I put on the big blue dress from Gallery Serpentine that I got for my tenth rebirthday and hit the Wildrose last night. It was a small but merry gathering including Tacoma Girl, A from the Merc, and A's sweetie J, not to be confused with J-the-dancing-fiend whom I usually see at the Merc with A.
The Wildrose is a pretty good place to be a dirty old woman. Ahem.
People bought me drinks and I drank them, but adequate hydration and sleeping past 1100 this morning allowed me to, like, not suffer today. Tacoma Girl took me to Lost Lake, which is still a fantastic place to get fish & chips & relative sobriety. Luckily, we were in & out well before the rush that happens when the bars stop serving, i.e. 0100.
Star Trek (2009 movie) Lunch and Other Obscenities by Rheanna (9,717 words). Just a delightful exploration of different cultures colliding. When Starfleet Academy's Housing and Accommodation Officer—whose name, according to the sign next to her door, was Diane Maza—arrived at her office the next morning, Nyota was already there, waiting.
"My roommate's a sex-crazed exhibitionist with a food phobia," Nyota told her. "You have got to reassign me."
Maza didn't react. She regarded Nyota for a moment with a coolly appraising gaze that seemed designed to silently communicate that she hadn't just seen everything, she'd seen everything plus some other shit as well, and therefore any attempt to shock a reaction out of her was doomed at the outset.
When I got back from shopping I found that my own personal sloth puppet had arrived in the mail. The other, first one is going to Dave's little nephew next week. Andy and Rainy weren't sure about it. Rainy is still shy and distrustful of it. She very much keeps her eye on it, comes close and touches noses with it and then runs away. Andy touched it with his mouth like he wanted to grab at it, then dipped down like he wanted to play with it, but then he just ended up barking a lot at it. She (it's a she) needs a name. I haven't been this pleased with anything in a long time. She's sitting on my lap right now. A little photo session with her:
Helios lens. I only have one christmas decoration. This tree. Which I love because it's so easy to get out and put away. On the right is a stack of placemats and cloth napkins (I liked the look of them in the picture), with my binoculars that I use to spy on the neighbor's horses and to check to see if the mail has arrived.
I wondered what they would do if I posed both puppets on Andy. Andy's a good boy and decided to "stay" for me. Rainy doesn't want to get too near. I think it's amazing that they recognize it as a possible real animal because it has a face even though it doesn't smell like an animal at all.
I finally used up the last of my ball of sari silk thread. I was able to make 13 bookmarks in all with it. I had a pajama day yesterday. Only went outside in my bathrobe and long coat a couple times to take care of the chickens. Maybe I needed a full day at home alone. The one thing I did that was social was call Kenyon and get caught up with what's he's been doing.
Today it's OA and then I want to go shopping at walmart - get more clear plastic to put up around the chicken coop run. The run is where I feed them and I'm finding that the snow is blowing in a lot. I think we are going to have a bad winter with lots of snow this year. That's my prediction.
Well, that was a DUMB amount of scrolling. Remind me to keep up to date on fanart recs, BlueSky is not all too helpful. But I did get to make a variety of happy faces as i re-discovered some fanarts I'd forgotten about. We really are spoiled with IWTV. And to look forwards to: I pre-ordered the BLOOD & BROCADE fanart zine. Wanting to experience the first hand in physical format, I'll have to wait until February. And after that? Well, the rumor is s3 will premiere in April. At least, going by a verbal slip and a couple of deleted cast posts. Not too long now!
Anyways, have a bunch of fanart recs featuring pretty vampires.
Monday night delivered cookies to Dad, bringing Carrie Dog with us, and we had a nice short visit. He has too many things beeping that he cannot hear, and will not replace filters in his fridge, and Christine is concerned about all the cables squeezed in between fridge and wall. Do not unplug your hearing aid charger to see if it stops the beeping you cannot hear, Dad.
Again noting to self, promise me you will regularly wear any hearing aid you need.
The car with new tires and repairs was rear-ended on Tuesday when we were taking cookies to my sister. We are both fine and healthy. Good thing we didn't bring Carrie, Christine noted, as the waiting by the road stretched on and on. Sister came, and we sat in her car during much of the waiting and had a good visit. Most humorous was the Highway Patrol listening to us respond to "what happened", then, "Let me interrupt, you were rear ended, right". Me: "Oh, you wanted the short story."
Our insurance company encouraged us to file directly with the at fault party's insurance. Nope. I believe Christine underscored that it would be more efficient for them if we did that, but not us. We take the car to dealership today. I suppose it's a gamble because the repairs may be more expensive there and that could tip to totaling it? But they will have parts.
Once a long time ago, Christine's first motorcycle was knocked over in San Francisco, breaking the mirror and scratching the paint. Her insurance was going after the at fault party with a vengeance, so the vintage paint repair and original mirror replacement cost totaled the bike-- and she ended up with a much fancier, powerful bike afterwards. (Can't remember what replaced the Honda.) I assume you only get a win like that once.
Wednesday i had my hair done, advised that it was time to reverse all the accumulated highlights and add back my natural color. Because i like the pink she has been using, i think she added way more pink than she had been, but that makes up for the "cool medium brown." Apparently my hair now has more dimensionality. I could not really explain why i get it done, but the pink is fun. I do wait about four months between visits.
Bruno has come out on his own in the morning and sometimes later in the day, racing out of the room and in the evening making like a bolt for under the couch. He knows in the morning that he's got the place to himself. I think he races just in case Marlowe is waiting to ambush him around the corner. We've had some success sedating her with the gabapentin but i can't bear to keep her that way. She is a feisty miss. I'll leave her food alone today, work a half day with Bruno, then this afternoon Bruno will sleep. Tomorrow i'll sedate Marlowe so it will be easier to have Bruno out during the day sharing space.
So, I, uh, got my RSI/ergonomics debugged!* I then promptly lost two days to bad sleep due to another new mechanical failure of the balky meat mecha and also a medical appointment in re two previous malfunctions. But I seem back in business now. The new keyboard is great.
Patrons, I've got three Siderea Posts out so far this month and it's only the 12th. I have two more Posts I am hoping to get out in the next three days. Also about health insurance. We'll see if it actually happens, but it's not impossible. I have written a lot of words. (I really like my new keyboard.)
Anyways, if you weren't planning on sponsoring five posts (or – who knows? – even more) this month, adjust your pledge limits accordingly.
* It was my bra strap. It was doing something funky to how my shoulder blade moved or something. It is both surprising to me that so little pressure made so much ergonomic difference, and not surprising because previously an even lighter pressure on my kneecap from wearing long underwear made my knee malfunction spectacularly. Apparently this is how my body mechanics just are.
Hey Americans (and other people stuck in the American healthcare system)! Shopping for a health plan on your state marketplace? Boy, do I have some information for you that you should have and probably don't. There's been an important legal change affecting your choices that has gotten almost no press.
Bronze and Catastrophic Plans Treated as HDHPs: As of Jan. 1, 2026, bronze and catastrophic plans available through an Exchange are considered HSA-compatible, regardless of whether the plans satisfy the general definition of an HDHP. This expands the ability of people enrolled in these plans to contribute to HSAs, which they generally have not been able to do in the past. Notice 2026-05 clarifies that bronze and catastrophic plans do not have to be purchased through an Exchange to qualify for the new relief.
If you are shopping plans right now (or thought you were done), you should probably be aware of this. Especially if you are planning on getting a bronze plan, a catastrophic plan, or any plan with the acronym "HSA" in the name or otherwise designated "HSA compatible".
The Trump administration doing this is tacit admission that all bronze plans have become such bad deals that they're the economic equivalent of what used to be considered a HDHP back when that concept was invented, and so should come with legal permission to protect yourself from them with an HSA.
Effective immediately, you should consider a bronze plan half an insurance plan.
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As of yesterday, I've been living for fifteen years as a woman. In other words, yesterday was my fifteenth rebirthday. I didn't go out yet, but my son took me out for tacos and a beer around the corner. Happy rebirthday to me. It's a little trippy to think that what turned into my grand coming out was a whopping fifteen years ago. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
My actual quinceañera, as I'm calling it, will be tomorrow evening at the Wildrose. There will be the big blue dress from Gallery Serpentine. Tacoma Girl and Ms. Washington State Leather said they'd come. I hope for an interesting evening. (Sadly, Funny Lady is out of town.)
The fixation is hyper y'all. Headvids. Brain zoomies. Giddiness at good characterizations (and, for this particular fandom, the characters being ~an appropriate amount of Bastard~ 🤌).
❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ Rec-cember Day 11
vein by vein by morian (2,415 words). Not Lestat being jealous of the sun XD (don't let my comment trick you into thinking it's crack fic, excellent voices in this) Before he died and was reborn as a creature, not a man, Louis preferred the night. In this city that stretches and groans and howls to life at dusk, he had no reason to favour the sun. His business was the night. People like him, that is to say pimps and grifters, came to bed long after dawn and slept past noon.
It wasn't until he lost the sun that he learned it was something that could be missed.
Though even winters in New Orleans are mild and summer nights leave shirt collars clinging to sweat-slick necks like desperate hands, there is a special kind of warmth in sunlight on the skin. It reeks of childhood and the garden and the roof, of sunrise with his brother.
“I don’t miss the sun,” he will say to a jaded reporter on the balcony of his Dubai altar a hundred years from now. “The reminders it carries.” And it will be true then. But here is a man who ran through the street and nearly burned to death on the first morning he carried the dark gift. And here is a man who grieves his brother, not just one life lost but a thousand possibilities with it.
I'm into weaving with a new pin loom I got that makes 2" by 12" strips. Bookmarks I guess. I have some really unique yarn that is made from silk sari cloth - that's the colorful yarn in the pic. But you can't use it as a weft (the yarn that you pass through the warp - it's too "sticky" and uneven) so I need a more normal yarn for that - the gray yarn in the pic. I also ordered 3 more new little pin looms. A 4 x 4, 2 x 4, and 2 x 2. So my reveries are into thinking about ideas of how I can combine those 3 shapes in designs for blankets or cloth.
There were sirens of fire trucks earlier and just now I saw an ambulance go by. Somebody's not having a good day. The snow is falling in small flakes, drifting, not gusting. But you can see slight air currents because it doesn't fall straight down - the flakes individual pathways are criss crossing as they all move in a general easterly direction. There is something wonderful about having a window where you can just watch the snow fall.
This is correct. The document is very clear on that point. But here’s more from Anders:
The United States sees it as a strategic priority… that MAGA movements come to power in Europe, and they intend to use the means that they have to support such movements in the fight against the current centrist governments.
These are some very dramatic statements that have raised deep questions about whether there is any foundation for NATO to function going forward if the United States sees it as a strategic priority to undermine the governments of other NATO countries. …
It’s really hard to see how there can be an alliance any more. The reality is that the views expressed in this [policy document] are in many ways identical to the Russian viewpoints on Europe and the Russian goals of regime change in European countries.
He further discusses the document’s demands for ‘free speech,’ in the sense of ending social media moderation and opposing the exclusion of hate speech, the lifeblood of MAGA fascism. There are several demands in the document around these topics, which he sees – correctly – as focused on helping Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg push MAGA/fascist propaganda into Europe through their algorithmically-driven propaganda machines.
Elon Musk’s “X” is the bigger threat, of course. As Nielsen puts it: “If you’re European, then it is a national security priority to stop using X.” Elon Musk bought Twitter to turn it into a fascist propaganda fountain, as opposed to Zuckerberg’s primary intention of making as much money as possible, working with fascists if that’s what gets the job done.
I have, of course, been saying that it’s time to stop using X since a few months into Elon Musk’s takeover of the site because of this exact reason, but, well – who the fuck listens to me?
Anders’s final key takeaway here is that this document doesn’t show a MAGA-led US deciding not to care at all about Europe, but instead shows a US deciding to care very much about Europe – mostly western Europe – with the specific and stated intention of installing MAGA governments, telling Europe that they must be MAGA – fascist – to be allied with the US.
This move would be an extension of what MAGA see as “their” western hemisphere, which other than western Europe means North and South America, including Greenland.
Naturally, this process would include granting Russia and Trump’s second-best pal Putin their own sphere of influence in the east. This portends the US’s impending betrayal of Ukraine, and later, a betrayal of the Baltic states, Poland, probably a couple of others (Moldova? Romania? Bulgaria?) as well.
But why? Does Trump love Putin and Orban that much?
I believe It’s more than that, and more than Trump’s ego, believe it or not. It’s more than his desperate longing to be a dictator and it’s more than his sheer will to steal every dollar in sight. Trump and MAGA, well… they are definitively fools, morons, white nationalists, imperialists, longing for a white imperial past. But I still think that Putin has more choate strategic plans than Trump, and I still think Ukraine is a climate war, so…
…shall I post this line again? Sure, I’ll post this line again. Here’s what I think Putin really wants – not what he’ll get, what he wants. It’s a minimum goal, to “secure” the nation:
That’s oversimplified, of course, but this is a small map and a big thick line. The reality would be far different, and most likely more like existing national boundaries, but still: it gets the idea across.
Meanwhile, when Russian maximalists and propaganda shills talk about how “we should march all the way to Paris” – which they do, repeatedly – here’s what I think they want:
And what do these lines have in common?
Mountains.
Tall, easier to defend, mountainous, migration-blocking borders.
It’s simple-minded in a lot of ways, I suppose, but so is keeping the border at the Rhine and that kept French foreign policy busy for a few centuries, so border politics don’t have to be all that complex.
Putin et al – they know climate change is real. Trump’s a decaying fool and might not know now if he ever did, but Putin? He knows. But heading a petrostate dictatorship with lots of far-northern land? He doesn’t want to stop it, because it’s the outsourced expense of allllllll Russia’s money, and if billions die, well, that’s the cost of doing business.
I call map one Putin’s Wall. Map two? Let’s call it Solovyov’s Wall, since as far as I can tell he’s the most famous proponent of “marching all the way to Paris.” Soloyvov’s Wall isn’t attainable – it won’t happen, it’s (ugh) aspirational – but I do think Trump wants to give Putin his wall, and that Putin has enough trust in Russia’s ability to handle MAGA that he’s willing to let Trump and his replacements handle the west.
Personally, I think MAGA has enough interest in a semi-mythical White Europe that they’re willing to do it. As long as they’re lead by the right – white, fascist – governments.
Hence, this hideous betrayal of a document.
That said, let me be real clear about something: On their own, Russia cannot attain Putin’s Wall. It’d take a complete American betrayal and European capitulation for them to have any chance. They cannot do it alone.
But thanks to MAGA and Trump, they’re on the edge of getting that American betrayal. They want to push that betrayal to completion. If they get it, then they’ll help the US make MAGA happen in Europe, in order to get the second necessary condition of European collapse and capitulation.
Russia’s no match for the EU as a whole. But torn apart? Picking off one little country at a time is… it’s not easy, it’s absolutely not, but they’re willing to kill as many of their own as is necessary for as long as is necessary to do it. Particularly if they’re ethnic minorities. And since nobody wants to flee a climate disaster to a war zone anyway, so he wins either way. Whether deterred by mountains or by war, refugees would go elsewhere, or not at all.
And that’s why I think this is a climate war. Not a war triggered by climate changes in Russia, but by Russia wanting to keep oil and gas going forever and keep out the people that will starve and kill.
You noticed Iran saying that Tehran will have to be abandoned as a capital, didn’t you? It’s more corruption and incompetence than climate change – but it’s a bit of all three. Climate change has moved the timetable. Made things worse. And yet, we’re just getting started.
So, then. Where are we? Ah, yes. How this all plays out.
There’s a bit of a feeling out there that Trump is weakened and even some who think that this nightmare is… more or less over. That Trump is a “lame duck,” that there is no MAGA without him.
That’s partially true. Trump is weakened. MAGA is, too, and they’ve been dependant upon his stardom – and fandom – to reach critical mass. They will be badly wounded – but not out – once he goes.
But none of that means this is over. The more trouble MAGA and Trump think they’re in, the more Trump and MAGA will lash out, trying to push their fascist power fantasies into existence. We will all see more betrayals, more sabotage, more oppression – the ICE army of white supremacists they’re working to summon into existence, funded by the so-called “big beautiful bill,” will actively work to dwarf the violence and abuses we’ve seen this year.
It’s their vision of the future, and they’re going to fight for it. It’s what they want, it’s what they’re all in to get, and it’s what they will do anything to achieve.
And they will not go down quietly. Take heart in the recent massive election shifts. Take heart in Trump’s decay and weakness and failing… opinion polls. Take heart in the America First/MAGA civil war. Take heart in all of it.
But do not, for a moment, think this is actually over.
It's getting warmer and we're having a very wet kind of snow, with lots of slush on the ground. I found out that the thermostat that controls the heat in the chicken coop (makes the heat come on at 20F and go off again when it reaches 25F) was not working. So I ordered a new thermostat. It'll be here next week.
Dave and I are leaving soon to do some errands in town and possibly have lunch at the Chinese buffet. Later...
I'm back at work for a couple of days, so throwing today's rec out early to avoid forgetting and ruining my ten (\o/) day streak.
Chosen by the very first hit of the Random Icon button... *drumroll*
❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ Rec-cember Day 10
Hawkeye / Thunderbolts got me thinking she's so cool by explosivesky (6,983 words). Cute, through and through. Since it's December and at one point presents are mentioned, do I get to put another notch under Christmas Recs? “Yes, I know of Ikea,” Yelena says. “I have been all over the world. I know it is a furniture store.”
“Okay, but have you ever been inside one?” Kate pegs. She even leans closer, as if searching for the crack revealed by the question.
Yelena shifts between feet. “No,” she mumbles grumpily. “I have not been inside one.”
“They have meatballs. Swedish meatballs. They’re delicious. We can get you, like, maybe a bookshelf, or a corkboard, or - definitely a bedspread, I honestly thought that was a large decorative boulder for some reason–”
“You want to bring color into my room, Kate Bishop?”
Sooooo… if you read a spectacular fic but at the end see it has 880 whopping comments (🤯), is it still cool to add it to your rec list and assume there’s actually a person that hasn’t read it yet? Asking for a friend.
Toootally unrelated, I’ve been watching Welcome to Derry and my brain’s been having a great time being a bastard and making AUs where Claudia and Louis don’t make it to Europe but wind up in Derry instead. Bonus Armand in the sewers to be extra bastard about it.
❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ Rec-cember Day 9
Santa Clarita Diet what all the troubles are for by thegatorgood (1,961 words). Aw man I miss the Hammonds, and this had me laughing repeatedly. Dad cleared his throat. "How's your foot, honey?"
"It's funny," said Mom, "but it reminds me of that time your mother took us out to that French restaurant right before we got engaged, do you remember? There was a cheese that tasted like this."
She chomped down on a toe. Abby decided it was time to check in with Eric.
"You did what?" he asked, when she told him about their latest run-in with the law.
Et tu, nerdus? "I don't get what's such a big deal about it. I mean, Dad pointed a gun at someone's head for the tenth time, but somehow I'm in trouble for grabbing a can of Pringles."
"Because," said Eric, his face in the Skype window so worried it was almost cute, "in west Texas pulling a gun out is like saying, 'Hi, I have a gun!' But if you pull a gun out and take stuff they put you in jail for years."
"It was just a bunch of junk food!"
"So what, Jean Valjean? Armed robbery is armed robbery."
from the passphrase string "fabulous tattoo Harvey", Reddit user u/waydomatic and ChatGPT made
( this cheerful example )
The LLM thinks Harvey is a muscular white guy wearing a skimpy purple Speedo; arms, shoulder and upper chest covered in rose tattoos. He flexes his right arm and flashes a big white smile under his handlebar mustache. Of course he's wearing a rose crown.
Saving the generated image would certainly be more secure than writing down the password.
Dr. Funnyname? Scheduled. Dental cleaning? Scheduled. Gosh, their office staff is busy. Bill? Paid. Yeah, that's the largest wire transfer I've ever sent, and the biggest one I ever hope to send. I figured that waiting a month would get me lest than ten bucks in interest, and it's worth it to me not to have to think about it.
To do:
Lodging. Got recommendations from the Sculptor's office.
Ground transpo for the day of surgery. This is through the Sculptor's office.
Plane tickets, in coordination with Dancer. I offered to pay hers, but she... did not accept.
My name is Logistica, Queen of Details. Look upon my works, ye mighty! Or something.
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sistawendy) wrote2025-12-13 04:38 pm
