Reading

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows. A squirrel was running around in the trees.

I put out water for the birds.

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Current Mood: potato

Entry tags:

life in general

Hello?... Anyone here?

Happy new year to all.

The UC campuses close between Christmas and New Year, so I spent the entire past week being a potato. A knitting potato. I think I only left the house twice the whole time, and my only socializing consisted of a board game night with the ladies from my knitting circle on Tuesday. It was very relaxing.k

Back to work tomorrow, which is just silly if you ask me. Like, would it really have killed them to add one more day and give us the whole week off?

Mom visited over the weekend before Christmas, and we went up to Costa Mesa to see the American Ballet Theater do The Nutcracker. We had originally tried to do it last year, but that fell through due to airline shenanigans. This year, Mom drove in, which went much more smoothly. It was a lovely performance and more than worth the trip.

I feel like I should post about some fannish stuff, like Pluribus or The Mighty Nein, but I'm not done being a potato yet.

Current Mood: excited

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Rose and Bay Awards

The 2026 Rose and Bay Awards are now open for nominations! Please make your nominations and pass the word to all the crowdfunders you know and encourage them to participate. It would be especially helpful for folks you know via places like Kickstarter or Patreon, as I'm not on those sites.

The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2025.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2026.
The voting period spans February 1-February 28, 2026.

I am eligible in the Poetry and Patron categories this year, if anyone wants to nominate me.

These are the handlers for the 2026 award season:

Art: gs_silva Nominate art! Vote for art!
Fiction: fuzzyred Nominate fiction! Vote for fiction!
Poetry: gs_silva Nominate poetry! Vote for poetry!
Webcomic: curiosity Nominate webcomics! Vote for webcomics!
Other Project: curiosity Nominate other projects! Vote for other projects!
Patron: fuzzyred Nominate patrons! Vote for patrons!

Current Mood: amused

Entry tags:

humor,
science

Humor

A set of funny science memes. Do not read with mouth full.

Current Mood: excited

Entry tags:

Snowflake Challenge 1: Icebreaker

Snowflake Challenge 1: The Icebreaker Challenge

Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

( Read more... )

Current Mood: enthralled

Entry tags:

heated rivalry

Heated Rivalry rec

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Location: Bangor, Gwynedd
Crossposts: https://lexin.insanejournal.com/332909.html

Entry tags:

cats

Happy New Year

HNY to all who read here.

Geraint is collecting names; so far he’s Fudge Stealer, Ratbag, Gremlin Stinky Poo Nobbs. He’s a sweetheart when quiet and a nightmare when awake and playing.

Get anything you have left on LJ backed up ASAP

I just posted a thread to my Bluesky account about why I think it's extremely urgent for people to back up anything they still have on LiveJournal, however they do it. Thread starts here:

https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3mbebi2xfxc25

ru-news LJ post I was relying on:

https://ru-news.livejournal.com/80899.html

Please spread this far and wide so as many people see it as possible, because I really don't see English-language LJ continuing in its present form for much longer, and I know some people may still have things they care about there. It doesn't matter how you get it backed up, but it's absolutely crunch time for getting it backed up.

Current Mood: amused

Entry tags:

how to,
humor

Persistence

I love this quote. It's actually good advice.

Don't chase your dreams.

Current Mood: busy

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Poem: "Ruling from Beneath"

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It was inspired by a remark from

fuzzyred. It also fills the "Deep Blue Sea" square in my 5-1-25 card for the Colors Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the Kraken thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

"Ruling from Beneath"

Kraken had always contained
enough scientists to understand
observation changing experiments.

They realized that ruling from beneath
would cause less ripples, less risk of
rocking the boat, than trying to be
the shadow behind the throne.

Nobody would ever look for
world leaders underneath
the deep blue sea.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Public Domain Day Bingo Card 1-1-26

Here is my card for the Public Domain Day Bingo over in

allbingo. The fest runs from January 1-31. (See all my 2026 bingo cards.)

If you'd like to sponsor a particular square, especially if you have an idea for what character, series, or situation it would fit -- talk to me and we'll work something out. I've had a few requests for this and the results have been awesome so far. This is a good opportunity for those of you with favorites that don't always mesh well with the themes of my monthly projects. I may still post some of the fills for free, because I'm using this to attract new readers; but if it brings in money, that means I can do more of it. That's part of why I'm crossing some of the bingo prompts with other projects, such as the Poetry Fishbowl.

Underlined prompts have been filled.

PUBLIC DOMAIN DAY CARD

Seas Beneath	Private	You're Driving Me Crazy	Body and Soul	The Secret of the Old Clock
Cakes and Ale	Chasing Rainbows	The Castle	Soup to Nuts	Born Reckless
The Hidden Staircase	Just Imagine	WILD CARD	Up the River	But Not for Me
The Mysterious Universe	The Door	The Green Pastures	A Cup of Coffee	Beyond the Blue Horizon
The End of the World	Grumpy	City Girl	Something to Remember You By	Fascinating Rhythm

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Hangover Severity and Symptom Tracker

For those who may have overindulged (or know someone else who has) recently:

Hangover Severity and Symptom Tracker

24 of the Best Hangover Foods to Ease Your Pain

Additional resources appear in the content notes for poems dealing with overconsumption of alcohol.

"Monkey Chew Pepper" and Monkey content notes

"The Hog Knows the Tree" and Hog content notes

"The Fourth for My Enemies" and Fourth content notes

"When in a Dark Place" and Dark content notes

"Our Power to Change" and Power content notes

Current Mood: busy

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Planning Ahead Goals for 2027

This is a new post to track goals that I want to set for 2027. During January, the 2026 list will remain relatively fluid. I might add a few things to it later on. Toward the end of the year, however, I usually start thinking of goals for the following year. Previously, I started putting those at the bottom of the 2024 goals list. So I figured it was time to make a separate post for this purpose. That should make it easier to compose the goal list for 2027 when the time comes.

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Current Mood: busy

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Friending Memes in 2026

Friending memes, or friendzies, offer a great way to connect with new people. It occurs to me that I can list them here, with links to my entries, and have a useful reference.

This is the best time of year to run such events, because lots of people dust off their blogs in January. Also,

snowflake_challenge runs this month with challenges on odd-numbered days, and it's among the biggest events on Dreamwidth. (See my 2023 post on Friending Memes.)

Here are some resources ...

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Current Mood: busy

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My Crowdfunding Activities in 2026

It is much easier to keep an accurate tally if I do it during the year rather than trying to backtrack after the fact. See my crowdfunding activities from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

I serve as a maintainer of the Crowdfunding communities on LiveJournal and on Dreamwidth.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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Bingo Blackouts in 2025

At the end of the year, I remove any leftover cards from two years ago, and count up my blackouts from the previous year -- I move them to the back of the stack when complete.

In 2019, I made 1 blackout.

In 2020, I made 6 blackouts.

In 2021, I made 3 blackouts.

In 2022, I made 5 blackouts: Valentines Bingo 2/1/22, National Crafting Month 3/1/22, Body Parts 7/1/22, Reel Time 8/1/22, Land of Oz 9/1/22.

In 2023, I made 3 blackouts: Public Domain Day 1/1/23, March is... Bingo 3/1/23, Pets and Animals 5/1/23.

In 2024, I made 1 blackout: National Crafting Month 3/1/24.

In 2025, I made 1 blackout: Western Bingo Card 7/1/25.

Current Mood: creative

Entry tags:

My Bingo Fests for 2026

See my bingo fests from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

These are my bingo cards from 2025:

Public Domain Day Bingo Fest

Card 1-1-25

Valentines Bingo Fest

Card 2-1-25

Tolkien Bingo Fest

Card 3-1-25

Aesthetics Bingo Fest

Card 4-1-25

Color Fest Bingo

Card 5-1-25

Pride Fest Bingo

Card 6-2-25

Western Bingo Fest

Card 7-1-25

Crime Classics Bingo Fest

Card 8-1-25

Piracy Bingo Fest

Card 9-1-25

Fall Festival Bingo

Card 10-1-25

Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories Bingo

Card 11-1-25

December Amnesty Fest (no post or card)

These are my bingo cards from 2026:

Public Domain Day Bingo

Card 1-1-26

I also run the

allbingo community. Use this to share your accomplishments for a custom-made bingo card, for old cards from other communities, or to echo your current bingo activity.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Planting Ahead in 2026

This post contains a list of things I would like to plant in the future, places I enjoy shopping, and tracking for plant orders.

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Current Mood: busy

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2026 Wishlist in Progress

Keeping track of stuff I like or want is easier if I make a place for it through the year, rather than trying to do it at the last minute. This worked great in the past, so I'm continuing the practice. See my wishlists from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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Goals for 2026

Each year, I think about what I have accomplished and what I want to do next. (See my goals for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.) These are some of my goals for 2026...

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