Weekly proof of life: reading + foodstuffs
Aug. 9th, 2025 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
umadoshiscruloose and I finished listening to All Systems Red and are now maybe a third of the way into Artificial Condition.Yesterday I finished The Hands of the Emperor, which I think I read some of every day and still took me something like a week and a half even though I continued to really enjoy it all the way through. (I did find myself wishing that some of the emotional arc with Kip and his family had been shorter; [ROT13] uvf pbzcyvpngrq srryvatf nobhg uvf snzvyl abg ng nyy tenfcvat jub ur jnf be jung ur npghnyyl qvq jrer inyvq, ohg gung jnf n YBG bs cntrf qribgrq gb znal vafgnaprf va n ebj bs ehaavat vagb lrg nabgure crefba jub qvqa'g trg vg naq jnf qvfzvffvir be vafhygvat, be fbzrbar jub QVQ xabj jub ur jnf naq univat na vagrenpgvba, naq va rvgure pnfr gurer jnf gura lrg nabgure yratgul qryvirel bs rkcynangvba, naq vg jnf whfg...n ybg.
After finishing that last night, I completely at random started reading We'll Prescribe You a Cat (Syou Ishida), about which I have no particular feelings at this time.
Eating/baking: ( fruit, baking, salad (HelloFresh), sadness about still not liking tomatoes )
Narrativism Simulationism Dramatism Simulationism
Aug. 9th, 2025 11:36 amstepnixwhen i actually went back and read posts from Forge alumni, i started realizing that I had the wrong idea of what "narrativism" meant there. It's not actually about producing the dramatic arc of conventional fiction via play or using rules to enforce/produce genre conventions in general, it's about a specific kind of doing that.
Bankuei calls it "player characters freely make choices and actions based on human issues." Forge narrativism wants well-defined protagonists who can confront Big Questions and Important Themes, whether those Big Questions come from a systems' specific thematic anchors, or whether they emerge from characters' personal thematic anchors. This is strongly reminiscent of a specific genre, but it's the genre called literary fiction. Interest in the conventions of horror, fantasy, and other "genre fiction" was called simulationism, another term that often gets used in very different ways than the Forge's definition.
By drawing this kind of contrast between "narrativism" and "simulationism," GNS reiterated the classic divide between literary and genre fiction that's caused so much nerd resentment of "serious" literature and academic contempt for "popular" literature historically. This is helpful for understanding what was going on back there, but is nearly useless for understanding the ways the terms get used now.
For that we have to go even further back!
John H. Kim has some fascinating firsthand accounts of the RGFA usenet group, an early outpost for TTRPG theory and/or flame wars and the origin point for an earlier three-part theory of play. Not gamism, narrativism, simulationism, but gamism, dramatism, simulationism.
Mary Kuhner's description of the Threefold Model brings us much closer to the modern ttrpg discourse version of "simulationism," while "dramatism" seems to have survived under the new name "narrativism"... kind of. There's some odd assumptions about the GM's power to direct the story that don't seem to have survived transmission. If I had to speculate: vulgar narrativism combines the dramatist emphasis on Interesting Story more generally with the Forge narrativist emphasis on player-driven play. But in most cases, the boundaries between terms in common discourse seem much closer to Mary Kuhner's model than Ron Edwards'.
apparently RGFA developed this whole model to explain to a writer for Theatrix why Theatrix wasn't the game for them. Simulationism was first described by self-identified simulationists, rather than just being an appendage to the Forge narrativist theoretical project as some may assume based on other accounts.
DNFs
Aug. 9th, 2025 01:37 pmlightreadsEnemies to lovers sapphic (at least that’s where I assume it’s going, based on the setup) scifi about the heir to the evil galactic empire running away to join the rebellion, and the ship mechanic she is forced to work with despite bad history. Sounds potentially fun, right? It might be, but this was sold as adult and no. Incorrect. This reads so much like YA, I had formed this opinion before even finishing the first page. Not in the mood, particularly for this brand of YA where the main characters are supposed to be in their twenties but are in their feelings – and their feelings about their feelings – as if they are sixteen. Probably reads better if you know what it is going in. Why do publishers mismarket a book like this?
Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn
Woof. If I’d read this in the 90’s when it came out, I would have eaten it up with a spoon. It’s 90’s romantasy, using that definition of romantasy as ‘reads like YA but with more sex.’ I read 25% of this and came so close to liking it. Young prince who wants to do things smarter not harder, and what’s up with the dragons. But I just cannot with the gender and sexual politics here. There was a lot that was hard to swallow (the dying father advising his son to make sure his wife knows who is the “master” in bed, and the book is like way into that) but I noped out for good when our hero finds out our heroine isn’t a virgin (like he is) and throws a massive tantrum. I suspect he will improve but nope. Out.
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
Cozy fantasy about the travelling seer whose lonely existence is disrupted by accidentally acquiring a found family, also various plot things. Lots of people like this one. I have no soul, so was variously bored and annoyed by it, even though it is perfectly competent at what it is doing.
Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman
Trans scifi with a literary bent that is supposedly about the trans kid of trans parents discovering that they were revolutionaries after their deaths. I could not pay attention to this to save my life, and I don’t know why, since I gave up so early and have little sense of it. Worth trying again sometime?
(f&f)
Aug. 9th, 2025 01:24 pmelainegreyDad's surgeon visit went well. He'll have the minimally invasive clips done. The open heart surgeon was willing but discouraging. Dad was concerned with a long recovery, and L and i think it's for the best as we reflect on how well he follows instruction to rest. (Does not follow instructions.) I went to Dad's favorite bar, Dockside, with him and had a few drinks as he had his two beers.
My cousin came to visit semi out of the blue. She stayed in an inn in Pittsboro Thursday night, and i had lunch with her and dad Friday. She was planning on being in town in time for dinner on Thursday night but wasn't. Dad and i had a drink in City Tap waiting, but then got the news she was very delayed.
Last night i worked much later than usual. I can't believe it's Saturday again.
Just had a lovely lunch sandwich with cream cheese, the tiny wild tomatoes, smoked salmon, pickled red onion and thin slices of cucumber. Wish it had been fancier bread, but it was delicious nonetheless.
Must take advantage of decent weather in the yard.
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icanhascheezburger_feedYou know, we have a problem. It's very real and has very real consequences. We try to pet every single cat that we see. Every single one, no exceptions. And we know, we truly do know, that it's risky. You can never know how a cat is going to react to you. You don't know if it's going to be a cat who loves getting petted or a cat that will swat at you for even attempting to get too close. So, we approach cats with caution, with patience, and with the knowledge that even doing all of that might end up with us getting smacked.
If only cats could come with warning labels. If only we knew that this is a spicy kitten and this is a cuddle-bug cat, life would be a lot easier for us. It wouldn't stop us, of course, from trying to pet the less friendly cats, because, like we said, we have a problem. But at least we would know to approach them with even more caution than usual.
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Copenhagen trip
Aug. 9th, 2025 03:39 pmdolorosa_12I didn't keep a paper journal during this trip (I brought it, and then ... just didn't put pen to paper for a week). This summer has completely burnt me out, and I've found myself lacking in mental energy for long stretches of time, even during holidays. Therefore, rather than being a transcription (like my Shetland write-up), I'm just going to group everything under headings and talk a bit about what we did — assume the activities were spread roughly evenly over a week.
( New seas, new skies, new baked goods )
Until I visit my family in Australia in a few months' time, that's it in terms of holidays and travel for the year, and I feel extremely fortunate to have had the chance to visit Copenhagen, and have such an excellent time. If you have access to Instagram, most of the recent posts at my
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ronnidolorosa are photos from the trip, pretty much echoing what I've written here.Just a thought...
Aug. 9th, 2025 07:34 ammuccamukkWhich, surprisingly, I haven't seen in any version, though it's probably on LJ or something.
Never Enuff Icky!!!
Aug. 9th, 2025 08:41 ammallorys_cameraRemember when Icky informed me he was too particular to share the backyard garden with me?
And how he battled me over my tomato cages?
Welp, here's what Icky's garden & Icky's tomato cages look like today:
Altogether now: What a dick!
The window boxes are mine, too. But I am thinking I'll leave them here when I move. It would cost more to transport them than to buy new.
###
"How are you?" I asked Icky to be polite.
Icky mistook this for actual interest. And immediately began unloading.
Icky was not good because Gus absolutely refused to come over; in fact, Gus refused to take off his Meta Goggles when Icky was trying to talk to him, plus Christine was hovering and would not let Icky talk to his son alone—
"And when I came over to pick Gus up, Christine acted surprised to see me!" Icky complained. "I mean, it's Friday, right? I pick up the boys every other Friday."
Well, no, I thought. Sometimes, you pick them up on Thursdays. Or Saturdays.
In fact, Icky's pickup schedule kinda reminded me of Peter Pan's pickup schedule. How some years Peter Pan would show up to take Wendy's daughter Jane to Neverland in the spring and then two years or six years or 50 would pass before he showed up again—
"You didn't call?" I said.
"No," said Icky. "Why should I?"
"Where's Dante?"
"Oh, he's off somewhere in the City."
The situation was further aggravated by the fact that Dante was off to Utah tomorrow—meaning today—and Christine was driving him there. Gus was coming along on the road trip, too.
If you knew your kids were leaving on a road trip, why didn't you make arrangements to pick them up early so you could spend some extra time with them? I wondered.
'Cause Icky had shown up with the usual mountain of food.
What was that all about? Some complicated form of denial?
"I ask myself why I even bother?" said Icky. "I'm tired of dealing with this shit."
"You bother because your relationship with your children is the most important relationship you have in your life," I said. And in 10 years, when you are—what? 75?—it may well be your only relationship.
"I'm furious," said Icky.
I shrugged. "No, you're not. You're hurt. If it were me, I'd go back over there & explain that: My feelings are hurt. Gus is a really gentle, sensitive kid. He wouldn't want to hurt you if he knew you were hurting."
Icky just glared at me.
Fine, asshole, I thought. And scampered up the stairs to barricade myself in the Patrizia-torium.
When I went back downstairs hours later to put Black Chicken safely in her coop, he was still glaring—only this time in the general direction of the ginormous living room TV, which was blaring some sort of action movie.
###
Icky's sudden appearance wasn't all bad, of course. The propane had run out! And I was too lazy to get another tank!
So, Icky did it.
###
Here is Molly wishing you all a Happy International Cat Day:
Three links with concrete actions
Aug. 9th, 2025 01:53 pmdolorosa_12( Details behind the cut )
DC-Slash Binge
Aug. 9th, 2025 08:31 amslashmommy posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
dcslashThe link is available on our Discord Server. We will start at 2 p.m. EDT, 8 p.m. CEST
West wind
Aug. 9th, 2025 01:16 pmpuddleshark
A pleasant cool start to the day. Took a walk up onto the Purbeck Hills to photograph the west wind.
( Watching the grass blow )
There must have been a musk in that curl spray
Aug. 9th, 2025 03:02 pmcimoreneSo I guess this is no longer directly related to allergies, but I don't have a haircare tag or an "I fucking hate perfume flames on the side of my face" tag.
Just One Thing (09 August 2025)
Aug. 9th, 2025 01:00 pmnanila posting in awesomeersComment 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!
Weekly Chat
Aug. 9th, 2025 01:51 pmdancing_serpent posting in c_entWhatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
or
The Day in Spikedluv (Friday, Aug 7)
Aug. 9th, 2025 07:21 amspikedluvOn the way home from mom's I picked up chicken quarters for supper o_O, stopped at the library to return a book (and got a surprise book that had just arrived!), hit the bank drive-thru, and filled my gas tank. I also did a load of laundry (washed, dried AND folded!), hand-washed dishes and did a load in the dishwasher, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered.
I started the next Duncan Kincaid book. I forgot to mention that I recently purchased the Thunderbolts DVD, so I hope to watch that again at some point.
Temps started out at 61.7(F) and reached 88.0. We’re hitting hotter temps again. Today started off hazy (again, I’m sure it’s smoke) and then cleared so that we had blue sky and full on sun.
Mom Update:
Mom was doing better today than yesterday! ( more back here )
Helpful link for people new to exchanges
Aug. 9th, 2025 11:07 amvriddyFirst, a PSA for people who keep letting things slide until the last minute/sometimes too late: you only have until Wednesday to sign up as a creator the sunflower_auction! I finally did it.
Secondly, the main point of this entry! I want to share sunsalute's post for people just starting out with exchanges, with is information that I sure could have used that when I trying to figure things out. Here's the table of content, because Sun is cool like that:
- Contacting Mods
- Signups and DNWs
- Posting and Fulfilling Assignments
- Chatter and Discord
- Unintuitive Systems Everyone Seems To Know How To Use Already (AO3 & DW)
- Further Reading & Thanks
There's a little bit on the technical aspects, but mainly the post focuses on etiquette and things that are not necessarily spelled out. It's a great post!
Link: Help I'm New To Fandom And Need To Get A Good Grade by sunsalute.
Free for All Saturday, Week 32 [DW Edition]
Aug. 9th, 2025 07:00 am↑↑↑ Available dates:
August 12 & 14
August 19 & 21
August 26 & 28
Happy Saturday to you and your writing muses, bunny-shaped or not. ~_^ Let's get the day (or night) started with a Free for All. There are no themes to follow for prompts or fills. If you've had any ideas this week that didn't really work with Tuesday's or Thursday's posts, today's your chance to prompt 'em. Be free, and have fun! ✎
Just a few rules:
1. No more than five prompts in a row.
2. No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
3. Use the character's full name and the fandom's full name for ease in adding to the Lonely Prompts spreadsheet.
4. No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option found here. Unfortunately, DW doesn’t have a cut tag, so use your best judgment when it comes to spoilers.
5. If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the spoiler cut.
6. If your story has possible triggers, please warn for them in the subject line!
Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt
Are today's prompts not catching your eye? No worries, because we have plenty of older prompts that just might do the trick! You can browse through the comm's calendar archive (here on LJ or here on DW) for themed and Free For All posts, or perhaps check out Sunday posts for Lonely Prompt requests. (Or, you can be like me, and try to save interesting prompts as you see 'em... and then end up with multiple text doc files full of [themes + links + prompts] that you can easily look through and search for keywords.) Multiple fills for one prompt are welcome, by the way! Oh, and you are very likely to find some awesome fills to read as well, and wouldn't it be nice to leave a comment on those lovely little writing distractions? ~_^
We are on AO3! If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3, please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2025 collection.
If you are viewing this post on our Dreamwidth site: please know that fills posted here will not show up as comments on our LiveJournal site, but you are still more than welcome to participate. =)
If you have a Dreamwidth account and would feel more comfortable participating there, please feel free to do so… and spread the word!
A friendly reminder about our posting schedule: Themed posts for new prompts go up on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays are a Free for All day for new prompts of any flavor. Sundays are for showing Lonely Prompts some love, whether by requesting for someone to adopt them or by sharing any fills that you've recently completed.