Daily Happiness
Aug. 3rd, 2025 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torachan1. Yesterday's total sales for the new store was just slightly less than grand opening day, and today looks like it might end up higher than yesterday.
2. I really do feel refreshed after yesterday, even though it was just one day off. Hopefully I can have two days off next weekend, though.
3. I went down there to help out today, but was able to make it a short day and meet up with Carla at Disneyland afterwards for a late lunch.
4. Jasper is such a handsome house panther.
2. I really do feel refreshed after yesterday, even though it was just one day off. Hopefully I can have two days off next weekend, though.
3. I went down there to help out today, but was able to make it a short day and meet up with Carla at Disneyland afterwards for a late lunch.
4. Jasper is such a handsome house panther.
2025 Disneyland Trip #53 (8/3/25)
Aug. 3rd, 2025 09:27 pmtorachanWe went a whole two weeks without going to the parks, due to me being so busy with work (well, Carla did go once by herself). Today I was going to help out at the Irvine store, but because we had so many other people signed up to help as well, I felt okay about just making it a half day (it is technically my day off, after all), so I dropped Carla off at Disneyland in the morning and then worked until around two, then headed back up to meet her.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
It's all still here - Late July 02025
Aug. 3rd, 2025 08:50 pmsilveradeptLet's begin with The COVID-Safe Scouts' research repository, for all your deep dive desires or need to have research to hand when someone around you is trying to tell you that things are either over or not dangerous when it comes to interacting with the variations of SARS-CoV-2.
Also, A claimed nearly-100% effective drug against HIV infection, lenacapavir, is going to market, with deals for generics and no-profit manufacture in several countries around the world, instead of only as an expensive brand name. Twice-yearly injections appears to be the schedule for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and this could be a breakthrough that can finally put down the HIV/AIDS epidemic. What a day that will be, if we can get that virus to die off.
The 2025 version of the Gender Census is running, so if you are a person for whom the label of "man" or "woman" doesn't always apply at all times and in all cases, you are encouraged to take the survey.
The Archive of Our Own Ship Top 100 for 2025 is out, with secondary units involving top 100 F/F ships and the All Time Top 100 with this year's data added to it. Of note is an F/F ship breaking the top 5 for this year. (Also of note is a few comments complaining about how "Latino" is an ethnicity, not a race, and that it's overbroad, which are accurate things. It's also difficult to get any kind of ethnic or ethnic-allegorical data out of creators unless they want to volunteer it.)
Ozzy Osbourne, front singer for Black Sabbath and otherwise well-known heavy mtal man (and reality TV star), fully assumes the title of Prince of Darkness at 76 years of age.
No longer dancing the masochism tango or poisoning pigeons in the park, or letting us know about which of the various periodic elements have made it to Harvard University, Tom Lehrer, satirist, musician, and otherwise funny person, died at 97 years of age. And after music, mostly went on to teach mathematics, so faded a touch from the spotlight, just the way he wanted. If you're not familiar with his work, he released all of his songs, the sheet music, and the lyrics, to the public domain, so that we can all do whatever we'd like with them.
Chuck Mangione is now playing trumpet again with Dizzy Gillespie, having achieved 84 years of age.
Malcolm Jamal-Warner, most famously known for starring alongside Bill Cosby in a sitcom of Cosby's, has accidentally drowned at 54 years of age. Since then, he had gone on to be a Grammy-winning musician and an actor in several other shows, more than just the role he carried on the show, which, given what's happened with Bill Cosby, is probably the thing he will be better remembered for.
Terry Bollea, also known by his wrestling moniker "Hollywood Hogan," a heel who was instrumental to the storyline founding World Championship Wrestling's New World Order, has tapped out at 71 years of age. Hollywood Hogan would stay well associated with the professional wrestling circuit after his debut, as well as the McMahons that own most of the promotions at this point, and expressed himself routinely as a supporter of the current administration and their policies. Another character attributed to him, the face "Hulk Hogan," continues to live on in the memories of wrestling fans and those who enjoy movies where wrestlers take up acting careers, unsullied by any of the actions or attitudes taken on by similarly-named "Hollywood Hogan." The Hulkamaniacs are probably pretty happy that there's nothing more than can be done to corrupt their memories based on the actions of Hollywood Hogan.
( International decisions, domestic decisions, technology woes and wonders, and more, inside )
Last for tonight, five lego walker designs versus seven obstacles to navigate. It's interesting to see what designs do better against the various things put in their way.
The innate shallowness of decorating a space with books mostly by the look of the books, rather than because you are someone who has read many books and therefore your space is decorated with your own media selections.
And if you take a definition of humiliation as the forced recognition of domination and then apply it forward to both social and political situations and suddenly you have a really accurate blueprint for why certain things persist, even though it's clear that they are inefficient, they don't provide a lot of joy to the people who humiliate others, and they have lasting and terrible consequences for the people who are humiliated. And it also helps us think about how to build a society where humiliation is harder, less possible, and more strongly pushed back against by those who are more likely to be attacked.
(Materials viaadrian_turtle, azurelunatic, boxofdelights, cmcmck, conuly, cosmolinguist, elf, finch, firecat, jadelennox, jenett, jjhunter, kaberett, lilysea, oursin, rydra_wong, snowynight, sonia, the_future_modernes, thewayne, umadoshi, vass, the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
meta_warehouse community, little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)
Also, A claimed nearly-100% effective drug against HIV infection, lenacapavir, is going to market, with deals for generics and no-profit manufacture in several countries around the world, instead of only as an expensive brand name. Twice-yearly injections appears to be the schedule for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and this could be a breakthrough that can finally put down the HIV/AIDS epidemic. What a day that will be, if we can get that virus to die off.
The 2025 version of the Gender Census is running, so if you are a person for whom the label of "man" or "woman" doesn't always apply at all times and in all cases, you are encouraged to take the survey.
The Archive of Our Own Ship Top 100 for 2025 is out, with secondary units involving top 100 F/F ships and the All Time Top 100 with this year's data added to it. Of note is an F/F ship breaking the top 5 for this year. (Also of note is a few comments complaining about how "Latino" is an ethnicity, not a race, and that it's overbroad, which are accurate things. It's also difficult to get any kind of ethnic or ethnic-allegorical data out of creators unless they want to volunteer it.)
Ozzy Osbourne, front singer for Black Sabbath and otherwise well-known heavy mtal man (and reality TV star), fully assumes the title of Prince of Darkness at 76 years of age.
No longer dancing the masochism tango or poisoning pigeons in the park, or letting us know about which of the various periodic elements have made it to Harvard University, Tom Lehrer, satirist, musician, and otherwise funny person, died at 97 years of age. And after music, mostly went on to teach mathematics, so faded a touch from the spotlight, just the way he wanted. If you're not familiar with his work, he released all of his songs, the sheet music, and the lyrics, to the public domain, so that we can all do whatever we'd like with them.
Chuck Mangione is now playing trumpet again with Dizzy Gillespie, having achieved 84 years of age.
Malcolm Jamal-Warner, most famously known for starring alongside Bill Cosby in a sitcom of Cosby's, has accidentally drowned at 54 years of age. Since then, he had gone on to be a Grammy-winning musician and an actor in several other shows, more than just the role he carried on the show, which, given what's happened with Bill Cosby, is probably the thing he will be better remembered for.
Terry Bollea, also known by his wrestling moniker "Hollywood Hogan," a heel who was instrumental to the storyline founding World Championship Wrestling's New World Order, has tapped out at 71 years of age. Hollywood Hogan would stay well associated with the professional wrestling circuit after his debut, as well as the McMahons that own most of the promotions at this point, and expressed himself routinely as a supporter of the current administration and their policies. Another character attributed to him, the face "Hulk Hogan," continues to live on in the memories of wrestling fans and those who enjoy movies where wrestlers take up acting careers, unsullied by any of the actions or attitudes taken on by similarly-named "Hollywood Hogan." The Hulkamaniacs are probably pretty happy that there's nothing more than can be done to corrupt their memories based on the actions of Hollywood Hogan.
( International decisions, domestic decisions, technology woes and wonders, and more, inside )
Last for tonight, five lego walker designs versus seven obstacles to navigate. It's interesting to see what designs do better against the various things put in their way.
The innate shallowness of decorating a space with books mostly by the look of the books, rather than because you are someone who has read many books and therefore your space is decorated with your own media selections.
And if you take a definition of humiliation as the forced recognition of domination and then apply it forward to both social and political situations and suddenly you have a really accurate blueprint for why certain things persist, even though it's clear that they are inefficient, they don't provide a lot of joy to the people who humiliate others, and they have lasting and terrible consequences for the people who are humiliated. And it also helps us think about how to build a society where humiliation is harder, less possible, and more strongly pushed back against by those who are more likely to be attacked.
(Materials via
adrian_turtle, azurelunatic, boxofdelights, cmcmck, conuly, cosmolinguist, elf, finch, firecat, jadelennox, jenett, jjhunter, kaberett, lilysea, oursin, rydra_wong, snowynight, sonia, the_future_modernes, thewayne, umadoshi, vass, the meta_warehouse community, little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)
The Friday Five on a Sunday
Aug. 3rd, 2025 10:14 pmnanila- What is something you collect? Why?
Space mission badges, patches, and stickers, from the ones that I've worked on. They always look so good. I never stick them on anything, though. I just hoard them in little stashes like a greedy dragon. Occasionally I'll put one of the pin badges on my suit lapel. - f you could make one ice cream flavor, what would the ingredients be and what would be the name?
I don't feel the need to invent a flavour when mint chocolate chip is already my all-time favourite. - What can't you go a day without?
I mean, I *can* go without it and I have before, but it isn't pleasant: Coffee. - What position do you sleep in? *back, right side, left side, stomach . . . etc.*
Curled up on my right side in a defensive ball. - What is your typical morning routine before work/school?
Get up, feed cats, empty dishwasher, make breakfast, make coffee, fill everyone's water bottles, pack snacks and lunches, lay out clothes and shoes for the kids, get dressed myself, pack rucksack, sneak in 15 minutes of work or email before shovelling everyone into the car.
I have left out showers, shouting about putting shoes on, and scrubbing toothpaste off school jumpers, but those things usually feature somewhere in there too.
Culinary
Aug. 3rd, 2025 07:54 pmoursinThis week's bread: made Greenstein's 100% wholewheat loaf with wholemeal spelt flour approaching its use-by date, and also using up some buttermilk ditto. Turned out quite nice but a bit crumbly.
Saturday breakfast rolls: adaptable soft rolls recipe, approx 70/30% strong brown/rye flour, honey, dried cherries. Somehow turned out a bit bland.
Today's lunch: portabellini mushrooms in olive oil, rainbow carrots roasted in vaguely Japanese style in sunflower and toasted sesame oil, and tossed in teriyaki sauce and a little demerara sugar (these were rather aged carrots and could probably have done with roasting a bit longer), steamed asparagus dressed with melted butter and lime juice, and cornbread (having failed to source medium cornmeal, used a mixture of fine and coarse, turned out not badly).
Daily Happiness
Aug. 2nd, 2025 08:34 pmtorachan1. It was so nice to have a day to rest! I did reply to more work messages than I usually do on my days off as there was stuff pertaining to organizing help for the new store, but mostly it was a work-free day and it was just nice not to have to do a lot of driving or be on my feet all day running about doing this and that.
2. We did go to the farmers market this morning, and the stall I usually get watermelon lemonade from was out, so we tried the pomegranate blood orange lemonade and that was really good, too. It was sunny and muggy so we drank the whole thing while we were there, and then Carla went back over to the stall to get another one to take home and the guy had found some more bottles of the watermelon, so she ended up getting a couple of those, too.
3. Ollie was in the other room mewing at me and when I asked him what was up, he came in here with the Grogu toy in his mouth. What a mighty hunter!
2. We did go to the farmers market this morning, and the stall I usually get watermelon lemonade from was out, so we tried the pomegranate blood orange lemonade and that was really good, too. It was sunny and muggy so we drank the whole thing while we were there, and then Carla went back over to the stall to get another one to take home and the guy had found some more bottles of the watermelon, so she ended up getting a couple of those, too.
3. Ollie was in the other room mewing at me and when I asked him what was up, he came in here with the Grogu toy in his mouth. What a mighty hunter!
Weekly Reading
Aug. 2nd, 2025 07:12 pmtorachanI didn't do a reading post last week due to being swamped with work, so this is two weeks' worth of reading.
Currently Reading
The God of the Woods
71%. In the mid '70s, a teenage girl goes missing at camp, in the same woods where her brother went missing years before and was never found. This is told through multiple POVs, of the people investigating, the camp counselor, a friend, the mother. It's really good so far and a very quick read, despite being almost 500 pages. I'll probably finish it tonight.
A Death at the Dionysus Club
5%. Sequel to Death by Silver. Also listening to this as an audiobook and very disappointed that the narrator is different and not nearly as good as the first book's. If I'd previewed this before buying it, I might have decided to go with the ebook instead, but I just assumed that same series = same narrator!
Drop Dead Sisters
9%. The MC goes camping with her semi-estranged family, only to have to join forces with her sisters when they find a dead body. I'm liking this so far, though I've only just started.
The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State
11%.
Recently Finished
Sister Outsider
This was good. Not really much to say about it.
Kill Her Twice
Just all right.
Nikhil Out Loud
This was so cute!
Just Happy to Be Here
Also just all right.
Trust Me When I Lie
By the author of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. The creator of a true crime documentary finds himself tangled up in the case when his documentary gets the suspect a retrial and then his lawyer turns up dead in exactly the same way as the previous victim. I liked this a lot, though not quite as much as his other series.
Malice
A Detective Kaga novel. This is the fourth in the original publication order, but first in the English translated series. I thought maybe it was done first because the chronological order is different from publication order, but that doesn't seem to be the case so idk why they are going out of order. I read this in English and the translation didn't blow me away but was generally well done and not overly stilted. It was a very quick read and I'm looking forward to reading the next one.
Death by Silver
First in a historical murder mystery series with a sort of Sherlock Holmes vibe. M/M romance, but the mystery is the primary plot. Magic is a thing, and I liked the worldbuilding for it. However! I did this one as an audiobook and I loved the narrator's voice but he often sounded like he had a lozenge in his mouth while reading, which was very distracting. It was most pronounced in the first chapter and I almost decided to switch to reading instead of listening, it was so bad. But I was in the middle of a long drive, and it got better as it went on (though never fully went away), so I stuck with it. I much prefer this narrator to the one for the second book, who is very overwrought and distracting, though at least not constantly making wet mouth noises on a lozenge.
The Night Librarian
Cute middle grade graphic novel about kids who take their dad's rare edition of Dracula to the library to find out how much it's worth, only to have the characters come alive and escape the book, which is when they find out that the library has a special department for that, and periodically lets characters out of old books to give them a break. The kids and characters try to track down the book and the person behind the rogue escape.
Upstaged
Cute middle grade graphic novel about a nonbinary teen at an arts camp, trying to navigate putting on a play and confessing their feelings to their best friend.
Shiba Tsuki Bukken vol. 1
Cute manga about a girl who rents an apartment haunted by a ghost shiba. In fact all the rooms in the building are haunted by shiba ghosts, because before being turned into apartments, it was an abusive puppy mill. So now the MC and the other residents have to give the ghost shibas the love and affection they didn't get in life. Sad background when you think about it, but it's really cute. I'll probably read more.
Dokudami no Hana Saku Koro vol. 1
Fifth-grader Shimizu has never paid much mind to his classmate Shigaraki, who is awkward and often has meltdowns, but little by little he becomes obsessed with Shigaraki's art, and decides to befriend him. Shigaraki definitely reads as autistic, though no one uses that word, but even though it's his art that Shimizu is drawn to, it's not like he's some artistic savant or anything, just a creative kid. I really like this so far.
Shadow House vol. 20
Currently Reading
The God of the Woods
71%. In the mid '70s, a teenage girl goes missing at camp, in the same woods where her brother went missing years before and was never found. This is told through multiple POVs, of the people investigating, the camp counselor, a friend, the mother. It's really good so far and a very quick read, despite being almost 500 pages. I'll probably finish it tonight.
A Death at the Dionysus Club
5%. Sequel to Death by Silver. Also listening to this as an audiobook and very disappointed that the narrator is different and not nearly as good as the first book's. If I'd previewed this before buying it, I might have decided to go with the ebook instead, but I just assumed that same series = same narrator!
Drop Dead Sisters
9%. The MC goes camping with her semi-estranged family, only to have to join forces with her sisters when they find a dead body. I'm liking this so far, though I've only just started.
The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State
11%.
Recently Finished
Sister Outsider
This was good. Not really much to say about it.
Kill Her Twice
Just all right.
Nikhil Out Loud
This was so cute!
Just Happy to Be Here
Also just all right.
Trust Me When I Lie
By the author of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. The creator of a true crime documentary finds himself tangled up in the case when his documentary gets the suspect a retrial and then his lawyer turns up dead in exactly the same way as the previous victim. I liked this a lot, though not quite as much as his other series.
Malice
A Detective Kaga novel. This is the fourth in the original publication order, but first in the English translated series. I thought maybe it was done first because the chronological order is different from publication order, but that doesn't seem to be the case so idk why they are going out of order. I read this in English and the translation didn't blow me away but was generally well done and not overly stilted. It was a very quick read and I'm looking forward to reading the next one.
Death by Silver
First in a historical murder mystery series with a sort of Sherlock Holmes vibe. M/M romance, but the mystery is the primary plot. Magic is a thing, and I liked the worldbuilding for it. However! I did this one as an audiobook and I loved the narrator's voice but he often sounded like he had a lozenge in his mouth while reading, which was very distracting. It was most pronounced in the first chapter and I almost decided to switch to reading instead of listening, it was so bad. But I was in the middle of a long drive, and it got better as it went on (though never fully went away), so I stuck with it. I much prefer this narrator to the one for the second book, who is very overwrought and distracting, though at least not constantly making wet mouth noises on a lozenge.
The Night Librarian
Cute middle grade graphic novel about kids who take their dad's rare edition of Dracula to the library to find out how much it's worth, only to have the characters come alive and escape the book, which is when they find out that the library has a special department for that, and periodically lets characters out of old books to give them a break. The kids and characters try to track down the book and the person behind the rogue escape.
Upstaged
Cute middle grade graphic novel about a nonbinary teen at an arts camp, trying to navigate putting on a play and confessing their feelings to their best friend.
Shiba Tsuki Bukken vol. 1
Cute manga about a girl who rents an apartment haunted by a ghost shiba. In fact all the rooms in the building are haunted by shiba ghosts, because before being turned into apartments, it was an abusive puppy mill. So now the MC and the other residents have to give the ghost shibas the love and affection they didn't get in life. Sad background when you think about it, but it's really cute. I'll probably read more.
Dokudami no Hana Saku Koro vol. 1
Fifth-grader Shimizu has never paid much mind to his classmate Shigaraki, who is awkward and often has meltdowns, but little by little he becomes obsessed with Shigaraki's art, and decides to befriend him. Shigaraki definitely reads as autistic, though no one uses that word, but even though it's his art that Shimizu is drawn to, it's not like he's some artistic savant or anything, just a creative kid. I really like this so far.
Shadow House vol. 20
Sewing and Shakespeare
Aug. 2nd, 2025 08:55 pmqueen_ypolitaI took my sewing machine out this morning and started working on the trousers I cut last week. It's been a slow process so far. I messed up attaching the zip when I was trying to follow the "helpful tip" for zips—I clearly didn't understand what it was trying to get me to do. So I tried again another way, and got it attached, but it's probably not quite as invisible as intended. I'm aiming to continue tomorrow.
In the afternoon, took a break from sewing and walked to town to pick up a couple of things I needed. And to go to see a promenade performance by Secret Shakespeare of the Scottish play at the abbey ruins. It was good, although as the director explained before the start, due to illness, they had a couple of people doing the roles for the first time. And the ruins worked well as the background to the performance. We did the play at school, which probably helped. I'm not sure I would have followed it as well otherwise. But all in all, it was a great way to spend a couple of hours.
In the afternoon, took a break from sewing and walked to town to pick up a couple of things I needed. And to go to see a promenade performance by Secret Shakespeare of the Scottish play at the abbey ruins. It was good, although as the director explained before the start, due to illness, they had a couple of people doing the roles for the first time. And the ruins worked well as the background to the performance. We did the play at school, which probably helped. I'm not sure I would have followed it as well otherwise. But all in all, it was a great way to spend a couple of hours.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 12
Aug. 2nd, 2025 11:14 ammarycatelli posting in booksFrieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 12 by Kanehito Yamada
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
( Read more... )
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
( Read more... )
This is rather nice
Aug. 2nd, 2025 04:56 pmoursinOkay, it's riffing off some miserable old sod phoning in to a radio show on LBS moaning on about women's voices talking about women's football DOES NOT LIEK, and as the columnist points out, for the presenter of the show this is also 'rage-bait gold'
The soundtrack of the women’s Euros was happiness … and some men can’t cope
(My dearios may be wondering how on earth the hedjog even came across anything in the sports section, the reason is that this caught partner's eye while removing it and placing in in the wastepaper pile, and was found of sufficient interest to be communicated over coffee.)
On the general tone of reporting on the women's football:
The missing noise here was: noise, the familiar sounds of rage, pain and betrayal. Instead the tone of the women’s Euros was happiness. The players were courteous. Nobody hated anyone else. England wished Spain well on the eve of the final.
(We do wonder whether they are extra-specially careful to avoid anything that might evoke media cries of 'CATFIGHT!!!', but lo, I am cynical.)
This is really interesting:
Why is men’s football defined so powerfully by rage and pain? Why does it reach for these emotions reflexively at every turn? This, I believe is what Dave is really talking about. He doesn’t find women’s sport alien because the voices are women’s voices. He finds it strange because they’re happy, because they’re not talking about the usual things, reaching for that hammy old emotional compass. Is it real if it doesn’t hurt?
I was (for I am very predictable, no?) reminded of Dame Rebecca's apercu in Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
All women believe that some day something supremely agreeable will happen, and that afterwards the whole of life will be agreeable. All men believe that some day they will do something supremely disagreeable, and that afterwards life will move on so exalted a plane that all considerations of the agreeable and disagreeable will prove superfluous. The female creed has the defect of passivity, but is surely preferable.
(I recollect she also has a line somewhere else about the tendency of men to go and see what the women are up to, and then tell them to stoppit.)
Daily Happiness
Aug. 1st, 2025 11:46 pmtorachan1. Long day of stocking today, but the store is very busy still, so that's good. And we got dozens of pallets of stuff delivered to hold us through the weekend.
2. I'm very glad I've got tomorrow off. All parts of me are sore right now, but a good night's sleep will help with that, and I'm looking forward to a day of just relaxing and no work, which I have not had for two weeks.
3. I love this picture so much. Chloe's just like "ugh, pesky little sisters".
2. I'm very glad I've got tomorrow off. All parts of me are sore right now, but a good night's sleep will help with that, and I'm looking forward to a day of just relaxing and no work, which I have not had for two weeks.
3. I love this picture so much. Chloe's just like "ugh, pesky little sisters".
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 11
Aug. 1st, 2025 09:56 pmmarycatelli posting in booksFrieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 11 by Kanehito Yamada
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volume.
( Read more... )
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volume.
( Read more... )
The ibuprofen barrier (also the paracetamol barrier)
Aug. 1st, 2025 10:28 pmcimoreneTragically, the supply of ibuprofen we bought the last time we went to the US - in 2017 - is running out now! Ibuprofen is more expensive in Finland and you can only buy 30 tablets of 400mg each at a time, and you can't mail it internationally, but you can bring it in your luggage, so in the past, I have just brought back a bunch of bottles each time I visited the US. (Technically, you can only bring your own medication for personal use, but we've never had a problem.)
The even more tragic part is that my sister was here just a year ago, but I forgot to ask her to bring it. Obviously it would be unwise to go there in the near future now, and I'm not sure if it would be fully safe even for my white middle-class family members to leave the country in case they had trouble going back (although they don't have any travel plans in the near future, because my dad, being quadriplegic, is immunocompromised and air travel is an elevated risk for him, and he's been in and out of the hospital lately).
When I was a teenager and young adult I used ibuprofen heavily for cramps, but in my 30s the severity lessened dramatically and I was often able to skip painkillers or get by with a small dose of paracetamol/acetaminophen, so the supply from our last visit has lasted longer than expected. (The last bottle has an expiration date in 2020, so possibly it is only working by the placebo effect at this point.) Concurrently with the perimenopausal symptoms I've started getting over the last few years, though, the cramps have started to worsen again and a couple of times in recent months I think they've been more painful than when I was a teenager! (But I also can't be sure because it's about 25 years ago.) A few years ago I was advised to try 1000mg paracetamol + 600mg ibuprofen together in case of emergency, and I now typically need to do this a few times per month. And also to buy paracetamol approximately every 1.5 months, because you can't buy more than 30 (500mg) tablets of paracetamol at a time either, and Wax and I both get migraines (not bad migraines by you Migraine Sufferer standards, but they are still headaches)! I've just never happened to bring paracetamol/acetaminophen back in my luggage because (a) I didn't know I could and should use it instead of ibuprofen until I was in my late 30s and (b) until recently there was always a larger bottle of it around leftover from various prescriptions.
Ugh, and I hate big Finnish 400mg ibuprofen tablets, too. They're not nearly as nice as the standard round coated ones you get in the US. And if you buy gel caps you can't break them! Come to think of it, I also don't like the big paracetamol tablets, but I don't have any clear memories of the size and shape of acetaminophen tablets to compare them to. But, honestly, they would have to be fairly awful tablets to be worse than the inconvenience and annoyance of buying them 30 at a time.
The even more tragic part is that my sister was here just a year ago, but I forgot to ask her to bring it. Obviously it would be unwise to go there in the near future now, and I'm not sure if it would be fully safe even for my white middle-class family members to leave the country in case they had trouble going back (although they don't have any travel plans in the near future, because my dad, being quadriplegic, is immunocompromised and air travel is an elevated risk for him, and he's been in and out of the hospital lately).
When I was a teenager and young adult I used ibuprofen heavily for cramps, but in my 30s the severity lessened dramatically and I was often able to skip painkillers or get by with a small dose of paracetamol/acetaminophen, so the supply from our last visit has lasted longer than expected. (The last bottle has an expiration date in 2020, so possibly it is only working by the placebo effect at this point.) Concurrently with the perimenopausal symptoms I've started getting over the last few years, though, the cramps have started to worsen again and a couple of times in recent months I think they've been more painful than when I was a teenager! (But I also can't be sure because it's about 25 years ago.) A few years ago I was advised to try 1000mg paracetamol + 600mg ibuprofen together in case of emergency, and I now typically need to do this a few times per month. And also to buy paracetamol approximately every 1.5 months, because you can't buy more than 30 (500mg) tablets of paracetamol at a time either, and Wax and I both get migraines (not bad migraines by you Migraine Sufferer standards, but they are still headaches)! I've just never happened to bring paracetamol/acetaminophen back in my luggage because (a) I didn't know I could and should use it instead of ibuprofen until I was in my late 30s and (b) until recently there was always a larger bottle of it around leftover from various prescriptions.
Ugh, and I hate big Finnish 400mg ibuprofen tablets, too. They're not nearly as nice as the standard round coated ones you get in the US. And if you buy gel caps you can't break them! Come to think of it, I also don't like the big paracetamol tablets, but I don't have any clear memories of the size and shape of acetaminophen tablets to compare them to. But, honestly, they would have to be fairly awful tablets to be worse than the inconvenience and annoyance of buying them 30 at a time.
1SE for July 2025
Aug. 1st, 2025 08:54 pmnanilaThere is a lot of wildlife in here, and for some reason both Keiki and my voice feature quite often.
Tags:
Don't You Know Who I Am
Aug. 1st, 2025 10:15 amoursinWell, this person does Know Who I Am, which was why they were looking 'very hard' for me 2 years ago -
- and failed to find me.
WTF BBQ
That is me, Dr oursin, that under my passport and BL user pass name has a website and blog that are the top hits when you search for that I will concede not uncommon name? Who is in a commonly used academic database as well as the increasing slop-filled academia-edu, and on Linked-In? (not that I use the latter much/at all but it would be a point of contact).
Where were they looking? were they using a Ouija board in case I'd passed over? Bloodhounds?
Okay, they are even older than cranky ol' hedjog, but since they still seem to be editing the journal they have been editing since Time Immemorial, and discovered I was currently active because I did reviews for it recently, and would like me back on the Editorial Board since I am still around, assume that most of the marbles are still there.
But honestly, JFGM?
Daily Happiness
Jul. 31st, 2025 10:28 pmtorachan1. I haven't watched the Nintendo Direct yet but it seems there were some surprise new games announced, like a new Octopath Traveler!
2. Another day of ridiculously high sales at the new store.
3. I am going down there tomorrow to help out, so that will likely be an exhausting day, but at least I can have Saturday off. I'm probably going to need to go in Sunday, though.
4. The puzzle I'm currently working on is a tough one. It's 750 pieces, which is the largest I've attempted, plus it's a circle, plus it is mostly just two colors. It's not something I necessarily would have picked out on its own, but it's part of that Disney anniversary four pack and I figured I might as well do them all at once. But while it's been slow going, I have been making a little progress every day, and it's finally starting to come together.
5. I love Molly's perfect paws.
2. Another day of ridiculously high sales at the new store.
3. I am going down there tomorrow to help out, so that will likely be an exhausting day, but at least I can have Saturday off. I'm probably going to need to go in Sunday, though.
4. The puzzle I'm currently working on is a tough one. It's 750 pieces, which is the largest I've attempted, plus it's a circle, plus it is mostly just two colors. It's not something I necessarily would have picked out on its own, but it's part of that Disney anniversary four pack and I figured I might as well do them all at once. But while it's been slow going, I have been making a little progress every day, and it's finally starting to come together.
5. I love Molly's perfect paws.
A month of Kidd Pirates [One Piece] Sketches - July
Jul. 31st, 2025 05:31 pmmekachu04 posting in anime_mangaFandom: One Piece
Author/Artist: Mekachu04
Title: July Punk Aibou Sketches
Pairing: Eustass Kidd & Killer
Rating: teen? it varies from gen/all audience to teen
Word Count: art
Highlight for Warnings: *some implied death/violence but nothing graphic. all are unfinished sketches so clothes might not all be there. *
Disclaimer: Kidd, Killer, the Kidd Pirates and other characters belong to the world of One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. I'm just playing in the sandbox. this is my first time sharing here - i hope this is okay?
AN: I'm trying to draw something everyday. So most of these are drawn at about 3-5am in about an hour or two at work during the down time.
( thumbnails linking to each day under cut )
Author/Artist: Mekachu04
Title: July Punk Aibou Sketches
Pairing: Eustass Kidd & Killer
Rating: teen? it varies from gen/all audience to teen
Word Count: art
Highlight for Warnings: *some implied death/violence but nothing graphic. all are unfinished sketches so clothes might not all be there. *
Disclaimer: Kidd, Killer, the Kidd Pirates and other characters belong to the world of One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. I'm just playing in the sandbox. this is my first time sharing here - i hope this is okay?
AN: I'm trying to draw something everyday. So most of these are drawn at about 3-5am in about an hour or two at work during the down time.
( thumbnails linking to each day under cut )