The layers of anxiety

Aug. 16th, 2025 10:21 pm
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[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Must be time for classes to start as the anxiety builds. I got most everything ready. Working on the online stuff. I don't know how the summer is gone. I am very much not ready to go back. The sabbatical showed me how ready for retirement I really am. Sigh.

Made some major strides ahead on one of my [community profile] wipbigbang stories. I'm feeling so behind on everything including my [community profile] fandomtrumpshate I should have only done the owl house story for this instead of the Hazbin story too so I could have concentrated on this (I think the real problem is with events like trumps hate is you write for someone you don't know and sometimes you get prompts that don't sing to you. At least with things like [community profile] fandomgiftbasket you can pick and choose. There is nothing about this story that sings to me.

And I did say it was going to be Science Saturday so here are some links

Could a new vaccine help prevent colorectal, pancreatic cancer recurrence?

Diabetic man produces his own insulin after gene-edited cell transplant This is amazing (it's also a very slippery slope with what we can do with gene editing)


Archaeologists locate 'La Fortuna,' a Spanish ship that exploded in 1748 along North Carolina's coast

A braided stream, not a family tree: How new evidence upends our understanding of how humans evolved

They had to be giving things away

Aug. 15th, 2025 08:17 pm
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[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Mom and I hit Costco. There was ONE, count 'em, one buggy left. Dear god. Somehow we survived but since I have SO MUCH to cart back next week I passed on many of the things I wanted to buy. Ah well.


And since that was the most exciting thing to happen all day, here have the fandom recs for two weeks including this one!!

Warmth In The Chest Hazbin Hotel this was written for me in [community profile] fandomtrumpshate I haven't even had a chance to read it yet


Sleeping Beauties Torchwood

Thunder And Lightning Stargate SG-1

The Best (Friend) Hazbin Hotel

In The Doghouse Torchwood

Springtime Picnic FAKE

Chase Away the Cold Teen Wolf

To Be Tamaranean Teen Titan

Melolagnia Hazbin Hotel

Pizza 'Pology Hazbin Hotel

what we were searching for. KPop Demon Hunters

Goodbye For Now 光渊 | Justice in the Dark


Make It Count Hazbin Hotel

A Practical Gift Torchwood

What Friends Do Criminal Minds

Oops, I Married an Alien Eerie Indiana

None of It Was Accidental 逆爱 | Revenged Love

rewritten. 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Finding a New Home
9-1-1

The Final Straw. Teen Wolf

Breaking Free Stargate Atlantis

A radio demon's daisy in hell. Hazbin Hotel

Leap Of Disaster Torchwood

Transparent The Murderbot Diaries

What You Have Done to Me
Hazbin Hotel

Torchwood Life Torchwood

Too Many Times. Torchwood

Hurts To Say Goodbye
Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Drunk Hazbin Hotel

An Important Stop in the Journey 91-1
here, now (in this cage).
魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

All The Girly Things Horrid Henry

Getting Picked Up Teen Wolf

Royal Flush Hazbin Hotel

here.

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I am full of sodium

Aug. 14th, 2025 09:33 pm
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[personal profile] cornerofmadness
we went out to eat and I got fried dill pickles and went HAM on them. They were SO good and then dad gave me the pickle off his sandwich and my buffalo wings came with blue cheese so yeah, so much sodium. Why is it that bad for you food tastes best?

I spent the rest of my day tearing out my hair. I got the syllabi in but was sidetracked by a text from Holzer about a follow up ultrasound tomorrow. Nope. Didn't schedule this. Not in my portal. I call them. Your ob/gyn did this (because holzer told her she ordered it originally) I told them to cancel it. If you do you'll need a new order. Fine since I'm not coming here for this period.

Got a notice from the loans about my income based loan repayment which I started and then needed my W2s etc. I go to finish that and it's stuck in a loop. Nothing gets it out. Finally I give up and call them. She suggests going into incognitio mode since that might be the issue. Nope. It just keeps taking me to the what I need to do this page. She tries to help and I whine about why in the world did they change it from the easy push the IRS allowed button. She says 'oh we still do that.' We check I'm set up for that. She says your stuff will automatically submit when it's time. WTF WHY am I doing this then? Why have I been doing this for years? I hope the hell she's right (she did email me the paperwork that says this is true because I insisted and got her name)

It's community rec time

[community profile] smallweb A community for all things smallweb

[community profile] ficortreat a halloween fic comm

[community profile] fandom_empire Fandom Empire will offer three big challenges every year. Every challenge will run for 13 weeks.

Primanti Brothers

Aug. 13th, 2025 09:28 pm
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[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Mom had to drive my SUV today so I could take the Bronco back (no problems) and from there we went to Primanti Brothers, started in 1933 which I love (it's the one famous for having slaw and fries on the sandwich, and man they're good fries)

From there we went to the casino. I lost. Mom won 200$. It was fun for an hour.

Came home, finished my syllabi (barely in time, due friday) fielded some nonsense at work (there's plenty of it)

Got excited because I can finally go out to watch the Persaid meteor shower. It's raining. Naturally.

What I Just Finished Reading:

Dark and Dangerous Journey - WWII mystery arc, really enjoyed this.

Pantomine - an LGBT (intersexed main character) fantasy, I like it thought it ended well, set up for book 2

The Black Hand Syndicate in Ohio, one of those over priced history books you use in local drug stores. Well researched, but not as interesting as you'd want it to be for 25$


Holy crap I need to get caught up on my book reviews


What I am Currently Reading:

The Wood - an urban fantasy so far so good

What Can't be Said - the latest Sebastian St. Cyr book (or is it last year's and I need to get this year?) too soon to say, but I love this series

The Secret of the Orange Blossom Cake - WHY did I ask for this arc? It's a magic realism romance. Was it the magic realism (Not nearly enough of it) or because it's set in Italy? It's too contemporary romance for me but it's not badly written but there are logic gaps and the main character is SO irritating.



What I Plan to Read Next:

I have so many arcs

Kicking cancer's ass

NSFW Aug. 13th, 2025 05:35 pm
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( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Now that's what I'm talking about

Aug. 12th, 2025 09:39 pm
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So the only thing on deck today other than driving home was going to Hershey World. A) yes it's a giant tourist trap b) yes it's mostly for kids c) yes it's kinda hokey.

BUT I have wanted to do the 'factory' tour since I was a kid and never got to. I took myself. I got there early-ish lucky me (because there was no line and they have the queue line all dolled up with history to read while you sit around waiting. (I also was now on the clock. It was free to park for 3 hours, after that you were getting hit with a 35-60$ bill)

There is plenty of things to do at Hershey World as you can see. Most of it of course is geared to kids. I wasn't interested in that. One thing I thought SHOULD be on that web page is their no stroller policy. You can park them in the food court but with this level of people streaming in you couldn't just park it and level. I get why this is a rule. I saw the size of those strollers. You wouldn't be able to move inside but you should give people warning. Maybe I'm NOT taking my 1 and 3 year old if I have to carry them thru the whole thing and come back in a couple years...

I did not get through the gift shop unscathed (I'm talking POUNDAGE of chocolate here). This is where all the exclusive flavors were. I got me so many (good choice there, diabetic, good choice) cafe espresso and caramel macchiato and pumpkin spice latte nuggets, brownie and hazelnut kisses, a crystal kiss dish for mom for the holidays, peppermint patty chips for cookie making, whacky exclusive bars (some of which will be going into deep freeze for later gift giving), some expensive exclusive caramel chocolate and receese's cups with chocolate lava centers because peanut butter cups are MY favorite. I also found ancient ones I haven't seen if years like zagnuts.

I learned that krackle (another one I liked) dates to the 20s. Cool (so working on that Spider family as kids story. It's gonna happen) Another woman with a cane saw my purple sparkly one (I needed it at this point) and wanted to know where I got it as she has a boring black one (Amazon). Me and that cane nearly died getting onto the chocolate lab ride because it's a rotating floor and holy hell that's difficult to navigate when you can't feel your feet.


Yes I over spent. I did get out while parking was free. I tried that damn chocolate avenue grill again because it was 11:30 and it only opened at 11. Nope, full up. Went to Houlihan's a PA chain I haven't seen in years, had the best buffalo chicken sandwich I've had in a LONG time (the sauce had a bit of salt. I liked that also ranch dressing with blue cheese crumbles which I laughed because last night I had Beat Bobby Flay on as background noise and the judges reamed Bobby for mixing the two. Shows what they know)

Drove home. Too many 18 wheelers. SO many 18 wheelers but I'm home. My knee is done. It looks like a pumpkin.

Can't believe I'll be going back to work within two weeks.

I SHOULD get caught up on comments tomorrow. Thanks for coming along on vacation with me. I probably won't have the pictures up for a day or two because I have to get my syllabi done AND my loan repayment paperwork which the government just made infinitely harder to do (basically returned it to what it was 20 years ago)

Chocolatey

Aug. 11th, 2025 09:43 pm
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[personal profile] cornerofmadness


I made it to Hershey in spite of construction and the fact that half of Hershey is 'road closed' I went to the Hershey Story Museum. Now, I admit it, this is a biased museum of course but probably easily fact checked. If it's all true, Milton Hershey was a good millionaire. He gave like 60 Million dollars to an orphanage, started schools for his workers children, gave them decent wages (mostly), made a community for them including golf courses (and one for the kids) theaters etc. It was a nice museum.

I hit Wendy's for lunch for the first time in like 15 years. You all can guess why. I wanted the Meal of Misfortune. It was a surprising number of chicken nuggets like 8 of them (I don't like nuggets) but there was no cartilage in them and it was tolerable with the dips (a spicy blackish/dark purple one and one obviously raspberry base) and my sundae needed more goo but it was good.

From there I went to the Hershey Gardens, a tiny bit pricey for a small garden (but I know how much it is to take care of a place like this) They had a butterfly collection, you the know the type. Lots a blue morphos floating around but there were ones I've never seen before like a dead leaf butterfly (which looked just like a dead leaf) and had some other insects and reptiles, including the bird poop frog (well named) and a white tree frog who had SUCH a face.

There were all kinds of beautiful roses which would have looked even better about 6 weeks ago. Also would have been nicer if it wasn't 1001 degrees out there. Pretty sure the sun is cooler. I loved that there is a Milton Hershey rose (bred for him in the 20s or 30s) and later they renamed one Catherine Hershey. Milton's was nearly extinct but it's back and they were selling it and if I had a place for it....

From there I saw there was 2 hours before everything closed so I went to the car museum. I wanted to break a bunch of collection cabinets and steal me scads of hood ornaments (I love them so) they had american, french and british. There was a deluxe edition steudabaker one that was a full devil with tail and a pitchfork (from the 20s-30s) and pierce arrow had one with a naked mercury on it (well he had his fig leaf) from 1926.

It was three floors of cars and motorcycles. Oddly enough there weren't many trucks. The ground floor was a lot of dirt bikes (not my thing) and big cars/buses. The first floor had the most cars, lots of station wagons for some reason and a really nice Tucker collection (fantastic cars, ahead of their time, he was run out of the business by the big boys in Detroit) Top floor were more motorcycles (one from the 40s called the whizzer....) and all my hood ornaments. (now I see me doing a human Arackniss and Angel story just to work in those hood ornaments and sending them to Hershey Park.

On the way from here to the hotel, my GPS takes one last gasp at killing me. I should have been in the left lane but nope it says go right....RIGHT into hershey park (hey it was only 35$ but I'm not sure if that's park entrance or just the parking) I tell the guy what happened because it's a one way. I couldn't turn around. He laughed and waved me in and said just keep going. It'll circle back out for you.

Dinner was a huge disappointment and a bit scary. I wanted to go to the chocolate avenue grill (nope, totally packed) so I hit another biggie around here Troeg's Brewery. I ended up with a 20$ sandwich and fries and the world's most overpriced beer. I didn't realize the prices were on the sign across the big bar space. So when I was choosing between the Jovial dupple ale and the freaky peach sour ale I could have gotten two of the Jovial. Didn't see that and paid 14$ for ONE freaking sour ale which was stored in a bourbon barrel so all I could really taste was bourbon. It was good but it wasn't worth the price of a six pack.

The scary part wasn't the price (that was the disappointment). When I went to pay for it, I realized my gym wallet wasn't in my purse. I know I had it at the hotel when I dumped the purse out looking for the insulin but it is GONE now. While I have money/credit in my main wallet, the gym wallet has my id and my main credit card. It wasn't outside the restaurant or in the Bronco. Fantastic. I have no idea where my driver's license is. I just drank a large sour ale that is 9% alcohol in a strange town in a car that isn't mine. Whee. Made it back to the hotel. Still can't find my wallet. I was getting ready to go tear up the Bronco and/or ask the front desk to see if it was turned in but then I saw that the bed spread had a cuff on it. Did the wallet slide under there? Thankfully yes. Geez.

The tub here is weird. High. Deep. Narrow, like it's hard to have your feet side by side. And boy do I miss my handicapped room from the Wyndham with it's high toilet. This one is about 2 inches off the ground. Thank god I can pull up on the vanity.

And I am wake enough to do music monday (but probably NOT to answer anyone's responses yet) I Feel free to share with us. We're doing the alphabet and we're up to T. I'm only sharing the last 5 years but you can share whatever T song you'd like.

Teeing up )

Spooky in here

Aug. 10th, 2025 11:33 pm
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I had my writerly ways nearly done, the browser crashed and for a second time the blog did NOT save a draft. I'll do that another day.

And my title isn't a lie. It is spooky. I went down to microwave something and the whole lobby/halls were empty. Just a few hours ago it had been bustling with all the steampunkers. Now it was like we were never there.

This morning went really well if you can ignore the low energy/half the people already mentally checking out. I went to a make your own tea blend thing. I've always wanted to do this with Adagio (still do) I wouldn't have called this a workshop really. It's like here's the tea, here's the mix-ins, go for it. I'll let you take 1 ounce for the 10$ you paid.... I mixed up whiskey black tea with some lapsang sou chong, added in cacao shells, ginger and cinnamon with a sprinkle of elderflower and called it Husk. I haven't tried it yet.

The next panel was by my friend Leanna on Poe and mesmerism. I very much enjoyed that. I thought I had an hour for lunch but no. The Victorians and the supernatural in literature was next. 15 minutes into it, no one showed and I thought well maybe since all the other talks were at the half hour not the top of the hour maybe the speaker was mistaken (wondering if it was Leanna since this is her forte). Someone went to find staff and next thing we know (it was a packed room) Leanna swoops in. No, this wasn't her panel. That person bugged out without telling anyone (how to get uninvited next year) and like I said it's Leanna's thing. She did well.

I said goodbye after that because the final panels had no interest for me. I headed out to Evergreen Cemetery to find Jennie Wade's grave (the one civilian death in Gettysburg) That was easy. There were other cool graves. and some fun names, can't remember them all but there was Solomon Toot, someone named Zephaniah and a mausoleum bearing the name Ball-Dickson (yes I became 12). Also found one mausoleum entirely in Italian.

From there I rolled down the street (past the hotel I usually stay in with my brother and SiL because it's in walking distance to all the interesting stuff. This con hotel is about 3 miles out) and stop at Mr. G's home made ice cream and texted my chocolate peanut butter to my brother to taunt him ( he loves it) God made the chocolate drip on my shirt in retailation.

Then I went to the battlefield to get pics of some of the monuments. After that it was dinner and I went to GarryOwen's Irish Pub. It was metered parking only (but I found plenty) and it's old fashioned meters, only takes quarters. I forgot about that. Then I remembered in some states handicapped tags can park for free. I google it. In PA I can do that for one hour so up goes my tag and in I go for the crab imperial 'poutine' (fries, cheese and the crab imperial in the place of the gravy) Tasty but SMALL for the price (ended up stopping at Sheetz for a hot dog to round out the meal, really goes together). I also had an Earl Grey Sour, gin, lemon juice and earl grey simple syrup. I think it needed a strong earl grey taste (I need to try making this syrup)

I was going to go ghost hunting but I'm exhausted and there was a writers' meet up on Discord tonight. I did that instead and got a little writing done before Discord fucked up and that was that.

Here's what I would have mentioned on the writerly ways: Always be on the watch for story fodder (Well Gettysburg is good for that) As I pulled into the Sheetz there was a man on the corner holding a nearly full sized cross and he had a microphone/transmitter with him. He started haranging people. As I was pumping gas, he was screaming at two women in a car at the redlight. JEZEBEL! You're whore like your mother. JEZEBEL JEZEBEL. You need to find God. Better hope you don't die tonight or you'll be in hell you diseased JEZEBEL.

Holy shit.




On to Hershey tomorrow.

And sometime this week I WILL catch up with comments (if there is any blog post you think I need to see, send it to me)

Less steamy than I'd hope

Aug. 9th, 2025 11:25 pm
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[personal profile] cornerofmadness
There were fewer panels I wanted to sit in on and much fewer things I want from the vendors. I did go to a ghost talk with my friend in the morning (why at 10 AM people? We goths aren't made for morning. Did I mention you can tell a lot of older Steampunks were goths in the 80s and 90s? If not you should have seen the 80s=goth DJ party last night when The Cure came on and we were all dancing)

Speaking of which I am paying for it today. I'm having issues with the nerve damage all day. I had to take a few breaks because of it.

I wanted to do the make your own dice bag thing (but they way they do registrations here sucks) so I go where I was directed to go by his partner but turns out there was TWO of them, one for the VIPS and the one for the rest of us so when I ask him about the registration he just looks at me and says 'this is VIP only' You'd THINK he'd of added, go see my partner next door. I drag out of there embarrassed (and into break number one)

The afternoon session was about the history of tarot cards and I enjoyed that but there wasn't another panel I wanted to hear until 4 so break number two after another disappointing round through the vendors. I got a few less expensive things as holiday gifts but some things were SO expensive. Like the fun literary chocolates where they married classic novels with foods/drinks in those novels and made chocolates from them, like bilberries for Jane Eyre or nori and ginger for Cthulu. I planned to get several as gifts figuring they were 6-8$ a piece. they were much much more. Like twice that. I kept the flavor catalogue (I make own chocolates, no reason I can't try some of this myself) But maybe I'm the cheap ass bulking at pay 12$ for a chocolate bar because one couple raced up because they'd already finished the chocolate they bought yesterday and bought 6 more (that's over 70$, sorry but I can get a week's groceries for that)

There was a guy with collage art that was cool and the big pieces were 100$ which fair for that but he had ones the size of post cards that would have been loved by a couple friends but it was nearly that (or make me an offer. He seemed a little desperate. I didn't want to insult him because yes I don't know exactly what the cost of his time and materials should be but 50$ for a 3 inch square of burlap covered in things seemed...high)

I did get to talk to the woman doing the tarot thing. She runs a destination D&D thing in both new orleans and in a castle in the UK. It's something to look into. That could be fun.

The mocktail talk with Calamity Dawn was good. I knew what a Boulevardier cocktail was so she gave me the mock version. I had just used that in a story too. The alcohol free spirits did a passable bourbon attempt (but something in it made her and me cough, not sure what)

Tonight for me was all about music. First up was Steamcordia who...honestly plays accordian better than he sings. He stumbled over several songs.


Then came the main act, Frenchy and the Punk which I very much enjoyed. Ended up buy 2 cds (there was a price break and I didn't have cash enough for one and figured if I'm getting the card out...) It was a crazy long line for her that I was at the head of so I'll see if she's in the vendor's room again tomorrow and have her sign the cases.


Lastly came This Way to the Egress. I heard some of it but at this point it's 11 and I'm getting tired (feeling my age)


So overall a good night. I'll bring science saturday back next week.

Great first day

Aug. 8th, 2025 08:18 pm
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I'm too tired to do it justice (and friday's fannish 50 will probably be moved to tuesday). I hit a new museum here in town, Beyond the Battle out of the Adams County Historical Society. It was a nice idea and a small museum (with two enthusiastic older lady docents) It starts with local dinosaur findings, then a wee bit (very wee) on the local natives and then the making of Pennsylvania (and it's skirmishes with Maryland)

There was some on a famous local abolitionist and naturally quite a bit about the battle of Gettysburg and afterward (including Mag Palm who I learned about last year, the woman who beat up the slave catchers who came for her even though she was a freeborn woman)

It also went into the Spanish flu pandemic, WWI and WII I guess the Eisenhowers retired here.

But the really cool thing was 'Caught in the crossfires' It was set up like the sitting area of a typical house in the mid 1800s in disarray. You're sat in there and it's five minutes of what it was like in Gettysburg in those three days. The 'family' is in the basement and you can hear their voices as cannons and guns fire on the house with lights appearing in the 'bulletholes' in the walls, screams of animals and people and the floor shakes. They put effort into it (Not recommended for people with PTSD related to battle)


From there I went to the Shriver House museum and cracked the key as to when to get to downtown historic Gettysburg. Get there by 11 and you can find plenty of on street parking (during the week at least) The house was down up in period pieces and tells the story of the Shrivers. The husband was set off to war (thinking it wouldn't last long) while Hettie takes care of their two daughters and tries to keep the business going, a saloon in the basement and a two lane bowling alley (Shriver had sold off his farm and had a fair bit of money when he built this place.

It doesn't have a happy ending. I got the diary of the neighbor girl plus the one about the Shrivers (and a book on battlefield hospitals) These Shrivers are distantly related to the famous ones, like Arnie's wife.

Since the festivities didn't start until late today I went to the movie theater here on campus and saw Fantastic Four. I loved it with one major exception. I'm biased. I can't remember if FF was my first comic or if it was Justice League but I know Johnny Storm was my first comic book crush so there's that. I adored the mid-Century American feel (with the futuristic tech). What I liked, they reduced the origin story to a news clip since most of us know it and that Sue didn't get sidelined because she was pregnant.

What did annoy me: Reed, the world's smartest man, saying something stupid in a press conference that he could have not said a word about and for what? 10 minutes of drama? We could have done that a different way. Other than that, really liked it

At the con, I got to see my friends and I've already bought a few things. One thing they can do better (and I'll put that in my response if they do a survey) was tell us WHO are doing the panel talks. I went to one and it was Calamity Dawn and her cocktails which I didn't mind. I like her but I didn't even know it WAS her. Drank malort. don't rec.

I did notice that a lot of the usual actors aren't here in the vending room. Hmm, I need to look at them more carefully tomorrow. It's holiday shopping time.

I went dancing and I went to the magic lantern 'castel' presentation. I need to work magic lanterns into a story somewhere.


If I'm slow in answering you, sorry but man I didn't even get back til nearly midnight. I'm getting old for this place.

My GPS still hates me

Aug. 7th, 2025 10:04 pm
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[personal profile] cornerofmadness
So I left this afternoon for Gettysburg. My GPS must have known this was its last chance to fuck with me because I ordered a new one (which didn't make it before I left) Mom had given me paper directions too from MapQuest (that still exists?!?) As I come up to the second service station on the turnpike the GPS says 10 miles to my exit.

I'm like...I thought I had to go through TWO tunnels and at least three service stations. So I pull off at the service station, check the paper directions. Both say I need to get off on US 30 E (and I know that's true) so I get off and that's when I remember my brother saying don't get off the first time it wants you to go off on US 30.

There's no way back to the damn turnpike. I'm now on the back country roads for 80s miles. I have to go through the Buchanan State Forest (which is more or less where I set my lesser known cryptid story that I just sent in). Up and down switchback mountains (hello Appalachia) with runaway truck ramps everywhere because it's so steep. At least Badlands Broncos are MADE for this kind of terrain (I mean this IS an off road vehicle which is what I told Hertz when they sent me a survey about how I liked day 2 of my rental, why do you have a fleet of off roaders?!?) I do get here without any troubles.

Only I'm here over an hour later than planned so there goes going to the movie theater tonight because by the time I check in and eat, it's like 10 minutes to go and I'm in no mood. Instead of unwinding with the Fantastic Four I go for unwinding with water aerobics in their pool which is deeper and bigger than anticipated.

The good news is the restaurant between this Wyndham and the Marriot next door is OPEN and gives me a better choice than eating here (overpriced) or going down to Perkins (and losing my spot in a very packed parking lot).

I will be leaving tomorrow morning to do a museum and hurrying my butt back while I can still park. I can walk to the movie theater. (the steampunk con doesn't start until 4)

For some reason they gave me a wheelchair room and I am a little upset about it because I KNOW there are wheelchair bound con goers. I didn't even ask for a handicapped room (maybe it came up with my Wyndham membership which I think that is on there). The hotel is sold out so it's not like I can move elsewhere in case someone needs this.

But I do question why hotels have wheelchair accessible rooms on upper levels? It seems like a danger if this place catches fire.


Community rec time

[community profile] science since several of you said you like to see science posts

[community profile] tv_talk Reviews, discussion and activities focused on TV content -- come find your peeps!


[community profile] thankfulthursday a weekly gratitude check-in community.

[community profile] fffc Froday Flash Fiction Challenge

How has it been a week

Aug. 6th, 2025 10:34 pm
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[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Since I've been to Fort Steuben (and still no pictures?) How is it am I leaving tomorrow? I got my rental today. I was hoping for a good SUV because I'm in the market.

I got a Ford Bronco. Sigh. If I wanted an off-roader this would be perfect. I mean it's got four settings for GOAT Mode. The gear shift is it a DIAL that you have to hold down a button and rotate it. OMG why? I would not buy this but it has 3000 miles and I'm ready to go.

I have two museums in Gettysburg I've not seen (which I should have time for when I get there and friday morning), I have both Superman and Fantastic Four at the movie theater that's in the hotel complex. I was going to do the ghost tour but I'll be tired. I'll try it sunday night after the con. I have too much planned for my day and a half in Hershey but I have my plans and NO spreadsheet (evil Little dog will be shocked) because all the museums in both towns are open 7 days a week

And watching Carnival Eats today gave me a bunny for the carnival horror open call. now to get on it

What I Just Finished Reading:

Monster Burger - urban fantasy not quite as fun as the first but still good. It's a fun book. There is a ton of fat issues in this like the other mystery I bitched about but in this case it felt...different. yes his guardian angel and kevin the roach pick on him for being fat but they're both mean. Lloyd knows his weight is an issue in monster hunting BUT his female partner does not mention it at all. I think that might be the difference


What I am Currently Reading:

The Wood - an urban fantasy so far so good

Dark and Dangerous Journey - WWII mystery arc



What I Plan to Read Next:

Pantomine - an LGBT (intersexed main character) fantasy, I like it but i'm shelving it for a bit


I have pictures for you finally )

A weird day shopping

Aug. 5th, 2025 09:07 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
just nothing quite worked well. Macy's summer clothes either belonged on a 90 year old going to bingo or not on sale. Did find one long sleeved tie-dyed thing left over from last fall on final sale. Got that. it's pretty but I needed it least. I want to replace my short sleeved dress shirts. Most are like 15 years old now.
No joy there.

Also there were SO many people on the roads for 2 pm on a Tuesday. it was shocking.

I'm still trying to work up excitement for the steampunk thing that I'm leaving for on thursday and I have none.

I forgot to share these badges for bingos at [community profile] allbingo check them out )

So let me go back to one of my earliest (and my forever) fandom for fannish 50: Star Trek, the original series.

Let's be honest, there aren't a lot of women to pick from in the main cast. Uhura, Christine and Rand.

Yeoman Rand got the short end of the stick and sexually harassed off the show by a producer.

Christine is in a traditional female role of nurse. I liked her well enough.

But the one I really liked, especially now that I'm older and can appreciate her more (I liked Christine more when I was young). By now most of us probably have heard the story of how Nichelle wanted to leave the show after S1 but MLK told her to stay, that she was far too important to African Americans to quit.

We hear people joke how Uhura is just the space phone operator and that is unfair and reductive. She did so much more, especially in S1 (I did notice that when the censors and conservatives realized Star Trek was SO popular both Uhura and Sulu's roles were reduced to communications and helm. Even if all she did was communications, it was enough that she repped Black women as officers, as having agency which they did not have much of in the 1960s.

But Uhura did more.





Uhura was asked to - and expected to - take over the helm. Which she did. With no problems. She was obviously trained to do multiple bridge jobs. She could have been on the path to command for all we knew (and in later movies she was in fact a captain). Uhura was always more than a telephone operator.



In the next picture we can see her, weapon in hand and a look on her face that is not fear. Okay I'll admit it. She (and all the women) were written inconsistently when it came to their grit. That's what happens when you have multiple authors. But here, Uhura is ready to throw down. She really got to shine in the Mirror universe but I didn't share that picture because A) it's everywhere B) it's rather exploitive





I love that they did try to give her more depth much of which we owe to Nichelle herself. She was the one who gave Uhura the first name Nyota post series (upset that no one ever bothered during the show). When Uhura lost all her memories it was Nichelle who decided no, English is not her first language. She chose Swahili for Uhura.

Nichelle was more interested in music than acting in many ways from what I've read and heard her say. She was also partially why we see Uhura singing, dancing and playing music. I loved these little details (along with Sulu being a botany enthusiast which disappears after S1)

I love that the actors got to have some input in character development. Nichelle (George and Leonard) did especially well with hers.


Best thing to happen today

Aug. 4th, 2025 09:24 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
I woke up and spent the morning watching someone comment to every chapter of a couple of my Angel and Arackniss stories, trying to get them all in before they had to leave to get their kids. Now that is a great compliment and I was so pleased. Also that little Prodigal Son story I posted got comments out the wahzoo. I think the difference there is the age of the fans (older for Pson, younger for HH and TOH)

Mom and Dad bought a new SUV today (haven't seen it yet) and I rented myself a SUV to go to Gettysburg on Thursday. My CR-V has 106K on it and I decided not to run it up even more. It was worth a few hundred bucks to not crap out on the highway. (Must remember to get my EZ Pass transponder out of my suv)

We watched 2 juvenile cooper's hawk jumping up and down eating grasshoppers for a good ten minutes. They're always in Rogue's tree (we planted a tree over one of the cat's graves years ago)

It's music Monday. Feel free to share with us. We're doing the alphabet and we're up to S. I'm only sharing the last 5 years but you can share whatever S song you'd like.

Now I had a ton of S songs )

Writerly Ways

Aug. 3rd, 2025 09:55 pm
cornerofmadness: (writing king 2)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
I had something planned for this but my brain has flatlined so let me do this instead. Let me ask a question.

And this is more for the original fic authors out there, how do you (if you do) keep all the details straight for your characters and figure out their motivations? Me, I grew up with paper zine fandoms where you weren't allowed to have canon characters (Elfquest and Pern specifically and also there were various Starfleet Starships that were also ALL original characters) so we had character sheets so artists could take a stab at illustrating stories. I still use that form for keeping hair/eye color, height, tatts etc straight. I definitely need that.

When it comes to other sheets I have used SO many different ones. Some are incredibly time consuming. And I admit it characters will often go off course. Some times they aren't as helpful as you'd hope for but for me it's at least a starting place.

Like this one for my 1980s monster hunter characters. Meet Alessia )

And here's a different long one for a character I DO NOT REMEMBER. (I named one of my Flight Rising dragons after her though) Did I even write anything for her?!? it's also long )

What do you do? What makes your book bible? Feel free to share.


OPEN CALLS

Africanfuturism Short Stories Stories should be set in and about Africa – whether that’s a future Africa, an alternative Africa or a parallel Africa. Ideally, Science Fiction and positive stories are of interest

Wizard’s Tower Press Is Open To Novellas. Novellas to be combined – Fantasy and SF novellas, including steampunk, slipstream, weird, gothic and any other slippery genres you like, but categorically no full-blown horror

Choose Your Own Adventure Queer Horror Novellas Extremities: Choose Your Own Death is looking for Choose your own adventure queer horror novellas

Anomaly September 2025 Window 300-word science fiction stories

12 Magazines Seeking Microfiction

Inglenook: Now Seeking Submissions

DREAMLAND ANTHOLOGY cosmic horror for comic book artists

No Gods No Masters




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