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I don't email much with my mother, but not too long after I had cataract surgery, I heard she was nervous about having hers, so I wrote it up for her. Maybe this will be useful for someone else too.

It makes sense to be worried about any surgery, but this one is well-understood, superficial in the body, and the surgeons are well-practiced.

( Barely more fuss than going to the dentist )

I hope your surgeries go well and that you're happy with the correction you choose.

senmut

~ Simone Ashley in a suit - gif set
~ Cate Blanchett in a suit - photo
~ Halle Bailey looking like a real life barbie doll - photos

~ James Stewart and Hedy Lamarr in COME LIVE WITH ME (1941) - gif set
~ Narnia: The Magician's Nephew in production - wiki link
~ let's talk about Emperor Palpatine's last week leading up to the conclusion of Episode IV - text post

~ Modern day chatelaine with tutorial - pictures and text
~ Better late than never (Saiyuki [Manga]) - fic link
~ A doctor starts seeing patients as people and taking notes - text post, poignant

~ Hellboy cosplay - video
~ Art by Science - video

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!

silverflight8

1. Merrell moab hiking boots. Great, just not waterproof. Indeed, they wet through if I walk through heavy dew, which I do extremely frequently (daily, when I'm going hard birding in warmer weather). Didn't have to break them in, I love Merrell. Good condition.
2. Xtratuf rainboots. Fell apart within a few months catastrophically - cracks from ordinary walking that ran completely through the material which made them not waterproof. Threw them away. So sad because they were very easy to get on, very comfortable, and a fun rubber-ducky yellow.
3. Rubber boots from Hunter. Pretty OK condition but about 20% they're fine, 80% they make my feet hurt so much I cannot walk. Can't really break them in because rubber doesn't, and it's been more than a year of wearing them on and off. Almost got frostbite in them once despite wearing heavy socks and those toe warmer pads. The outside is flawless though and they are a gorgeous red colour, and being rubber they are waterproof.
4. Bean boots (unlined) in the classic rubber lower, leather upper. I just bought these. So far breaking in nicely. Kind of tough to get them on but it's improving/I'm getting better at it. The tongue is fully sewn to the upper (for waterproofing), so it can't swing fully out, and it doubles over where it's sewn, but I'm not actually getting any pain when walking around in them. I think I trust them enough to go on a few hours' hiking now.

And now since it's winter I really want another pair of lined/fleece boots. I've managed to get by, good lord, the past decade or more without snow boots, because I feel like it just doesn't snow much since I moved east. I almost never have to step over snow drifts or break trails, and I just wear sneakers. But I spend a lot of time outside and every year or so I do have an occasional outdoor day that IS very cold on the feet, and I have to flee when I feel frostbite setting in...

cosmolinguist

After the (amazing!) support act Karkasaurus, we went back to the bar and the first thing D said was "I have got to improve my cardiovascular fitness." (I wasn't expecting this at all, so I burst out laughing.)

His ear plug came apart when he tried to take it out, and it's still stuck in his ear. I got to put a teaspoon of olive oil in his ear now that he's in bed, which might help it find its way out. Protecting your hearing is important, but what a nuisance this is!

james_davis_nicoll

I am not aware of any big name authors who got their start with a work published by Baen Books after 2006. If there are recent analogs of Bujold or Weber, I do not know of them.

adafrog posting in

fandom_checkin

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Saturday to midnight on Sunday (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #33953 Daily poll

Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 13

How are you doing?

I am okay
9 (69.2%)

I am not okay, but don't need help right now
4 (30.8%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans are you living with?

I am living single
6 (46.2%)

One other person
5 (38.5%)

More than one other person
2 (15.4%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Green Hornet (1966 and 2011 versions), Batman (1966), Al Hirt (musician), Bruce Lee
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Britt Reid | Green Hornet, Kato, Bruce Wayne | Batman, Dick Grayson | Robin, cameo by Beatrix Kiddo | The Bride (Kill Bill), Black Beauty is practically a character, right?
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 3:03
Content Notes: Rapid flickering image shifts; earworm hazard.
Creator Links: (Instagram)

Dorodigital; (YouTube)

Dorodigital
Theme: Amnesty, Crossovers & Fusions, FANCAKE IS FIFTEEN, Fandom Classics, Fanvids, Older Fandoms, Underloved Works

Summary: What started out as an attempt to learn flight of the bumble bee on the trumpet evolved into a fascination with the green hornet theme song. Although the show featured one of my favorite Martial Artist ..Bruce lee..the main attraction for me was the frentic trumpet solo performed by another hero of mine Mr. Al hirt. This song was also used in the motor cycle scene in kill bill. I was delighted to learn that they were making a movie version in 2011 starring Seth Rogen and Jay Chou..Alas there could be only one Bruce lee as well as one Al hirt. However I decided to perform this cover in tribute to Al and Bruce...Enjoy

Reccer's Notes: Two great tastes that taste great together: against a montage of thrilling stunts and snappy dialogue, trumpeter Ricardo Dowridge multiplies himself into an orchestra to celebrate his musical and martial heroes.

Fanwork Links:

Watch on YouTube

One man’s Green Hornet.mpg, by Ricardo Dowridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8UVF7tkdRw

Current Music: Inherent in the subject.

watersword

Hi, there's an active shooter situation on my campus; I'm safe and a couple of miles away. ♥

jesse_the_k

I've observed hockey RPF fandom from an immeasurable distance, and I still got a kick out of this post:

https://marina.dreamwidth.org/1576715.html

marina was in hockey fandom, spent her childhood in Ukraine, knows much about filing serial numbers, and has definite opinions about vodka.

I'm reading reading reading.

Hi!

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

The DEADLINE is getting closer and closer!

At this time - 9pm UTC on 17 December - your Yuletide assignment must be posted (published, not a draft!) to the Yuletide collection as a complete work.

Before then, we need your help, Yuletide! We have an outstanding pinch hit (#121) for the fandoms:
SMPLive
Roughhouse SMP
Mirai SMP - XYouly
Highcraft (Web Series)

See details here. Please email us at yuletideadmin@gmail.com if you can help, and spread the word if you have friends who might be interested. This pinch hit is due at 9pm UTC on 19 December.

More pinch hits will be advertised at

yuletide_pinch_hits, especially after 9pm UTC on the 17th.

Additionally, we love beta reader volunteers! You can connect with writers at this post by filling out a Google form, or you can join the Discord and keep an eye out for beta requests advertised by members with the Hippo role.

Good luck to everyone facing down the deadline!

andrewducker

About a month ago Gideon watched a bunch of videos about Minecraft, asked if he could play it on her tablet, got a few pointers from me to get him going and then dove in and started building stuff. At an impressive rate considering that he can't read any word more than 4 letters long.

Yesterday I mentioned Minecraft to Sophia, and she showed interest, so I set her up on my desktop and she got stuck in. She's asked for more help than Gideon has, but has been happily building herself an underground house. And just now I wanderd into my office to see her on the desktop and Gideon sitting on the floor with his tablet, with the two of them intermittently showing each other cool things that they'd found.

So tonight, after they're asleep, I'm going to set them both up for online play, and rent a realm*, so that they can be in the same world with each other.

*I am totally willing to pay £3.99 per month to not have to maintain my own server.

ahria posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Oingo Boingo
Pairings/Characters: Gen; background F->M (Emily ->Victor); Jack Skellington, Bonejangles, and the whole Halloween Town and Underworld crews.
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 4:22
Content Notes: canon-typical death, undeath, decay, dismemberment, creepy-crawlies, monsters, and Body Horror.
Creator Links: (YouTube)

DylanWhitesChannel (formerly ~~weareactualsize~~
Theme: Amnesty, Crossovers & Fusions, FANCAKE IS FIFTEEN, Fandom Classics, Fanvids, Older Fandoms

Summary: Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" mashed with "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Corpse Bride." All copyrights held by original owners. Happy Halloween.
(HD re-edit from my weareactualsize channel)

Reccer's Notes: Although this repost is dated 27 October 2014, the original on White’s now-defunct previous channel dates from circa 2010. This fusion is a relentless tour-de-force of music synced to visuals synced to lyrics; Danny Elfman’s having scored both movies creates a certain built-in compatibility, and Oingo Boingo’s Halloween anthem makes for an Elfman trifecta.

Fanwork Links:

Watch on YouTube

Dead Man’s Party, by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndhDaEqjKAc

case posting in

fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6917 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 70 secrets from Secret Submission Post #988.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

case posting in

fandomsecrets

[ SECRET SUBMISSIONS POST #989 ]

The first secret from this batch will be posted on December 20th.

RULES:
1. One secret link per comment.
2. 750x750 px or smaller.
3. Link directly to the image.

More details on how to send a secret in!

Optional: If you would like your secret's fandom to be noted in the main post along with the secret itself, please put it in the comment along with your secret. If your secret makes the fandom obvious, there's no need to do this. If your fandom is obscure, you should probably tell me what it is.

Optional #2: If you would like WARNINGS (such as spoilers or common triggers -- list of some common ones here) to be noted in the main post before the secret itself, please put it in the comment along with your secret.

Optional #3: If you would like a transcript to be posted along with your secret, put it along with the link in the comment!

oursin

I think this is an absolutely terrible idea, and that they should be giving book tokens, and, okay, maybe recommendations, but letting people choose their books:

30 authors on the books they give to everyone

I am in particular stunned by the choices of Some People, e.g. Colm Tóibín's Christmas Downer:

There is a book I buy as a present that never goes out of fashion. It is The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford.... the extraordinary plot creeps up and bites you before you know where you are. The narrative curls and twists; the narrator knows too much or too little. But at some point the appalling and ingenious nature of the treachery – what is called “cheating” nowadays – becomes apparent and you feel that you have been let in on some intriguing and explosive secret. It is perfect, thus, for Christmas.

I am also beswozzled by what Tessa Hadley considers comfort reading: Rumer Godden??? Okay, some of her works fall into that category, but on the whole I would not consider the ones she does name - The River in particular - exactly comforting.

Much as I love them, I would not press into anyone's hands Middlemarch, The Fountain Overflows, Cold Comfort Farm or The Pursuit of Love, urging that they they must read this.

I am reminded of GB Shaw's rewrite of the Golden Rule, about not doing to others as you would be done by, as tastes differ.

Take it away, Sly and the Family Stone!

Current Music: Everyday People

umadoshi

Luck was not with us in the first attempt at clementines this year. (The batch we got are far from inedible, at least, but...not very good.) They're such a gamble these years. :/

Our new freezer arrived a week ago, and the plan is to finally get it in place today once

scruloose gets back from a market run. That hasn't happened yet due to a combination of factors and timing, the biggest of which is the fact that it'll require shifting some things out of the garage onto the driveway to make room for us to work with two upright freezers in play. (

scruloose is going to take a stab at moving the old one out of its place without emptying it, via a hand cart, but we have no idea how likely that is to actually work. It'd sure be convenient, though.)

My hair is dyed! It is. Um. Very dark. By which I mean it's not so much dark purple as "functionally black with some purple highlights that are probably some of my silver hair, but there's less of that than there is silver, so it's a little confusing". Oh, well. It looks fine, other than maybe making me look a bit washed out, and I don't much care about that.

(I might care more when I finally get

scruloose to take a headshot of me to send HR at Dayjob so they can update my long-expired work pass. [Part of why I decided to finally just go ahead and dye my hair was in the name of having it done for this photo.] These days, the process involves just filling out a form and emailing that and a photo that meets their technical requirements to the department handling passes and also to my boss, presumably so the boss can look at the photo and confirm "yes, that is the employee in question". But this means we can make potentially-endless attempts at getting a photo I don't hate, and honestly, if I can live with the horror of my provincial ID photo, I can probably live with just about anything.)

A few links:

--

mrissa's annual lussekatter posts are always good for my heart.

--Jenny Hamilton's "Anatomy of a Sex Scene: Heated Rivalry Edition" (covering ep. 1-2).

--"‘Pushing Daisies’ Season 3 In The Works, Says Creator Bryan Fuller".

Current Mood: stressed

cyberghostface posting in

scans_daily

( Scans under the cut... )

james_davis_nicoll

So, I asked on Bluesky:

Aside from Larry Correia, are there any big name Baen authors who debuted at Baen, after Jim Baen's death?

(So, Tim Powers wouldn't count because he debuted not at Baen and also long before JB died)

I got three names: Chuck Gannon, Jason Cordova and Mike Kupari. Gannon actually debuted at Baen in 1994 but only two (I think) short pieces, after which there was a long delay until his novels began appearing. I don't know the other two but SF is huge and it's perfectly possible for me to overlook BNAs. Still, granting all three, with LC that makes four... and in 2028, Toni Weisskopf will have been running Baen for as long as Jim Baen did.

This could, of course, be the natural consequence of the Del Monte approach.

[added later]