Monday, March 2nd, 2026 09:27 pm
General chat is for anything you want to talk about, k-pop related or not. These will go up at the beginning of every month, so feel free to check back in or comment at any point throughout the month. The post is stickied to the top of the comm along with the admin post.
Monday, March 2nd, 2026 09:26 pm
The regular weekly post for us to talk about any and all of our thoughts about the week's new releases.

Kim Sung Kyu - When I think about you
Everglow - Code
Tunexx
Big Ocean - One Man Army / Cold Moon
V01D - Rockrock
Woodz - Human Extinction / Na Na Na
H1-Key - To. My First Love
Orora (debut)

New MVs are also added to an ongoing Youtube playlist.

Last week's MVs: 23 February

Feel free to add new comments in the replies for songs/MVs we missed.

[ Rec Something Wednesday | WIP Wednesday | Monthly General Chat | Comment Fest ]
Monday, March 2nd, 2026 09:40 am
Happy birthday, [personal profile] elainegrey and [personal profile] thady!
Monday, March 2nd, 2026 10:16 am
 I actually didn't read all that much in February, but here are the books I *did* finish.

Setterfield, Diane: The Thirteenth Tale. Atria Books. 2006.
I loved "A River's Tale" a few years back, so I assumed this novel would be a safe bet. On the surface it circles around the same topics as "A River's Tale": What is fiction? And what is reality in relation to fiction? Does reality even exist or will everything that filters into our consciousness per default turn into fiction? So, on the surface level interesting, especially since it's a book about books / a book about reading and don't we all love those? But I found the plot to be absolutely outlandish and the whole novel rather heavy-handed. I can't say that I was bored, but I had high hopes for this one and Setterfield didn't quite deliver.

Edelbauer, Raphaela: Die Inkommensurablen. Klett-Cotta. 2023. (German)
This is a novel set in Vienna on the literal eve of WWI. It follows three friends as they spend they night and witness how the war breaks out. The vibes of this book are amazing. The Viennese slang is spot-on. (I wouldn't expect this to be translated into English anytime soon and if it is I can't see how a translation could hope to emulate the sound of this book.) Edelbauer more than delivers on the Austrian vibe and on the topics and ideas that were discussed at that point in time. I didn't connect with her characters all the much and all the esoteric talk about shared dreams went right over my head. But the rest was fantastic.

Kay, Adam: This is going to hurt. Picador. 2017.
Read for research and on that front it delivered. Other than that I think it's very specific to its time and place. If you don't live in GB you will have to live with the fact that this book clearly was not written for you. You'll still find some "funny" medical anecdotes in this. So if that's what you're looking for, go ahead and read this. (I'd advise to stay clear if you're pregnant or ever plan on being pregnant.)

Babb, Sanora: Whose Names Are Unknown. University of Oklahoma Press. 2006.
This novel tackles the same topics Steinbeck talks about in "The Grapes of Wrath" (and maybe you remember that I didn't like that book at all). The plot points are very similar - you have a family in the Oklahoma Panhandle that has to deal with continuous crop failure and that then goes to California and lives in a refugee camp. "Whose Names are Unknown" isn't a stellar novel either, but I like numerous things a lot better than in "The Grapes of Wrath": Babb clearly knows what she tallks about. Her descriptions of farm life and a farmer's relationship with his animals is spot-on and rings very true. Also, in contrast to Steinbeck she tells us things and then allows us to come to our own conclusions. You re actually invited to think for yourself in this one. Steinbeck was constantly trying to drive home his own political views via his storytelling. Even if you don't end up reading this novel, have a look at the publication history. It's highly fascinating!

Monday, March 2nd, 2026 11:06 am
1. Wax Sent to Customer Service Jail

Yesterday I asked [personal profile] waxjism, "Hey, don't you want to make a dreamwidth update about being sent back to jail?"

"Nope," she said.

Wax has been feeling sick (?) since we both had a nervous breakdown a year ago last September after losing two cats. She finally went to the doctor a month and a half ago and had a bunch of bloodtests but they found nothing and, I gather, said the next step is to check whether it's hormones or something and she needs to see a different doctor (a gynecologist, maybe?). But they didn't just give her a referral - apparently she has to call back to ask about how to get a referral, or what, because she doesn't actually know how to get that next appointment. Annnnnd she hasn't accumulated enough spoons again yet to do that (including when she had a week of vacation a few weeks ago).

Feeling under the weather has snowballed into near-total burnout and exhaustion and she has been having trouble focusing at work, and as a result her boss called her and revoked her Work From Home privileges, as of two weeks back. She's going back to the saltmines (the customer service mines) every day, and as a result she's even more tired the rest of the time.

On the plus side, it's good for her mental health to leave the house and have a schedule that makes her walk around and breathe fresh air everyday. Not sure if it's as good for her as the extra exhaustion is bad though.

2. My Dad Hospitalized for Copious Hallucination

My dad (69), a quadriplegic wheelchair user who has been recovering from a series of antibiotic resistant infections and other complications and in and out of the hospital constantly for like a year, has a sudden, brand-new, unusual problem. Friday he apparently woke up feeling odd and started hallucinating, at first things like a pool of water on the table or a black webbing on his own hand, then a lizard under the chair and a cat jumping onto the ceiling; they took him to the ER, and the hallucinations got more vivid and numerous very quickly. He was seeing people and animals in the ER and asking my mom if there were really kittens on the floor. By Saturday he was talking to my favorite aunt and uncle (who weren't there) most of the day and by the end of Saturday he was no longer aware that he was in the hospital. My dad has no mental disorders except anxiety, and the doctors were ruling out various kinds of dementia at first, but they thought it was likely to be something acute. He was having urine tests and x-rays and EEGs yesterday, and being interviewed by various doctors. He spent the early part of Sunday keeping my mom awake talking to hallucinated people and asking her to interact with things that weren't there (some tax paperwork on the table he said he had to file, a book he said he saw, stools and tables he wanted her to move); later he was in the house I grew up in (they moved out something like ten years ago), my grandparents' house (sold almost ten years ago), a restaurant, and imaginary places; and he had a brief spell not recognizing my mom, but he remembered who she was a minute later. The psychiatrists were saying they thought it was probably not neurological, and might be metabolic. He seems to be in less danger than he was at several points last year, but this is very stressful for my mom and sister. They both seem scared. I wish I could go there. My parents live with my sister in Louisiana.

3. Loss of One Bunny.

Rowan died Saturday night, fairly suddenly, we think basically of old age. 10 years is thought to be the maximum life span of our type of bunny, and they're 10 years and 4 months right now, but of the two, Japp has been sick several times and Rowan's never had a single health scare and has also been much more active, playful, and happy in recent years. He only seemed sick on Saturday, but he had eaten his most recent meal (which is usually the first sign of danger for ailing bunnies). I've been trying all morning to get in touch with the vet to take him to get cremated: I got up early to call them before Wax left for work with the car, but couldn't get through (and still can't). I will make a separate memorial post about him, but I have to collect pictures first. It's very sad, but we're relieved that it was quick and he didn't seem to suffer and that he had a long happy life and basically died at 101. Also relieved that he was the one to die first: he was much more clingy to Japp, who has always been more independent and not particularly sociable. I am less worried about Japp getting lonely.
Monday, March 2nd, 2026 12:04 am
These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Clothes
National Crafting Month Bingo Card 3-1-26
Birdfeeding
Emotional Neglect
Today's Adventures
Bingo
Books
Food
Birdfeeding
New Year's Resolutions Check In
Philosophical Questions: Government
Books
Space Exploration
Moment of Silence: Neil Sedaka
Pinetree Garden Seeds Order
Follow Friday 2-20-26: Active Communities on Dreamwidth Winter 2025-2026 J-Z
Birdfeeding
Recipe: African Spice Cookies
Photos: Water Garden
Photos: Worm Bin
Photos: House Yard
Crafts
Vocabulary: Proforestation
Birdfeeding
Willow Cuttings
Community Thursdays
Vocabulary: Bossage
Linguistics
Birdfeeding
Cuddle Party

Safety has 50 comments. Food has 53 comments. Wildlife has 40 comments. Food has 67 comments. Robotics has 147 comments.


There will be a Poetry Fishbowl on Tuesday, March 3 with a theme of "World Cuisine." I hope to see you then!


March Meta Matters Challenge banner

[community profile] marchmetamatterschallenge is running this month. See my tracking post and the first check-in post.


"The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds" belongs to Not Quite Kansas and needs $34.50 to be complete. Raymond and Gideon get attacked on the way home from research.


The weather has been warmish here, though it got colder today. Yesterday it rained a bit. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large flock of sparrows, several starlings, a pair of house finches courting plus an extra male, two male cardinals, a mourning dove, and a fox squirrel. I saw a downy woodpecker in the trees. Red-winged blackbirds have been singing overhead. Honeybees are out, and finally found the flowers. Currently blooming: crocuses, snowdrops.
Monday, March 2nd, 2026 12:22 am
Earlier tonight, my neighbor and I sat down to watch Sense and Sensibility (1995) with Alan Rickman brooding magnificently across the screen, interspersed with lush garden shots.

I took an Austen seminar in college and read all the novels during that time, but something about seeing Marianne Dashwood onscreen made me reevaluate the extent to which her trait "it always rains when I step outside alone" is inherently comedic. It reminded me of the podcast Wooden Overcoats. It's always raining when WO protagonist Rudyard Funn steps outside, while antagonist Eric Chapman happily babbles about how sunny and nice the weather's been lately.

I've read a good deal of British literature, but these two data points have left me with a question I can't answer from my experience alone. Is it a thing for comedic characters to suffer under perpetual rain? And if so, what other examples have you read or seen? 

In typing this post, I've remembered the Hitchhiker's Guide character who discovers that rain follows him wherever he goes because he's a minor storm god and the clouds love him. So there's a third case.

Tags:
Monday, March 2nd, 2026 05:56 am

How does the Moon's appearance change during a total lunar eclipse? How does the Moon's appearance change during a total lunar eclipse?


Sunday, March 1st, 2026 11:54 pm

It's been a while since my last update, but I just haven't been in the mood to sit down and write anything that isn't my fic. I still haven't finished it, but I posted the first chapter last week, and somehow my brain feels like I can finally do other things now. Brains...

I've also had a couple of busy weekends. Two weeks ago, I went to the Chinese Embassy's New Year event in the capital, and this past weekend I volunteered at Citrus Con. Oh, and both my computer and the kid's died. Mine could be saved, fortunately... which is why I'm writing this now.

Anyway, I'm alive and hopefully I'll be able to post a proper update soon :)


Monday, March 2nd, 2026 06:49 am
Have a cute dragon picture!

Das Gelege Drache 1 kl
Monday, March 2nd, 2026 06:27 am
As I anticipated, I will be crossposting my old fics from ao3 (where they will remain locked) to dreamwidth. Today I start with last year's Cass Cain Week prompts.

Title: marred.
Fandom: DC comics (Batgirl).
Character/Pairing: Cassandra Cain/Stephanie Brown.
Rating/Warnings: T, none.
Summary: Cass Cain Week, Day I: Scars | Flowers.
Word count: 100.
 


read more

-

The edges of Steph's smile are sharp as a rose's thorns. Built to cause damage, they cut down deep through Cass's ribcage. 

I am happy now, they say. They don't lie, but the turn of the shoulders tells Cass that the feeling is aimed towards her. 

I'm fucking tired of always coming second for everyone in my life, Steph had said. I'm not second now, her loud laugh screams. Look how easy it was to give that to me. 

It's too late for us. I don't forgive you. Cass feels those words as if they were carved into her skin.
Sunday, March 1st, 2026 10:28 pm
Donating clothes to charity has an unfortunate dark side

Here’s what actually happens when you donate clothes. First, they go to charity shops and collectors who sort through everything. The nicest pieces might be sold at the local thrift store.

But there’s a catch: these organizations receive far more clothing than they can sell. We’re talking about mountains of fabric that no one locally wants to buy.

So what happens to the rest? Some items are thrown away. But a huge portion gets packed into bales and shipped overseas.



There are lots of ways to address this issue. First, understand the problem...

Read more... )
Sunday, March 1st, 2026 11:54 pm
I saw some videos yesterday that said, "hey here's some stuff you can do to make life feel more manageable."

1 - take action

it doesn't have to be big or meaningful, just deliberate, like deep breathing or washing the dishes. it's okay to choose to be a witness if you have that capacity. it's also beneficial to recognize what you can control and what you can't. "just because you can't do everything doesn't mean you can't do anything."

2 - be persistent

little things are always valuable, and their effect grows every time they're repeated. maybe it doesn't mean much today, but after you've done it for a hundred days, you'll be different and that matters. "meditation is like walking in a mist. you may not feel anything, but if you keep it up, eventually you'll get wet."

extra note: number of repetitions can have a bigger impact than total volume. doing something for a short time over and over again may produce more change than doing something for a long time once. "if someone receives a single rose every day for 12 days, surely it has more impact than receiving a dozen roses once."

3 - practice gratitude

write down the good things, no matter how small. the point is to shift focus from what you can't do or have, to what you can or do. "what you give your attention to grows."

the other video said "balance doesn't happen by itself." And I was like, "well it does, that's the nature of equilibrium, it's just not necessarily the balance you want." so keep moving. that's how we figure out, not just how to create a balanced state, but how to maintain it.

...also, these were originally language-learning tips. I find them broadly relevant. "the way you do anything is the way you do everything."
Sunday, March 1st, 2026 08:02 pm
Last week: Discussion on how Herod stacked up against various Roman emperors in terms of body count of his nearest and dearest; how Friedrich Wilhelm might hear the Josephus text; Herod throwing money around; Cleopatra!

This week: ...uhhhh there was a lot going on and I haven't actually finished the reading yet *ducks* -- I am doing that right now and I should most likely be able to comment tomorrow. (I don't anticipate this being a problem again for at least two more months, and most likely not then either; this was a confluence of various time sinks that doesn't usually happen all at the same time.) But I wanted to go ahead and get the post up because I know you guys have read it...

Next week: finishing up Book 2!
Sunday, March 1st, 2026 07:50 pm
Event: Traumatic Experiences
Event Link: [community profile] traumaticexperiences
Pinch Hit Link: Current Pinch Hit Post
Due Date: March 8th at 8PM PST

[community profile] traumaticexperiences is a (psychological) trauma themed multifandom exchange. We have 3 unclaimed pinch hits! You must write a fanfiction that is a minimum of 1000 words and include a requested fandom, relationship or solo character, and freeform in your fill. The collection will not reveal until everyone who requested 3 unique fandoms has received a gift that meets the minimum assignment requirements.

Assignment Requirements

PH 2 - Dredge (Video Game), Trigun (Anime & Manga 1995-2008), 間の楔 | Ai no Kusabi (Anime)

PH 6 - Given (Anime), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime), Wind Breaker (Anime), Outlast (Video Games)

PH 7 - Four Assassins (2011), RoboCop (Movies 1987-1993), Half-Life (Video Games), Crossing Jordan (TV 2001)

For more details/to claim, view the pinch hit post.