to not having the proper data about the storm and topography of Lake Superior.

There was a great deal of information about Gordon Lightfoot and how he came to write the song that has kept "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" in the public consciousness. According to reports, he became very close with the families of the crew.

The one criticism I would have about this book is that it is a little bit disorganized, with a lot of hopping back and forth in time. For instance, Lightfoot is brought up well before the chapters dealing with the sinking, with no indication that he was even aware of the Fitz before she sank. Other than that, I highly recommend it.

And as a footnote, now I know the difference between two 1970s ballads with very similar names: "Brandy" and "Mandy". The lyrics to "Brandy" are printed at the end of the book.

Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: POW - Favorite

james_davis_nicoll

Everything about the Boy excited Terry; the Boy's good looks, the Boy's appealingly mod fashion sense, and especially his pointy, pointy teeth.

The Shiny Narrow Grin by Jane Gaskell

ruuger

This is to let you know that I have now joined the ranks of Taskmaster RPF writers, except not in a way that I think most people do. I got the idea for this fic last year when listening to the Taskmaster live shows, where Greg and Alex joked about a dark version of the show and Greg being a dictator, and somehow this dystopian political satire just popped into my head, fully formed. Resemblance to any governments, British, American, or otherwise, are purely coincidental.

(it was originally supposed to be more of a Squid Games fusion type of thing - hence the title - but then, uh, the real world turned out to be more inspiring in a bad way)

And for the record, it's in an Anonymous collection but not because I don't want it associated with me, but because I know that the Taskmaster production team reads fic on AO3 and I've already been contacted by a British production company once after writing comedy RPF so I wanted to make it at least a little bit more difficult for them to connect it to my fannish identity ;)

The Taskmaster Games - Episode: "We Aim to Please" (3301 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Taskmaster (UK TV) RPF
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Characters: Original Characters, Greg Davies, Alex Horne (British Comedy RPF)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Dark, Satire, Dark Greg Davies, Dark Alex Horne, Minor Greg Davies/Alex Horne, Current Events, Bigotry & Prejudice
Summary:

He'd posted a joke on social media. That was the reason why he was here. Ever since the elections, he'd been more careful with his words. No naming names, no directly calling out the Regime. But he'd still managed to trigger some invisible tripwire and came home from a gig to find the men in black waiting for him.

Welcome to Taskmaster. A show where a broken funny bone isn't just a metaphor.

sistawendy

Bus: downtown to get on...

Train: ...the 2 line to Redmond! I got on the very first train from Seattle to Redmond. That turned out to have been no mean feat because Sound Transit keep making people get off at ID/Chinatown and delaying that first train; I thought I was going to be hours after the first train, but neau. ID station was packed, and I was lucky to have gotten on a couple of stops to the north.

Judkins Park, the last station eastbound before the bridge? Packed, because Seattleites love trains. As the train rolled on I-90 over the only train tracks on a floating bridge in the world, there was a fireboat on Lake Washington spraying in celebration. Aw, yeah. And I sure hope lots of teens use the Mercer Island station to... get off Mercer Island.

Observations:

the Seattle stations look cooler than the Bellevue stations because of course they do.
Since it had been over a decade since I'd been to Bellevue, I'd forgotten how uppy and downy and marshy Bellevue is. So there are elevated stations, tunnels, curves, low speeds, and closely-spaced stations from South Bellevue to Overlake. Downtown Bellevue & Wilburton are right across I-405 from each other.
Wilburton is two blocks from Uwajimaya Bellevue, hell yeah.
Microsoft has a spiffy-looking covered pedestrian bridge over SR 520 next to "Redmond Technology" station. That's right, there's a light rail station that pretty much serves nothing but Microsoft.
For you concert-goers, there's a station right at Marymoor Park, which was a damn fine idea.
Good grief, there's been a lot of construction in Redmond and Bellevue since I moved away. It's still going on.
My excuse for going to Redmond? Coffee and a sandwich at Victor's.
I have once more at least passed through every station in Seattle's light rail network.
Did you ever notice how the synthesized announcements on the 1 line intoned "the 1 line" like "the one line that we have"? Well, no more! We have two! And they're connected! So there!

Next stop: Capitol Hill, for the No Kings march. (I almost typed "no kinks". Screw that.) Ran into MOOers! Arrived just in time to march from Cal Anderson Park to the Seattle Center.

On foot I saw: awesome signs, many hand-made. A group in orange jumpsuits with the cabinet's names on their backs. Hong Kong & Ukrainian flags. Trans & Queer Pride flags. Two Statue of Liberty costumes. Inflatable amphibians. Did not hang out for speechifying afterwards because I can still feel my feet throb, but I still walked the walk. On the bus home, I saw a succinctly winning sign: in big, purple letters, "NO."

And tonight? The Seattle Fetish Ball. And 0900 tomorrow? Brunch with my fellow trans volunqueers from Lambert House. And Monday? Pre-surgery doctor's appointments. I seem to have lost my damn marbles.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: the living room of the Devil Girl House
Current Music: LCD Sound System, "Dance Yourself Clean"

hrj

Clearly my impulse to mirror The Theory of Related-ivity somewhere besides my Alpennia log was the correct decision, because I'm getting far more engagement (which implies far more readers) on File 770 than on my blog.

I was double-checking to confirm that I did actually get one comment on the blog and noticed something interesting that I'm not sure is correct. According to the "approved comments" index, while I've gotten an average of one comment per month on the blog in the last year (and thank goodness we've finally set up a filter that successfully blocks the deluge of spam comments), according to the index, I received NO comments in the previous 7 years.

I don't think that's right. I mean, I whine a lot (though mostly inside my head) about not stimulating conversations on the blog, but I'm pretty sure I got at least a few comments between June 2018 and June 2025! But since I get them so rarely, it would be a lot of work to scroll back through the blog and search to see if there are comments on the posts that simply aren't showing up in the index for some reason.

Does anyone remember commenting on my Alpennia blog within the last 7 years and remember what you commented on to help narrow the process?

nanslice

I live for the applause. XD; I've gotten some very nice comments on the Victor/Leon post and I've just been om nom nomming them up. ;3; I know we're supposed to write for ourselves and all, but I. I love comments. And I managed to reply to all of them, because I want to be that person, I want people to know I appreciate them taking the time to comment. Weh. ;/////; Comments. ;3;

Friday is my Sunday and I don't waaaant to go back to work tomorrow, I want to stay home and watch jacksepticeye play Resident Evil Village and figure out why people ship Ethan/Chris (not a dig, I'm very intrigued by the idea!). It's a short workday, even! I need to be an adult about it instead of such a baby. :(

AND THEN I LEFT THIS OPEN and it is now Saturday, a workday, which is only 1:30p-6:30p, but I don't know how to not think about work before going in. It's frustrating. :\ Gonna do some laundry and try and focus on anything else.

Current Mood: sleepy

summerstorm

Okay, Dragon Age: The Veilguard was VERY fun. The combat wasn't tedious at all from the very start, which I was pleasantly surprised by because I remembered (and have since rediscovered) Inquisition having the most tedious combat mechanics I have ever played with, and I'm including Bloodborne in that. Handling two party members instead of the three with the ability wheel was awesome, too. LOVED the combos, loved that I could charge my shots, loved a lot of things.

In my first playthrough, I played a they/them qunari rogue and romanced Davrin; I decided on this before even meeting him when a guide to romancing the characters I skimmed online said something like 'he'd be happy to be your prey,' and I looked at him, and I looked at that sentence, and I looked at my qunari rogue, and I looked into his eyes again, and I thought, I am going to destroy you, and it's going to be delicious. Obviously this doesn't happen in-game, not really, but I want everyone to know what my initial rationale was.

( More on the game, spoilers for all of Veilguard and a bit of Inquisition. )

microbie

Ugh, I hate that I don't have the energy to post here often. Maybe in the second half of the year?

James, Percival Everett

Finally got around to reading this one and thought it was excellent, though I think some of the critiques (e.g., no substantive female characters) are fair. I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn so long ago that I don't really remember it and don't feel the need to go back to it.

Behind You Is the Sea, Susan Muaddi Darraj

More a series of interlocking short stories than a novel, this book centers on a group of Palestinian-Americans living in Baltimore. The overriding theme, though, is shame, specifically female shame. Many are too fertile (unwed) or not enough (married without children), struggling to conform to American and Palestinian cultural norms (which sometimes contradict). There's a Christian Palestinian family that constantly has to convince others that they're not Muslim. The title of the book is supposedly from a speech a general gave to an army--they could either drown or fight. This was a really good book but a hard read in ways that might be personal to me.

Circle of Days, Ken Follett

This is another in Follett's series of historical fiction about people who built things that have stood the test of time, in this case, Stonehenge. It was not as good as Pillars of the Earth, of course, but fine until about 80% of the way through (after he describes how they moved the stones down to Salisbury Plain). At that point I can only guess that an LLM finished the book and no one edited it: 2nd-grade sentences, characters doing things that didn't make sense in the world that had been built up to that point, simplistic emotions.

The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks, Shauna Robinson

A perfect popcorn (or beach, if you prefer) read. Banks is the typical adrift college student who agrees to take care of her best friend's bookstore while the friend is on maternity leave. The catch is that the bookstore is half-owned by the grandson of the local celebrity, a writer who died in 1968, and the bookstore isn't allowed to sell anything that the famous writer wouldn't have read. So not only is it limited to books published before 1968, it's also limited to classics. Through various hijinks, Banks ends up selling contemporary books on the sly. She also starts a series where contemporary writers riff on a classic (the first is a romance writer with a presentation called Hunting for Dick--yes it spoofs Moby Dick). Very fun, and I want to read more of her books, but I'll probably just get them on Kindle. I finished this one in an evening after work.

dewline

Some things for consideration and concern.

There are people in the wider US intel communities with more time than sense. Warning delivered by Andrew Coyne via The Globe and Mail:

https://archive.is/20260327185628/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-maga-plan-canada-dismemberment-darc-trump/

And the DARC essay itself, entitled "Our Canadian Problem":

https://archive.is/irCkw

To the DARC author in question, Canada's continuing autonomy and desire to preserve same is "anti-Americanism". A lot of you who keep in touch with me here are Americans who know far better than "John Waterman" of DARC and their fellow-travellers, thankfully.

Yes, both countries are standing on lands under Indigenous nations' stewardship, and they too rightly have informed opinions of their own on such arguments...

Current Mood: determined

skimmed_miilk

I started writing the below yesterday. I was thinking of trying to find more journals to read, as most that I follow seem to be dormant these days. I found a few different communities that could be possible good places to look, and they have handy wee intro templates. As my previous sticky post is wildly out of date, I thought I'd use this one from

findingfriends to replace it and give potential readers a sense of who I am.

( Who does she think she is? )

friending meme.|one of a different sort|

THIS WAY

Current Mood: curious

irish_dragon

Why are there successful lawsuits as a result of someone's poor choice, which resulted in their death, and they were removed from the gene pool?

Because I'm watching people who don't pay attention to the professionals, who know Wild animals, who are active in the field, and they are told to stay away from certain areas, or stay on the path, and they argue with these people, and then disregard the advice that has been given, and get eaten.

But rather than accept the fact that your loved one made a poor life choice that ended their life, you're going to sue the institution that they were at, that warn them repeatedly not to do it, because you're member of your tribe is dead.

They're dead by their own choice.

Also the question of whether or not you want to be in the woods with a bear or a man. Well I guess a question would be why are you in the woods with either one? Now if you're friendly with that guy, he's your partner in life, then I would rather be there with the man. If he is not your partner, and he has detrimental intentions on you, I guess it's your choice. Is it going to be over quick or is it going to take a long time. At least with a bear it will be over quick.

Would you rather be in the jungle with a cat or a man? Would you rather be in the ocean with a shark or a man? Would you rather be in the woods with some sort of wild animal or a man?

I guess it would be depending on circumstances. But at least if you're going to get attacked by an animal will be quick. Not less necessarily painless, but quick.

But also, you may have a better chance of fighting off a man, then Wild animal.

spiderbraids

After the previous Kentmere roll's underperformance, this roll of Kentmere Pan 400 in my Kodak M35 returned to its typical robustness in suboptimal lighting (in fact, a few of these shots were do-overs from that previous roll)... Not much more to say really :-)

( Back to business as usual )

redbird

I got a text this morning from Chase, asking me about a suspicious charge. I tried to log in to their website to look at it, but couldn't get them to send me a one-time code, so I went ahead and sent back "NO," telling them to cancel/replace the card in question. Now I'm going to have to update a _lot_ of recurring charges and stored payment methods.

So far I have had enough trouble finding my other credit card that I went ahead and gave Chewy a debit card for the auto ship order they're in the middle of processing. I then looked further back in the same drawer, found the other credit card, and put it in my wallet. I'm going to wait for the new card to arrive, and use it for most of the recurring charges, because I get slightly better points/cash back on purchases. But this is going to be tedious and time-consuming, and I will almost certainly forget at least one recurring charge.

I think I can make a list of the monthly charges by looking at last month's bill, at least.

Current Mood: annoyed

sistawendy

Annoyance #1: I apparently can't run my induction stove and my microwave at the same time without tripping the 20A circuit breaker that they share. What's weird is, I didn't even notice until it came time to nuke my lunch.

Annoyance #2: The manual that came for my stove is for a different model. I did eventually figure out how to set the clock after I reset the breaker. Yes, the clocks on my microwave, stove, and wall opposite them all tell the correct time because I'm so anal-retentive I can turn coal into diamonds with my butt.

Annoyance #3: This one was kind of a doozy. So, you may recall that my Mom's house finally sold late last summer, and we divvied up the cash. What you pay taxes on is sale price minus fair market value at the time of Mom's death – which is pretty much up to the ever-scrupulous Good Sister to decide – and some kinds of expenses incurred getting the house ready for sale.

Well, I never reported that income, or in this case, small loss. You see, I never got a 1099-S from the title company the way Good Sister did. Neither did Evil Sister, so I'm pretty sure I didn't throw it out by mistake. See "anal-retentive" above.

At GS's urging, I called up the title company in my hometown. They have a 1099-S for Evil Sister on file, but not mine. So now I have an electronic copy of ES's 1099-S so I can file an amended return. Mayyybe I could get an additional refund out of this, but the main point of filing more stuff is to keep the IRS off my back.

Speculation: since my 1099-S appears not to exist, the IRS doesn't know about all of this either, which was why they sent my refund so quickly. I'm sorely tempted to blow this off, but GS is firmly against that. Given that she's a CPA, she's probably right.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: the living room of the Devil Girl House
Current Music: The Funky Lowlives, "Saturn Return"

seleneheart

I didn't post this yesterday with the book that did it, but here is my first bingo for book bingo 2026:

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Judas Priest - Electric Eye

james_davis_nicoll

Two teens are forced to consider each other's point of view.

Flip by Ngozi Ukazu

dewline

An essay by Dr. Jonathan Howard: "The Covid Amnesia Project and the Plot to Erase 2020

It’s up to those of us who experienced the pandemic in the real-world to make sure that what actually happened in 2020 isn’t deliberately erased by sheltered disinformation agents who experienced it all from their laptops. "

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/116333-2/

Current Mood: angry

tielan

I crossed a mighty ocean
from the bloody tides of war,
I am a storm-tossed seeker
Of a welcome peace-filled shore.
My children will not learn the speech
Their ancestors did tongue
But in this land of hope they will
become Australian

I sought an education
respected through the world,
I yearn for opportunity
to see my thoughts unfurl
This land accepts my knowledge
My work beneath the sun
And here in mind and body I'll
become Australian.

Profile

A 2017 Revival

October 2018

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A 2017 Revival

Member Posts

outings, sexy and otherwise

Seed

Book Bingo: N2 | Historical (Fiction or Nonfiction) | The Gales of November

The Shiny Narrow Grin by Jane Gaskell

FIC: The Taskmaster Games - Episode: "We Aim to Please" (Taskmaster, Gen)

Nun travels by foot, bus, and train.

Related-ivity and Blog Comments

Like Lady Gaga says

Chyrium was not sending mixed signals, the game just won't let her fuck everyone

March reading

RWNJs With Political Power, Rabbit-Holes and Canada (CW: anti-Canada rhetoric)

Is Anyone Still Out There?

Law of Darwin

Spidersnaps: Back to business as usual

credit card crap

life's little annoyances

2026 First Book Bingo

Flip by Ngozi Ukazu

Lest We Be Trained to Forget Anew

we are one, but we are many

Profile

October 2018