shoes!
Jun. 12th, 2025 12:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esteefeeI only own 3 pairs of shoes: my slippers, my daily sneaks, and my dress shoes. it's time for some new sneaks!
but don't come at me with shoes that curl upward at the toes unless they're a) cowboy boots; or b) khussas. and while we're at it, when are they going to bring back those sneakers with the big ass toe box? those were so comfy and fun.
shoes, people! so important.
but don't come at me with shoes that curl upward at the toes unless they're a) cowboy boots; or b) khussas. and while we're at it, when are they going to bring back those sneakers with the big ass toe box? those were so comfy and fun.
shoes, people! so important.
Book Bingo: N3 | Anthology/Collection | What If?
Jun. 11th, 2025 08:13 pmseleneheartWhat If? by Randall Munroe
Blurb:
While I love, xkcd comics, I found the book a little hard to get through. Some of the questions were genuinely interesting and the explanation intriguing, but many of them seem to end up in the same place every time. An amusing read overall though.
Note: with this square completed, I have one left!
Blurb:
Fans of the xkcd comic ask Munroe a lot of strange questions: What if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there was a robot apocalypse, how long would humanity last? What if everyone only had one soulmate? What would happen if the moon went away?
In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by his signature xkcd comics. (They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.)
In celebration of 10 years of unusual insight, Randall Munroe has revised his classic blockbuster to ask what if? x 10. The result is 10x the adventure of scientific inquiry. Featuring brand-new 2-color annotations and illustrations, this special anniversary edition is far more than a book for geeks, What If? explains the laws of science in operation in a way that every intelligent reader will enjoy and feel much smarter for having read.
While I love, xkcd comics, I found the book a little hard to get through. Some of the questions were genuinely interesting and the explanation intriguing, but many of them seem to end up in the same place every time. An amusing read overall though.
Note: with this square completed, I have one left!
2513 / Fic - ER
Jun. 9th, 2025 05:57 pmsiriaA Fever of Unknown Origins
ER | Benton/Carter/Kovač | ~3000 words
(Also on AO3)
( 'I think we're all under the influence of something,' Benton said. 'It's messing with our inhibitions. Carter, you should kiss me.' Or, someone unleashes a batch of sex pollen in the ER. )
ER | Benton/Carter/Kovač | ~3000 words
(Also on AO3)
( 'I think we're all under the influence of something,' Benton said. 'It's messing with our inhibitions. Carter, you should kiss me.' Or, someone unleashes a batch of sex pollen in the ER. )
OCs
Jun. 8th, 2025 06:09 pmesteefeeI just had an interesting question from a reader, who asked what actor or famous male I was thinking of when I was visualizing my OC. I don't! I mean, I do visualize people, but they are people of my own invention (I believe). I don't think they are real people, just features I come up with.
How about any writers out there? Do you choose actors or people you know? Or do you make up your OCs in your mind palace?
How about any writers out there? Do you choose actors or people you know? Or do you make up your OCs in your mind palace?
Spinning Into the Chaos (and Kind of Loving It)
Jun. 8th, 2025 04:49 pmsimplyn2deepHello, fellow Idol adventurers—
I’m simplyn2deep, but you can call me Liz, and this is my second leap into the wonderfully unpredictable maelstrom that is![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
therealljidol…but this time with more chaos! I’m here because I believe some of the best stories are born when you’re off balance, running sideways, and maybe a little bit scared—but still writing anyway.
A few things about me:
* I write like I breathe: often, messily, and occasionally with flair.
* I’m a fan of tangled emotions, mythological metaphors, found families, and characters who love hard and fall harder.
* I have a thing for drabbles and 50k epics, poetry and prose, structured chaos and chaotic structure—basically, if it’s written, I’ll probably try it at least once.
* In real life, I juggle school (starting my last 2 semesters in August), work (after-school substitute program leader for elementary students) and sleeping, but this? This is my creative breath of fresh air.
Looking forward to seeing what wild prompts we all get flung into and cheering each of you on as we try to make sense of the beautiful mess.
If you’d like to join the chaos, you can do so here!
Let the wheel turn. I’m ready.
I’m simplyn2deep, but you can call me Liz, and this is my second leap into the wonderfully unpredictable maelstrom that is
therealljidol…but this time with more chaos! I’m here because I believe some of the best stories are born when you’re off balance, running sideways, and maybe a little bit scared—but still writing anyway.A few things about me:
* I write like I breathe: often, messily, and occasionally with flair.
* I’m a fan of tangled emotions, mythological metaphors, found families, and characters who love hard and fall harder.
* I have a thing for drabbles and 50k epics, poetry and prose, structured chaos and chaotic structure—basically, if it’s written, I’ll probably try it at least once.
* In real life, I juggle school (starting my last 2 semesters in August), work (after-school substitute program leader for elementary students) and sleeping, but this? This is my creative breath of fresh air.
Looking forward to seeing what wild prompts we all get flung into and cheering each of you on as we try to make sense of the beautiful mess.
If you’d like to join the chaos, you can do so here!
Let the wheel turn. I’m ready.
2511 / Fic - ER
Jun. 7th, 2025 07:30 pmsiriabend your branches down
ER | ~4700 words | Luka/Carter(/Gillian) | Thanks to![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
trinityofone for betaing. Set during ER 9.22, "Kisangani." Some lines of dialogue taken directly from the episode.
(Also on AO3)
( Gillian said, 'You should join me and Luka tonight.' )
ER | ~4700 words | Luka/Carter(/Gillian) | Thanks to
(Also on AO3)
( Gillian said, 'You should join me and Luka tonight.' )
The Friday Five - Summer/Camping
Jun. 6th, 2025 03:18 pmseleneheart1. Have you ever been to summer camp?
Every summer from the time I was seven until sixteen. The best two weeks of the whole summer. The camp was on land owned by the company my father worked for, and since it was one of the biggest employers in town, lots of kids I knew from school were there too and kids from some of the other schools in the area. It was in the middle of nowhere, had to take a bus most of the way there, and then walk the rest. One time, one of the girls in my cabin decided she was going to wear her swim suit the whole two weeks and not take it off. Not for horse back riding, not for archery, not for overnight camping in the woods. She did shower though. She was one of the cool girls, so she got away with it without much shame or harassment. Site of my first kiss. Where my counselor read us The Little Prince and I had to go find that book when I got home. Where we did crafts with substances that I think are illegal in this country now - I googled them a few years ago - wire dipping. And clacker balls. And so so many lanyards. But, yeah, I loved that place. You had to earn the right to come back as a counselor, which I did for one summer, but then I got involved in other stuff in high school that took up my summers, so I stopped. It closed down, and the company sold all the land. It's been clear cut and the cabins bulldozed. But there's a Facebook group keeping the memories alive.
2. Have you ever made a s'more?
Yes, many times.
3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)? Yes, several times. Both at camp above and later in college.
4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?
What are we, twelve? Yes, yes I have.
5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?
A queen bed. My cozy place.
Every summer from the time I was seven until sixteen. The best two weeks of the whole summer. The camp was on land owned by the company my father worked for, and since it was one of the biggest employers in town, lots of kids I knew from school were there too and kids from some of the other schools in the area. It was in the middle of nowhere, had to take a bus most of the way there, and then walk the rest. One time, one of the girls in my cabin decided she was going to wear her swim suit the whole two weeks and not take it off. Not for horse back riding, not for archery, not for overnight camping in the woods. She did shower though. She was one of the cool girls, so she got away with it without much shame or harassment. Site of my first kiss. Where my counselor read us The Little Prince and I had to go find that book when I got home. Where we did crafts with substances that I think are illegal in this country now - I googled them a few years ago - wire dipping. And clacker balls. And so so many lanyards. But, yeah, I loved that place. You had to earn the right to come back as a counselor, which I did for one summer, but then I got involved in other stuff in high school that took up my summers, so I stopped. It closed down, and the company sold all the land. It's been clear cut and the cabins bulldozed. But there's a Facebook group keeping the memories alive.
2. Have you ever made a s'more?
Yes, many times.
3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)? Yes, several times. Both at camp above and later in college.
4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?
What are we, twelve? Yes, yes I have.
5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?
A queen bed. My cozy place.
Book Bingo: G2 | eBook/Audiobook | A Sorceress Comes to Call
Jun. 5th, 2025 06:52 amseleneheartA Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
Blurb:
I've had this on my 'Want to read' list for a while. I've previously read T. Kingfisher's The Halcyon Fairy Book, which is her annotations of various fairy tales, plus some bonus original fairy tales/retellings, so I was intrigued to read a full novel based on a fairy tale, in this case The Goose Girl.
A really great read - interesting to see all the elements of the original fairy tale woven into a full length book, including the geese. The horror elements in most Grimm fairy tales are fully fleshed out here, so be ready for that. It's hard to know when/where this is set. In the author's notes, she references the Regency Period, but it isn't really set in Britain. Some fantasy version of it, perhaps.
Blurb:
Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.
After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.
Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.
I've had this on my 'Want to read' list for a while. I've previously read T. Kingfisher's The Halcyon Fairy Book, which is her annotations of various fairy tales, plus some bonus original fairy tales/retellings, so I was intrigued to read a full novel based on a fairy tale, in this case The Goose Girl.
A really great read - interesting to see all the elements of the original fairy tale woven into a full length book, including the geese. The horror elements in most Grimm fairy tales are fully fleshed out here, so be ready for that. It's hard to know when/where this is set. In the author's notes, she references the Regency Period, but it isn't really set in Britain. Some fantasy version of it, perhaps.
(no subject)
Jun. 5th, 2025 02:23 amgoneaheadDon't take it personal
Don’t take it personal, they said;
but I did, I took it all quite personal—
the breeze and the river and the color of the fields;
the price of grapefruit and stamps,
the wet hair of women in the rain—
And I cursed what hurt me
and I praised what gave me joy,
the most simple-minded of possible responses.
The government reminded me of my father,
with its deafness and its laws,
and the weather reminded me of my mom,
with her tropical squalls.
Enjoy it while you can, they said of Happiness
Think first, they said of Talk
Get over it, they said
at the School of Broken Hearts
but I couldn’t and I didn’t and I don’t
believe in the clean break;
I believe in the compound fracture
served with a sauce of dirty regret,
I believe in saying it all
and taking it all back
and saying it again for good measure
while the air fills up with I’m-Sorries
like wheeling birds
and the trees look seasick in the wind.
Oh life! Can you blame me
for making a scene?
You were that yellow caboose, the moon
disappearing over a ridge of cloud.
I was the dog, chained in some fool’s backyard;
barking and barking:
trying to convince everything else
to take it personal too.
~~Tony Hoagland
Don’t take it personal, they said;
but I did, I took it all quite personal—
the breeze and the river and the color of the fields;
the price of grapefruit and stamps,
the wet hair of women in the rain—
And I cursed what hurt me
and I praised what gave me joy,
the most simple-minded of possible responses.
The government reminded me of my father,
with its deafness and its laws,
and the weather reminded me of my mom,
with her tropical squalls.
Enjoy it while you can, they said of Happiness
Think first, they said of Talk
Get over it, they said
at the School of Broken Hearts
but I couldn’t and I didn’t and I don’t
believe in the clean break;
I believe in the compound fracture
served with a sauce of dirty regret,
I believe in saying it all
and taking it all back
and saying it again for good measure
while the air fills up with I’m-Sorries
like wheeling birds
and the trees look seasick in the wind.
Oh life! Can you blame me
for making a scene?
You were that yellow caboose, the moon
disappearing over a ridge of cloud.
I was the dog, chained in some fool’s backyard;
barking and barking:
trying to convince everything else
to take it personal too.
~~Tony Hoagland
(no subject)
Jun. 5th, 2025 02:03 amgoneaheadEpistle To Be Left In the Earth
colder now
there are many stars
we are drifting
North by the Great Bear
the leaves are falling
The water is stone in the scooped rock
to southward
Red sun grey air
the crows are
Slow on their crooked wings
the jays have left us
Long since we passed the flares of Orion
Each man believes in his heart he will die
Many have written last thoughts and last letters
None know if our deaths are now or forever
None know if this wandering earth will be found
We lie down and the snow covers our garments
I pray you
you (if any open this writing)
Make in your mouths the words that were our names
I will tell you all we have learned
I will tell you everything
The earth is round
there are springs under the orchards
The loam cuts with a blunt knife
beware of
Elms in thunder
the lights in the sky are stars
We think they do not see
we think also
The trees do not know nor the leaves of the grasses hear us
The birds too are ignorant
do not listen
Do not stand at dark in the open windows
We before you have heard this
they are voices
They are not words at all but the wind rising
Also noone among us has seen God
(... We have thought often
the flaws of sun in the late and driving weather
pointed to one tree but it was not so.)
As for the nights I warn you the nights are dangerous
The wind changes at night and the dreams come
It is very cold
there are strange stars near Arcturus
Voices are crying an unknown name in the sky.
~~Archibald McLeish
colder now
there are many stars
we are drifting
North by the Great Bear
the leaves are falling
The water is stone in the scooped rock
to southward
Red sun grey air
the crows are
Slow on their crooked wings
the jays have left us
Long since we passed the flares of Orion
Each man believes in his heart he will die
Many have written last thoughts and last letters
None know if our deaths are now or forever
None know if this wandering earth will be found
We lie down and the snow covers our garments
I pray you
you (if any open this writing)
Make in your mouths the words that were our names
I will tell you all we have learned
I will tell you everything
The earth is round
there are springs under the orchards
The loam cuts with a blunt knife
beware of
Elms in thunder
the lights in the sky are stars
We think they do not see
we think also
The trees do not know nor the leaves of the grasses hear us
The birds too are ignorant
do not listen
Do not stand at dark in the open windows
We before you have heard this
they are voices
They are not words at all but the wind rising
Also noone among us has seen God
(... We have thought often
the flaws of sun in the late and driving weather
pointed to one tree but it was not so.)
As for the nights I warn you the nights are dangerous
The wind changes at night and the dreams come
It is very cold
there are strange stars near Arcturus
Voices are crying an unknown name in the sky.
~~Archibald McLeish
(no subject)
Jun. 5th, 2025 01:53 amgoneaheadUnity
We travel the silk road of evening,
tobacco and desire flickering
in our hands. We are cordial travelers,
our eyes wide open, traveling in psalms,
in Rumi, in the sayings of the man from the Galilee.
We break bread under the pistachio tree,
under the Banyan tree, under the dark
of the Samaritan fig tree. Songs of offering rise up
in our throats, wandering along the wall of night. We travel
in the openness of warm eternity, celestial voices
announcing a coupling as the quiet horse gallops
heavenward. We travel with the rest of the world,
with its atrocities, its piles of ruins, scars of barbed wire,
traveling with ardor in our loins, with the cry of birth.
We sit crossed-legged within the rocking
of flesh, the quiet of the Brahmin, the bells
of Mass, the tumult of Torah. We travel
through the eagles of death, dilution of earth in rivers,
in eulogies, through marble we travel, through the silk
of evening, our hearts like bonfires in the dark.
~~Yonatan Berg, trans Joanna Chen
We travel the silk road of evening,
tobacco and desire flickering
in our hands. We are cordial travelers,
our eyes wide open, traveling in psalms,
in Rumi, in the sayings of the man from the Galilee.
We break bread under the pistachio tree,
under the Banyan tree, under the dark
of the Samaritan fig tree. Songs of offering rise up
in our throats, wandering along the wall of night. We travel
in the openness of warm eternity, celestial voices
announcing a coupling as the quiet horse gallops
heavenward. We travel with the rest of the world,
with its atrocities, its piles of ruins, scars of barbed wire,
traveling with ardor in our loins, with the cry of birth.
We sit crossed-legged within the rocking
of flesh, the quiet of the Brahmin, the bells
of Mass, the tumult of Torah. We travel
through the eagles of death, dilution of earth in rivers,
in eulogies, through marble we travel, through the silk
of evening, our hearts like bonfires in the dark.
~~Yonatan Berg, trans Joanna Chen
(no subject)
Jun. 5th, 2025 01:05 amgoneahead"Do you ever dream of land?" The whale asks the tuna.
"No." Says the tuna, "Do you?"
"I have never seen it." Says the whale, "but deep in my body, I remember it."
"Why do you care," says the tuna, "if you will never see it."
"There are bones in my body built to walk through the forests and the mountains." Says the whale.
"They will disappear." Says the tuna, "one day, your body will forget the forests and the mountains."
"Maybe I don't want to forget," Says the whale, "The forests were once my home."
"I have seen the forests." Whispers the salmon, almost to itself.
"Tell me what you have seen," says the whale.
"The forests spawned me." Says the salmon. "They sent me to the ocean to grow. When I am fat with the bounty of the ocean, I will bring it home."
"Why would the forests seek the bounty of the oceans?" Asks the whale. "They have bounty of their own."
"You forget," says the salmon, "That the oceans were once their home."
~~bees-with-swords link
"No." Says the tuna, "Do you?"
"I have never seen it." Says the whale, "but deep in my body, I remember it."
"Why do you care," says the tuna, "if you will never see it."
"There are bones in my body built to walk through the forests and the mountains." Says the whale.
"They will disappear." Says the tuna, "one day, your body will forget the forests and the mountains."
"Maybe I don't want to forget," Says the whale, "The forests were once my home."
"I have seen the forests." Whispers the salmon, almost to itself.
"Tell me what you have seen," says the whale.
"The forests spawned me." Says the salmon. "They sent me to the ocean to grow. When I am fat with the bounty of the ocean, I will bring it home."
"Why would the forests seek the bounty of the oceans?" Asks the whale. "They have bounty of their own."
"You forget," says the salmon, "That the oceans were once their home."
~~bees-with-swords link