Daily Happiness
Jun. 14th, 2025 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torachan1. The other day I bought some golden kiwis and they are so good. I like kiwis a lot, especially the golden ones, but these have got to be the best I've ever had. Perfectly ripe and so flavorful. I got them from work, so I'm gonna have to check on Monday and see if we still have some.
2. From the sound of things the No Kings protests around the country were a huge success. I hope that it can actually lead to some change. The ones in downtown LA seem to have been relatively peaceful as well, so hopefully we'll be able to open the store tomorrow morning without issue.
3. Molly's just waiting for a moment of privacy to start splashing around in her water bowl.
2. From the sound of things the No Kings protests around the country were a huge success. I hope that it can actually lead to some change. The ones in downtown LA seem to have been relatively peaceful as well, so hopefully we'll be able to open the store tomorrow morning without issue.
3. Molly's just waiting for a moment of privacy to start splashing around in her water bowl.
Weekly Reading
Jun. 14th, 2025 10:35 pmtorachanCurrently Reading
A Botanist's Guide to Rituals and Revenge
6%. Newest mystery in the series and my current audiobook. This series has developed more of an overarching plot than just stand-alone mysteries and I do not remember much of the book before this but hopefully it will come back to me.
Break in Case of Emergency
8%. YA novel set in the mid 90s about a girl living on her grandparents' farm after her mom dies, reunited with her estranged father who turns out to be gay. Sounded interesting. Just read the first couple chapters so far.
The Fourth Girl
35%. Twenty-five years after their friend disappeared on prom night, three women reunite in their home town on the anniversary of the disappearance. But when someone else connected to their missing friend dies on that same day, it seems like more than a coincidence. This is pretty good so far.
Horrorstör
10%. This is the second horror novel I've read set in an Ikea-type store. I've had this on my to-read list for a while and just happened to find it in a neighborhood Little Library so now seemed like a good time to read it.
Riding the Rails
39%.
How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
52%.
Recently Finished
Architectural Follies in America
Finally finished this! This is such a short book and has pictures so I thought it would be a quick read but honestly it turned out to be kind of a slog. There are not enough pictures, so a lot of it is just reading about these supposedly interesting building but now getting a visual representation. And the pictures that are included are all black and white, and some are not the best quality. This seems like someone's hobby project, so I guess they couldn't put a lot of money in it, but it could have been a much better book than it was.
Red Hail
This was pretty interesting!
Murder in Season
Well, I take it back. After mentioning last time that this is one of the few historical mystery series I've read lately that doesn't have any queer or non-white characters, this book did turn out to have a gay character (and he wasn't the murderer).
Murder at Hambledon Hall
New Cleopatra Fox book! This was a good one. And there was an announcement at the end that the next book will be out by the end of the year. This author has multiple series going, so I don't know how they manage it, but I'm not complaining.
Baby Drag Queen
Grabbed this off the Pride display at the library last week as it looked interesting and is very short so would be a nice quick read for a time when I needed one (I read it in about half an hour this morning). It's about a trans boy who is interested in doing drag, which is not a topic I've seen in other books with trans characters. But the book itself was a huge let down. The writing is very stilted (especially noticeable with the dialogue) and there were so many things that made me go ??? that I couldn't get into the story because I kept trying to figure out why the author was making these choices and at some times trying to figure out what was going on altogether. One big one is that the character is referred to by a male name throughout, but his mom does not know he is trans. So I was left wondering if it was a writing convention where the mom is really calling the character by another name but the author is using his preferred name instead, or if the kid has requested to be called a male name and the mom has gone along with this to the point of getting it legally (?) changed (the kid goes to school using that name and also gets multiple jobs under that name, with no one noting anything about a different legal name) but still is completely gobsmacked when the MC says he's not a girl. (It's definitely not a situation where that would ever be the name his parents gave him.) I just could not stop wondering what was going on with the name throughout the book, but there were a bunch of other smaller things, too.
Bokura no Hentai vol. 5-6
Was not expecting the trans girl to be handled this well, but I was really impressed with the sixth volume.
A Botanist's Guide to Rituals and Revenge
6%. Newest mystery in the series and my current audiobook. This series has developed more of an overarching plot than just stand-alone mysteries and I do not remember much of the book before this but hopefully it will come back to me.
Break in Case of Emergency
8%. YA novel set in the mid 90s about a girl living on her grandparents' farm after her mom dies, reunited with her estranged father who turns out to be gay. Sounded interesting. Just read the first couple chapters so far.
The Fourth Girl
35%. Twenty-five years after their friend disappeared on prom night, three women reunite in their home town on the anniversary of the disappearance. But when someone else connected to their missing friend dies on that same day, it seems like more than a coincidence. This is pretty good so far.
Horrorstör
10%. This is the second horror novel I've read set in an Ikea-type store. I've had this on my to-read list for a while and just happened to find it in a neighborhood Little Library so now seemed like a good time to read it.
Riding the Rails
39%.
How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
52%.
Recently Finished
Architectural Follies in America
Finally finished this! This is such a short book and has pictures so I thought it would be a quick read but honestly it turned out to be kind of a slog. There are not enough pictures, so a lot of it is just reading about these supposedly interesting building but now getting a visual representation. And the pictures that are included are all black and white, and some are not the best quality. This seems like someone's hobby project, so I guess they couldn't put a lot of money in it, but it could have been a much better book than it was.
Red Hail
This was pretty interesting!
Murder in Season
Well, I take it back. After mentioning last time that this is one of the few historical mystery series I've read lately that doesn't have any queer or non-white characters, this book did turn out to have a gay character (and he wasn't the murderer).
Murder at Hambledon Hall
New Cleopatra Fox book! This was a good one. And there was an announcement at the end that the next book will be out by the end of the year. This author has multiple series going, so I don't know how they manage it, but I'm not complaining.
Baby Drag Queen
Grabbed this off the Pride display at the library last week as it looked interesting and is very short so would be a nice quick read for a time when I needed one (I read it in about half an hour this morning). It's about a trans boy who is interested in doing drag, which is not a topic I've seen in other books with trans characters. But the book itself was a huge let down. The writing is very stilted (especially noticeable with the dialogue) and there were so many things that made me go ??? that I couldn't get into the story because I kept trying to figure out why the author was making these choices and at some times trying to figure out what was going on altogether. One big one is that the character is referred to by a male name throughout, but his mom does not know he is trans. So I was left wondering if it was a writing convention where the mom is really calling the character by another name but the author is using his preferred name instead, or if the kid has requested to be called a male name and the mom has gone along with this to the point of getting it legally (?) changed (the kid goes to school using that name and also gets multiple jobs under that name, with no one noting anything about a different legal name) but still is completely gobsmacked when the MC says he's not a girl. (It's definitely not a situation where that would ever be the name his parents gave him.) I just could not stop wondering what was going on with the name throughout the book, but there were a bunch of other smaller things, too.
Bokura no Hentai vol. 5-6
Was not expecting the trans girl to be handled this well, but I was really impressed with the sixth volume.
The Pitt Fic: Safe Haven (Abbot/Robby, NC-17)
Jun. 14th, 2025 05:33 pmalethiaSafe Haven (9074 words) by Alethia
Chapters: 1/3
Fandom: The Pitt (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Abbot/Michael "Robby" Robinavitch
Characters: Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, Jack Abbot (The Pitt), Gloria Underwood, Trinity Santos, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series 01, Conventions, Sharing a Room, Pining, Secret Crush, Idiots in Love, Speeches, First Kiss, First Time, Porn, everybody wants jack abbot, and why wouldn't they
Summary:
Chapters: 1/3
Fandom: The Pitt (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Abbot/Michael "Robby" Robinavitch
Characters: Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, Jack Abbot (The Pitt), Gloria Underwood, Trinity Santos, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series 01, Conventions, Sharing a Room, Pining, Secret Crush, Idiots in Love, Speeches, First Kiss, First Time, Porn, everybody wants jack abbot, and why wouldn't they
Summary:
"Congrats again on the award; you deserve it." And with that, she disappeared into the crowd.
Probably off to go plan how to hit on Jack. Jack, who this random doctor wanted to have sex with. Here. At the conference.
Intellectually, Robby knew that was what people did at these things. Drunken hookups at conferences were common, though often denied, if not regretted. Robby had never partaken because that was not his speed, but Jack—
Well, Jack had no such qualms. And at an ED medical conference, he was basically a rockstar. He could probably have anyone he wanted.
gotta love the kids keeping score
Jun. 14th, 2025 07:27 pmmusesfoolI knew it was coming, but I'm still sad about Chris Kreider getting traded to the Ducks. He's been my favorite since Lundqvist retired, not just because I liked his play but also because I thought it was unlikely he'd get traded. *hands* After this past season, I understand blowing it all up, but it's still sad. He definitely had some signature moments in a Rangers uni, and I will miss him.
In other news, this morning, I made this baked oatmeal and it's good, but probably needs a little more cinnamon? Or maybe some allspice? Hmm... It'll be nice for breakfast over the next few days. Next weekend I'll make banana bread since I now have a bunch of bananas, since i needed one for this recipe. (It was either applesauce or bananas, and I'm more likely to eat/use the bananas, so...)
And then this afternoon, I made this pizza dough, which turned out well, but took a full hour to double in size, despite what the recipe says, so dinner was later than planned. I topped it with some mozzarella and this white sauce. it was good! (Pictures here.)
Tomorrow, I'll be making teriyaki chicken meatballs for lunch for the week. Right now, every surface in my kitchen is covered in drying dishes, which is the real annoyance of the dishwasher not working.
*
In other news, this morning, I made this baked oatmeal and it's good, but probably needs a little more cinnamon? Or maybe some allspice? Hmm... It'll be nice for breakfast over the next few days. Next weekend I'll make banana bread since I now have a bunch of bananas, since i needed one for this recipe. (It was either applesauce or bananas, and I'm more likely to eat/use the bananas, so...)
And then this afternoon, I made this pizza dough, which turned out well, but took a full hour to double in size, despite what the recipe says, so dinner was later than planned. I topped it with some mozzarella and this white sauce. it was good! (Pictures here.)
Tomorrow, I'll be making teriyaki chicken meatballs for lunch for the week. Right now, every surface in my kitchen is covered in drying dishes, which is the real annoyance of the dishwasher not working.
*
unfortunately even though we accomplished Task we still have to do the shopping
Jun. 14th, 2025 06:11 pmcimoreneOne thing about updating the decorative arts and design history blog is that my kneejerk loathing of the term "inspo" has me struggling multiple times a week with the strong impulse to block everyone who reblogs my posts with that tag.
It's good for me somehow, probably.
I'm currently exhausted because the spring that pushes the latch bolt out of the kitchen-hall door broke last night after midnight and we spent several hours fixing it this afternoon. Wax took the equivalent spring out of the lockbox of the dining-livingroom door because unfortunately the lockbox is a pre-1940 model and the springs are not manufactured anymore, nor are the parts interchangeable with the later springs from the 40s- model that are still in production, nor can the whole lockbox be easily switched (because the spindle and hole for it are not the same circumference and the boxes themselves can be different sizes). However, the two lockboxes aren't identical. In fact, it looks like the one that broke is the oldest one in the house. She had to squish the spring a bit to get it in, and it wasn't exactly the same shape and size, so we are nervous that it may break soon. (She did all the hard bits with tools, not trusting me not to injure myself, and I cleaned the insides of the lockboxes with q-tips dipped in vinegar and then oiled them with q-tips dipped in mineral oil.) Wax hopes we can get the blacksmith to make a new spring for the spot when that happens, rather than having to replace the entire mechanism, but we don't know how plausible that is.
We can't do without this door and its latch, but the lockboxes on the other doors are all other sizes so they can't be swapped. We need it latched to keep the cats apart! They're making progress, and they've touched noses now, but Tristana still retreats any time Sipuli gets a little excited, and they are only meeting with Sipuli on the leash.
It's good for me somehow, probably.
I'm currently exhausted because the spring that pushes the latch bolt out of the kitchen-hall door broke last night after midnight and we spent several hours fixing it this afternoon. Wax took the equivalent spring out of the lockbox of the dining-livingroom door because unfortunately the lockbox is a pre-1940 model and the springs are not manufactured anymore, nor are the parts interchangeable with the later springs from the 40s- model that are still in production, nor can the whole lockbox be easily switched (because the spindle and hole for it are not the same circumference and the boxes themselves can be different sizes). However, the two lockboxes aren't identical. In fact, it looks like the one that broke is the oldest one in the house. She had to squish the spring a bit to get it in, and it wasn't exactly the same shape and size, so we are nervous that it may break soon. (She did all the hard bits with tools, not trusting me not to injure myself, and I cleaned the insides of the lockboxes with q-tips dipped in vinegar and then oiled them with q-tips dipped in mineral oil.) Wax hopes we can get the blacksmith to make a new spring for the spot when that happens, rather than having to replace the entire mechanism, but we don't know how plausible that is.
We can't do without this door and its latch, but the lockboxes on the other doors are all other sizes so they can't be swapped. We need it latched to keep the cats apart! They're making progress, and they've touched noses now, but Tristana still retreats any time Sipuli gets a little excited, and they are only meeting with Sipuli on the leash.
Daily Happiness
Jun. 13th, 2025 11:50 pmtorachan1. Today was a long day with a lot of meetings, but I did manage to get all the other stuff on my to-do list done in between at least.
2. Most other businesses in Little Tokyo are already shut down temporarily so we made the decision to close our store tomorrow. While the protests (or rather the response to them) has been disruptive to business for that store, it's still been worth keeping it open, but those protests were more spontaneous and the planned events tomorrow for No Kings Day are going to draw a huge crowd. The only business we'd get would be some protestors buying lunch or snacks, and considering employee safety it's better to just shut down. We also had the store boarded up just in case, since one whole side is all windows and a lot of the front is as well. I definitely think closing tomorrow is the right choice, so I'm glad we were able to convince the company president to give us the okay.
3. While Carla's out of town I moved one of the cars all the way up the driveway into the back yard so I don't have to worry about moving it from one side of the street to the other on street sweeping days, and Tuxie seems to like having the car there lol.
2. Most other businesses in Little Tokyo are already shut down temporarily so we made the decision to close our store tomorrow. While the protests (or rather the response to them) has been disruptive to business for that store, it's still been worth keeping it open, but those protests were more spontaneous and the planned events tomorrow for No Kings Day are going to draw a huge crowd. The only business we'd get would be some protestors buying lunch or snacks, and considering employee safety it's better to just shut down. We also had the store boarded up just in case, since one whole side is all windows and a lot of the front is as well. I definitely think closing tomorrow is the right choice, so I'm glad we were able to convince the company president to give us the okay.
3. While Carla's out of town I moved one of the cars all the way up the driveway into the back yard so I don't have to worry about moving it from one side of the street to the other on street sweeping days, and Tuxie seems to like having the car there lol.
2025 Disneyland Trip #40 (6/12/25)
Jun. 13th, 2025 10:59 pmtorachanI didn't head out from San Diego until around 6pm yesterday so I didn't get to Disneyland until almost eight, which meant the park was already very cloggy for nighttime events, but it wasn't particularly crowded overall, so once I got past the big Main Street clog it was pretty nice.
( Dinner and fireworks )
( Dinner and fireworks )
Murderbot Day
Jun. 13th, 2025 12:08 pmmarthawells* Interview with Sue Chan, the production designer:
https://filmstories.co.uk/news/murderbot-designing-a-future-world-that-doesnt-look-like-alien/
“I started out by taking the most ancient societies on each continent – Etruscans, Asian, European, and African cultures,” Chan tells us. “I looked at the most fundamental motifs and gathered them into a bible, then asked my team to imagine 100 generations from now, when the diaspora of Earth have chosen to live together in society. How would they evolve a unified set of symbols? A language that really honours where they came from.”
This informed the alphabet that can be seen in the decoration painted across the otherwise grey, corporate habitat the PresAux crew are leasing. At the same time, acknowledging how much of the crew is queer and polyamorous, the colours of the rainbow are also entwined into their decorations.
“All of that is mashed up but it has a fundamental logic to it,” says Chan.
* Interview with Akshay Khanna (Ratthi):
https://squaremile.com/style/akshay-khanna-murderbot-actor-interview/
I’m incredibly excited for people to watch Murderbot on Apple TV+. Sci-fi has been my favourite genre by a country mile forever, and being on a show like this has always been a career goal of mine. Frankly, I had too much fun filming that show, and getting paid to do it constantly felt like I was getting away with something on set.
And the show is just so good. I can confidently say it’s fantastic – and if you don’t like it, then I would gently tell you that it’s OK to be wrong sometimes.
* Interview with Sabrina Wu (Pin-Lee):
https://www.autostraddle.com/sabrina-wu-interview-murderbot/
And then once I got the role, I read the books and I was legit just blown away at how funny the books were. I just haven’t seen such a dry sarcastic sensibility with this kind of hero sci-fi stories. And then I also just really liked that it was in the tradition of I felt like Octavia Butler, where it’s like, “oh, this is a queer imagining of the future.” So I don’t know. I just thought it was a really sweet, funny, different world. I also, obviously every comedian who becomes an actor, their dream is to get to work on something with action to move beyond an It’s Always Sunny kind of comedy. I believe there was already an opportunity for me to be in a spaceship and shoot guns, and it just made me happy that it was genuinely funny source material.
* Video interview with Tattiawna Jones (Arada) and Tamara Podemski (Bharadwaj):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NllgfEekw9s
* And a video interview with Noma Dumezweni (Mensah)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZpigqUqZXQ
* and a video interview with Noma and David Dastmalchian (Gurathin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=361cKOujISE
* And a video interview (with a transcript) with Alexander Skarsgard, Jack McBrayer, and Paul and Chris Weitz:
https://collider.com/murderbot-alexander-skarsgard-jack-mcbrayer-creators-paul-weitz-chris-weitz/
* And there is a profile of me in The New Yorker (!!)
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/do-androids-dream-of-anything-at-all
https://filmstories.co.uk/news/murderbot-designing-a-future-world-that-doesnt-look-like-alien/
“I started out by taking the most ancient societies on each continent – Etruscans, Asian, European, and African cultures,” Chan tells us. “I looked at the most fundamental motifs and gathered them into a bible, then asked my team to imagine 100 generations from now, when the diaspora of Earth have chosen to live together in society. How would they evolve a unified set of symbols? A language that really honours where they came from.”
This informed the alphabet that can be seen in the decoration painted across the otherwise grey, corporate habitat the PresAux crew are leasing. At the same time, acknowledging how much of the crew is queer and polyamorous, the colours of the rainbow are also entwined into their decorations.
“All of that is mashed up but it has a fundamental logic to it,” says Chan.
* Interview with Akshay Khanna (Ratthi):
https://squaremile.com/style/akshay-khanna-murderbot-actor-interview/
I’m incredibly excited for people to watch Murderbot on Apple TV+. Sci-fi has been my favourite genre by a country mile forever, and being on a show like this has always been a career goal of mine. Frankly, I had too much fun filming that show, and getting paid to do it constantly felt like I was getting away with something on set.
And the show is just so good. I can confidently say it’s fantastic – and if you don’t like it, then I would gently tell you that it’s OK to be wrong sometimes.
* Interview with Sabrina Wu (Pin-Lee):
https://www.autostraddle.com/sabrina-wu-interview-murderbot/
And then once I got the role, I read the books and I was legit just blown away at how funny the books were. I just haven’t seen such a dry sarcastic sensibility with this kind of hero sci-fi stories. And then I also just really liked that it was in the tradition of I felt like Octavia Butler, where it’s like, “oh, this is a queer imagining of the future.” So I don’t know. I just thought it was a really sweet, funny, different world. I also, obviously every comedian who becomes an actor, their dream is to get to work on something with action to move beyond an It’s Always Sunny kind of comedy. I believe there was already an opportunity for me to be in a spaceship and shoot guns, and it just made me happy that it was genuinely funny source material.
* Video interview with Tattiawna Jones (Arada) and Tamara Podemski (Bharadwaj):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NllgfEekw9s
* And a video interview with Noma Dumezweni (Mensah)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZpigqUqZXQ
* and a video interview with Noma and David Dastmalchian (Gurathin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=361cKOujISE
* And a video interview (with a transcript) with Alexander Skarsgard, Jack McBrayer, and Paul and Chris Weitz:
https://collider.com/murderbot-alexander-skarsgard-jack-mcbrayer-creators-paul-weitz-chris-weitz/
* And there is a profile of me in The New Yorker (!!)
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/do-androids-dream-of-anything-at-all
"This is the REAL ADHD tax!"
Jun. 13th, 2025 02:25 pmcimoreneThe other day I saw a post about American politics on Tumblr that was just a screenshot of someone's tweet that said something like, "Fascism won't make America great. Universal healthcare, universal preschool, housing the homeless, and free higher education would make America great." By this standard, I'm living in utopia! (Or, well, living in Greatness-ia.) Finland has all that.
AND YET...
My efforts to get a driver's licence continue. Basically,
And even worse, the list of conditions that now require EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has ever been diagnosed with them to get a certificate from a private doctor - which means in most cases also a NEW doctor, not their own GP who has treated them before - is not just ADHD. Everybody with any of these conditions (this is not the entire list either) is now taxed, at minimum, an extra hundred bucks for the privilege of getting a driver's licence in Finland, as of two months ago:
Insane. It's not just the financial burden for all these people, either; a brand-new doctor, a stranger, is at a disadvantage for determining if most of the conditions meant here are a danger or not.
So I'm waiting for a call back and Sipuli really doesn't understand why I won't take her outside in the sunshine.
AND YET...
My efforts to get a driver's licence continue. Basically,
- Signed up for driving school for lessons in how to drive stick. My US license expired more than ten years ago and I've never driven in Finland.
- Online information indicates I should have to apply in person, but the customer service rep told me that I can disregard that and just apply for a first licence the normal way.
- The normal way: a brief online form that will instantly issue a printable and downloadable permit that allows you to take the theory test and to drive with an instructor in a car.
- But you can't do that if you have any of a list of health conditions which require a doctor's certificate. And the list includes ADHD.
- There's a new law which seems to say you can't get these certificates from the health center anymore, but I called to check. The booking nurse at the health center thought they didn't do them anymore, but she also agreed that it seemed unfair. But she checked with two people and no, the public health service really aren't issuing certificates for driving for ANYBODY anymore.
- I called the one private doctor center in town. According to their website, the minimum cost of one of these certificates is over 100€, just like waxjism predicted. Their receptionist didn't even know who to book me with (does ADHD require a specialist)? She'll call me back.
- If it does, it will be like at least 150€ instead, because that's the base price for specialists.
And even worse, the list of conditions that now require EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has ever been diagnosed with them to get a certificate from a private doctor - which means in most cases also a NEW doctor, not their own GP who has treated them before - is not just ADHD. Everybody with any of these conditions (this is not the entire list either) is now taxed, at minimum, an extra hundred bucks for the privilege of getting a driver's licence in Finland, as of two months ago:
- diabetes
- any cardio issues including hypertension or a heart murmur
- sleep apnea or insomnia or any other sleep disorders
- any past severe depressions or recurrent panic disorders, or personality disorders
- dyslexia
- autism spectrum
- any neurological conditions or injuries including migraines or any past brain or spinal injury
Insane. It's not just the financial burden for all these people, either; a brand-new doctor, a stranger, is at a disadvantage for determining if most of the conditions meant here are a danger or not.
So I'm waiting for a call back and Sipuli really doesn't understand why I won't take her outside in the sunshine.
Daily Happiness
Jun. 13th, 2025 12:20 amtorachan1. So much ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh work stuff today, but I stopped at Disneyland on the way home and had a lovely dinner.
2. Ollie was just writhing around playing with this blanket for no reason. Super cute.
2. Ollie was just writhing around playing with this blanket for no reason. Super cute.
Daily Happiness
Jun. 11th, 2025 11:02 pmtorachan1. We're still having to close the downtown store early, but as of last night a curfew is in effect in the area, which actually makes it easier since we can at least plan the early closing. And despite what the media would like everyone to believe, the protests overall have been peaceful, with little property damage (mainly graffiti). Any danger is from the police and really only in that one small area.
2. I have to go to San Diego again tomorrow, which I am not looking forward to because when I made plans to go it was because I had received one complaint that needed to be dealt with, and in the week and a half since then have received two more unrelated complaints, so now there are three things I have to deal with. But I am planning to go to Disneyland on the way home, since it's pretty much on the way, so at least that will be a nice way to end the day.
3. I finished another puzzle today. This is another 500 piece one.
4. When my Switch 2 came the other day, I put the empty box on my bed and boy were the cats intrigued about this new phenomenon. It seemed like every time I turned around a different cat was in the box checking it out.
2. I have to go to San Diego again tomorrow, which I am not looking forward to because when I made plans to go it was because I had received one complaint that needed to be dealt with, and in the week and a half since then have received two more unrelated complaints, so now there are three things I have to deal with. But I am planning to go to Disneyland on the way home, since it's pretty much on the way, so at least that will be a nice way to end the day.
3. I finished another puzzle today. This is another 500 piece one.
4. When my Switch 2 came the other day, I put the empty box on my bed and boy were the cats intrigued about this new phenomenon. It seemed like every time I turned around a different cat was in the box checking it out.
he's in the middle of taking off right now
Jun. 11th, 2025 07:25 pmmusesfoolZOMG what a day!!!
I was in a training this morning when around 10:30 am, my internet went out and didn't come back in 30 seconds the way it usually does. And my cable was out also. But Spectrum said there was no outage in my area, so it was a me problem. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And so I was in the middle of texting with a Spectrum chatbot (or maybe it was a real person?) when the cleaning ladies showed up but the bell wasn't working and then they called me and I didn't respond because I was in the middle of chatting with Spectrum (doing all the things I had already done, i.e., unplugging and re-plugging in the modem and router) with no success, but luckily I realized who was calling so I went and opened the door and they began their work and I went back to chatting with Spectrum.
The CSR/bot told me they would schedule the next open appointment and I was like sure, while thinking, "am I going to have to into the office for my meetings tomorrow? I need to be here when the tech comes but it probably won't be until Friday or Monday?" and then they texted me the appointment and it was for TODAY at NOON so of course I was like, YES, I WILL. TAKE IT. And then he showed up at 11:55 am!!! And told me there was a major outage in my area, so it was unlikely that he could do anything, but I was getting texts saying that the outage should be fixed by 1 pm. No, we mean 1:30 pm. No, we mean 2 pm. (It came back for me around 1 pm.) And finally at 4:05 pm a text saying the outage was over.
Meanwhile, yesterday, we were supposed to be sending materials out for a meeting tomorrow, but I hadn't received them by 5 pm yesterday, and I hadn't received them by 9 am this morning, and while I was in training and then offline, my boss was poking the CFO who was like, "we don't have them, should we cancel?" so my boss was texting me like, "We should cancel!!!" and I was like, that's fine but we can't reschedule for next week since the board members are not available, and then the board meeting is the week after, so we would need to get approval by unanimous written consent. But then the CFO is like, "I'm calling you!" and I'm like, "I have no internet, I can't get into any files, please don't!" But she was already calling, so I spoke with her and she was like, "We got the documents! I'm reviewing them! I will let you know when it's ok to send!" and I was like ok.
A little while after that, my service had returned and I discovered another committee member had sent out an invite to a meeting on Friday with incorrect information while trying to accept the correct invite for Friday's meeting? I don't even know, but it didn't replace the correct invite on anyone's calendars, so I just declined it. Then she emailed saying she was now getting all these RSVPs and I was like, "can you cancel it? It shouldn't affect the correct invitation, which I will then forward to you." So she cancelled it, but it looked to other people like the meeting was cancelled, even though the correct invitation remained on their calendars. So I had to send a teams message internally and an email externally to explain to everyone that the meeting was not cancelled, it was just a technological glitch of some sort. Idek.
I ate breakfast after the cable guy left, so I didn't eat lunch, and at around 3:30 I was like, "the CFO still hasn't given me the go-ahead to send this out - they are going to complain about getting a complicated set of documents less than 24 hours ahead of the meeting!" to my boss and then the email telling me the materials were good to go dropped into my inbox, so I was able to send them out.
Then while I was trying to catch up on email, a nasty looking bee (hornet? wasp?) started hovering around my window, and as you may recall, I had problems with them somehow getting into my apartment last summer, so I immediately slammed down the window and put the AC on, even though it was comfortable enough with the fan with the window open. I appreciate bees, but not in my living room! Especially not ones that look mean.
And then I read that Brian Wilson died. And Sly Stone died earlier this week. And I thought that was sad. #legends only #RIP
*
I was in a training this morning when around 10:30 am, my internet went out and didn't come back in 30 seconds the way it usually does. And my cable was out also. But Spectrum said there was no outage in my area, so it was a me problem. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And so I was in the middle of texting with a Spectrum chatbot (or maybe it was a real person?) when the cleaning ladies showed up but the bell wasn't working and then they called me and I didn't respond because I was in the middle of chatting with Spectrum (doing all the things I had already done, i.e., unplugging and re-plugging in the modem and router) with no success, but luckily I realized who was calling so I went and opened the door and they began their work and I went back to chatting with Spectrum.
The CSR/bot told me they would schedule the next open appointment and I was like sure, while thinking, "am I going to have to into the office for my meetings tomorrow? I need to be here when the tech comes but it probably won't be until Friday or Monday?" and then they texted me the appointment and it was for TODAY at NOON so of course I was like, YES, I WILL. TAKE IT. And then he showed up at 11:55 am!!! And told me there was a major outage in my area, so it was unlikely that he could do anything, but I was getting texts saying that the outage should be fixed by 1 pm. No, we mean 1:30 pm. No, we mean 2 pm. (It came back for me around 1 pm.) And finally at 4:05 pm a text saying the outage was over.
Meanwhile, yesterday, we were supposed to be sending materials out for a meeting tomorrow, but I hadn't received them by 5 pm yesterday, and I hadn't received them by 9 am this morning, and while I was in training and then offline, my boss was poking the CFO who was like, "we don't have them, should we cancel?" so my boss was texting me like, "We should cancel!!!" and I was like, that's fine but we can't reschedule for next week since the board members are not available, and then the board meeting is the week after, so we would need to get approval by unanimous written consent. But then the CFO is like, "I'm calling you!" and I'm like, "I have no internet, I can't get into any files, please don't!" But she was already calling, so I spoke with her and she was like, "We got the documents! I'm reviewing them! I will let you know when it's ok to send!" and I was like ok.
A little while after that, my service had returned and I discovered another committee member had sent out an invite to a meeting on Friday with incorrect information while trying to accept the correct invite for Friday's meeting? I don't even know, but it didn't replace the correct invite on anyone's calendars, so I just declined it. Then she emailed saying she was now getting all these RSVPs and I was like, "can you cancel it? It shouldn't affect the correct invitation, which I will then forward to you." So she cancelled it, but it looked to other people like the meeting was cancelled, even though the correct invitation remained on their calendars. So I had to send a teams message internally and an email externally to explain to everyone that the meeting was not cancelled, it was just a technological glitch of some sort. Idek.
I ate breakfast after the cable guy left, so I didn't eat lunch, and at around 3:30 I was like, "the CFO still hasn't given me the go-ahead to send this out - they are going to complain about getting a complicated set of documents less than 24 hours ahead of the meeting!" to my boss and then the email telling me the materials were good to go dropped into my inbox, so I was able to send them out.
Then while I was trying to catch up on email, a nasty looking bee (hornet? wasp?) started hovering around my window, and as you may recall, I had problems with them somehow getting into my apartment last summer, so I immediately slammed down the window and put the AC on, even though it was comfortable enough with the fan with the window open. I appreciate bees, but not in my living room! Especially not ones that look mean.
And then I read that Brian Wilson died. And Sly Stone died earlier this week. And I thought that was sad. #legends only #RIP
*
Daily Happiness
Jun. 10th, 2025 11:45 pmtorachan1. A lot of times when Carla goes back to visit her folks, she doesn't get time to hang out with her cousins aside from specific family gatherings where they're just hanging out at the house, but this time she went into Chicago today with one cousin and they went to a museum and got lunch, and yesterday she went with both cousins to a record store.
2. Work was kind of stressful today (just when I think the drama and issues at this one store are finally dealt with, I have three more issues pop up today) but I had a nice evening at Disneyland to make up for it.
3. Chloe and Gemma and Ikea Shark are having a party and you're not invited.
2. Work was kind of stressful today (just when I think the drama and issues at this one store are finally dealt with, I have three more issues pop up today) but I had a nice evening at Disneyland to make up for it.
3. Chloe and Gemma and Ikea Shark are having a party and you're not invited.
2025 Disneyland Trip #39 (6/10/25)
Jun. 10th, 2025 11:17 pmtorachanTook an after work trip to Disneyland for dinner. Traffic was not bad at all getting down there (and even better getting home) and as of this week both the lower level pass holders are blocked out, so the crowds are lighter. Nice weather, too!
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
They Never Asked: Senryū Poetry from the WWII Portland Assembly Center
Jun. 10th, 2025 09:42 amrunpunkrunThey Never Asked: Senryū Poetry from the WWII Portland Assembly Center, edited and translated by Shelley Baker-Gard, Michael Freiling, and Satsuki Takikawa:
An anthology of senryū poetry written in spring and summer of 1942 by Japanese Americans held captive at the WCCA Assembly Center in North Portland, Oregon. Senryū shares haiku's 5-7-5 sound unit form, but deals more directly with the business of being human, whereas haiku's focus is on nature and only tangentially references, or implies, human emotions.
The WCCA is the Wartime Civilian Control Administration, the government body set up to implement the mass forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. From the Densho Encyclopedia: "In addition to engineering the logistics of removing some 110,000 people from their homes and businesses in a short period of time, the WCCA also quickly built and administered a series of seventeen temporary detention camps to hold those who had been removed through the spring and summer of 1942, before overseeing their transfer to more permanent camps administered by the War Relocation Authority by the end of fall 1942." In North Portland, the temporary facility was previously the Pacific International Livestock Exposition Center, the horse stalls converted into living spaces for those detained there.
This book has a thoughtful design and a conscientious attempt to put this poetry—and the people who wrote it—into context, providing historical background and examining the cultural relevance of poetry in Japanese communities, including an exploration of the individual poets incarcerated at the camps as well as the poetry groups held at WCCA camps, and an explanation of the form itself. The book has several introductory pieces, an afterword, two essays on haiku/senryū, a timeline of relevant events, end notes for references, a full bibliography, and biographies of the poets. The one thing it doesn't have is an index, which I found myself wanting multiple times over the six months it took me to read this.
The poems are presented with the Japanese script given prominence in a bold vertical line down the center of the page, one poem per page, and then a transliteration of the Japanese and, finally, the poem translated into English, in three lines. Each poem has a footnote with a "literal" translation and any translation notes, including occasions where kanji have been simplified since the writing of the poem, or instances where the poet (or transcriber) seems to have made an error. However, the literal translations are anything but. They're of a more conversational nature than the actual choppy bits of language you usually get when Japanese is translated literally into English, and in some cases, I found them more interesting or nuanced than the final translations, which could feel a little melodramatic at times. But it's entirely possible that's just my bias for haiku showing up. Here's a poem by Jōnan that really struck me because of the way it mimics a common structure in haiku and through that offers an extreme understatement of human misery:
even autumn
comes on command here—
assembly center
This book was published in 2023 by Oregon State University Press, and I checked it out of the Multnomah County Library.
An anthology of senryū poetry written in spring and summer of 1942 by Japanese Americans held captive at the WCCA Assembly Center in North Portland, Oregon. Senryū shares haiku's 5-7-5 sound unit form, but deals more directly with the business of being human, whereas haiku's focus is on nature and only tangentially references, or implies, human emotions.
The WCCA is the Wartime Civilian Control Administration, the government body set up to implement the mass forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. From the Densho Encyclopedia: "In addition to engineering the logistics of removing some 110,000 people from their homes and businesses in a short period of time, the WCCA also quickly built and administered a series of seventeen temporary detention camps to hold those who had been removed through the spring and summer of 1942, before overseeing their transfer to more permanent camps administered by the War Relocation Authority by the end of fall 1942." In North Portland, the temporary facility was previously the Pacific International Livestock Exposition Center, the horse stalls converted into living spaces for those detained there.
This book has a thoughtful design and a conscientious attempt to put this poetry—and the people who wrote it—into context, providing historical background and examining the cultural relevance of poetry in Japanese communities, including an exploration of the individual poets incarcerated at the camps as well as the poetry groups held at WCCA camps, and an explanation of the form itself. The book has several introductory pieces, an afterword, two essays on haiku/senryū, a timeline of relevant events, end notes for references, a full bibliography, and biographies of the poets. The one thing it doesn't have is an index, which I found myself wanting multiple times over the six months it took me to read this.
The poems are presented with the Japanese script given prominence in a bold vertical line down the center of the page, one poem per page, and then a transliteration of the Japanese and, finally, the poem translated into English, in three lines. Each poem has a footnote with a "literal" translation and any translation notes, including occasions where kanji have been simplified since the writing of the poem, or instances where the poet (or transcriber) seems to have made an error. However, the literal translations are anything but. They're of a more conversational nature than the actual choppy bits of language you usually get when Japanese is translated literally into English, and in some cases, I found them more interesting or nuanced than the final translations, which could feel a little melodramatic at times. But it's entirely possible that's just my bias for haiku showing up. Here's a poem by Jōnan that really struck me because of the way it mimics a common structure in haiku and through that offers an extreme understatement of human misery:
even autumn
comes on command here—
assembly center
This book was published in 2023 by Oregon State University Press, and I checked it out of the Multnomah County Library.
Daily Happiness
Jun. 9th, 2025 10:54 pmtorachan1. A few months ago I started having problems with itunes where every time I tried to add a song to a playlist it froze. I tried a few solutions I found online and nothing worked, so I just stopped listening to music at my desk and basically only listened to it in the car through Apple Music. Finally the other day I just gave up and uninstalled itunes and reinstalled it again, and at first I was really regretting my decision because even after logging in, it wasn't showing any of the music I'd downloaded over the past few years from Apple Music, only my library on my HD, but then I logged out and logged in again and everything showed up, and adding songs to playlists seems to work again, so maybe now I'll actually get back to listening to music at home.
2. There is DLC for Sea of Stars, a whole new quest that I've seen a few reviews say is about eight hours or so of gameplay. I started it the other day and am enjoying it so far. Sea of Stars is definitely one of my favorite games from the past year or so, so I'm excited to be able to play more of it. (In between Mario Kart World, of course.)
3. Our Little Tokyo store is right next to city hall, so things have been kind of rough down there the past couple days with the protests. Both yesterday and today the store had to close early so employees could get home safe. This morning there was a ton of graffiti (all varities of "fuck ICE") along the windows of one side of the building, but thankfully no actual damage to the store and the property manager was able to get it cleaned up easily.
4. Chloe also says "fuck ICE"!
2. There is DLC for Sea of Stars, a whole new quest that I've seen a few reviews say is about eight hours or so of gameplay. I started it the other day and am enjoying it so far. Sea of Stars is definitely one of my favorite games from the past year or so, so I'm excited to be able to play more of it. (In between Mario Kart World, of course.)
3. Our Little Tokyo store is right next to city hall, so things have been kind of rough down there the past couple days with the protests. Both yesterday and today the store had to close early so employees could get home safe. This morning there was a ton of graffiti (all varities of "fuck ICE") along the windows of one side of the building, but thankfully no actual damage to the store and the property manager was able to get it cleaned up easily.
4. Chloe also says "fuck ICE"!