Official call for Beta Readers
21 January 2026 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniThis is the official call for Beta Readers.
Things you need to know upfront:
This is a Beta Read; which is not as nitpicky as a line-by-line hunting of tyops, but requires attention to story, character motivation, setting, narrative flow -- you know: the easy things.
This is a volunteer gig. Nobody's getting paid, except in Auctorial Gratitude, which means that I will with great joy list you on the Acknowledgements Page of the finished book (unless you don't want me to, ref 2(3) below).
At this point in the proceedings these are the things I need to know in order to preserve the last rags of my sanity and turn the book in on time:
1 Does the story make sense/keep your interest?
2 Are there deadends/extraneous/unresolved story lines? Tell me what they are
3 Does the story and/or a particular section lag? are you confused? Tell me where.
4 Have any of the characters changed their name? If so, tell me where and who.
5 Anything else that bothered you as a reader.
5a If you find a particularly ugly or confusing sentence and feel compelled to mention it, you must give me a search string so that I can find it. Again, typos/grammatical errors are NOT the reason for the season.
6 A Vow of Secrecy is required: You may not reveal the plot (or, in fact, the title), or any details of the novel in question.
7 There's a fast turnaround: I'll need comments no later than February 11.
If this sounds like something you'd like to do, and can commit to, here's what you need to do:
1 Email me at liadenuniverse AT gmail.com (where AT=@)
2 Tell me: (1) your preferred format (.doc, .odt, .rtf. I can probably cobble up an epub, but it will be ugly); (2) where I should email the file (even if it's the address you're writing from); (3) how you would like your name to appear on the Acknowledgements Page of the finished novel (if you don't want your name to appear, explicitly state that, please).
Because we're scattered throughout a zillion time zones and countries, I will be taking volunteers until Friday, January 23, 9am US Eastern Time.
In the interests of preserving the above-referenced rags of my sanity, only those people who have been accepted will receive an email. If you have not received an acceptance by Saturday, January 24, noon US Eastern Time, know that I love you, and honor you for standing up, but that all positions are filled.
NOTE: You do not have to be USian to be accepted as a Beta Reader, but you do need to realize that I am USian, and be certain you can accommodate our crazy spelling and sentence structure.
. . . I really do think that's it.
Let the volunteering begin.
Frivolous dithering
21 January 2026 12:08 pmcupcake_gothI'm tempted to hold onto the boots so I can use them as vases for dried flowers (I can't find the image on Pinterest, but I saw something similar done and it looked great), but I will first need to have a probably convoluted discussion with the Stroppy One about putting outdoor footwear on any furniture, even after they've been carefully cleaned. (His weirdness around this is too long to get into here, but it starts from a superstition around not putting footwear on chairs or tables.)
---
INCREDIBLY shallow whining related to the state of the world (because if I start thinking seriously about things, I freeze in panic): I guess I should have purchased the pretty pretty dress from the Ukrainian designer earlier, because who knows if the $USD will be worth anything and if anyone outside the US will be willing to ship anything to a US address.
---
I need help from the sewing and costuming hive mind! I have a many dresses like this. (Mine don't have the wide sash/belt.) The skirt is two rectangles gathered at the waist, with the pockets inset at those side seams. I want to occasionally lift the skirt to about knee-length so I can wear the dress with different skirts. I've tried actual skirt lifters, and they didn't work well. I tried ribbons sewn on the outside of the waist with matching ribbons sewn on the inside at the point where the ruffle is attached to the skirt, thus catching a bundle of the skirt in a loop of ribbon that shows on the outside. (The Madwoman in the Attic saw this attempt, clutched her head, said, "NO", and left the room.) So I'm out of ideas. Help?
New Wind Breaker fic: open invitation (Sakura & Momijikawa)
21 January 2026 08:24 pmvriddyopen invitation | Wind Breaker | Sakura & Momijikawa | 615 words
Summary: Momijikawa cooks for Sakura.
Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.
Bundle of Holding: Dead Air: Seasons
21 January 2026 03:00 pmjames_davis_nicoll
This all-new Dead Air Bundle presents English-language ebooks for Dead Air: Seasons, the post-apocalyptic tabletop roleplaying game from Italian publisher The World Anvil Publishing about a Blighted world forever changed.
Bundle of Holding: Dead Air: Seasons
K-9 fanart \o/ For me!!!
21 January 2026 07:58 pmvriddysisterdivinium made FANART of Oboro and Ren from K-9 and IT IS GLORIOUS!!! :D :D BEHOLD! It's so cool. It makes me grin every time I look at it. I am so happy. There's very few fanworks for the series out there, I think the fanart we found can still be counted on one hand. (There was cosplay too :D) Including this lovely piece!! THIS FANDOM IS GROWING EVERY DAY CLEARLY \o/Please admire too :D -> HERE <-
(Also there are three K-9 prompts on the
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
threesentenceficathon that I'm aware of 👀 In case it's of interest to the SWARMS of K-9 fans out there!!!! Bookmarking for..... reasons.............)
National Weather Service sez
21 January 2026 01:31 pmelisemAnd where is this for?
And what do we do?
Which mostly means "Keep yer ass indoors! You, and your little dog too!"
And also means "Look after each other. We keep us safe." OK? OK then.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish the bag for the supply depot and start on one for Pow Wow Grounds.
What's the weather going to be doing where you are? And how are the people in your neighborhood?
Wednesday reading
21 January 2026 07:22 pmqueen_ypolitaFinished Life after Life and now agree with the colleague who said at the book group last week that she thought it was good. All the lives Ursula might have lived was a question that remained fascinating right to the end. And the book just kept surprising me. It also made me think about Making History by Stephen Fry, which I read years and years ago, where trying to alter the past to stop Hitler is a key plot point.
Currently reading
Still reading Challenger. No progress on anything else I'm still in the middle of, but I started reading Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. It's been on my to-read list for a couple of years now, but it only occurred to me to check if it was available in the library a couple of weeks ago. For some reason I expected it wouldn't be, but it was actually easily available in the central library sci-fi/fantasy section.
Reading next
Not sure
a fool for another day
21 January 2026 02:07 pmmusesfoolFor some reason, I woke up with Barely Breathing by Duncan Sheik in my head, and when I wondered to
On the Mets front, they finally got a centerfielder in Luis Robert Jr. I guess if he can stay healthy, he'll be an upgrade over last year, offensively at least, though I am still a Tyrone Taylor fan for his A+ defense. #better call tyrone
In other sports news, my attempt to get interested in basketball seems to have done serious damage to the Knicks. They have been losing a lot lately. Plus, everyone I mentioned it to was like, don't do that. I didn't realize people in my wider circle felt that way about basketball. I guess there's always the Liberty! I should figure out when that season starts. Or the Sirens for hockey, but I don't think they've been very good either. Just a bad time all round for NY sports, I guess. And it's not like I'm a fair weather fan, though this certainly sounds like it - it's just I'd like to root for a team that isn't completely terrible, you know? As a treat!
On the books front, there is finally cover art and a real blurb for Dungeon Crawler Carl 8: Parade of Horribles, but still no Kindle* or e-book edition, so I broke down and pre-ordered the hardcover. (I can't do audiobooks. I've tried.) I also decided to do a reread of the series, because I've been trying to map out all the various stuff that needs resolving - and it is A LOT - so I wanted it to be fresh in my mind. So at some point there will be a post that is basically me as that Charlie Day-at-the-murder-board meme trying to figure it all out. *hands*
*I realize that I probably need to do a "free trial" of Kindle Unlimited to get the Kindle edition but I do not want to do that at this time. As the release date gets closer, we'll see if a Kindle edition shows up and I end up cancelling the hardcover, as I would prefer not to buy a hardcover tbh. I have all the rest on kindle, which is where I do 99.5% of my book-reading these days.
So anyway, I guess for the Wednesday reading meme, I just finished a reread of book 1 of Dungeon Crawler Carl and started rereading book 2: Carl's Doomsday Scenario. And I will probably read book 3: The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook after that and so on and so forth. *wry*
***
Birdfeeding
21 January 2026 12:55 pmysabetwordsmithI fed the birds. I've seen a flock of sparrows and at least one starling.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 1/21/26 -- We installed the first of the new latches.
EDIT 1/21/26 -- We installed the second of the new latches.
EDIT 1/21/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 1/21/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 1/21/26 -- I put out a peanut suet cake.
EDIT 1/21/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
2026.01.21
21 January 2026 11:50 amlsandersonUS justice department subpoenas Minnesota Democrats accused of impeding ICE efforts
Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey among officials who received subpoenas
Sam Levine in New York
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/20/minnesota-democrats-subpoenas-justice-department
“Three local law enforcement leaders expressed concern over federal immigration agents’ behavior over the last few weeks, including stopping off-duty officers of color,” reports Sahan Journal. … The law enforcement leaders also said federal agents don’t seem to be coordinating their work across the metro, and that a small group of federal agents are causing problems by stopping community members in traffic and in the street with no cause, and demanding that they produce paperwork proving they’re in the country legally.”
https://sahanjournal.com/public-safety/minnesota-police-concerns-federal-immigration-agents/
“Last week, Minnesota-based faith leaders, unions, and other community groups called for a strike and economic blackout on Jan. 23 in response to the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge,” Bring Me The News reports. The news site has a list of businesses closing on Friday, Jan. 23.
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-lifestyle/growing-number-of-minnesota-businesses-announce-plans-to-close-for-jan-23-strike
https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/
Other News ( Read more... )
Erratum
21 January 2026 12:47 pmrolanni. . . speaking of words I don't get to use nearly enough . . .
I am informed by Many Concerned Persons that almost everything I posted last night was glitchy in one way or another, so! Below is what I posted last night under the Liaden Read-Along on splinteruniverse.com. Follows the whole of what I posted.
So, what happened here?
Some people have noticed that the Liaden Read-Along has, to put it gently, foundered.
Some people, not necessarily the same people, have wondered what the heck is going on with that.
I will explain.
For those who are short of time and impatient with explanations, or excuses, the short form is: I was over-ambitious.
That’s it. You may move on, as the rest of what I’m going to say past this point is an elaboration on that single fact.
Still with me?
OK.
So — over-ambitious. I had a book to finish — not due until mid-April, but I had already missed two self-imposed deadlines for producing a draft that was complete enough that I could ask beta readers for help. Ordinarily — ah. Old speech forms. What I mean to say is — Previously, I would have talked out scenes, concepts and characters with Steve and he would, in essence, since I’m Lead on this book, help me catch unfruitful discursions on the fly. I no longer have that luxury, and so find that I don’t know how long it actually takes to write a book, single-brained — thus the missed deadlines.
The alert reader will have noticed that mid-April isn’t getting any further away, so I — pushed to make it to An Ending, basically ignoring everything else in the process.
I wasn’t helped in my last minute push by the manifestation of Murphy, who decreed that I would catch a “viral something” just after the new year, so I couldn’t write for a few days.
However! I have just achieved the Good Enough for Rock ‘n Roll Draft and will be putting out a call for Beta Readers.
Which means I’ll have a couple weeks to catch up on all that stuff I let slide.
Including commentary on the Liaden Books.
I will not be continuing in a chapter-by-chapter sort of way — for one thing, I’ve been reading in the evenings, and I’m half-way through Carpe Diem, while the commentary stalled at Chapter Six in Agent of Change — and for another, that really wasn’t working for me.
What I will be doing is commenting on the books, on things that struck me, surprises, dismays, and reflections of Real Life into fiction.
And that? Is where we are. Thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm for the concept of a read-along, and I hope you’ll continue to read on until the end of Diviner’s Bow.
I certainly intend to do so.
Snowflake Challenge 11: Granting Wishes
21 January 2026 11:42 amysabetwordsmithThis challenge is a follow up to Challenge #5. You've made your own wishlist, now it's time to grant someone else's wish from theirs! This can be as simple as answering a question to creating something from scratch, one wish or many wishes. Let your inspiration run wild!
In your own space, grant someone's wish from Challenge #5. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your own post with the wishes you granted if you feel comfortable doing so.
Be sure to check out other people's creations, whether they're granting your wish or someone else's. If you post any granted wishes elsewhere, we'd love it if you link them to this post.
( Read more... )
Film post: What's Up, Doc? (1972)
21 January 2026 05:13 pmloganberrybunny
This is a 1970s attempt to recapture the energy of the screwball comedies of a third of century earlier – and on the whole it does it very well. A lot of that is down to Barbra Streisand, whose Judy Maxwell is magnetically watchable even when she's being impossibly annoying, which is much of the time. Ryan O'Neal as Dr Howard Bannister looks just enough like a younger Michael Caine to be mildly disconcerting, but he does well too. Not all the jokes land perfectly, but there are so many of them that you don't have to wait long for a better one. The plot is absurd, but it's meant to be so that's okay.
An absolutely fantastic car chase scene, like a cross between Bullitt and Wacky Races and one which instantly became a favourite. The weak link is Eunice Burns (Madeline Kahn), not because of her acting but because of the dated and embarrassing "hey, his actual fiancée is dowdy and whiny, isn't that amusing?" running joke; one late line about her in a courtroom scene is truly awful. Fortunately the rest is so enjoyable as to make this a largely thoroughly entertaining hour and a half. ★★★★
Chris Has A Good Time In None Of These.
21 January 2026 05:20 pmrionaleonhartthreesentenceficathon fills!Are they for fandoms you're in? W... well, no. They're still almost exclusively for the Goes Wrong Show, with one short and spoilery Silent Hill 2 fill. But they are fanfiction nonetheless.
( Silent Hill 2, James, 40 words, prompt: 'I love you. I'm sorry.' )
( Assorted ficlets for the Goes Wrong Show, mainly Chris and Robert, 1,400 words total. )
I was doing so well at keeping to three sentences to begin with! But here we are now.
Adventures in the Public Domain: On Updating Out-of-Copyright Works
21 January 2026 12:15 pmjames_davis_nicoll
Should we attempt to bring older works into the modern age?
Adventures in the Public Domain: On Updating Out-of-Copyright Works
Snowflake Challenge 02026 #11: Wish-Granting Engine
21 January 2026 09:06 amsilveradeptsnowflake_challenge dropped their eleventh challenge, and it's a call-back. Challenge #11
Grant someone's wish from Challenge #5.
( Merrily a wassailing... )
H.Con.Res. 70 and S.Con.Res. 26 regarding Greenland
21 January 2026 11:30 amaurumcalendula posting in thisfinecrewI think it might be a good idea to ask congresspeople to support them.
https://congress.gov/bill/119-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/70
https://congress.gov/bill/119-congress/senate-concurrent-resolution/26
( the main text of both under the cut )
Twinned Trilogy Excerpt: A Whipped Cream Date
21 January 2026 11:49 amduckprintspress
Three books are included in our current Kickstarter, the three combined telling the full story of the Twinned trilogy by Tris Lawrence. The first book is Commit to the Kick; the second is Missed Fortunes, starring Carolyn, a young woman with predictive Talent that works through Tarot readings, and who is biromantic and asexual! She’s not entirely sure what Serina has in mind, or if she’ll be comfortable accepting it, but she’s definitely open to the possibility. And meanwhile, her Talent is changing in unexpected ways…
Blurb:
To solve the problem of now…
Remember what lies behind…
Pass through your hopes and fears…
…to the final outcome.Carolyn knows the Emergence brought her a new community, but it also revealed the existence of people with magical Talent to the scrutiny of the world. Her high school life ended on a tumultuous note, but now that she’s a junior at Pine Hills University, her life has become stable. She has her twin Kit. She has her sorority sisters. She has her Talent and her Tarot cards.
But when the Tower appears in a reading, the world shatters and changes. Kit has left his predictive Talent behind, and Carolyn’s own predictive Talent is changing decidedly unpredictably. She’s seeing visions of fire and destruction, of Shadows moving in the darkness and intruding into the light. And her sorority sister Drea and Drea’s brother Alaric have returned from winter break, warning of looming dangers and the risk of Clan going to war.
Carolyn shouldn’t get involved—doesn’t want to get involved—but with the world crumbling around her and her predictions hinting at worse to come, she can’t imagine not doing what she can. To make matters worse, the only way forward is to reconcile with her past, but Carolyn isn’t sure how to do that nor why it seems so important to the world that she does.
Commit to the Kick and Missed Fortunes have both been released previously in print through Duck Prints Press; the third book of the trilogy, Into the Split, is coming out for the first time using funds from this crowdfunding campaign.
Learn more about all three books, and buy one, two, or all three of them, by supporting our Kickstarter campaign today!
(we hit our base funding goal yesterday, but we’ve got lots of great stretch goals for bonus content, and funding above our base helps raise the amount Tris Lawrence earns for her efforts in writing this awesome series of modern-with-magic books!)
Wednesday attended the Fellows' monthly symposia
21 January 2026 04:47 pmoursinWhat I read
Finished I Used to Be Charming: The Rest of Eve Babitz, though will cop to only skimming the final section 'Fiorucci: the Book' (1980) about which I was a bit WTF? and 'what was she on?'
Over the weekend saw a review somewhere of the latest work by Madeleine Gray speaking well of her first novel Green Dot (2024) so thought I might see what it was like, especially as it was at a very reasonable price on Kobo - gave up about a third or so in. Did not care about the narrator or her situation.
A bit of sortes e-reader (inadvertently opening a book) started a supernatural thriller but I couldn't work out whether it was part of a series and I was supposed to know who these characters and their predicament were, or whether I was supposed to work it out over chapters jumping back and forward over time and didn't feel grabbed. May return because that might be me?
Dick Francis, Risk (1977), where I realised I have recently identified a Francis pattern such that I could finger a certain character very early on as likely to be implicated in bad stuff going down.
On the go
Have been dipping into Timothy d'Arch Smith, The Stammering Librarian (2025), some further collected essays, including one on a person of research interest, and a rather fun Anthony Powell parody.
Dick Francis, The Edge (1988), which is the one involving a lush train journey, with additional Staged Murder Mystery, across Canada (reverse direction to the way I did it).
Up next
Well, the local history society publications in which I was interested have been ordered and have arrived.
Vid: "House" [The Black Phone]
21 January 2026 11:53 amevewithanappleVid: House
Music: House - Charli XCX feat. John Cale
Fandom: The Black Phone (Movies - Derrickson)
Summary: ". . . other houses, the lights were dim, and with some houses they were almost out and I didn’t know the people who lived there. I’d get a feeling from these houses of stuff going on that wasn’t happy. I didn’t dwell on it, but I knew there were things going on behind those doors and windows." - David Lynch
Warnings: Canon-typical abuse and violence against children; suicide by hanging
Links: On AO3 | On Tumblr
life ticking along
21 January 2026 04:31 pmwychwoodI also woke up at 03:18 yesterday morning and didn't manage more than a few minutes of dozing thereafter, so had a fairly miserable day; beaten, however, by my swimming buddy (who lives around the corner and has been kindly giving me a lift to and from swimming while I'm staying with Mum), whose brother was just diagnosed with CJD, of all things. Apparently there's one or two people diagnosed per million each year, but talk about appalling luck.
Anyway last night I got rather more sleep, so have felt much more at peace with the world today and even accomplished some useful work tasks. I'll need all the available brain for choir tonight, though, this piece seems to be taking a lot of work somehow even though it's Haydn and not exactly difficult.
I have read zero books, but I have made some progress on booklogging, so it's not all bad.
Fandom Snowflake Challenge #11
21 January 2026 11:44 amreeby10 posting in snowflake_challengeRemember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.
( Fandom Snowflake Challenge #111 )
And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.
This is about selling people
21 January 2026 04:37 pmrydra_wongThey are legally Danish citzens. Greenland is largely self-governing, with the possibility of becoming independent if they choose to.
Denmark can't "sell" them or their country because Denmark does not own them.
And after a number of centuries and some debate, a general consensus was arrived at that selling people is not ethically acceptable, you know?
Even if they wanted to, Denmark can't "sell" Trump Greenland any more than the UK could sell him Scotland.
Also N.B. 85-90% of the Greenlanders are Inuit.
I am very certain that this is absolutely about thinking that Native people don't really count as citizens and they don't really own their land; it is Terra Nullius, and they can be sold off in a deal between the "real" nations of Denmark and the US.
(Or their land can be sold out from under them and they can just be forced elsewhere, which I'm sure Trump would be just fine with.)
If the US wanted to try to ethically acquire Greenland, it could talk to the government of Greenland and offer them a great deal with significant benefits if they wanted to become independent and then have a free association deal with the US.
Or rather, it could have, maybe, because now the Greenlanders are fucking pissed off and scared over the threats and offers to buy them, and if they have to choose between the US and Denmark they are unambiguously choosing Denmark:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgx8w4pgk0o
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/14/us-invasion-threat-greenland-trump-denmark
Scourge of the Spaceways
21 January 2026 11:27 ammarycatelli posting in booksStarquest book 5. And it is seriously a running story. Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes.
( Read more... )
Scourge of the Spaceways
21 January 2026 11:27 ammarycatelli posting in book_loveStarquest book 5. And it is seriously a running story. Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes.
( Read more... )
Cybernetic Attention: All Watched over by Machines We Learned to Watch
21 January 2026 03:25 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
publicdomainreview_feed
Before the attention economy consumed our lives, “pursuit tests” devised by the US military coupled man to machine with the aim of assessing focus under pressure. D. Graham Burnett explores these devices for evaluating aviators, finding a pre-history of the laboratory research that has relentlessly worked to slice and dice the attentional powers of human beings.
Flights of Fancy: The Nine Birds of Jacques de Fornazeris (1594)
21 January 2026 03:20 pmpublicdomainreview_feed
Etchings of birds in a somewhat theatrical style.
January Challenge (4 of 5)
21 January 2026 11:43 pmfred_mouse posting in unclutterHow did the decluttering of the work space(s) go? Did you spend time looking for things that could go, move a thing or two, or have a wildly successful week? Or did you work on a different space instead?
For week four we are moving from decluttering spaces in order to make them more welcoming to us, to making our space more welcoming to others. What this might look like
- Is it difficult to get into the house? Option: work out what of the stuff in the front hall / entrance / verandah / front step is useful to have there, and deal with (some of) the rest. If that stuff is clutter to be rehomed, maybe make the getting it out of the house a priority
- Is there nowhere for visitors to put things when they visit? Option: go through the shoe rack / coat rack / other storage and getting rid of what you don't use so that there is space for visitors to leave their shoes / coats / other when they visit
- Is there nowhere for a visitor to sit? Option: Clear a second chair! Or a path to a second chair!
- Are there too many choices of tea, and none of them good? Option: get rid of the stale tea so nobody accidentally gets served it. Do not suffer stale tea.
- Have your serving plates / company coffee mugs / tea cups seen better days? Are there good ones that never get appreciated? Consider: ditch the dodgy, have the joy of using the nice ones (and if the nice ones aren't ever going to get used, is it time to send them out into the world to bring joy to someone else?)
- if you have a car and are a person who provides transport, is there clutter in there making life awkward?
Remember, this is a gentle challenge, and if you get one thing progressed, that is a big win even when you can't give yourself the credit.
How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota
21 January 2026 03:30 pmrydra_wonghttps://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/
This also has advice on how to start preparing for if and when this shit comes to your home state.
(If you are in Minnesota: https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/19/how-to-help-twin-cities-residents/ )
How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota
21 January 2026 03:29 pmrydra_wong posting in thisfinecrewhttps://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/
This also has advice on how to start preparing for if and when this shit comes to your home state.
(If you are in Minnesota: https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/19/how-to-help-twin-cities-residents/ )
media update
21 January 2026 10:20 amomensBeen back in Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the 3.0 update! The hotel is just a less good version of the resort, lol. And they want me to craft? UGH :P I did all my rooms. I will say it is 🥹🥹🥹 so good 🥹 to see islanders that have moved away come to stay at the hotel and say hello 🥹
Did a slumber island visit with discord pals and it seemed pretty cool. Our host made a little study room where we can hang out and chill while learning but the switch doesn't like to just sit idle forever so some adjustments are needed. The same idea as that game "On Together" you can get on steam, hang out in a park or a library and body double while you're working. Basically already do that on discord pretty much every other day in voiceless voice chat (or on focumon)... I got it to try but I am having a really hard time figuring it out, lol. I hate keyboard/mouse controls in games (I immediately fell in the water). I should have thought this through lolol.
When you wake up from slumber island being disconnected you look so zonked 🤣 best sleep of my life
I think I'm already bored of ACNH tbh and it's the same problem I was having with New Leaf. They didn't need to add so much stuff. There's too many things to do and I end up feeling like I have to do them all and get overwhelmed. Why is there five games in my game. Yes, I realise this is a me problem :P
I have my switch set in Spanish for a discord challenge, and I will say that reading Animal Crossing is way harder than comics for 8 year olds. More frustrating than helpful, at this point! But anyway, this made me lol. Pigeon milk, anyone????
The 9 years with nintendo switch thing that they sent out: ( 2 images )
TV:
Since Kelly's been home we've been watching season 1 of 1670 with dinner (he's never seen it), it's a very silly fake documentary Polish comedy. This was on my goals for 2026 so knocking it out early :P
An overdue Kdrama review: Beautiful Gong Shim. This drama started out really strong!!! But then started to become the Dantae Show and we were like, well, I hope they get back to Shim soon, but Dantae is fun so, okay. They never got back to Shim. She became a side character and the Dantae Show got SO BIG. And it was tedious, too. And Dantae became mega un-fun. Every piece of the plot rolled out sooooo slowlyyyyyy. The pacing was insane, especially considering there were 20 eps, and in so many of them it seemed like nothing had really happened, just silly fakeouts.
Anyway, if I was the actor who played Gong Shim I would have been pissed, lol. Hired to be half of the main couple, character name in the title, and yet, she was an absolute afterthought after about halfway through. She loses all her abrasiveness, all her goals, and now she dreams of product design (and Dantae treating her like an actual adult he wants a relationship with, instead of the baby he keeps on the shelf). She seriously had no idea what was going on in the main plot 98% of the time. What could have been, etc etc.
I'm in the last season of Amphibia and really enjoying it. I liked the show a lot more while they were on earth, the opposite of Liam, haha. But then my tablet died and I don't really want to sit at my desk and watch it uncomfortably. We went out trying to find someone to fix my tablet and found out that generally only Apple can fix apple tablets because they're so thin and they have to go in thru the screen and 99.6% of the times the screen will shatter and add 400$ to your repair which the people do not want, lol. Anyway, there is an apple repair in the next town so we're going to see what they say. The cellphone repair guys in the mall said it was either the charging port or the battery connections. Alas.
Language stuff:
I keep meaning to post about this and then dithering but whatever, anyway. I spent a lot of 2025 learning Spanish through comprehensible input (dreaming spanish, with a minor in Polish, lol), and every month I looked back at how I'd spent the month. I wanted to be able to see a sense of how it was going, or that I was actually making progress. I locked them down as I went because, especially at the beginning of the year, I felt suuuuuper sensitive about it, with no idea if it would work, or how it would work. I really liked the idea of a comprehensible input based approach, but I really wasn't sure if it would work for me, not being a youtube-enjoyer. I was also afraid that I wouldn't even stick to it. That I'd flake out within the first few months. I am a great abandoner of hobbies, even though I always come back at some point.
Anyway, I've unlocked those posts now, and linked them in this index, if anyone is curious. You might have to be ME to find it interesting 🤔 Also made this small resource list in progress for general language learning things.
If anyone wants to learn Spanish and isn't on a time crunch (there are obviously faster ways), I think dreaming spanish is a great option (faq link). It has been, just, so SO fun. I spent an entire year just watching goofy videos every day while my brain did shit in the background like a baby with a shape sorter. That's so amazing, imo. Psyched to learn more this year!
The Rebel Alliance
21 January 2026 08:32 amlydamorehouse
Image: no laser eyes this time, but this is a loon in the shape of the Rebel Alliance symbol from Star Wars.
So, let's see. Yesterday started out a little rough for me in part because I was feeling EXTRA anxious because helicopters were buzzing our neighborhood. So much information getting shared is people guessing at what's going on and people who seem to maybe be reporting on what's happening? But, it's often unclear where they are getting their information? So, it's very paranoid here.
What I heard was that ICE was back at the MidwayTarget just up the block from me, specifically targeting the protestors there. Target has been a target for resistance efforts because of the video that was widely circulated of Greg Bovino, the ICE commandant/literal SS officer cosplayer, stopping to take a piss flanked by his goons. Rumors have also circulated that Target is not what we are calling a "Fourth Amendment business." (For our international friends, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the US states that there must be probable/reasonable cause for search and seizure--including of our persons, our bodies--basically no one has the right to just snatch people out of homes or businesses.) So, here in the Twin Cities, if a business appears to cooperate with ICE, even to the point of not protecting their employees, people have been mad. And supposedly Target was compliant with ICE. So,the day before yesterday there was a big sit-in in Target. Yesterday, there was a group of people doing retail resistance? They would buy salt (or other metaphorically appropriate things) and then immediately return it, so that Target would have the hassle of all this merchandise to deal with and refunds to issue.
There was another rumor that ICE was at HarMar Mall in Roseville, which is literally a shopping mall? But, as someone who has taken the bus out in that direction, a lot of folks who might be targets of the gestapo do work in those retail stores.
What I should have done when the helicopters were circling was just get in my car and drive up to Target and see what I could see or head out to HarMar, but I was waiting for Mason to be up to find out what he wanted to do for lunch and whether or not he was going to his uncle Keven's to do some odd job work. Mason was justifiably cranky with me when he came down to find me in a state. As he pointed out, I can just go. He is an adult. Not only can he make himself lunch, he can figure out how to get to Keven's if need be.
But, having talked that through, Mason and I decided to drop by the folks I lovingly call the Food Communists and see if there was work to be done. Sure enough! We arrived in time to help load up one car that was delivering diapers. We packed several bags of groceries, helped load more stuff to go, and then spent the "downtime" making individual packs of various bulk food items, while chatting with neighbors--and one guy who and I am not kidding, came from the Gunflint Trail in Northern Minnesota order to help with the resistance. That is 288 miles from us, about a 5 hour drive (if you drive without stopping.) People in the UK? He basically came from another world. (And honestly? A few more miles and he would have been coming from Canada.)
Speaking of my non-Minnesotan and foreign friends, here's
naomikritzer 's write up of things to do for us if you are interested in helping the resistance: https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/ Even if all you want is some links to reliable, detailed information about what is actually happening here, this is a good resource to start with!My singing group was supposed to gather last night at 7:30 pm and I made an effort to join them, but I think I screwed up the where or the when because I wandered around in the place I thought they'd be and no one was around. To be fair to me (and them) it was supposed to be outside a church and there are a number of churches with similar names in the neighborhood and I suspect I just ended up at the wrong one. They sing every day, so I'll get other chances to join them.
I've been trying to also focus on feeding myself and my family, so yesterday I made a lovely mapo tofu for lunch and then we had bibbimap for dinner. Two rice meals, but both hearty, filling, and sustaining. I went this morning to get my blood drawn for all the various health checks, so I am remembering to take care of myself and my family. I've been joking that all of this stress has actually made me better about remembering to hydrate, so that's something.
And, with luck, I'll be running D&D this weekend. So, we can keep up our mental health!
Okay, everyone, stay strong!