Weekend

Feb. 2nd, 2026 08:49 pm
[personal profile] cosmolinguist

Work team check-in this morning, I dreaded getting asked "How was your weekend, Erik?" My actual weekend: onboarding for new antifascist activities and returning to old ones, across two continents. My answer: "Oh you know, quiet."

I'm not doing anything scary or glamorous btw: mostly I'm in a bunch of Signal chats and standing around having cool conversations with strangers. There really is stuff for everyone to do.

(Including the people who are looking after people like me. I had a bad brain day yesterday and then listened to my parents for an hour and this time it was 100% [cw: MN, ICE, etc.] Details I'd managed to avoid myself, my mom just splurged all over me. My mom was late getting in touch with me because she'd been on the phone to her most annoying sister for the previous hour and, except for this bare fact, didn't even mention it. Normally I'd expect several solid minutes about how bad that was! So I went to bed feeling really down and the people and things that help lift me up are part of the fight too.)

Just one thing: 2 February 2026

Feb. 2nd, 2026 06:55 am
[personal profile] jazzyjj posting in [community profile] awesomeers
It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!
curiosity: A white background serves as foil for a three-quarter circle of bay leaves finished with a pinkish-red rose with a bluish-purple center and three gold petals emanating from it. The words Rose & Bay are poised over the image while the word Awards is beneath it. (Rose & Bay)
[personal profile] curiosity posting in [community profile] crowdfunding
Voting is now OPEN for the Other Projects category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes amazing projects that don't fit into any other area. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

In the Other Projects category, the 2025 winner was "The Mending Circle" by Martin Nerurkarwon.

Read more... )

Poll #34169 Other Project
This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2

Select your favorite Other Project of 2025.

View Answers

"May I Enter" by Josh Heath
1 (50.0%)

"The Far Roofs" by Jenna Katerin Moran
0 (0.0%)

"Take Us North" by Anima Interactive
0 (0.0%)

"Min-Maxed" by Clark, David, and Megan (Sellsword Arts), Jack (Jacques Ze Whipper), David (blumineck), Bensei (instructor_bensei), Tater the Bard
1 (50.0%)

curiosity: A white background serves as foil for a three-quarter circle of bay leaves finished with a pinkish-red rose with a bluish-purple center and three gold petals emanating from it. The words Rose & Bay are poised over the image while the word Awards is beneath it. (Rose & Bay)
[personal profile] curiosity posting in [community profile] crowdfunding
Voting is now OPEN for the Webcomic category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes outstanding webcomics. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

In the Webcomic category, the 2025 winner was "Bronwyn: Short Story Collection" by Isaac George.

Read more... )

Poll #34168 Webcomic
This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 1

Choose your favorite Webcomic project.

View Answers

"Alien Romance" by [personal profile] gs_silva
0 (0.0%)

"Cat's Cafe" by Matt Tarpley
0 (0.0%)

"ADHD Alien" by ADHD Alien
1 (100.0%)

"Quantum Vibe" by Scott Bieser w/Zeke Bieser
0 (0.0%)

"False Knees" by Joshua Barkman
0 (0.0%)

Art Movement: Arts and Crafts

Feb. 1st, 2026 06:29 pm
bookblather: A picture of Yomiko Readman looking at books with the text "bookgasm." (Default)
[personal profile] bookblather posting in [community profile] rainbowlounge
Arts and Crafts

Set yourself a goal that you think you can complete between today, February 1st, and May 1st. This can be a number of colors completed, a certain palette, a number of styles or supplies used, a word count, a combination of these-- anything that you regard as a challenge. Comment on this post with your goal.

On May 1st, one of the mods will put up a post where you can comment reiterating your goal and whether or not you completed it. If you complete your goal, you get twenty Novelty Beads prompts. If you can sell your goal as being related to the Arts and Crafts movement, you'll get five prompts whether you completed it or not.

Goal-setting runs from today, February 1st, to February 15th. The challenge runs from today to May 1st. We will have an Amnesty Week immediately after.

Set your goals in this post, and happy writing!
fuzzyred: purple rose with a circle of green leaves, framed by words "Rose & Bay Awards" (Rose and Bay Award)
[personal profile] fuzzyred posting in [community profile] crowdfunding
Voting is now open for the Poetry category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional poetry. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2025 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

In the Poetry category, the 2025 winners were a TIE between The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters - A Sci-Fi Anthology by Thinking Ink Press and The Haiku Foundation by The Haiku Foundation.

Read more... )
fuzzyred: purple rose with a circle of green leaves, framed by words "Rose & Bay Awards" (Rose and Bay Award)
[personal profile] fuzzyred posting in [community profile] crowdfunding
Voting is now open for the Art category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional poetry. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2025 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

In the Art category, the 2025 winner was "Anubis & Bastet ☆ Pharaoh's Guardians ☆ Plush" by Kayla AKA.

Read more... )
fuzzyred: purple rose with a circle of green leaves, framed by words "Rose & Bay Awards" (Rose and Bay Award)
[personal profile] fuzzyred posting in [community profile] crowdfunding
Voting is now open for the Patron category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional artists. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Landing Page.

Read more... )

**Edit: If you voted for the patron category on Feb 1, or early Feb 2, please vote again. I had to change the poll because I accidentally forgot a nominee. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Poll #34174 Voting for 2026 Rose & Bay Awards: Patron
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 0


Choose your favourite Parton.

View Answers

Fuzzyred patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
0 (0.0%)

Anthony Barrette patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
0 (0.0%)

Siliconshaman patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
0 (0.0%)

Sarah Williams aka Dialecticdreamer patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
0 (0.0%)

Stacey R Van Keuren aka Librarygeek patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
0 (0.0%)

Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith patron of Feathering the Nest by Sarah Williams aka Dialecticdreamer
0 (0.0%)

fuzzyred: purple rose with a circle of green leaves, framed by words "Rose & Bay Awards" (Rose and Bay Award)
[personal profile] fuzzyred posting in [community profile] crowdfunding
Voting is now open for the Fiction category of the Rose and Bay Awards. These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional artists. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Landing Page.

Read more... )

Poll #34161 Voting for 2026 Rose & Bay Awards: Fiction
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5


Voting for your favourite Fiction project.

View Answers

Magpie Monday by Dialecticdreamer
4 (80.0%)

Common Bonds 2: An Anthology of Aromantic SFF by Claudie Arseneault
1 (20.0%)

Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Cozy Academia Anthology by duckprintspress
3 (60.0%)

Highlander Sequel Fic

Feb. 1st, 2026 01:07 pm
senmut: Rebecca Horne in a hat with a smirk (Highlander: Rebecca)
[personal profile] senmut
AO3 Link | Closing Up Shop: Seacouver (1335 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Highlander Movieverse, Highlander The Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Rachel Ellenstein [Highlander Movieverse], Joe Dawson [Highlander the Series]
Additional Tags: First Meetings, Post-The Gathering (Highlander)
Summary:

And then a few years passed...



Closing Up Shop: Seacouver

While Connor and Duncan were being themselves, Rachel was a little out of sorts. Tessa was a nice lady, one so recently brought into knowing what they were. However, Tessa was an artist, and driven currently by a piece that Rachel could already see would be lovely. The boy Richie was a little rash and Rachel didn't fully feel a connection to him yet, but she would work on that, after Connor explained why Duncan and Tessa were watching over him.

No, she just needed to be mindful of her own wishes and need to stretch her legs currently. Dinner could be for socializing. Right now, she had sights to see, stores to discover, and a need to be away from the casual masculinity contests the pair of cousins indulged themselves in during these infrequent reunions.

That in mind, Rachel turned her steps to a brisk walk in the same district the couple lived and worked in, ducking into shops as they caught her idea, pausing to sample the food about midmorning, and slowly circling back around.

A bookstore caught her eye, and she slipped within to browse, hopeful of something to keep her entertained until Connor decided they had played the game of risk long enough in this reunion.

She glanced over to the only other person present —

— and was thrown back to a lovely day spent with a kind young man.

She had not survived for so long as Connor's daughter and self-appointed protector from the world at large to give away her suspicion of the man's convenient location so near to Duncan when he had appeared in her life so close to the changing tides in Connor's own life. For half a moment, she almost wished Brenda had not decided Connor was too overwhelming, that it had been his wife on this trip instead of herself.

But she had never been a coward, and understood perfectly well why Connor and Brenda were separated now. She could — would — handle this meeting now upon her.

"Stepped away from your photography in favor of book collections, Mister Dawson?" she asked in a charming voice, letting her smile reflect the surprise of seeing a man of her past so far from where they had met.

"Miss Ellenstein, what a surprise." He stood, using the cane to do so, and Rachel added more details to the picture she was building. He was noticeably older, as she herself was, the reliance on the cane a bit more pronounced, but his smile was still making his face light up with disarming sincerity.

Who was Joe Dawson, that he was mortal and yet so close to the lives of those like her Connor?

"Also, the books are less finicky about lighting and framing," he added as he walked over to her. "Looking for anything of particular interest?"

"Browsing, actually, passing the time. It's an eclectic neighborhood, it seems."

"You could say that," Joe agreed. "If anything catches your eye, I am always up to negotiate with an astute antiquities dealer such as yourself."

That he was firmly the center of her attention was not something she betrayed, only smiling and moving on to browse.

"Perhaps we could find the dessert we had no room for in New York?" she offered as he was moving back to the table he'd been working from.

"I can think of nothing better for this evening."

Connor would tell her she was playing with fire, when there was something so far amiss. Rachel preferred to see it as gathering intelligence on potential flashpoints.





Rachel passed the first part of the meal with Joe in conversation about what she had seen, and he offered ideas of new places to visit while she was in town. As she played the tourist, she considered just how to go about learning why he was here, so close to Connor's cousin after she'd met him in the aftermath of Connor's endgame against the Kurgan.

As the dessert course was delivered, Rachel glanced over and caught Joe studying her. He gave the smile and bashful look for being caught, and she found herself responding to that on a level she deemed dangerous.

Not necessarily in a physical danger sense, but to Connor's safety, and that of Duncan and his chosen family, she decided firmly.

"I had the impression you were more easterly in your setting, when we first met," Rachel said, giving him the faintest smile.

"Better opportunities out this way for me." He took a bite, chased it with the wine, and then shifted his body language a little. Rachel wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it put her more on guard. "What about you? No more restoration and purchasing of antiquities?"

"Here and there, but more by appointment with travel benefits." Rachel tried her own tiramisu, decided she could name three places that served better, and sipped her coffee to wash it down. "Retirement allows me more opportunities in many ways, to keep an eye on my interests."

"Most people choose to turn their attention to new things when they let go of their old lives," Joe mused. "I suppose there's exceptions to anything that could be normal about humans, though."

"I find it is a good life, to keep an eye on those people or events that stand out," she answered. "After all, even those of us that prefer to live life a day at a time might be caught up in extraordinary events."

Had that been a shading of his eyes, something in memory haunting him now? Did he have a person like Connor that had saved him, and that was how he was connected? It couldn't be Duncan; she'd mentioned stopping in the book shop and making this date in his hearing without a single spike of interest.

And Duncan, for all he was a veteran of his years, still had difficulty masking himself.

"To observe something is to change it, or be changed by it," Joe pointed out. "Getting caught up in the ways and lives of the unusual ones can be a difficult thing."

"I am certain that is so, but I learned as a child that just standing by doesn't keep you any safer, or those you care about," she said softly. "Which may be why I took to the antiquities so easily. Every object holds some story, if you can just trace the history of it. People can be much the same."

"Very true," Joe said, giving the faint smile and change of body posture to move the conversation away from this.

Who was the one for Joe? And was Joe scouting others to mark targets, or warn of danger? Rachel rather hoped it was the latter, as she asked his opinion of a local museum, letting the double-layered words drop for now.





"Have a good night?" Connor asked as he took her jacket from her.

"Waiting up for me?" Rachel retorted, before leaning in to kiss his cheek.

"Maybe."

"Yes."

He smiled, his eyes crinkling up as that little catching laugh came out, before he offered for her to precede him into the sitting room. She settled in a chair, listening, but it seemed Duncan and Tessa must be out from the quiet. She still wasn't certain if Richie actually lived here or was just in and out.

"I think he knows someone like you, but I also don't think he's a danger," Rachel said, meeting Connor's eyes.

"Then… I'll warn Duncan that he's been seen near us before, and hopefully my little cousin can be a sensible man about the risks he takes."

"Hmm, he's as much a MacLeod as you," she pointed out, getting a warm laugh in response.

"Hey, I can dream!" Connor rebutted. "We are still flying out tomorrow."

Rachel nodded. "For the best." She would also hope this did not cause Duncan new grief in the long run, but her duty was to Connor… even if Connor saw it the other way around.

umadoshi: (kittens - Sinha - napping)
[personal profile] umadoshi
One link, which hopefully won't be paywalled: "Rachel Reid's wild Heated Rivalry ride" at The Globe and Mail. The whole "local girl makes good" element of the HR show taking over the world is a very nice cherry on top of the whole thing, and I really liked this profile.

Reading: I'm maybe 30% into Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl and wavering about continuing. I've gotten better about DNFing things, and this time I actually have the book out of the library, so the good old financial sunk-cost fallacy isn't in play. But I still don't like DNFing.

I've also read some more of Braiding Sweetgrass and reread vol. 2 of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service.

Watching: Crunchyroll wasn't in the mood to work when we attempted to watch last week's ep. of Frieren, so we're two episodes behind on that. (Annoyingly, Netflix keeps saying it thinks we'd love the show, but only has season 1.) Hopefully we'll get caught up on the most recent ep. of The Pitt tonight.

On top of those currently-running things, we're now one episode into Midnight Mass.

Playing: Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven continues to delight me.

Weathering: There's another storm heading in, due to arrive tonight, but it looks like it's veered enough that our local forecast is now for a somewhat more reasonable amount of snow than I'd been hearing before yesterday evening or so. Apparently it's also bringing fairly high winds, so there's the usual "will the power stay on?" worry. (Our neighborhood has been really lucky on that front this season, and [personal profile] scruloose and I are pretty well prepared, so it's not a huge worry.)

Working: I turned in the final volume (!) of Pet Shop of Horrors on Friday and immediately tried to switch to the next volume of Now That We Draw, since that's due mid-week, but my brain was Not Having It; I suspect it was the sheer tonal dissonance as much as anything. But then yesterday, what with the storm warning and all, I basically did the last four-fifths of the book in one sitting to make sure I at least had a workable draft, and now my brain is pretty crisped. (It's not a very text-heavy or tricky rewrite, and the translators make it pretty painless, so four-fifths is a lot at once but not the feat it would be with some series.)

So now I have a draft with just a couple tweaks still to be made and a final read-through to be done, and I'm tempting fate a bit by not trying to get that all off my plate today, but I think letting it rest for a day before reviewing it is extra important given that I did the draft so fast. So I'm gambling a bit, but also have something I can submit with caveats if need be, if we do lose power for three days or something.

Sleeping: Sleep has been distinctly Not Great for the last few (?) nights. I've been doing decently at getting to bed in a timely fashion and mostly not taking forever to fall asleep, but I've been having even weirder and more stressful dreams than usual and it's all been very restless.

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The Marquis de All The Knives

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