Stability is a myth

24 June 2025 13:04
adore: (Default)
[personal profile] adore
Had a hard conversation at work. The short version is that I've been put on three months' notice, so I won't have a job come mid-August.

The long version is:
Read more... )

In the light of these recent developments I'm going to have to rethink my self-publishing plans. Because pretty soon there's going to be pressure on my writing to earn me money. I can't prioritise the long haul anymore. I'll make a separate post soon, about the changes to my plans.
phibby: (Default)
[personal profile] phibby posting in [community profile] colors_tcg


Come on down to the Lady Luck Slots, where every spin's a winner! The better the match, the better your prize!

Roll up, roll up! )

This round ends Monday, June 30, 2025.

Switch It Up 269.5

23 June 2025 23:19
phibby: (Default)
[personal profile] phibby posting in [community profile] colors_tcg


It's a new week, which means switches have been reset at Switch It Up! Come on down to swap out some cards!

Coloring Book 357.5

23 June 2025 23:13
phibby: (Default)
[personal profile] phibby posting in [community profile] colors_tcg


It's a new week, which means donation limits have been reset at Coloring Book! Let's fill up some buckets!

Seiyuu Guess 711

23 June 2025 22:13
phibby: (Default)
[personal profile] phibby posting in [community profile] colors_tcg
Last week's answer was Panty and Stocking from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, voiced by Arisa Ogasawara and Mariya Ise respectively!



Hello everyone, and welcome back to Seiyuu Guess! Our host for this game is Shizuka, a rookie seiyuu who's still learning the tricks of the trade! She's been provided with a description, image, and clip of a certain character, and it's up to you to help her figure out who voices them.

Who do we have this week? )


Tell Shizuka the character's name, their seiyuu, and what series they're from for fifteen random cards!

This round ends Monday, June 30, 2025.

Entitled nutjob

23 June 2025 20:46
disappointed_lesbian: (Default)
[personal profile] disappointed_lesbian
I woke up very early this morning and could not get back to sleep after much tossing and turning, plus at some point I no longer felt sleepy, so I decided to get up and recommence my old routine (getting up at or around 3 AM for a morning walk).

I thought I going to avoid people like I used to, but, after some time at the track, a runner showed up. She began to run in the lane I was walking in, running around and rather close to me with each lap, despite the six other empty lanes. I yelled and cursed at her, but she continued. I walked closer to the right edge of my lane, and she started running around me on the left side, nearly on the field's artificial grass. I pulled garbage cans from the field into my lane, but she continued.

At some point, she seemed to take a break, walking in a far lane. As I walked by, she apologized for ruining my walk and said that she had been "in the zone." Yet somehow she'd managed to run around me and the garbage cans without a collision on every lap. I told her that she was full of shit, that she had seen me, and I kept walking. A short time later, she was doing the same thing, although she gave me a wider berth this time. Entitled nutjob. I found one of the garbage cans pulled back onto the field and I pulled it back into the lane. After quite a few more laps, which she ran at least sometimes in the lane next to me rather than in my lane, she finally left. She'd disrupted my study time, made me afraid for my physical safety, and put me in a foul mood.

This is a good example of what I mean when I say that people here are self-centered. One might counter that there will always be isolated incidents such as this whether a given society is broadly made up of self-centered individuals or not.

It's now ten-thirty AM and someone is blasting music.

Most Wanted 176

23 June 2025 22:01
admiral: gwendolyn → odin sphere (Default)
[personal profile] admiral posting in [community profile] colors_tcg


Hi amigos! You ready for some bounty info? Colors' Most Wanted is coming your way!

Punch and Judy are dedicated to bringing updates on the latest bounties to all the bounty hunters in the star system. And they'd like you to help by reporting new bounties to them so they can get out the news! As a reward you'll get some special updates on those bounties.

How to Play:
Every round, each player can name ONE deck, character or special, that they would like to see added to the bounty pool. Repeat decks are allowed. At the end of the round, your rewards will be randomized from only the list of decks players have named for that round. Every player that participates will receive 5 random cards from that round's deck list.

Please write the deck names as they appear in the file names, e.g. Dragon Claw as dragonclaw.

This round ends Monday, June 30th. Happy hunting, all you cowboys!

Pokeradar 431

23 June 2025 22:00
admiral: gwendolyn → odin sphere (Default)
[personal profile] admiral posting in [community profile] colors_tcg


Thank you for your help! Last week we were looking at Dog and Duck from Duck Hunt!

Pokémon trainer Hop has run into some trouble. It would seem a strange phenomenon has caused new and strange creatures to appear in their world - especially in the Wild Area! He needs your help to identify these new creatures so he can make notes about them and return them to Sonia!

Read more... )

This round closes on Monday, June 30th!

The brain-itch

23 June 2025 22:16
aries_buckhorn: a blue bridge in evening with lights (Default)
[personal profile] aries_buckhorn
It is with pride I can say I've been writing.
It. Feels. So. Good.

There's a submission call for smut on the Discord server and I had an idea. Oh well, it turned non-con-ish, so that's out the window, but the most important thing is, it got me writing. I haven't finished it yet, but I probably will. And then I have to figure out something else, though I'm not sure I'll submit anything.
I don't feel comfortable sharing any smut, and I've been thinking about why. I guess I'm terrified of being judged by my thoughts on the matter. I don't feel comfortable talking about "the naughties" (thanks Cliccy) irl, so ... yeah. But I'm not a not-smut-person. I don't have a problem with sex in my head, it's just the talking and sharing part that scares me shitless.

I already feel panic-y writing this.

I want to learn not to be this fucking scared of what people think.
I'm so fucking afraid of being perceived. And perceived in a bad way.

Another reason why I have so much trouble with people and going out into the world and just be me.

And just write. I feel like people are gonna judge me hard on everything I write.

Oh well.

It's just not smut I've been writing. I read something on FB today about humans and aliens and something just turned on in my head. It's not even related, but I'm working on some sci-fi-shortstory, and suddenly I just wanted to work on that.
So I read the one I've already written (well, the last part is just dialogue - I wrote most of it at The Great Nordic Word War (24 hours of war between the Nordics to see who can write the most - but it's there!) and I freaking love it. It's very rare I like something I've made this much, but I just love the characters, the setting and the narrative. 
I've been editing and rewriting for hours today and it's amazing. I'm having a hard time putting it down, but my brain is mush. There's another day tomorrow! I just hope the hype lasts!
I really want to finish this. And write all the other shortstories with the same two persons, Seik and Rhemis. Rhemis is a soldier in The Intergalactic Federation and Seik is a run-away slave fighting for the resistance. Think American history rather than Star Wars. Or maybe a mix. Seik is a talker with a lot of humor and Rhemis is more of a thinker and a serious man. 
In this story they shoot each other down on a radioactive moon and have to work together to survive. 
I love the way they interact with each other. The threats and the humanity underneath the mutual hate.

I just love when enemies are forced to work together and see the other side.
Yeah. I want my smut to be enemies to lovers or at least friends to lovers. I just haven't figured out how.
And no, so far no smut in the shortstory with Seik and Rhemis. They don't have time, they have to survive!

I think I'm finally on the right track mentally. I'm still tired, but it's better.

I feel like vacation is coming. Wednesday I have the yearly checkup at the hospital for my diabetes and then... nothing. No plans for a couple of weeks! Well, it probably wont last, but right now... vacation! I need that shit.

My MILs dog was put to sleep today. She had a tumor and it just took a really bad turn today so the vet came and that was it. MIL called me and cried, and I just can't handle something like that, but I tried. I'm sad too, it was a weird dog, but very sweet and special. We had her on vacation a couple of times and I'm gonna miss her.
And I can't even tell my dog her friend is dead.

I should go to bed. We finally had some summer days, but it means a really hot bedroom and I like to sleep cold. I've been sleeping without ear plugs for some nights and that doesn't help, but I had some ear-pain. I think it's over and I'm gonna try the plugs tonight. I sleep so much better with them.

I'm having a mental tickle. My brain is itching to write and make stuff, and I'm sad writing is so slooow. I wish I could draw. Fast. Just to get some of the need to express myself and give life to the feelings and pictures in my mind.
And it just seems a lot easier to draw a single picture rather than have to write a whole damn scene for a single "frame".
But that's just how it is. I can't draw for shit and it's okay. But I do envy the artists out there!

Oh well! Time for bed! The faster I sleep the faster I can return to work on Seik and Rhemis!

witch moment :)

23 June 2025 14:34
thevagabondexpress: picrew of a blue-skinned faerie with black eyes, short red curls, and big glasses (Default)
[personal profile] thevagabondexpress

i don't know if that nightmare i had yesterday was a heat-induced stress dream or a warning so i'm getting out *both* the liquid iv and the spellbook

science brain says even if the latter eventually turns out to be an irrational impossibility, placebo effect is still a wonderful thing

speaking of, there is no better feeling than asking the goddesses about your situation and basically being told "girl (gn), you're fucking badass and you have it handled and we have your back"


the next stage

23 June 2025 09:21
solarpsychedelic: (Default)
[personal profile] solarpsychedelic

photo of a yellow rose I took and photoshopped to give it a watercolor effect



I’m now in the post-menopausal state and… it’s wonderful! I feel like I have a new lease on life.

Perimenopause was the real hell for me: irregular periods, mood swings, insomnia, too much drama, brain fog, and a feeling like time was running out. (And sure, in a sense, at least one aspect of life was ending.)

Arriving at menopause then was a relief. And even better? I feel like my old self again: the brain fog has lifted, revealing a new clarity. I’m energetic, engaged, and looking for new projects.

Sure, there are the physical changes that come with aging. As I was trudging along the beach in Santa Barbara, I thought about the adjustments I still need to make to my diet, exercise, and sleeping habits. I can feel that stiffness approaching my joints and want to do what I can to mitigate that.

Then there’s the annoyance, the feeling of being done with foolishness, ignorance, and bigotry from the immature and done with the things that waste time and energy. I’m also done with those who let the perfect be the enemy of the good, who fixate on tiny mundane shit and let the big shit slide. 

I choose my peace over their drama.

My spirit, though, is shining through again. My watchwords now are creativity, mentorship, and advocacy. How can I help the younger generations and what can I teach and leave behind for them?

The second half of life is different. What worked before might not work again and it’s time to find new answers. I don’t think enough of us realize the shift and that unwillingness to address the issue is keeping us collectively stuck in a place of arrested development.

Appreciating the past and fun nostalgia are fine for mental vacations but the past self is gone. As much as I’d love to return to my college years, they are long over. I can only appreciate the friends and experiences I had back then, learn from them, and move forward.

We can bloom again in a new form, but it takes a conscious acknowledgement and commitment.

I’ve gone through many challenges and thankful I survived. I’ve had my share of achievements and I’m thankful for those as well.

So what comes next? What am I to do with the knowledge and experiences I’ve accumulated?

Well, that’s the quest!


Carrie's Mid-Month Giveaway

23 June 2025 14:42
matcheslit: Herrscher of Sentience from Honkai 3rd Impact (hos)
[personal profile] matcheslit posting in [community profile] colors_trade


Giveaway


To celebrate the 15th anniversary, the first anniversary I've celebrated with everyone, (and to complete the Pot of Gold activity lol), I want to giveaway some cards!

All you have to do is leave a comment here and I'll use a generator to gift you two random cards from my trade pile!! First come, first served.

I'll be taking gifting comments on this post up through June 30th~

Also, if you find something you really want, I'm willing to trade, too! I'll trade for anything--something I want or something from your trade pile to put into mine.

You can find my website here: Carrie's Colors TCG
moes: (ddlc 『passive smile』)
[personal profile] moes posting in [community profile] colors_tcg

Welcome back to COMBO BREAKER everyone! The ever lovely Yorigami sisters have returned to count your combos.

How high has your combo managed to go? Joon is a brawler and and Shion is never far behind her in a fight (literally)! Joon is all ears for any new moves you might want to show her, especially ones where she can reap the benefits--because the two of them are misfortune goddesses and spending too much time around Shion might make your luck run out and end your sweet combo.
Rules
- Every week you will be able to pick a button, similar to how Pick a Color works. Every button can be either HIT or MISS.
- The number of HITs in a row you accumulate is the length of your combo but the moment you get a MISS, you lose all of it. This means if you accumulate 3 hits, then recieve a miss, you CANNOT turn in those 3 hits. If you recieve 2 hits, a miss, then a hit, You now only have one hit in your combo, not 3 not 2.


- You don't have to play every week to build up your combo! Time that passes between your HITs doesn't matter as long as you don't get a MISS. Feel free to skip a round or two if you decide that it's too high risk or you just don't have time to play!


- You are able to turn in your combos for prizes. Longer combos yield much bigger prizes but you have a greater chance of being interrupted so it's up to you if you'd rather take the risk or play it safe.


- When turning in your combo, please provide links to all HITs that are part of it. Also, once you turn in a combo, you can't reuse these HITs for your next combo.


- Please redeem your combos in the COMBO REDEEMING TOP LEVEL. There will be one posted with every round of this game, and it will always be the first comment on the post.

In This Round
7 buttons are hiding a HIT!

3 buttons are hiding a MISS!



Rewards
HITx1 2 Cards
HITx2 4 Cards
HITx3 8 Cards
HITx4 16 Cards
HITx5 32 Cards
HITx6 64 Cards
HITx7 128 Cards
Submit
While claiming your rewards, please use this form




This round ends on Sunday, June 29th, 2025!

coding courtesy of [personal profile] despedia
moes: (trc『it's not you that i love』)
[personal profile] moes posting in [community profile] colors_tcg


The Three Lights need to buy words from you so that they can finish the lyrics to their next song! They'll give you a reward for every letter you sell to them and a bonus for every whole word you can provide.

Read more... )

This round ends on Sunday, June 29th, 2025.
disappointed_lesbian: (Default)
[personal profile] disappointed_lesbian
I think about killing myself every day. Nothing good enough ever happens to make that go away.

There's an interesting political movement called CalExit. The goal is for California to leave the United States and become its own country. It seems like a good goal. The idea has been around for a while; I wasn't much interested in it before but now that Trump is president, it seems much more appropriate. I'm pretty sure that California always votes Democrat (in recent history, anyways), and for us to be saddled with such a garbage president, one that we didn't even want, is a bit much. A Republican president is one thing, Trump is another thing altogether. Now he's trying to interfere with California keeping its air clean.

If California does exit, I could leave the United States without ever actually going anywhere. Which is merely amusing. Unless other things seriously change, we'd still have a homelessness problem and a housing problem at the least. Newsom would probably nip the gun rights bullshit in the bud, but I don't know whether he'd still be governor at that point. I'd vote to leave just to get rid of gun rights. But we'd still have a crime problem, and there'd be pushback on the gun rights issue because of it. And we'd still have insane, loud, self-centered, violent, and aggressive people. We'd still have Americans. A culture change would take generations. Newsom I think is also crazy for trans shit and would be willing to put womyn in harm's way. Jesus Christ I'm tired of the transactivist community and its endless whining about how the world owes it to them to validate their "identities." Somehow I see more about the validation of identities than I hear about this supposedly marginalized community being unfairly fired, assaulted, murdered, or suffering any real marginalization at all. And ye gods, continually pretending that they're on the verge of genocide.

In the piece, Hochman endorses former President Trump’s extremist proposal to eliminate trans people from society: a ban on gender-affirming care for all trans people—kids and adults, legislation to declare that there are only two genders that are assigned at birth, immediately ceasing all funding for any federal program that recognizes that trans people exist, outlawing federal funds from going toward gender transitions and a private right to sue doctors who provide gender-affirming care.

The society proposed by Trump and Hochman is not one in which trans people can exist in any capacity. It’s a fundamentally eliminationist proposal, akin to taking Raid to millions of American trans lives.


https://xtramagazine.com/culture/conservative-media-agenda-trans-245685

That article was linked in a letter to the editor in Stanford University's newspaper, apparently to back up the letter-writer's claim that "anti-trans sentiment" across the world amounts to genocide:

https://stanforddaily.com/2023/03/05/letter-to-the-editor-in-defense-of-the-trans-agenda

Not anti-trans action but merely anti-trans "sentiment."

I need to stop reading this paper; it's a waste of my time (and not particularly because of this article).

It's funny how lack of non-medically necessary medical procedures and the existence of laws concerning the meaning of gender constitute genocide. I thought trans people were supposed to be "valid" (and therefore exist) whether they medically transition or not? And what happened to all the trans people that supposedly "always existed" throughout history, before these medical procedures, federal funds/programs, and so forth existed? How did they exist without all the stuff that trans people supposedly need to exist?

Why am I talking about this shit again. The trans activism community is just a bottomless goldmine of bullshit.

I guess I'm now advanced enough in Mandarin to start listening to podcasts. It's a beginner's podcast, but it's a podcast.I wanted to start with Learn Mandarin with Miss Lin, but I need transcripts to follow along with and learn new vocab from the audio, and Miss Lin seems to provide transcripts for her Youtube channel only, and I no longer consume Youtube content. Or maybe I just don't know where to find the podcast transcripts. So instead I'm starting with an easier podcast called, unimaginatively, Learn Taiwanese Mandarin Podcast. I've been listening to the first episode, and I can understand quite a bit of the vocab at least with no transcript. Something about the podcaster's tempo makes understanding full phrases difficult, however.

Most of the female Mandarin speakers I've listened to have very high-pitched voices. Sometimes it sounds downright unnatural. This is true of the audio that comes with two of my textbooks, my new podcast, the videos on the Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning website, and the Taiwanese presenter of the Easy Mandarin channel on Youtube. I find it unpleasant and I'm a little concerned about subconsciously picking up a habit of speaking in a high pitch because I rely heavily on imitation for proper pronunciation. I prefer to listen to men's voices.

I'm still wasting hours per day with drowsiness, it's just not as bad as before and it doesn't make me feel as terrible. I want to go back to going out before sunrise. Today I couldn't even walk the track because I was too bothered by another walker continually moving in my peripheral vision. I can't find the time or energy or cognitive function to properly search for a job. I have one that I need to take a test for when I get my credit card, but I have no other possibilities in mind. I don't really know what to do because I'm still too disabled to work. Previously I had just sort of given up. I've wondered why I gave up, and now I'm at the point that I remember why: this job search seems kind of pointless. Actually, I was much more disabled before; I have less brain fog and more energy now. I still can't handle a full-time job, however. I don't want to waste employers' time by applying for jobs I cannot hack but what else can I do except keep living the way I am now, on welfare plus less than two hundred bucks per month?

I abruptly woke up from the middle of a dream this morning. Why? This isn't normal. I don't remember hearing anything; if there was a loud noise, it happened only once. I have no insight into the cause of my insomnia.

Every day I think to myself that I'll do Rosetta Stone Korean, and every day, I fail. I just re-started a lesson a while ago, but I'm going to abandon it because I'm too sleepy to think or remember any of it. The lessons are long, so remembering is important. Does that sentence even make sense? I'm strugglig to think of why long lessons make remembering important.

Now that I'm having no caffeine except a cup of green tea each day, my sex drive has cooled off. I'm closer to where I was before: feeling like being attracted to anyone would be difficult. It's good and it's bad and it also doesn't really matter.

I started a new Spanish podcast today and I understand maybe half of it. The speed is the issue. So many years I've wasted failing to progress in my language skills. I didn't know what to do after I left school. Then I gave up after I was diagnosed with auditory processing deficit. And now I'm back at it.

Ten o'clock is too late to go to bed.
settiai: (Sim -- settiai (TriaElf9))
[personal profile] settiai
In tonight's game, the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

(no subject)

22 June 2025 18:28
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] redbird
We just had an unexpected visit: Adrian asked if I'd be willing to either mask or sit in the study with the door closed, so one of her comrades could sit in our air conditioned apartment for a little while. Adrian asked because Simcha is less heat-tolerant than I am, and at least as covid-cautious, so I said yes. It was good to talk to them; I'd met Simcha but only in passing, and Adrian hadn't met them at all, but Adrian talks about them, and Simcha is the person we recently gave our loveseat to.

That was fun, and now they have left and I have taken my mask and clothes off, and am drinking tea. I ended the visit when I started getting uncomfortably warm despite the AC, as well as it being time for me to have tea.

Another Hiatus

22 June 2025 13:37
lovelyangel: (Mahoro Playful)
[personal profile] lovelyangel
I guess the last time I baked bread was way back in 2020. My baking ingredients (yeast, flour, corn meal) were all very old and had to be replaced. Subsequently, yesterday was the first time I baked bread in nearly five years. And just like five years ago, I underworked the dough. (It would have been better if I had reviewed that old post before I baked yesterday.) Also, although the loaf was brown, it was a little undercooked, as the crust never got crunchy, and the bottom fifth of the loaf was a little gluey.

Homebaked Bread
Homebaked Bread

I need a loaf for a gathering on Wednesday, but I’ve scrapped my plan to use the remaining dough for another bake test and then prepare another two pounds of dough. I got lazy, and I’ll just use the remaining pound of dough for the loaf for Wednesday (which I’ll need to bake on Tuesday). I’ll try to stretch the loaf correctly and bake a little longer on Tuesday.

The Tomb of Dragons

22 June 2025 15:40
psocoptera: ink drawing of celtic knot (Default)
[personal profile] psocoptera
The Tomb of Dragons, Katherine Addison, 2025 trilogy conclusion. Previous one here. I haven't been able to make myself read any Hugo homework recently but I've postponed this a couple of times while trying to make myself prioritize said homework and it came up again and it was like, oh, I could read that, I know more or less what it will be like and it will be a pleasant read, and, lo, so it came to pass. A lot to be said for that. (I am very much in one of those moods where I'm like "what if I gave up on sff and just read KJ Charles romances for a month" but this kind of sff is fine. Possibly I just really don't want to do any more homework.)

One spoiler: Read more... )

☀️

22 June 2025 11:59
solarpsychedelic: (Default)
[personal profile] solarpsychedelic
Santa Barbara held its annual Summer Solstice parade and party this weekend.

I missed it this time around, but have attended in the past. It’s a lot of fun!

June 2025

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