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Done This Week

Oh, I have had to witness way too many dick swinging contests this week. The details are unimportant and too exhausting to recount. I finally resorted, for the work-related bits, to summing up the situation as “nothing was damaged and no one was hurt, and that’s all I’ll say.” Which is damning with faint praise, and intentionally so.

For the personal bits, all I’ll say is, buddy, if you find yourself needing to flirt that aggressively to get that little response, consider that you ain’t shit and should stop embarrassing yourself.

There was a bit of an incident with my tablet, wherein it got dropped in a mud puddle. It’s okay. I dipped it in a bit of water to rinse the grit out of the charging port and speaker holes, then turned to good ol’ 99% IPA to dry it out and make it stop complaining that moisture was detected. Still, I decided I needed to make it more of an indoor device--I already had to replace it at the beginning of the year, and I don’t fancy doing it again.

Since the reason I had it with me outside was to listen to podcasts, I went looking for an app to use on my phone instead. I’m now using Pocket Casts rather happily. It took ages to re-up all my subscriptions and download the episodes I had on the tablet again, but I’m finally there. I’ve had to resign myself to having my phone on me more than I ever used to (and now two of them because of my work phone), so I guess this was one of the last holdouts. On the plus side, I can listen to podcasts easily while at work, which is a nice treat.

I was very happy to get out my painting supplies for a little project yesterday. It’s been a long time since I did any art-art, rather than fiber arts. I’d like to get back into drawing.

Had a good rain storm early in the week and then went back to mildly warm temps. Oh, October, you’re so much better than the months that came before you.

Lewisia: 3 new pieces written

Day job: 43.5 hours

Art: painted a watercolor birthday card!

Gardening: succulent club meeting

Listening: Under the Covers Vol. 4 by Ninja Sex Party (always a good nostalgic time)

Aftermarket Parts: removed the protective covers from the tattoos

Clock Mouse: 1096 words

Other: attended birthday party >__

Entry tags:

body

weather

My personal seasonal shift has happened. It was raining earlier, and is overcast, and I'm feeling whingey about being cold. Apparently it is 20°C, a temperature I have considered to be perfectly acceptable through the cooler seasons.

This means that I'd better remember a jumper or other warm clothing tomorrow. Last week I was being lazy and was perfectly fine in 3/4 sleeve work t-shirts; I have a blanket in the office that solves most of the slight being cool that come from being in the bottom floor where the ground is one floor up to the north.

(no subject)

In slightly surreal events, artisanat got an email from livejournal to tell them that their account is 19 years old. I haven't had a livejournal account since I committed fully to dreamwidth and decided I didn't care for crossposting, but I guess it would be heading up to 20 years old.

Which, huh.

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cross-stitching

Picture Finished

I finished the picture part of the stocking. Now I just have the band across the top and the outlining to do.

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Lake Lewisia #1318

Ever since the call had come, after hours while he was cleaning up the barbershop, he had been preparing for the special client. Alongside the usual scissors and combs and clippers, he laid out hedge trimmers and pruning shears, carefully sharpened and sterilized like any of his other tools. When the dryad arrived, tangle of vines and twigs trailing over his shoulders, the barber ushered him into a chair and asked, "How would you like it?" with something close to his usual confidence.

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LL#1318

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New Worlds: Are You Insured?

Insurance is rather a hot-button topic these days, especially (but not only) in the field of healthcare. How did it even get started? That's the topic this week at the New Worlds Patreon -- hint, it involved ships sinking at sea. Comment over there!

(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/N18vHc)

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Craft - Eldest's quilt

Last weekend I got Eldest's quilt to the point that there is a 6x6 block section, which is now hanging on the wall. There are four more rows, being 24 blocks, that are to be made -- I had four of those done, so 20 to make. With the goal* of getting the top assembled by the end of the year I worked out that if I got two blocks done a week, by picking the fabric through the week and sewing one per Saturday/Sunday, that should be doable -- if I can maintain that rate, I'll be done by the 21st December, and then the uni will be on shutdown, and it is entirely reasonable to believe that I can assemble the rows (I might actually do some assembly ahead of that) and get it done.

I had some paper blanks to draw, which I did through the week (I was short four because of the mishap earlier with doing the margins wrong), and I've laid out three of the slightly odd ones. I sewed the first of those today, trimmed it, did a seam on the next, and declared that was enough. But it does put me ahead by a block and a half :) (the incomplete is a three pieces of fabric block, rather than a seven pieces of fabric block, so it is half done with a single seam. Yes, it is weird).

I had been underwhelmed with the selection of fabrics on the first block, but I trusted in the planning, and sewed them, and I'm really happy with the way they look. I might have to unpick the second one, because it isn't quite sitting right, but I might just trim it slightly differently.

I do have some other craft goals for the rest of the year, but if I only achieve one, this is the one that I want to have done. I have finished the second section of the brown / green blanket, I just have to cast on for the third (I'm picking up along the side, which is a new-to-me skill, and I am very much procrastinating. Going to go and lay it out now, and see if I can motivate myself to at least decide how many stitches I'm going to pick up :) )

* stretch goal: sandwich and start quilting; not plausible goal: bind / finish

Current Mood: depressed
Current Music: Dystopian Soundscapes channel

Entry tags:

climatology

Climate: A Grim Prognosis

For the past several weeks, I have delved deeply into the content produced by scientific climate change deniers. By "denier" I mean those who argue that global warming is below the range expected by mainstream studies and by "scientific" I mean that handful of actual active researchers in climatology, rather than unqualified opinions. Without exclusion, I've found that these scientific deniers engage in extraordinary selection biases, unfounded speculations, and flawed logic. But, to the untrained eye, I can certainly see how they could be convincing; they appeal to ideological confirmation biases and, of course, they appeal to certain vested interests. Their influence is profound; there are very few climatology journal articles that are in the denier category, but the content makes up the overwhelming majority of related advertorials. The result is a profound disparity between an misinformed public opinion compared to scientific research, which, in a capitalist democracy, is reflected in the politics of demagoguery.

Two days ago, the World Meteorological Organization reported the largest recorded level of atmospheric CO2 and the largest increase in a single year (a reminder that CO2 remains in the atmosphere for a very long time). It follows Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2016 Paris Agreement, which sought to preferably limit global warming this century to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, with a long-term objective of below 2.0 degrees. As COP30 approaches it increasingly becomes clear that voluntary agreements to a global problem is biased toward unenforceable lobbying even when adaptive and mitigative technologies exist and even when our first major tipping point (coral reef losses) looms, a situation that has been warned about for years even as fossil fuel subsidies increase - your taxes at work.

I am now in my third year as a climatology postgraduate, after many years of debating the issue and engaging in autodidactic research. When I started formal studies, it quickly became apparent to me that, despite international agreements and technological change, the most accurate trajectory was the RCP8.5 scenario; high-emissions, high-growth, high-population, the highest plausible temperature increase, i.e., the worst case scenario. Maybe it's the risk engineer disposition in me, but I think we should prepare against worst-case scenarios, especially when the costs are high. The problem is that they are so incremental; people understand the accretion of warming as explained by the popular metaphor of the "boiling frog" story that describes how people do not effectively react to creeping changes. Whilst it is a strong and appropriate metaphor, it is also a myth. A frog will react when the water is too hot for comfort. But I wonder whether humans are as clever as a frog.

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Lake Lewisia #1317

The old church had been carefully preserved both architecturally and culturally, from the basement to the bell tower. The bat sanctuary in the tower supported native species while also ensuring that unsettling clouds of dark bodies would burst forth at dusk, even in the absence of local vampires. The basement, home to weekly support meetings for the doomed and rummage sales, remained well-stocked with lightly mildewed old books in such traditional genres as "eerily prescient historical diaries" and "pseudo-Latin grimoire mixed in amongst the crockpot cookbooks."

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LL#1317

Entry tags:

body health

PSA, mental health day

PSA: everyone please remember to do your breast self-examinations. This is absolutely a half-arsed is better than can't be arsed situation.

Earlier this year a friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. So far so good, chemo seems to have done its job, etc etc.

It made me realise I wasn't reliably doing my breast self-exams post endometrial ablation, because I no longer have a menstrual cycle to remind me. And so I've been doing them somewhat regularly, possibly more often than once a month, because more frequent is better than less, and time is a slippery concept. Also, my breasts never ceased to be lumpy post teen years, and I'm never entirely sure that I'll remember what the lumps feel like, so more frequently is better for me. I'm aware that my breasts get more tender cyclically. However, the left one became continuously sore on the outside edge and into the arm pit, so I raised it with my doctor, who sent me for mammogram and ultrasound. Which was this morning.

Surprisingly, the medicos were not concerned about the left breast. I was called back for additional imaging on the mammogram for the right breast. And then there were a lot more images taken of the right with the ultrasound, and the sonographer went and got the radiographer to declare if they wanted more done. The upshot is that I have something that wasn't there on the previous scan. They were discussing wait six months and rescan vs biopsy; I made a flippant comment about also having had a benign nodule in a lung, and one about how bright the bit on the image looked. One of those two things flipped the radiographer to 'right, biopsy, get a referral from your doctor'.

This is on the side I'm not feeling anything wrong at all. Which is why the reminder: keep checking for these things.

Also, I'm having at least a mental health half day, because the idea of reading about imaginaries of genAI is Too Much.

Entry tags:

challenge

October Challenge: The Only Thing To Fear

October 2025 SWG The Only Thing To Fear challenge banner - a house at night with one light on seen from a distance in a misty, dimly lit forest

Fear developed for a good reason, to keep animals—including people—safe in dangerous and uncertain situations. For our characters in Arda, some of those fears make perfect sense in their world, but as we know from our world, fear can also manifest in maladaptive ways, causing us to react strongly when there is no danger present or even make unsafe choices to avoid the object of fear.

For this month's challenge, creators will make a fanwork about fear using one or more of the common fears from the prompt list below. While your fanwork should involve fear in some way, it does not need to be scary, and as always, we encourage creative interpretation of challenge prompts.

Thank you to grundyscribbling for this month's stamps and jane_ways for the banner!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 November 2025. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

Entry tags:

cross-stitching

Week 7

Here's where I left off last week:

“Candy Cane Santa Stocking” progress - 10/5/25

And here's where I left off this week:

“Candy Cane Santa Stocking” progress - 10/12/25

Lots of progress!

Entry tags:

Lake Lewisia #1316

Thankfully, the cause of the recent rash of sadness, malaise, and general low spirits has been identified and is being counteracted now. It turns out an upcoming candy maker, looking to outdo Fendler’s Sweet Shop for the Halloween season and thereby make their name, has been illegally siphoning whimsy from the town to cut costs without losing the active ingredient in most high-quality candy. The confiscated sweets will be distributed to the community to help in the recovery of this vital resource and bring our collective mental state back into alignment.

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LL#1316

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: The Rookery
Current Music: Ennio Morricone, The Thing

Entry tags:

film,
rocknerd

Rocknerd Explorations and The Thing

It's been several months since I've written anything for Rocknerd, and over the past weekend, I put together three reviews that have been sitting on the back burner for too long. The first is a bleak review of Bleak Squad's debut performance at the Queenscliff Town Hall. The second, a review of John Schumann and The Vagabond Crew performing songs of Redgum at the Darwin Ski Club, a thoroughly enjoyable concert, and the third, the charm of Guy Blackman's album launch at the Northcote Social Club. One can also add this to the few hundred words I penned on "Command-Line CD Extraction and Formatting", which uses some delightfully old utilities and is helping me put together a selection from my own vast collection in the most efficient manner.

It all adds to what was already a bit of a rocknerd weekend, starting on Thursday night, where I caught up with Adam F., at The Retreat Hotel to see a very competent instrumental funk band, "Buttered Loaf", ply their sounds. I've never had a bad time at The Retreat, and I do enjoy a good funk band, so this was quite a delightful evening. The following night I had arranged a small posse (Kate, Liza, Tony, Declan, Carla, myself) to go to The Grace Darling and see "Cold Regards", a 1980s coldwave guitar-synth duo (Marc and Jaimee) whom I've heard a lot about for more than a year. It was really my type of music, as were the other acts, "No Statues", and "Human Intrusion". The latter group was using the night for an EP launch which they distributed, in retro-cyberpunk style, on floppy disks (with oversized floppy-disc props on stage). Said performers may all find themselves subject to me putting finger to keyboard in their name in the future.

One of the nice touches of "Human Intrusion" was their backdrop with various 1980s science fiction clips, which included part of John Carpenter's "The Thing". Unpopular at the time, it has since gone on to become the cult hit that it always was going to be. Somewhat unfamiliar with movies of this suspense-horror-gore genre, I decided that Kate R., needed to view this classic in preparation for our Antarctica trip, where it's an annual screening at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The gory special effects are more clever than terrifying these days, and the theme of in-group paranoia stands up well, especially with the ambiguous ending.

Entry tags:

Done This Week

Muhuhaha! I have received my nip bits! First draft, anyway. I do have an appointment for a follow-up to do any adjustments needed. But I have gloriously 3D nipples.

The tattooist was charmingly excited to use a new technique on me, which took about four times as long in exchange for way less unnecessary irritation to the skin and better precision. I don’t know what I expected the tattooing experience to be like--loud buzzing and carefully restraining myself from flinching, I guess--but it was almost like a spa experience, just chilling out on a padded table with soft music playing. And after the fact, there’s no soreness or redness. I’ve got clear protective covers on them, and will for a week, but other than that, it’s just my chest, as though it has never looked any other way.

Having optical illusions on my body is really satisfying to me on a, like, meta level, in addition to just being a great relief to my dysphoria. The part of me that will always be a bitter, spiteful teenager, being told my identity is fake/false/Wrong-with-a-capital-W on multiple levels, feels maliciously gleeful. If I’m a fake man, goddamn, I will be a Coyote and Roadrunner, Acme tunnel painted on the wall level of fake. Fake like a trickster, which is to say real as long as the bit is funny and you don’t look down. Real as long as I believe, real enough to make my enemies look stupid.

The weather has cooled off sharply. We have entered frost danger territory, and so now I must frantically shuffle around plants and start covering them up for the night. I did see a tiny baby gopher snake, snekking along over by the hay. He needs to get somewhere warm too.

Lewisia: 3 new pieces written, October posts queued up

Day job: 42 hours

Cleaning: contractor came out to fix the leaning power pole

Gardening: garden club post

Reading: To Be A Trans Man: Our Stories of Transition, Acceptance and Joy by Ezra Woodger (a series of interviews, actually, which I didn’t realize, interesting but not as relatable as I had hoped, a lot of younger guys and a lot of entrepreneurs and activists, I am apparently old and boring)

Listening: Syndicate by The Midnight (I am vexed that their new record deal means this album isn’t available through Bandcamp, but I still like the album itself, though I miss the non-music clips that made Kids so distinctive)

Playing: still playing Arceus, but also started playing TCG Shop Simulator because I apparently wanted to lose all my free time (〜￣▽￣)〜

Aftermarket Parts: I. HAVE. NIPS!

Clock Mouse: 1125 words

Other: my half sister and brother-in-law came to visit

Entry tags:

haircare,
self

In lieu of a real post

today's important news is that I've cut all my hair off.

This has been planned since the beginning of 2023; with the 'when I'm obviously going grey' as the trigger point; I then waited until after the wedding. Hair at the back was long enough to repeatedly get caught in the waistband of trousers. Hair is halfway to packaged up to send to one of the wig making mobs. Thanks to chaomanor and maharetr for the loan of the clippers, and Youngest for a mostly even cut.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: BTO - Let It Ride

Entry tags:

DNO-1

Got the laundry done. Got the zine for StippleAPA finished and printed out; will get that copied somewhere between here and Minneapolis. Got the laundry done. Got the FMJRA done. Got the pills sorted out into the intact pill carrier; not sure yet whether I should pack the second carrier and/or just bring the pills along. I'll figure that out in the morning; going to rack out now, rise at 0900, and hopefully GTFO before noon. One thing's for sure, I need to get a couple of garbage bags so I can excavate the passenger side footwell, and I should probably haul some of the stuff in the back seat upstairs into the storage closet. Maybe even get the exercycle out of the trunk.

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Pandemic Garden Club

Welcome to the October edition of Pandemic Garden Club! Growing good things in strange times!

Anyone is welcome to comment with what they're growing right now, things they would like to try, problems they're encountering, and questions they have. Share resources, answer questions, shout encouragement.

As for myself...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Klaus Schulze - Georg Trakl

Entry tags:

DNO-2

I got most of the important stuff done today: dropped off checks at the banks for Son of Silvercon and the N3F, topped off the tank, and retrieved my drugs from the post office along with another package from the VA, which turned out to be a box of syringes instead of the insulin I was hoping for. Well, Informed Delivery says it was supposed to be here today by 1800, which God willing means it'll actually be available for pickup tomorrow.

Did not get the tires checked, did not get any work done on Stipple-APA, did not do the ethics course or any other CE. I expect I'll do more apahacking and maybe CE tomorrow along with the FMJRA.

Currently rereading Alliance Rising.

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Lake Lewisia #1315

The two children and their respective black eyes and scraped limbs were dragged before parents and principal, who seemed most disturbed that both were equally damaged and equally unrepentant. Who had started it and why, the adults insisted, were the most important questions to ask, so that blame could be suitably assigned. The children, who had independently determined that they needed a temporary outlet for their knightly drive to battle until quests could be located, remained steadfast in their silence and in their devotion to each other, black eyes and all.

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LL#1315