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(no subject)

Dear Care and Feeding,

My mom lives several states away. We see her a couple times a year, but my children don’t know her well because of the distance. Meanwhile, my sister lives around the corner from her, so her kids have a completely different relationship with “Grandma” than mine do.

She recently visited us, and I needed her to pick my 8-year-old up from day camp. It would be just the two of them for a few hours before I got off work, something that hasn’t happened before—usually I’m around or my sister’s kids. Well, that day, my son did not have a good time at camp and apparently didn’t talk much after pickup. He was even quiet with me once we met up. My mom said that she had to spend all afternoon with my son, and he wouldn’t talk to her. We had planned to get ice cream together, but my mom asked me to drop her off at the house instead.

She later told me that my son needs to be taught how to respond to people. I have tried reading him books about interacting with people, I have role-played with him and read many articles on how to help him. I don’t know how to make my shy, sensitive child respond to people he is uncomfortable with. Do you have tips? How can I help my mom to have a better relationship with him?

—Grandma/Grandson Mediator

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(no subject)

Dear Prudence,

My husband got totally hammered at my sister’s wedding and somehow ended up falling into the wedding cake. I reimbursed them for the cost of it and made my husband write a letter of apology, but they are still furious, as are more than a few family members. What can we do to mend fences?

—Cake Catastrophe

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(no subject)

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250816.html

The camera battery died about 2am local time

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250816.html

Entry tags:

Daily Happiness

1. I finished a new puzzle. After that Disney one, this one was a breeze!

2. Went up to the farmers market this morning and the stand that usually has lemonade didn't have any today! They said they forgot to load the cooler on the truck. :( But I noticed that the Filipino/Mexican fusion place where we often get tamales and cookies also has juices. I hadn't noticed before because they don't have the actual bottles out on the table, just a small sign. But they have a jamaica ginger one and a calamansi ginger one, so I got one of each and had the calamansi earlier and it was delicious.

3. Today I did a bunch of chores and also had loads of time to just play Donkey Kong Bananza and read and it was just a really nice, chill day.

4. Gemma lurking under Carla's desk (one of her favorite spots).

Torchwood: Fanfic: When the lights go out

Title: When the lights go out
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,161 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 488 - Twinkle
Summary: Jack sees the stars in a completely different light.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: tired

Entry tags:

Update: 16 August 2025

I got the bins from Canadian Tire.

I'm still recovering from the shopping trip. Considering that I walked half of it in the weather I did, I should have gone directly to bed.

Came downstairs to the office, instead.

Thinking about cleaning the iCan-branded computer-mouse, particularly the scroll-wheel. If I knew where on iFixit to look...

It arrives!

My volume 21 arrived in the mail! They are coming!

Entry tags:

weekly reading

Weekly Reading

Currently Reading
How to Survive a Horror Story
16%. A group of people are invited to the reading of a will for a famous horror author at his family mansion, only to find it's haunted. Interesting so far.

Newcomer
52%. Second (in the English translation order) Detective Kaga mystery. This is told in an interesting manner, not with the detective as the POV character, but with each section being from the POV of a possible suspect, but with each section wrapping up by clearing that person. I liked the first book better, but I'm enjoying this one, too.

Shady Hollow
74%. A typical small village murder mystery, but they're all woodland creatures. I got this on an audible sale when I was looking for a second book to buy on a buy one get one free sale, so I took a chance on something I was not wholly sold on and without having finished this book I can say I definitely will not be continuing the series. I have often struggled to figure out what makes something a "cozy mystery", and it seems that a lot of times things are declared to be cozies just because the person solving the mystery is a woman, or they're not a professional, but then I started this book and I'm like, that's definitely a cozy mystery. Way more time is spent on describing in detail the various animals and their town and all that than on the mystery, especially in the first third of the book. It's not what I'm interested in, and for me this would have worked much better as a comic, where you can just show all the cute animals and stuff through illustration, without going on and on about it forever. The mystery is fine, though, so it's not a bad book, just not a good fit for me.

The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State
13%.

Recently Finished
Isle of Ever
I was not expecting this book to end without wrapping anything up. There is a sequel, and this really feels like what should be one book split into two, which is not my preference.

A Death at the Dionysus Club
I guess these books are from a small publisher, but that doesn't excuse the lack of professionalism in the audiobooks. The first one had a narrator with a lozenge in his mouth the whole time, and this second one has a different narrator who did the whole first chapter in a wildly different voice than he did the rest of the book, like he was trying it out and decided not to continue with it, but rather than rerecord the first chapter, just left it at that. The voice used for the first chapter was terrible, so I'm glad he switched, but why on earth leave it like that?

Drop Dead Sisters
This was fun. Not sure if I will read the sequel or not, though.

Abscond
Coming of age short story set in the 1960s about an Indian American boy dealing with his father's sudden death. I enjoyed it.

Entry tags:

music,
recs

Album: Fever Dream Radio by Sbassbear

Have you ever wanted to hear the sound of ADHD?

Watch on YouTube

I know of Sbassbear by way of their remixes of the Game Grumps. GG just did a reaction vid to the latest such Sbassbear release, and Dan mentioned that Sbassbear had a new album out. He described it as "51 minutes and 77 tracks, it's insanity, and I love it." Which was intriguing, because what, why, how?

I then spent an hour listening to the painfully relatable experience of one's brain just being a frantically spinning radio dial. It's a mix of music and fake ads and spoken word and gibberish. It is probably not everyone's style of humor; I wouldn't have been able to say that it was my style of humor. And yet, the giggling and sputtering did not stop.

I streamed it on YT, as embedded above. It's also on Bandcamp, and yes, I WILL be buying it and listening to it obsessively.

That being said, I actually really recommend listening to it on YT at least once, especially if you do not have any kind of adblocker. The experience of the video cutting to commercials while I was in another room and having no idea it wasn't part of the bit was genuinely hilarious. I got an ad for some hospital, with a person saying earnestly that he thought he was pretty healthy but was having chest pains that turned out to be a "widowmaker" heart attack, and he didn't know it until he walked into the hospital. This was delivered in such a tone of "shucks, I'm just a regular Joe Doofus, and I don't know shit about fuck," I truly believed it was part of the album and kept waiting for a punchline and/or beat to drop. Priceless.

I also got unexpectedly emotional at the penultimate track, when he talks about the very real struggles of being a creator with ADHD.

Entry tags:

daily

Daily Check In.

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Saturday to midnight on Sunday (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #33497 Daily poll

Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 20

How are you doing?

I am okay
11 (55.0%)

I am not okay, but don't need help right now
9 (45.0%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans are you living with?

I am living single
6 (30.0%)

One other person
10 (50.0%)

More than one other person
4 (20.0%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

Current Mood: artistic

Entry tags:

A Long Day Ahead (part 1 of 1, complete)

A Long Day Ahead
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1664
[End of March 179-]

:: In the morning, Victor must decide what to do about Dezideriu and his family. Part of the “Lost Son” story arc in the Frankenstein’s Family universe. ::

Morning light, just beginning to brighten into true dawn, drifted lazily into the kitchen. Victor sat at the table with Adam in his lap, feeding the boy a mix of lightly cooked fruit chunks and mămăligă, corn porridge. “Good morning, mazil,” Laslzo greeted as soon as he stepped through the doorway. He scanned the room. “Did Dorottya and Dénes go home last night?”

Igor answered as he motioned toward the table. “Sit. You’re just in time; the tea has just finished steeping. Yes,” he added lightly, “neither wanted to leave their children for that long.”
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Entry tags:

Whale Watching

I should immediately add that although we did see whales, I was not able to get any pics of them! Unfortunately the boat, which was not that large, was rocking too much to focus and the whales came and went too quickly even for the camera phone. Did catch the sea lions on the buoys but not even the ones briefly following us out of the docks as they were there and gone too quickly.

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

Tiny House, Big Fix, by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Of the MANY bait-and-switch books I've been tricked into reading, this takes the prize for the biggest switch. The back cover says it's about a single mom carpenter who builds a tiny house for herself and her daughters to live in. The title is about tiny houses. There is a tiny house on the cover. I read the book because I thought it would be about building a tiny house.

The book is actually about the events leading up to her building the tiny house. She doesn't build the tiny house until the LAST CHAPTER. It takes up about four pages.

Entry tags:

XMEN100 - a weekly drabble challenge for X-Men

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kitty!

So it turns out that K.J. Parker and K.J. Charles are totally different people, albeit both writers. Who knew? NOT ME. I now have K.J. Parker's Sixteen ways to defend a walled city on hold at the library.

Managed to restrain myself at the farmer's market this morning, only getting three kinds of plums (I planned on two), some salad mix, a sourdough loaf ... and a chocolate croissant.

And then almost as soon as I came home, a friend called to say that she was downstairs, with her kid, and a stray cat they had found outside, was I home and did I have a carrier and treats to coax the cat into a carrier? The answer, of course, was yes, and we spent a little while trying to get a gorgeous little smokey-grey creature into my carrier, eventually wrestling her in after bribery with Churu did not work. She was mostly very well-mannered, clearly accustomed to humans, if unsure about these strangers (including the smallest one without volume modulation), and frankly the gherkin is more ruthless with her teeth and claws when I want her to be in the carrier and she wants to fuck me up. She has been taken to the ASPCA, where they confirmed she has a chip and they are trying to get in touch with her humans; in the meanwhile, she is staying with a friend who has a spare room.

Entry tags:

alien,
television

Aliens and Lost Boys (and Girls)

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The Shattering Peace Tour Dates + Other Remaining 2025 Appearances Now Live

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/08/16/the-shattering-peace-tour-dates-other-remaining-2025-appearances-now-live/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56857

I have a new book out in exactly one month(!!!), and as I usually do, I will celebrate the release by hurling myself around the country with a book tour for a couple of weeks (September 15-25), followed by a couple of months of appearances to book festival and conventions. The itinerary for a tour part of the convention is here, with stops in Scottdale, AZ; Lake Forest Park, WA; Spokane, WA; Santa Cruz, CA; San Diego, CA; Boise, ID; Denver, CO; Kansas City, MO; Parma, OH; Shepardstown, WV; and Richmond, VA.

In addition! I’ll being doing conventions/festivals in between September and November in: Portland, OR; Winston-Salem, NC; New York City, NY; Iowa City, IA; San Francisco, CA; Burlington, VT; Austin, TX; and Jacksonville, FL.

That’s… a lot!

Many of these tour stops and events are ticketed, so please check each of those links for the details for that, as well for specific date and times. With the conventions/festivals, not all the details of my particular appearances are yet available, so keep checking with those sites for more details, and also, when I get more details I will post those updates on the site (and will also update this post).

During the tour, I’ll be reading from upcoming work, so if you want a sneak preview of what’s coming up from me in the future, the tour is the place to do that. With the conventions/festivals you’ll likely see me on panels and/or in conversation with other authors.

Either way, it’ll be fun. Come see me, please!

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/08/16/the-shattering-peace-tour-dates-other-remaining-2025-appearances-now-live/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56857

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Checking In - 16 August 2025

Chores.

That's my word for today.

Bedding-laundry, shopping, computer-mouse replacement, new colour-pencils for Mom, and if I can push myself the rest of the way, new storage bins to keep the basement reorg process going. Not sure that last item is going to be doable with today's local weather. Hot and humid.

Talked with the writer of San Francisco 2161 last night about proposed maps for his now-finished Trek-inspired fanfic project about the negotiations to co-found the Federation. What maps should there be attached, what forms they should take, that sort of thing.

I'm also toying with an idea for a prose fanfic project of my own centred on one of the participants in that story and a prequel, In the Raptor's Claws about the Coaltion-Romulan War that preceded the Federation. Specifically Nathan Samuels, whom Enterprise-watchers may remember as portrayed by Harry Groener. Not sure if this is going to go anywhere beyond maybe a couple of paragraphs before getting derailed by a job offer or loss of housing or whatever.

We'll see.

Current Mood: accomplished

Entry tags:

Matchmaker, Matchmaker (part 1 of 1, complete

Matchmaker, Matchmaker
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1361

:: Officer Pink has a visitor at work, who has a very unusual request. Part of the Mercedes and Officer Pink story threads in the Polychrome Heroics universe, this story was prompted by

chanter and sponsored by

fuzzyred, with my great thanks. They’ll get credit for the sequel, as well. ::

The Asian boy shifted from one foot to the other, standing in the Bluehill police station waiting room, though there were at least a dozen empty seats. He waved off the polite young woman in a cadet’s uniform. “No, thanks. I’ll wait for Officer Pink.” He pulled a steno book from his teardrop bag, opened it to his current spot because a rubber band held previously used pages together with the front cover, and dipped into the bag again to retrieve a four-color pen.

He paced, only three steps in each direction, toward the empty corner, then back. His writing never slowed as he walked, nor as he turned. Only when he stopped walking did the pen stop, hovering an inch above the green-tinted paper as he thought.
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