self portrait in hell

Jul. 19th, 2026 07:08 pm
[syndicated profile] ao3bashirxgarak_feed

Posted by nichromefire

by

you keep waiting for him, in feeble intimacy, to call you elim. the shri-tal was invitation enough. you’d chide him, no doubt. a bit of play. such human presumption! that a given name would engender softness…

but he never does call you elim. how…terribly clever of him. to not fall into that trap.

how terribly stupid of him to believe it to be one.

Words: 1783, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

stonepicnicking_okapi: record player (recordplayer)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
My day in jazz calendar tells me this quick, short, spritely, big band song was recorded yesterday in 1939.

Monday 20/07/2026

Jul. 20th, 2026 10:41 am
lhune: (3L)
[personal profile] lhune posting in [community profile] 3_good_things_a_day
1) The flowers in my living room still give a lovely scent to the room

2) I managed to get the stain off my white linen skirt after much trying, I had feared I needed to consult a dry-clean

3) Kana’s coming over to my place this evening so we can catch up ^_^

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Jul. 20th, 2026 01:21 am
tablesaw: -- (Default)
[personal profile] tablesaw

Tried to set an alarm for this morning but messed up and slept in again. So I'm late in the evening with still bad sleep hygiene. My own fault for wanting to watch the Lestat finale. I know they've been releasing the rock tracks, but I really need this season's score to go with the previous seasons.

A little work on lines, a little work on computers. Not enough time in the weekend. I keep promising I'm going to take off a day to just catch up a bit more, as I suspect my PTO usage has been low this year.

2026/101: Tuyo — Rachel Neumeier

Jul. 20th, 2026 08:48 am
tamaranth: me, in the sun (Default)
[personal profile] tamaranth
2026/101: Tuyo — Rachel Neumeier
Image

Every man is glad to stop looking for the truth when he’s handed a lie he likes better. Sorcerers are no different in that. [p. 129]

Ryo InGara is nineteen years old, a warrior of a nomadic tribe that dwells in the winter country. At the beginning of Tuyo, he's been left as a kind of sacrifice to the opposing army -- the Lau -- in a minor skirmish: he expects to be killed slowly and painfully, and it is a matter of honour that he meets his death bravely.

Instead, he finds himself given guest-right by his captor, Lord Aras Eren Samaura, who says that Ryo is more useful alive than dead.Read more... )

(no subject)

Jul. 19th, 2026 11:14 pm
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[personal profile] summercomfort
home from the Visit Family trip -- Chicago, Philly, Ithaca, and Connecticut in 11 days. Held bro's new baby!!

Well, actually, we got back Wed night, so we've actually been home for 4 days, but a lot's been going on at home -- the rats continue to plague us, and Miss R's room is still in a state of construction. There was a moment on Thursday when we actually regressed in House Disrepair because the guy installing our new dishwasher (old one was leaking and has destroyed the kitchen floorboards) ended up breaking a valve on our hot water heater. And now the plumber is saying that our heater is >20 years old and should really be replaced. I think we're going to go with a gas tankless one, though we might be able to make a heat pump one work if we keep the utility closet room open???? To be discussed.

Have spent the last two days in our continued war of attrition with the rats. I think we've finally closed all the holes (the latest being the one behind the dishwasher), and we found a rat nest with 5 baby rats. I think our final nemesis is one more rat that is somewhere in our living room. Our cat, is, of course, completely useless in this occasion. I read that it takes rats 4 days to starve, so we are on day 2?? Unless they have a secret food stash that we haven't found yet. The war continues. Hopefully tomorrow and Tuesday will involve rebuilding Miss R's room, and then we can at least repopulate that space and get enough junk out of the living room that we can do a proper rat hunt. (We have so much clutter, oops)

I hate the smell of rat pee.

Let's see what else -- found out mom did a kidney stone surgery without telling me, but also got a Tesla??? anyway, Mom is full of surprises. I did manage to get Cap birthday comic done before heading out on trip, but haven't been able to reply to comments. Posted a fluffy Tim Drake birthday fic today. Gonna work on spaceship comic tomorrow -- shouldn't take too long.

Sentenced to Be a Hero: Fic: Craving

Jul. 20th, 2026 02:04 am
jordannamorgan: Xylo Forbartz, "Sentenced to Be a Hero". (Xylo)
[personal profile] jordannamorgan posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Title: Craving
Author: [personal profile] jordannamorgan
Fandom: Sentenced to Be a Hero
Characters: Teoritta, Xylo, the rest of the heroes.
Setting: General.
Rating: PG.
Length: 3,105 words.
Summary: Teoritta makes the rounds of the heroes on a quest to scratch her itch.
Notes: Also written for the prompt of “Deities and Their Followers” at [community profile] genprompt_bingo.

Craving )

(no subject)

Jul. 19th, 2026 10:31 pm
olivermoss: (Melly)
[personal profile] olivermoss
* Kraken are going to have the most travel time by a chunk this year. Also, we are heavily front-loaded with divisional games. Hopefully, its manageable and the individual games are well spaced. The amount of roadie back-to-backs last year sucked.

* Still waiting for the contracts to pop for Melanson, Prokop and Tolvanen. Melly is RFA so I am not worried, but it's weird he'd unsigned at this point.

* Since Dunn and Canner are in promo images for the Kraken season opener, I assume that it would be a violation of hockey laws to trade them between them and now, so I can stop worrying.

(no subject)

Jul. 20th, 2026 04:43 am

Torchwood: Fanfic: With thanks

Jul. 20th, 2026 02:31 pm
m_findlow: (pic#11530014)
[personal profile] m_findlow posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Title: With thanks
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Owen, Tosh, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 747 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 521 - Praise
Summary: Working for Torchwood is so often a thankless task.

Read more... )
[syndicated profile] askamanager_feed

Posted by Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Should I not have asked for feminine hygiene supplies in front of a male colleague?

I work at a hospital in a non-clinical role. I am a woman and was training a new hire, which involved us going to a patient ward at one point. I realized I was having my period while we were there, and after we assisted with a problem there, I asked the unit representative, “Do you have any feminine napkins?” She bought us over to a supply closet and handed me one from there. My colleague and I walked back to our office, and I went to the bathroom to apply the liner. He didn’t say anything about it, but in retrospect I’m wondering if it was inappropriate or I should have been more discreet.

Nope, that was fine. If he’s working in medicine — or really, if he’s planning to be around women in any capacity — he’ll need to deal with it. And you’re arguably doing a social good by being matter-of-fact about it.

Related:
can I send a male assistant to get me tampons?

2. How can I transition away from lunches with my coworker?

I’ve been at my state government job for almost two years. I started in a different division and moved to a new division in the same department about six months ago. At my old division, I started at the same time as a woman, Marie, who was a similar age/vibe (I thought) as me, so we naturally became friends. The old division was a pretty bad fit culturally for me so I did genuinely appreciate having someone who felt like a true (work) friend. We sat next to each other and it became the assumption we’d have lunch/go on walks whenever we were both in the office, which was twice a week at that time. I did appreciate her friendship at the time but as I got to know her, I realized she was not really someone I wanted to be my friend, as she is a bit off-putting and frankly a little unhinged.

However, I’ve now switched divisions (and floors but same building) and am in a much much better place. There are people here that I vibe much better with and I would love to grow my social/work connections here. Or just have lunch by myself sometimes, it’s a nice break!

While Marie and I are no longer on the same floor, there is still an assumption that we have lunch together every day. My ideal situation would be having lunch with her maybe once a week and a walk sometimes, but I don’t know how to make the transition! We’ve moved from two days in the office to four, so she is becoming increasingly hard to avoid.

Be straightforward! “I want to spend some time getting to know my new coworkers so I’m not going to be going to lunch as much anymore, but maybe we can plan on lunch or a walk on Thursdays?”

But since you describe her as off-putting and a little unhinged, do you really want to see her weekly or is that just you being nice? If it’s the latter, you really don’t need to commit to weekly lunches either! You could say, “I want to spend some time getting to know my new coworkers so I’m not going to be around for lunches for now and you should go without me.” Or, “Now that I’ve moved, I’m not going to be around for our lunches as often since I want to get to know people on my new team. Don’t plan on me from now on, but I’ll let you know when I do have some free time!”

3. Employee recognition program is only about never complaining

Is it normal to have a monthly employee recognition program that always starts its recognition with a reference to the recipient not complaining? Today’s reference was, “He never complains. He always does what is asked and just puts his head down.”

I do admit I have a problem with employee recognition programs. I think they lose focus very quickly and other options are available to show support of staff.

I believe this recognition started as a way for management to recognize a couple of people each month and eventually go through everyone in the department as a way to improve morale. This would be a huge and unnecessary strain trying to come up with something for everyone. It also loses a purpose if everyone just waits for their turn. I also understand managerial frustrations with general complaining.

The first recognition was given to one of the department bullies. It was initially referred to as a staff spotlight from management. It has now become taking nominations that management reviews. The chosen recipient gets a certificate and a small treat like a candy bar after a short presentation about how said recipient does not complain. Am I right to feel bothered by all of this?

Yes. If it were just the recognition program itself, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. It would be poorly executed if everyone knows they’re just systematically running through everyone and there’s no real connection to actual performance, but whatever, companies do eye-rolly things all the time.

But centering the recognition around “not complaining” — every time! — is bizarre. That’s what your management focuses on when they think about good work? Nothing about actual work quality, or helpfulness, or initiative, or problem-solving?

4. Laid off but asked to keep working

I work for a large (Fortune 500) company and my division just announced huge layoffs. I was shocked to find out my position was eliminated as I was on a small, overworked team handling high priority work. They seem to think AI can do more than it can … but that’s not why I’m writing in. We’re not sure yet what the total impact is, but likely 50% of the overall division and 80-90% of my 80-person team.

We’ve been having layoffs (though much smaller in scale) for a few years, so I’m generally prepared for a layoff. But there’s a weird twist — I’m being asked to work for an additional three months. After that, I’ll get paid for two months (including severance). Only a handful of people are in the same position as me. Most were laid off effective of the announcement date.

What should I be doing? I’ll start applying for new roles and getting ready to claim unemployment. But I don’t know how to handle the awkwardness of still working! I told a bunch of coworkers (on different, less impacted teams) that I was being laid off before I found out the twist. Obviously I want to mentally check out (hello, noon Pilates class) and do the bare minimum, but I also am someone who always wants to do the best job possible and want good references.

You shouldn’t entirely check out because you still want good references, but you don’t need to go above and beyond either. Get your work done within your normal work hours and document things where you can, but you don’t need to be emotionally invested anymore or work excessive hours. (Technically you never needed to be emotionally invested, but if you’re a conscientious person, that’s usually easier said than done. Regardless, now you really don’t need to be.) Figure you can be glad you’re getting an additional few months of pay and a head start on job searching, and in return you’ll do a fine but not outstanding job.

As far as awkwardness, people will generally follow your lead. If you’re matter-of-fact about it, even breezy, people will generally treat you pretty normally once they pick up on that.

5. Job hunting while in recovery

I’ve recently graduated from a graduate program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and am seeking my first job out of school. I’m also in recovery. I crashed out while I was in school, took a semester off, went through a treatment program, and am happy to say that I’ve been sober for just about two years. Very few people know the full reason I took time off, and the few who do know have been very supportive. Apparently, there are more counselors in recovery than I would have supposed, which I probably shouldn’t be surprised by — addiction doesn’t discriminate. I take maintaining my sobriety very seriously — I’m in therapy, I have medication management, I go to meetings twice weekly, and have other supports I can lean on in times of crisis.

In my job hunt, there are, naturally, many programs geared specifically towards addiction treatment, as well as larger clinics that provide many types of services, including addiction treatment. I don’t think it would be good for me to jump into addiction treatment. Two years of sobriety is considered to be the bare minimum for counselors in recovery to treat people in active addiction, and I don’t want my own issues to keep me from being present for my clients, who are paramount. I certainly don’t want to be triggered into relapsing and messing up everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve. But the job market is brutal out there, and I’d like to apply to larger orgs that have multiple programs, some of which I think would be just fine for me.

Is there any way to say to a prospective employer that I’m in recovery and so I can’t work in the addiction treatment portion of their programs? I’m worried that I might get hired for, say, outpatient work but then find myself in addiction treatment — I’ve heard horror stories where counselors were hired for one position at these larger clinics but then were quickly shifted to a completely different role that they didn’t want and were miserable in. Complicating things, there may not really be hard-and-fast distinctions between programs, as people can be in treatment for both severe mental health disorders and substance abuse. If someone periodically asked me to sub in for a group for addictions even though that’s not my usual job (a totally normal and reasonable request), would I be okay to do that? I genuinely don’t know! This brings up a lot of shame, which I try not to wallow in.

I don’t want employers to think I’m a liability because of being in recovery. Even in the mental health field, there can still be bias. I also don’t want to waste anyone’s time. Being in recovery doesn’t preclude me from ever working in addiction treatment. I do think I need more time in sobriety, however, and would like to slowly work my way up to it.

If you get an offer from a larger clinic where this could be a risk, bring it up once you have the offer. Be matter-of-fact about it: “Because I know you also offer addiction treatment, I want to be up-front that I’m in recovery and not ready at this point to work in that area. I know this role is in X but I want to be transparent that I wouldn’t be available switch to addiction treatment if that’s something that ever might be asked of the person in this role.”

Or you could just wait and see if it ever comes up once you’re on the job, since it may not. But if it did, you could lay it out similarly at that point.

The post asked for feminine hygiene supplies in front of a male coworker, getting out of lunch with a colleague, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

(no subject)

Jul. 19th, 2026 10:47 pm
southernmedicine: (keep it to yourself)
[personal profile] southernmedicine
How has it been ten days since I last posted?

This is the fastest summer on record.

It's been hot and humid, and now the air is filled with smoke as well. Going outside is awful, but I guess the good news is that I don't really have to, much.

Last weekend we went up to the top of the bluff on Saturday to enjoy the view, after doing some shopping downtown. On Sunday, we went on a little day trip to a cute little town an hour or so away where our favorite breakfast spot is at. There's also a big indoor market made up of individual seller stalls, and a big old hollowed out factory that was turned into a used book shop. It's kind of a famous book shop, and I'd been excited to go since moving here, but unfortunately there is no AC in there and so it was too miserable to browse for long.

On Tuesday, since I was so disappointed about missing out on getting to fully enjoy the big book shop, I went out while Blair was at work and poked around in our little local indie one. Found a couple of books. Had lunch. It was nice!

Also this past week, I got my hair cut. Feels much better, especially since my head is less hot.

Yesterday and today were just really lazy days. Well, yesterday I worked, but after that we chilled at home. Watched not one, but two movies (Be My Cat, which was bizarre, and Alone which was fine). Today we slept in, got some drinks at Moka, hit up a local bakery and then bought a nerite snail from the aquatics shop for our betta tank. So far Bracca is getting along with him alright.

Not looking forward to work tomorrow, but I will soldier on.

Re-watched Project Hail Mary late last night/early this morning. Man, I love that movie. I like, hover on the fringes of the fandom without participating, but I love it so much. I also finally started in on The Vampire Lestat. I know I'm running a little late, but I'm here now and I'll catch up.
m_findlow: (Dancing)
[personal profile] m_findlow posting in [community profile] fandomweekly
Theme Prompt: #307 - A good day
Title: Tempered expectations
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Ianto has his reservations about trying to have a day off work.

Read more... )
starandrea: (Default)
[personal profile] starandrea
Getting a good grade in dog training!

Image

Gold star for Daphne, making so much progress in one week that she can actually sit and wait quietly for instruction (sometimes)! And gold star for the trainer, who has gotten us on the path to confidence with patience, treats, and reasonable goals.

♥ Milestones this week include letting a neighbor walk her, and letting another neighbor come into our house.

♥ Homework for next week includes practicing "look" and "quiet," and holding eye contact for ten seconds.

A clear choice

Jul. 20th, 2026 02:20 pm
[syndicated profile] norightturn_feed

Posted by Idiot/Savant

New Zealand First held its party conference over the weekend, and among all the weirdo cooker shit and outright racism, Winston dropped another election policy: a billion dollar subsidy for gas exploration, lest we be left behind in destroying the planet.

And today the Greens offered their alternative: a billion dollar investment in renewable firming for the grid, to help our energy transition and keep power prices low:

The Green Party wants to use its ‘Super Rich Tax’ to establish a publicly owned renewable energy company called Kiwipower, to fill the gaps they say the market has failed to fill.

The party says Kiwipower could use a combination of pumped hydro, geothermal and batteries to backup more intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar, making them a far better investment.

The party’s freshly released energy election policy would also see the wealth tax used to put solar panels on more than half of all public homes within four years, give renters access to plug-in solar, and expand the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme for insulation.

It would also invest $200 million for community-owned renewable energy and commit another $80m to Māori housing.

NZ First naturally offered no clue as to where their billion dollars would come from. The Greens, after years of the media crying "how will you pay for it!?!", said so explicitly. But its also worth noting that Kiwipower is an asset, and so the "spending" is largely an exercise in moving money from one column of the government's books to another. Ditto the mass installation of solar on state houses. And given what we know about home insulation, the "spending" will be more than saved in reduced downstream health costs. What does NZ First offer us? At best, a billion dollars down a black hole. At worst, the continued destruction of the global climate, with ongoing increased costs for health and natural disasters.

There's a clear choice here, and it should be obvious which one is a better deal, both for us as individuals, and for Aotearoa.

Portland Pride

Jul. 19th, 2026 08:01 pm
olivermoss: (Default)
[personal profile] olivermoss
Image

I went briefly because Lexi Lafleur Brown was having a signing at one of the booths. She makes good online content and is involved with the Kraken org a bit. Her husband is an ex-NHL player who is now the Kraken's color commentator.

Probably not going to read it, but I went to the event, bought a book and got it signed. It was a hockey-related-ish thing, so I went.

Image

I'd have enjoyed being down there more, but I wasn't up for bullshit today and if you are going to go to Portland Pride you need to be able to tank some bullshit. The signing was the same day as the parade so I had to navigate several blocks of crowds. That was fine, and I got to see some of the parade. But, when I finally got there I had to stand in a short line to get in. The guys behind me were leather gays. One thwacked me in the head with his fan. I think he was gesturing to someone inside? Anyway, he was facing me when it happened, and I think he was trying to gesture through me like I didn't exist.

My reaction was pretty much to deflate and think 'yeah, of course this is how things are going to go. Why expect anything else?'

On one hand, I could give a million good reasons why my reaction is very valid considering all my experiences with Portland Pride and the local queer community, but also you can't be like that at Pride. You've got to just let that kinda stuff roll off you, especially since so many people come to Portland Pride to party. They were probably either already fucked up, still fucked up from last night, or a combo of both.

Anyway, I got got inside, found the booth and then got an iced coffee to wait until the signing started.

Anyway the event itself had cleaned up the vendor's list a lot? There was a maker's market alley and only one artist was AI slop? No obvious Amazon resellers? Some of the art was like 'doll from a a thrift shop with spikes stuck in it's head' but like, this was way better than what I've seen in the past. I can criticize, point out that there are so, so many artists so much better suited to the event, that would really showcase our scene and make it look like... not crap. But still, massive leap forward. It's no longer plagiarism-a-palooza.

On the downside, to stabilize the ground, there was a layer of sand. Somehow, like sand dust or something was being constantly kicked up and it was hard to breath. Stuff needed to be wetted down badly. As always, no places to sit and almost no shade unless you had a VIP ticket. Not sure how much of that is on the event and how much is on the city.
theskyisnew: (Default)
[personal profile] theskyisnew posting in [community profile] capseroo
Image


ASSAD ZAMAN AS ARMAND IN INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE SEASON 3


1,297 CAPS, PART 1 (484), PART 2 (396), AND PART 3 (413)


The last episode obviously has strange lighting, but he was in it the most.

More pics )