rowyn | Network

conuly posting in

Dear Care and Feeding,

When I was 14, my parents kicked me out because I was doing drugs and getting rides with random dudes. My uncle found me a couple of days later, having driven around town constantly looking for me the moment he heard about what had happened. He was a total wild man, but he put a roof over my head when nobody else would, gave me unconditional love, and helped me find my way. He helped me get into college, and he paid for it.

When he died, he left a void in my life. He also left me the house I grew up in, a large amount of money, and a successful business. Suddenly, my parents and my brothers, whom I’ve not spoken to in nearly two decades, are “reaching out.” It’s heartbreaking because I’ve always wanted my family back, but I am not stupid enough to believe that they have any interest in me. Is there a pathway for reconciliation here? Or am I just kidding myself? Am I a fool for wanting these people in my life? Or to even believe that could happen on my terms?

—Misspent Youth

( Read more... )

mekare

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mekare

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Current Mood: lethargic

smbc_comics_feed

Posted by Zach Weinersmith

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/waste

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
I think I could do about 100 of these if there were a market for a McRib compilation and no such thing as copyright lawsuits.

Today's News:

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/waste

conuly posting in

agonyaunt

Dear Prudence,

A few days after Christmas, my oldest sister (“Clair”) sent a text message to me and my siblings (four of us total) saying “due to what happened on Christmas Day, I am taking a break from my family”—nothing more, no explanation, no response to us texting back “what happened?”. Christmas was at my house, and I could not think of anything bad that happened, and my other siblings were at a loss also. In talking to my mom a few days later, she mentioned that Clair was upset that we didn’t get her grandkids (ages 5 and 7), my grandnephews, anything for Christmas and that she and her family were topics of discussion and unwarranted questions were being asked about them and she didn’t like it. I can’t for the life of me imagine why.

Her son and his wife and kids moved back to the area three months ago and other than some baby gifts when they were newborns, no gifts have ever been given to them, so the expectation caught us completely off guard. As for being the topic of discussion and questions? How could we help ourselves when Clair was charged with vandalism a week before Christmas when she found out the married man she was seeing had no intention of leaving his wife for her, and she keyed and spray painted his car. Plus, why did her son, with supposedly a good job and a house, just up and move back with no explanation and remain unwilling to give one? And why is her unemployed daughter not applying where her uncle works, as they are hiring for entry level positions? Could it be because she knows she will fail the drug test?

This brings me to last weekend, when our cousin “Emily” and her husband were travelling near our area. They stayed the night at my house, so I invited my mom and other siblings, except for Clair (remember, no contact), over for supper. Yesterday, Clair found out about Emily’s visit and sent me a message demanding to know why she wasn’t made aware of Emily visiting and not being invited for supper. I mentioned her “break from the family” and she said “that’s not what I said,” so I sent her a screenshot of her message and said “I don’t know how to take it any other way except that you don’t want anything to do with the family.” Today she sent another message to the family saying she wants to be included in family things, but she and her family are “off limits for questions and conversations.”

Am I being unreasonable in thinking this requirement is ridiculous? In the past, she has had no issues in making my and my sibling’s families the topic of discussion, good or bad.

—Not Buying It

( Read more... )

rolanni

Tuesday. Sunny and cold. How cold you ask? Five-Fahrenheit-feels-like-minus-five-Fahrenheit.

Trash and recycling are at the curb, boxes of books are in the back of the Subaru, I'm sitting in the comfy chair in my office getting a dose of sunlight, and Firefly is marching around on my lap slapping my face with her tail.

No, wait, now she's laying on her side making biscuits, no -- now she's tucked up under my chin and gazing soulfully into my face. She's purring really loudly. So I guess that's my good morning.

Last night, I watched the first episode of Riot Women and I'm having a good time with it. For values of a good time. They are, after all, talking about a subject that interests me greatly as an old woman, which is the sudden facility to become invisible once you're past a certain age. This is especially interesting to me because I passed most of my early life as an invisible person, when I wasn't being told I was lazy and stupid.

Firefly, for those keeping score, is now sprawled across my lap, smiling up at me, purring, and continuing to make biscuits with one paw. I would say that this is a spoiled cat.

In a few minutes I'll be getting up to get breakfast, which will be oatmeal, chocolate chips, and almond butter and then I'll get on the road to get my haircut and to deliver books.

What's on your schedule today?

rydra_wong posting in

thisfinecrew

Via Naomi Kritzer on Bsky, this thread of ways to donate or volunteer:

https://bsky.app/profile/leeceelee.bsky.social/post/3mduanvydvs2q

jazzyjj posting in

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!

cahn

okay I had SO many feelings about this 2024 Vienna Don Carlo. Watching another whole Don Carlo in early 2026 was not actually in my plans (having watched lots of bits and pieces in late 2025), but uh I may have written a fic involving a fictional staging of this opera that doubled the role of Posa, and then

Ladybug_21 mentioned that they'd heard of a production with doubles of all the historical characters -- meaning not Posa but the other main characters -- and of course I had to go find it. I am here to report that it is this absolutely wild regie modern AU that I adored and found completely riveting. Those of you who dislike regie would greatly dislike it (although the singing is great, consider listening to the audio) and those of you who like regie would quite enjoy it, I think. The director is Kirill Serebrennikov, and now I want to see any opera he ever does. I found the staging (with a couple of exceptions) a rather coherent and fascinating concept.

(So as to put this outside of the cut: this is the 4-act version. Joshua Guerrero is Carlo, Étienne Dupuis is Rodrigo, Roberto Tagliavini is Filippo, Asmik Grigorian is Elisabetta, and Eve-Maud Hubeaux is Eboli. I had not heard or watched any of them except Dupuis, but I thought all of them were great, the singing was just gorgeous and their acting is wonderful too. I am really loving the modern trend of opera singers being great actors.)

( I went in unspoiled except for the above and LOVED being unspoiled, so I'm putting all of this under cut, just in case -- spoilers for the entire production. )But tl;dr: I did feel like the updating of the setting did drive home what an opera of big themes and big emotions Don Carlo is, and how the relationships (except for Filippo-Rodrigo, in this production) drive the big emotions that drive the opera. (Interestingly, the singers don't touch very much; Rodrigo and Carlo do a little, and Elisabetta and Carlo touch hands very briefly in their last duet, and then of course embrace right before Filippo walks in -- but as opposed to that heartbreaking Bastille Don Carlos I saw, it still all works without the touching, and just highlights how our society is much less touchy-feely than it could be.

I really liked it, and I was both thinking about it days later and humming little bits of the score.

redbird

The Scintillation Discord does an annual Groundhog Day gift exchange, a somewhat arbitrary date that has nothing to do with either weather/climate predictions or time loops (xkcd: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/groundhog_day_meaning_2x.png). I received two small books, a blank notebook, and some dark chocolate stars, along with a note explaining that the giver wasn't sure what to get me.

The bag of chocolate says "contains: milk, soy" with no further information, so I sent the shop an email asking for more information, and explaining why. The store is in Minneapolis, so I added that I hope they aren't doing too badly under ICE occupation. I have already heard back, with a note saying that the items are made for them, so he can't be sure how much milk or soy they contain, and that they are doing OK during these very troubling times.

yourlibrarian posting in

marchmetamatterschallenge

It's February 1, so that means the kickoff to this year's March Meta Matters Challenge is just 4 weeks away! As usual, the challenge involves locating and copying over meta you've created to a second site in order to ensure its preservation, plus there will be some prompts for creating new meta.

As recorded in our FAQ it's recommended to cross post meta to SquidgeWorld where all types of it are welcome. Additionally, Squidge offers image hosting for fandom content, so if your meta includes images and you need a host, the site will suit.

This does not mean that any challenge participant must use SquidgeWorld, however. If you would prefer to use AO3, to copy content from Tumblr to Dreamwidth, to ensure content is backed up at the Internet Archive, etc. you can choose whatever second destination you would like. The MMM Challenge is primarily concerned with preserving meta so that it doesn't disappear or get lost with site changes, and secondarily with ensuring meta can be easily found so that people can engage with it. Some sites do better at ensuring these things than others.

Feel free to ask questions here about the challenge, locations, etc. Otherwise look for our opening post on March 1!

pendulumscale posting in

fandomcalendar

Description: ygorarepairs is a mini bang event that focuses on rare pair ships for all Yugioh series (including crossovers), open to writers, artists, and image & video editors.

This year's mini bang is in regular bang order. Authors have drafted fics for their chosen rare pair. Artists will claim at least 1 fic to use as inspiration for fanart. Partners will collaborate and share their fanworks together during the posting period for this event. Please read our specifications page for more details about expectations for event works.

Claims for the 2025-2026 mini bang are open!

Artists can see summaries and complete the claim submission form here:
https://docs.getgrist.com/forms/nmJe1ZZzHoDu1qWfkKNGeM/10

Dates (see Schedule for more info):

~~Signups: Nov 1-Nov 30 (writers may start immediately)~~
~~Check-in #1 (writers only): Dec 21-23~~
~~Check-in #2 (writers with claim pitch): Jan 30-Feb 1~~
Claims: Feb 2-6
Claims assigned: Feb 7/8
Artist WIP share: Feb 20-21
Check-in #3 (all participants): Mar 6-7
Posting prep: Mar 12-14
Posting: Mar 15-Apr 4

mific

Two extraordinary CGI sci-fi vids about the exploitation of a distant alien planet. Extraordinary visuals.

solstice-5 [00.10.37]

solstice-5 forgotten archives [00.11.12]

And a brilliant and hilarious short HR edit that turns the show into a thriller murder mystery.

HR thriller edit

mific

Two hot off the press HR recs, and an older GC one.

cut to the feeling - by Charlotte_Stant, one of my fave authors in HR and HR RPF. For magical realism reasons, 18 y.o. Shane wakes up in the body and life of himself at age 35, married to Ilya. It's brilliant, very funny and just the best "crack taken seriously" imaginable. Also hot as hell. So good.

Torture Me (With All I've Wanted) - by Toomuchplor, also an absolute fave author. 17 y.o. Shane and Ilya end up on a long bus ride together. Under a blanket. Yes, it's super hot but all the details are so lovely, the writing so good. I love it.

And so it's gonna be forever has already been reccd by people and is still a WIP damn it, but it's completely addictive. I just loooove fix-it fics, and in this, Ilya dies in the Centaurs' plane crash but is magically transported back to his teens again, reliving his life with all his future memories intact, determined to get it righter this time - and boy, does he make some changes. I could do without a few of the mystical bits but the majority of this fic is like pure crack to me.

rolanni

6 Getting Rid of Bradley, Jennifer Crusie (audio first time)
5 *Carpe Diem ((Liaden Universe® #3), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
4 *Conflict of Honors (Liaden Universe® #2), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
3 *Agent of Change (Liaden Universe® #1), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
2 A Gentleman in Possession of Secrets (Lord Julian #10), Grace Burrowes (e)
1 Spilling the Tea in Gretna Green, Linzi Day (e)

________
*I'm doing a straight-through series read in publication order

dreadlordmrson

Okay, welp. I spent the usual "too much" time becoming human this morning.
As in, it is now past noon and no longer morning, even though I woke up at 8.
...past 1pm, as I finish this post...

But here we are, and it's time for some more Sex Kitten practice art.

( Images (sfw) )

starlady

Festivids went live on Saturday! I have still not watched most of the vids because I was at an Alex Pretti memorial bike ride on Saturday and then at some transit activist events on Sunday and I am trying to also do an Escapade premiere, but what I have watched has been great. And I got a great gift vid!

[VID] Find Your People (9 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: Prodigy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Gwyndala (Star Trek), Jankom Pog, Dal R'el, Zero (Star Trek), Rok-Tahk, Murf (Star Trek), Hologram Janeway (Star Trek)
Additional Tags: Crew as Family, Fanvids
Summary: You can't go it alone, everybody needs help

Really there can never be enough Star Trek: Prodigy vids as far as I'm concerned, and this one is full of great character moments and team/found family feels.

I myself made two Festivids this year, which means I'm already at 100% above my vid production for 2025, so I am very happy about that.

smbc_comics_feed

Posted by Zach Weinersmith

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/private

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
The twist is that her father is named Mechavac-9000.

Today's News:

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/private

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3202/

Originally, the ceremony used a variety of rodents and mustelids, but over time most people agreed it made sense to standardize on a specific individual ground squirrel in Pennsylvania.

https://xkcd.com/3202/

oursin

Like they would have painted a sinister sixth finger (come on down Mr Cromwell insisting on the warts): Hidden detail found in Anne Boleyn portrait was ‘witchcraft rebuttal’, say historians. Hmmm. Oh yeah? Am cynical.

***

Overlooked women artists (maybe I will mosey on down to the Courtauld....): The Courtauld’s riveting, revelatory and deeply researched show of ten lost female painters looks afresh at the golden age of British landscape art:

Some of Mary Smirke’s pictures were ascribed to her brother and Elizabeth Batty’s entire output was assumed to have been her son’s.

***

Men are poor stuff. Men are terribly poor stuff. Men covertly filming women at night and profiting from footage, BBC finds.

***

The Black Beauty in the White House: this is actually about the famous horse book, which was written in a house of that name. In Norfolk.

This is the story of a child from a coastal town in Norfolk, who would go on to influence life around the world and who is just as famous today. Not Horatio Nelson, but rather Anna Sewell, the author of Black Beauty. She managed to not only influence the lives of people but also horses (and possibly many other animals as well) with the story, published only a few months before her death.

***

This looks fascinating though I need to read it a lot more closely: Right place, right time: Luck, geography, and politics:

On 12th May 2020, Mass Observation collected c5,000 diaries from people across the UK. Many of these diaries mention luck and many of these luck stories are geography stories. Geographers, though, have not written much about luck. In this article, I review the literature on luck from within and beyond geography to construct a working definition and geographical approach to luck. The working definition describes luck as chance, fortuitous, unexpected events that were beyond the control of those for whom they are now significant. The geographical approach distinguishes four geographical aspects of luck: the geometry of luck; lucky places; right place, right time; and the practical sphere.

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rowyn

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February 2026

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Page Summary

conuly in agonyaunt - (no subject)
mekare - 2026 Challenges
mekare - Art: Tish Jones (Doctor Who, G)
smbc_comics_feed - Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Waste
conuly in agonyaunt - Well, this is a dramatic letter that's hopefully fake
rolanni - Tuesday morning, with biscuits
rydra_wong in thisfinecrew - Springfield, Ohio is up next
jazzyjj in awesomeers - Just one thing: 3 February 2026
cahn - Don Carlo (Vienna 2024)
redbird - Groundhog Day gift exchange
yourlibrarian in marchmetamatterschallenge - One Month Until March Meta Matters Challenge Begins Again!
pendulumscale in fandomcalendar - Yugioh: YGO Rare Pairs Mini Bang - Artist Claims Open! (Feb. 2-6)
mific - Amazing videos - not just Heated Rivalry!
mific - Three HR recs
rolanni - Books read in 2026
dreadlordmrson - More Sex Kitten art practice
starlady - Festivids!
smbc_comics_feed - Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Private
xkcd_feed - Groundhog Day Meaning
oursin - Things

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