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Monday Word: Nacreous

nacreous [ney-kree-uhs]

adjective
resembling mother-of-pearl; lustrous; pearly, iridescent

examples
1. This one is tough--its nacreous, butterfly shell swings shut on its hinges, small black wings locked like a mouth. "Mussels" [poem] by Lucinda Roy.

2. "Looking like a "portal to the next dimension" or possibly a spaceship, the shimmering colours of nacreous cloud were spotted. "Rare 'rainbow cloud' spotted in UK skies." BBC. 21 December 2023

origin
1590s, "type of shellfish that yields mother-of-pearl," from French nacre (Old French nacaire, 14c.), from Italian naccaro (now nacchera), possibly from Arabic naqur "hunting horn" (from nakara "to hollow out"), in reference to the shape of the mollusk shell. Meaning "mother-of-pearl" is from 1718. The French adjectival form nacré was applied in English to decorative objects iridescent like mother of pearl (1895).

May the fourth be with you!

nacreous

Current Mood: cheerful

Slow Sunday

After being up late (until about 3:00) last night I slept until about 12:00 today. Then I got up and had breakfast and coffee.

At 1:30 I went to the Starsky and Hutch Creative Work session. We had a good time chatting, and I learned that there is a Judy Bolton fan site I will have to explore. There's even a yearly convention!

Anyway, I chatted til about 6:30, and even got some writing done, both in the little 20 minute fic, and the longer one, which is now over 6000 words.

At 7:00 I Teamed the FWiB. We talked til 8:30, when I tried to call Middle Brother, but was told they were out at a movie, and he would call me back. I continued talking with the FWiB for another 15 minutes, and then we got off.

I made inner, some of the chicken

mashfanficchick gave me yesterday, which was very good. I'll eat the rest tomorrow.

mashfanficchick called and we had a bit of conversation. Then after ze got off, Middle Brother called. They went to see the Michael Jackson movie, and he enjoyed it. He also went to a Chinese Buffet on Friday and he ate a lot.

I went to the bedroom and called the Kid. To my surprise she actually answered but couldn't talk cause she was driving. But at least I got a little time with her.

Then I played solitaire til pet feeding time when I fed the pets and started here.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. The Starsky and Hutch fandom.

3. Middle Brother having fun.

4.

mashfanficchick safely on zer way.

5. My pets.

6. The Kid actually answered her phone.

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Alone

"Looking back on it, I probably should have realized then that you had become more than just a friend to me."

It has been many a month since I last drew any Leonardo x Cecilia, and even longer since I drew Cecilia in her original human form. Hell, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've drawn anything romance-tinged with Cece as a human. (Then again, it's a lot easier to give them soft, fluffy moments after her turtle transformation happens. Prior to that, it's pretty much angst-central.)

Thought process with this is that they somehow ended up in a sort of survival situation. Maybe they washed up on a desert island, maybe there was the usual dimension-hopping shenanigans—either way, Leo is separated from his brothers and the only one he has to rely on is Cece. They end up bonding a lot during their time alone and when they go to sleep one night, Leo embraces her from behind. He thought at the time he was just trying to help her stay warm, but... no, he just wanted to be close to her.

Note: While this is meant to be 2003-verse, I did draw Leonardo with gear loosely inspired by the look he has in the new Empire City game. Still mad I can't play it, but VR headsets are expensive and I don't even have anyone to play it with. (It's one of those games that heavily emphasizes multiplayer...)

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dorset walks

Along Ackling Dyke in May

( Green ways on a grey day )

No Grow May Be

A few years ago, might have been four, the person who dropped off llamas on my property starting over a decade ago, wanted to grow catnip for a cat toy project. On my front lawn. Sure, why not. So he rented a rototiller, dug up a section, planted a bunch of plants, which never grew big enough to harvest. The crowd of volunteer weeders never materialized, and by the next year I think he lost interest. It's easier and probably cheaper to buy dried catnip in bulk. So I have a lumpy overgrown "garden" area, and I have a small mountain of woodshavings/llama manure compost. What to do, what to do. I hear that blueberry bushes like woodchip compost. Could be true. I sent an email this week to the catnip farmer indicating that I think the crop is pining for the fjords and that I'm toying with removing the plastic tarp weed suppressor material and burying the area in mulch... No answer yet. Often times, like when I say I'm running low on hay, he just shows up several days later.

Sunday Word: Heresiarch

heresiarch [huh-ree-zee-ahrk, -see-, her-uh-see-]

noun:
a leader in heresy; the leader of a heretical sect.

Examples:

His son labels him a 'Heresiarch,' though this particular heresy is an attack not on religion but on the banality of life. (Ruth Franklin, The Lost, The New Yorker, December 2002)

The Waldenses are so called from their heresiarch, Waldus, who, of his own will (suo spiritu ductus), not sent by God, started a new sect, presuming forsooth to preach without the authority of a Bishop, without the inspiration of God, without learning. (Alan de Insulis, quoted in Henry James Warner, The Albigensian Heresy)

When he discusses Nestorius, the great episcopal heresiarch condemned at Ephesus, he says that his error was to think of himself as "the first and only one to understand Scripture (Thomas Guarino, 'St Vincent of Lerins and the development of Christian doctrine' Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, June 2014)

At first I skipped to the second volume, containing the "Philosophy of Abélard," and, after reading that with the greatest interest, I returned to the first, to the life of the great heresiarch. (Prosper Mérimée, Abbé Aubain and Mosaics)

He is constantly provocative of adverse, even of severe criticism; of half the heresies from which he has suffered - not only that of impressionism - he was himself the unconscious heresiarch. (George Saintsbury, A History of Nineteenth Century Literature)

Origin:
'arch-heretic; leader in heresy,' 1620s, from Church Latin haeresiarcha, from Late Greek hairesiarkhes 'leader of a school;' in classical use chiefly a medical school; in ecclesiastical writers, leader of a sect or heresy (see heresy + arch-)(Online Etymology Dictionary)

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Scruffy — The Oppressed Medley

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Current Mood: good

Changed plans

The original plan for today and tomorrow was to go to my meeting, then the diner, and then come home and go to the Starsky and Hutch chat, then go to

mashfanficchick's tomorrow to catch up on our TV shows. So I got up at 9:00 and had breakfast and coffee, and then took a shower.

While I was showering the phone rang. I let voice mail take it, but checked it when I got out. It was

mashfanficchick so after I dried off and went to the bedroom to dress, I called zer back.

Thurns out that for reasons I won't go into, ze was changing zer plans and leaving for Ohio tomorrow. That meant that our plans for tomorrow were off, so ze suggested I come over today after the diner and watch the shows, plus ze had to empty some stuff out of the fridge I could have. I thought about it and said yes.

So that's what happened, I went to my meeting, where my hat (remember my missing hat from last week?) did not reappear. Oh well. We did go to the diner afterward, i got a ride with S and G as usual. I felt like having a treat so I got a bagel with lox and cream cheese.

After the diner I took the 13 bus into Flushing and the subway from there to

mashfanfichick's, and we started watching our shows. We had one episode each of Will Trent, 911, and 911:Nashville.

Then when we were watching 911:Nashville, ze got a phone call from zer dear friend-as-close-as-a-brother Josh, saying he was in town with his wife and did ze want to get together for coffee? So of course ze said yes. Luckily there was just time to finish the episode while ze got ready.

We took the E train to the 7 and the 7 train to I forget what station, and met them in Paris Baguette. WE hung out there for about an hour I guess... I didn't time it. I got a hot chocolate to drink. They had a great time talking, and I enjoyed it too.

Then we walked with them to the apartment where they were staying, and the ze and I went looking for a place for dinner.

We decided on a Mexican place called Chihuahua, and had a nice dinner there. I had a shrimp quesadilla and two virgin pina coladas.

Then we took the subway back to zer place, and got the food that ze wanted me to have out, and I Ubered home.

So Sunday ze is off to Ohio, and I do the Starsky and Hutch Creative Work session.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB, though we didn't get to talk.

2. My meetings and the people there.

3. Good TV shows.

4. Unexpected visits.

5. Good dinner.

6. Good weather for everything.

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rambles about life

state of the Riella

Made it to both the first farmer's market of the year and early voting this morning, which was really nice. I always end up spending way too much money, but the variety of croissant-adjacent things I end up bringing home is usually worth it. (Our farmer's market has a lot of bakeries along with the veggie stands.)

I'm still working my way through Hades, but I've gotten the first ending and am in the fun "fulfilling prophecies and befriending random gods" stage, so it feels a little bit less intense. (And I got all the side character quests sorted out, which was extremely satisfying. We can fix these tragedies, after all!) I don't expect to write fic for it, but I've definitely been reading some.

Writing...has not been going great, for a lot of reasons, but it seems to be improving. It's MerMay, so I'm tempted to poke at Currents (the mershark!Daryan AU) a little bit and see if maybe that'll get my brain up and running again, especially now that the weather's getting nice. (Why is it easier to write fun mermaid stuff when it's warm outside? Who knows, but it sure works for me.)

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!admin

Check in

It has been a while since we've had a challenge here, so I thought I'd check in to see how everyone's going. :)

What's new? Is your writing going well at the moment?

Rather than include a writing challenge in this post, I'm also going to ask how your writing goals are going this year. Are you on track with what you're wanting to achieve? What would help you most in the coming months?

Current Music: “Witches’ Song”.

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May Day Full Flower Moon.

Taken at 22:25 Eastern US Daylight Time over the parking lot joining Winn-Dixie and a local hotel, the latter outlined by its lights.

Once again, the photo doesn’t reflect what my corrective-lensed eyes actually saw—a serenely luminous disc the pale yellow of Muenster cheese—but the image is stark and dramatic. The lens flare on my cheap-ass burner phone made it resemble a black star sapphire (or, to read the image as suitably floral and local, a spider lily):

(I wasn’t the only one prowling this clear moonlit tropical night in search of food; two of the Burrowing Owls at my apartment complex were out hunting on the side lawn, as a third stood perched at the nest; this represents a full year of continuous occupancy and breeding, reflecting how safe they must feel here. They squawked at my approach, but did not hiss.)

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sailing

⛵︎

Waiting for launch on May 21 feels like someone circled the least useful date on the calendar and said, “Yes, that one.” The Victoria Day weekend lands before it, naturally — a whole stretch of prime sailing weather I can only admire from land. And today? 7‑knot NE breeze, sunshine, 16°C. Practically a love letter from the sea.

Meanwhile, I’m here, boat still high and dry, typing like a man resisting the urge to scream into the void.
At least next spring’s new marina launches on April 15. A radical concept: sailing in spring.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Lofi

Entry tags:

diary

Writing biographies is hard...

I've been trying to write up something to put in my About page over on Neocities so that I can finally make a little progress towards finally making use of my site, but... well, explaining who I am and what I do is a little tricky. Like okay, I do art, I do writing, I stream on Twitch, and I've become something of a proponent for utilizing alternatives to corporate social media and web services, but how do I talk about that? Unless you're asking me about the shows I watch, the games I enjoy, and the characters I gush over, I can't talk about things at a length for shit.

On a less pleasant note, besides the creeper who showed up in my chat who asked me to friend him on Discord likely so he could hit on me in private, the VOD for my Sims 2 stream last night was muted and it's even worse than what happened with one of my Stardew Valley streams; first, it got muted in two areas for around 2 - 3 minutes each, which is already annoying. But unlike last time where Twitch got the in-game music mixed up with an AI "cover" that didn't even try to sound different from the original, this time... it's literally just the in-game music. Like full stop, the literal audio, which is covered under fair use for streaming purposes. And while I can be a little forgiving of one of the songs because it's an actual classical piece, the other was just one of the build themes. Like what the fuck, Twitch?

Anyway, I'm looking towards my goals for May this month, a lot of which is self-improvement kind of stuff. Some of it is basic "being a human being" like fixing my sleep schedule, eating healthier, going outside, and getting more exercise, but I also wanna work more on properly blocking out my time and budgeting my money; I know I'm being a Captain Obvious when I say "things have gotten expensive," but... things have gotten expensive. Really expensive. So expensive that I pretty much told myself that I'm going to spend this month figuring out how much of my expenses go towards necessities like food, clothes, and household supplies so that I know how much money I can put aside for things that are "for fun." I also need to finally sit down and get my room cleaned up. I've been living in a pigsty for ages and having a clean space to live in would do wonders for me. (It's mostly just... starting, really. And also making sure to sort things into bags of "keep," "donate/sell," and "toss," and arranging things with my parents so we can do the second.)

I'm also working more on managing my mental health better... I mentioned in my last post that I struggle a bit with intrusive thoughts and actually doing what people say and just letting the thought happen while acknowledging it is just an intrusive thought is doing a lot to alleviate the distress/anxiety I feel when one happens and make them go away faster. (It even works when dealing with a sudden, angry thought. Huh.) I'm also reminding myself that it's okay to make and create things I enjoy while still being critical of the mentalities surrounding them. I've realized recently I've been holding myself back from drawing and writing things I want to make because some people might see them as contradictory to my views. I mean I have some pretty harsh criticisms of shipping culture, yet I do enjoy drawing and writing romance-focused fanworks. Isn't that kind of hypocritical on my end? And that ultimately ends up leading to a lot of unnecessary stress, which is incredibly exhausting and just... demotivates me from making anything at the end of the day.

There are quite a few other things I'm trying to be better about, but some of those are probably worth discussing at another time if I feel like it. Right now, I got a R.E.P.O. session with friends coming up before tonight's House Flipper session and I am very excited for that.

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Recent Reading: Together in Manzanar

It seems timely to read about America’s past experience with unjust detention of people based on perceived threats to national security, so last night I finished Together in Manzanar by Tracy Slater, a true story about one of the families in a Japanese internment camp during WWII. The situation of the Yonedas was somewhat unusual as they were a mixed-race family—Karl Yoneda was a Japanese-American citizen and his wife Elaine was white and Jewish.

The Yonedas make for a very interesting case study in what happened in the camps because a) their mixed-race family status (including their 3-year-old son, Tommy) made it clear how little the American military had really thought about this plan, given how thrown-off they were by the mere existence of mixed-raced families; and b) Karl and Elaine had been vocal social activists well before they were imprisoned in the Manzanar camp, speaking up for labor rights, racial justice, and participating in Communist advocacy. They had the language, tools, and knowledge to speak up and speak out, and they did.

Slater has done her research and provides a thorough list of sources at the end of the book, which include interviews with the Yonedas’ grandchildren as well as their own diaries and news clippings.

Together in Manzanar provides an in-depth look at the politics within the Japanese-American community at this time, both leading up to the camps and within. It ably tackles the question of “Why did they go? Why wasn’t there resistance?” (There was.) For the Yonedas in particular, the importance of an Axis defeat was difficult to overstate: as horror stories of German atrocities in Europe began to trickle out, they knew that a German or Japanese take-over of the United States would almost undoubtedly lead to Elaine and their son Tommy going into a death camp.

It provides a three-dimensional look at the discussions on the ground at the time, as well as following up with details from interviews Karl and Elaine gave many years later reflecting back on their statements and advocacy at the time.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style, but this is one of those books you read for content, not style. It jumps around from perspectives in a way that’s occasionally confusing, but I also appreciated getting some more background information on some of those in the camp who opposed the Yonedas’ view on cooperating with the US government. Slater does a good job showing how each person highlighted got to their perspective and why the tension both within the camps and in the world generally at the time put everyone so on edge.

The book is also helpful for reminding us of the names of the hateful racists (architect Karl Bendetsen) who propagated this plan and then later tried to lie about why it was implemented or how bad it was. It’s also a useful reminder that when these people were released, they didn’t get to just waltz back into the lives they had been living before being imprisoned. Many of them were forcibly resettled further into the US, away from the coastal cities where they had lived, and forced to restart their lives from scratch, away from their communities and businesses.

It just seemed like a particularly relevant time to remember this.

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Friday Word: Chronomancy

Chronomancy - noun.

My apologies--I was at the comic expo last week and still recovering! Thanks to the magic of chronomancy, I can at least backdate my post :-D

Chronomancy is a fantasy word yet at the same time, yet legit enough for Merriam-Webster!. That's because it has been around a long time, and not just in modern usage. Sometimes called hemerology, the practice of using calendar astrology or divination to determine lucky (or unlucky) days has long been used since ancient times.

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cover,
opera

Ironmouse/Starlight and Wonder - Music Box of Fate (Bajiru Cover)

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Bend It Until It Breaks

Did I mention that I gave up waiting for the few missing DVD's to show up and watched all of the Avatar: The Last Airbender series? A quick search and oh yeah, I did, in February of last yeah. Well, I'm still salty. It was not worth the hype. The interactions and the characters were good (I like the Uncle character the most) but the basic Element "bending" aspect was really half baked. Especially the water bending. When it gets revealed that the Fire tribe captured and held captive a bunch of Water Benders, we find out that any little bit of water can be used as a lethal weapon. Everybody _urinates_ several times a day. There's your water supply right there. As long as a bender can dance, they're armed and dangerous, but did they use urine? How about sweat? Nope, one Bender succeeded in extracting blood from a guard and bent that. Similarly, there's the Earth Benders. I wondered what was special about refined earth: metal, that kept adept Earth Benders from breaking out of metal prisons. Then along comes Ms Champion Earth Bender and even wood qualifies as earth. By the time they assembled a strike force and assault the Fire fortress, I didn't care that I didn't have the final DVD for that part. It all went back to Goodwill.

I saw a Sunny Starscout plush at goodwill the other day (Generation five My Little Pony, the series that got lobotomized and then aborted mid series, along with whatever toys that might have been). I did not buy it. On another day I saw a Furreal Friends winged unicorn which I did not buy. Nor had anyone else when I went back about a week later. It did finally get picked up after maybe two weeks. Last time, I bought a sickle. I've been wanting one, I've been using a bread knife to cut tall grass. I also picked up a knife sharpener while I was there. I've tried the sickle since then, with mixed results. It was good for harvesting narcissus blooms that had been bent double by the snow. If I can just get up and go before 9 AM today, I'll go do a grocery run and see what else I can scrounge at Goodwill. The first garage sale weekend of 2026 is in two weeks. I want another lava lamp, the one I have has lost its pizzazz, the wax no longer makes globs that rise and fall.

Entry tags:

coast

A walk to blow away the cobwebs

On Thursday it was blowing a hoolie, the wind still in the east, and I thought that if I did the walk from Sheep-pen car park to Swyre, then at least the wind would be propelling me up the hill. ( Read more... )

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Chronicles of Pern: First Fall - The Ford of Red Hanrahan

Okay, so I'm going to be trying to include a lot fewer excerpts when reviewing short stories. I feel vaguely guilty about including so much of the original text when doing recaps of shorter things so I'm going to try to go with more summary here.

But we'll see how it goes.

I think this is going to be another longish one like Dolphin's Bell, and that has absolutely nothing to do with my decision, of course.

( Lazy is as Lazy does... )

Current Mood: tired

Sleep study, and busy Friday

So I went to the sleep lab last night, 44 bus to 46 bus, to 271st street and Uber from there. The study went very well, I actually managed to sleep despite all the leads and wires and sensors (including the one up my nose). I read for about an hour, then turned off the light and actually slept. I woke up a few times but nothing unusual.

They woke me up at around 5:30 and took off the stuff, and I dressed and Ubered home. It was not $70, only $40, so that's good. I ate breakfast and fed Oreo his Fancy Feast, the went and showered and shampooed my hair to get the paste that they use for the sensors on your upper head out. Then I went tobed and slept for three hours.

Then I got up and had coffee and dressed, and read the computer til 12:15 when I Ubered to my mammogram. That went fine, I also had a breast sonogram. I'll get the results soon.

Then I went to Duane Reade to finally get my prescriptions, I had to wait cause it was their lunch time.

Then I took the subway to Manhattan to go to the union May Day rally and march. It took me awhile to find where I was supposed to be, and I missed all of the speeches in the center of Washington Square park. I mean, I could hear them but not make out words. But I hung out and talked to a lot of fellow DC 37 people and that was interesting.

But the march took forever to get started. After 5:00. I was expecting to be done by 6:00 and be able to get to my 7:00 meeting only a little late. Nope. The march finally reached Foley Square at 6:30. I left then and made my way to the Bronx, the 5 train to 86th street and the express bus from there. The traffic was also awful, so I didn't make it til just in time for the second meeting. Which was very good.

Afterward I got a ride to the us stop, for a miracle the 50 was there about on time, and I just made a 25 when I got to Queens so I got home quickly.

There was a little technical trouble Teaming the FWiB but not bad. We only talked for a very short time though because I am beat. I fed the pets, had some cheese and crackers myself, and started here.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. The sleep study went well.

3. Got my mammogram and sonogram.

4. Got my meds.

5. My union.

6. My meetings and the people there.