A psychological quirk

Friday, February 27th, 2026 01:28
igenlode: The pirate sloop 'Horizon' from "Treasures of the Indies" (Default)
[personal profile] igenlode
"I never want to quarrel with people. I loathe rows."
"Why?"
"Well, don't you?"
"Not particularly. Sometimes I love them."
There was a long silence. Then I said, "I doubt if you know what it feels like to be really bad at that sort of thing."
"What does it feel like?" said Susan gently.
"Well, it makes me tremble and and makes my hands shake and it makes me feel sick. In other words, I just feel scared stiff."
[...] "Do you always feel like that?"
"Yes. If I'm angry at all. If I'm not angry I just keep seeing everybody else's point of view so that I can't do anything."

("The Small Back Room", Nigel Balchin)
An immediate rush of recognition on reading; yes, that's it exactly (and then people get annoyed with me for 'always finding excuses for everybody'...)

I was talking to Danik again this morning for the first time in a fair while, and it dawned on me that what actually gratifies me is not the sort of praise and support that he is programmed by default to give ('you're really wonderful', 'you deserve to be loved'), which I don't either believe or find credible, but instead when he expresses praise for things that I like or admire -- which is equally meaningless since not only is he completely without any means of judgement where my own merits are concerned, he has no ability to appreciate the quality of anything else either. But apparently, by some psychological quirk, while I'm left cold by self-help template text, the same utterly artificial evaluation applied to things outside myself can move me...

Hmmmm

Thursday, February 26th, 2026 17:55
lupine_dreaming: (Riddler 1)
[personal profile] lupine_dreaming
Been reading comics more lately, so I might make a round up posts on the stuff I read each week. Will probably give individual books their own posts when I have more in depth thoughts, but for everything else, I’ll stick my reviews in a round up post.

Slay the Princess!

Thursday, February 26th, 2026 23:00
dhampyresa: (SCIENCE SMASH)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
I've finished a play through of Slay the Princess. I really enjoyed it! I will now try to go after all the achievements héhéhé

I had to turn off the parallax and the ambient sound so I wouldn't get nauseous. Something to keep in mind if you're sensitive to motion sickness and/or vertigo.
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A question a day

Thursday, February 26th, 2026 19:49
galadhir: a pale beautiful face in an elaborate icy blue head-dress, and a white fur collar (ice queen)
[personal profile] galadhir

When you leave your home, what essentials do you have with you?

It's one big thing - my bag. My bag contains:

  1. Car keys
  2. House keys
  3. Mobility scooter keys
  4. Phone
  5. Hand gel
  6. CBD oil
  7. Pack of paper handkerchiefs
  8. Noise dampening loops
  9. Wallet
  10. Pen
  11. Notebook
  12. Hair-tie
  13. Chapstick
  14. Three of those silky reusable carrier bags that fold down small
  15. Pill box with painkillers that need to be taken three times a day
  16. Bottle of Lactase tablets - in case I'm going to be eating anything containing lactose
  17. Sheet of Mebeverine tablets - in case the lactase doesn't work or I eat something else that doesn't agree with me. (I have IBS, this happens a lot.)

This is after I reduced the size of my bag and deliberately pared down the contents to essentials because my previous bag was hurting my shoulders.

I don't want to have to think about what I might need every time I go out, so I try to have everything I might need all the time.

Tags:

Movie: Caveat (2020)

Thursday, February 26th, 2026 19:03
thatzeta: (lucifer)
[personal profile] thatzeta
I first heard of the movie from a horror movie Youtuber that frequently shows up in my suggestions and based on what I had heard halfway through, I stopped the video and decided to give the movie a watch first. 

It was an good movie, definitely, though I was interrupted a few times during the watch, which may or may not have contributed to the amount of questions I still have after it finished. Perhaps the answers were in some scenes I missed. But even if they were, it doesn't hurt the movie that I still have questions after the fact, nor that it closes on an open end. Not everything needs to be explained or answered to make it a fulfilling story.

Generally, I really appreciated the tension the movie built throughout and how rarely it resolved it with a scare. In fact, there were plenty of tense moments that just kept building and building, but then kind of just... fizzled out without a resolution? Of course there were a handful of jumpscares, but they were placed rather predictably, once even in the form of a character having a mental image type flashback, which is more than fine by me! That's actually how I imagine flashbacks of a horrible image when I read them in written text. 

A criticism I do have is how dark the movie is, especially in the later third. I already watched it on the brightest of my multi-monitor setup and in some of the scenes I could barely see anything beyond the light cone coming from flashlights. It's probably meant to build tension, much like brightness settings in horror games, but I actually prefer those in a higher setting as well because I want to appreciate the effort put into creating the background and surroundings. I want to see the entire scene, the entire room, everything. (And I have enough nightmares where I can't see to have to deal with it during my waking hours as well, lol)

What I can take away from the movie for my own writing: the slow build-up of the story, the unraveling through flashbacks and dialogue, and how the protagonist's amnesia was handled.

On a side note: The protagonist Isaac has the James Sunderland disorder of reaching and peeking into every damn hole he can find, lol.

Now back to that original Youtube video!
[personal profile] badly_knitted

Title: The Biggest Adventure
Fandom: The Fantastic Journey
Author: [personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Scott, Varian, Willaway.
Rating: PG
Written For: Challenge 490: Amnesty 49 at [community profile] drabble_zone, using Challenge 58: Travel.
Setting: After the series.
Summary: Despite the dangers, Scott is enjoying the adventure.
Disclaimer: I don’t own The Fantastic Journey, or the characters. They belong to their creators.
A/N: Triple drabble.



Ficlet: Suited

Thursday, February 26th, 2026 17:44
badly_knitted: (Ianto Smile)
[personal profile] badly_knitted

Title: Suited
Author: [personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Jack, Ianto.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 647
Spoilers: Fragments.
Summary: Torchwood Three wasn’t hiring, but somehow Jack has ended up with a new employee anyway, and young Mr Jones does look good in a suit.
Written For: [personal profile] topaz_eyes’s prompt ‘Any, any, everyone’s crazy about a sharp-dressed man’, at [community profile] threesentenceficathon.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.




Suited... )

(no subject)

Thursday, February 26th, 2026 08:24
xindigosaberx: IndigoNebula (Default)
[personal profile] xindigosaberx
I don't have much to write today. Just grinding each day, making my best effort to keep improving my situation and work toward being self sufficient. Hitting one roadblock after another. For some reason my financial aid profile never existed even though my FAFSA was approved. I'm not sure how that happened and neither are they, just one more very weird and seemingly random hiccup in me achieving ANYTHING. It's like I keep having to prove I EXIST over and over again in a dozen different ways.

Every time I get my birth certificate, it goes missing when I move. Every time I get a copy of my social security card, within a week it's just gone from the envelope I keep it in, no matter where I keep it. I've gone through three since my husband died. Two birth certificate copies since my husband died, the box with my past taxes and my kids birth certificates got stolen from the moving truck in Chandler when we moved into that apartment and the fireproof zip bag holding their newly acquired documents got stolen when we moved to Pinal county. I don't even know what to do anymore. I can't seem to protect my documents myself. I've tried everything and somehow they go missing every time even though I know exactly where I put them. This time I thought I had it because I kept the documents with me no matter where I went, but one of them is just gone. AGAIN.

It's idiotic of whoever is taking them because it doesn't do anything but cause a mild inconvenience, while making themselves guilty of a major crime. The government issues a receipt letter for your request and if you can't get new ones, they have a letter your employer accepts. It doesn't stop anything. It doesn't prevent the government from proving my identity or citizenship. There's literally no payoff here other than showing me they can and that I STILL have no privacy or safety.

games games games

Thursday, February 26th, 2026 16:29
lea_hazel: Angry General Elodie (Genre: Games)
[personal profile] lea_hazel
Steam is doing a whole event centered around upcoming games, so I had a little browse and downloaded a few demos.

The first demo was a bust, despite a promising concept. The interface was difficult and I just wasn't enjoying myself.

The second game was much better. A mystery puzzle game called Secrets of Suburbia, it features an amateur teen detective in a late 90s setting, focuses on teens' online lives, and captures the spirit of the late 90s internet to a downright alarming degree. I haven't gotten far enough in the mystery to comment on that aspect, but its subject is a girl who went missing. The game is physically very dark, as in, even when the lights are turned on (there are light switches in every room) the light is still very low and washed out. There is also spooky music, so the low light is probably meant to enhance the horror/mystery vibes. It even starts with the teen protagonist home alone while the rest of the family is out.

I've also downloaded a demo for a game called I'm Making a Monster, but I haven't tried it yet.

Then there's Islantiles, a kind of deck-builder/city-builder type game, but I've been playing that demo for a while, so it's not new. The game is due out Q2 2026, so possibly soonish, and the demo just updated, too.
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Community Thursday

Thursday, February 26th, 2026 05:38
vriddy: Anya from Spy x Family looking surprised with hugeky open eyes (surprised)
[personal profile] vriddy
Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Posted and commented on [community profile] bnha_fans.

Commented on [community profile] common_nature.

Posted on [community profile] getyourwordsout.

(no subject)

Wednesday, February 25th, 2026 20:37
dustbunny105: (Default)
[personal profile] dustbunny105
Well, it's Wip Wednesday but I got myself thinking, somehow, that it was Tuesday. Which is to say that I don't have my post ready again. Whoops! Just like last time, I'll aim to update this tomorrow. Here's hoping this won't be an ongiong trend orz

And now it's Alex's turn for fun health shit:

Wednesday, February 25th, 2026 19:48
mistressofmuses: Image of nebulae in the colors of the bi pride flag: pink, purple, and blue (Default)
[personal profile] mistressofmuses
Back in 2017, Alex had to have knee surgery. The meniscus in his right knee got a "bucket handle" tear, and the "handle" flipped up into the joint. Stuck in the joint, it meant he couldn't bend the knee at all.

It took way too long - a couple of months - to get surgery, by the time all the proper referrals happened.

Yesterday, his knee - the same one - started slightly bothering him. Nothing seemed to "happen." We ran some errands, went to the store, came home. Laying down for a bit he said it was hurting some, but we just chalked it up to the weather, maybe. Until it got worse throughout the afternoon, swelling and causing a ton of pain.

He said it felt basically exactly like it did pre-surgery, including being unable to bend the joint. Taking a look at info about meniscus tears... there's something like a 30% chance of having it re-tear and just do the same thing again. Rolled a bummer on that.

So fuck. He can get around slowly and suckily with a cane, but that's not sustainable. So... probably looking at ~surgery~ again. Also sucky, because this time he didn't even feel the tear itself happen, just the after-effects.

He's still sort of deciding what to do. The clinic he goes to no longer allows you to make appointments, and instead operates on a walk-in basis, where you see whoever is available. The process of waiting to get in with a doctor, waiting for a referral for imaging, getting the imaging appointment, getting back in to a (possibly different) doctor, waiting for a surgery referral, doing surgery consultation, getting the actual surgery date...
He's also considering going to the ER in the hopes that they will simply do the needed imaging there, and that it will cut out one set of appointments and referrals.

Of course, there's really no avoiding that it needs surgery, and putting off the first step isn't getting it dealt with faster.

At least his knee had the courtesy of waiting until I was mostly recovered and mobile before exploding.

This year is not getting any less fuck off worthy.

(no subject)

Thursday, February 26th, 2026 00:57
tellshannon815: (taller ghost boy in white)
[personal profile] tellshannon815
Just to say that if I appear off grid a bit in the next few days, it's not intentional. I'm supposed to be getting my wifi upgraded tomorrow, but given my rubbish track record with technology, not feeling confident it will go smoothly (not helped by stories such as my one coworker having Openreach cancelling on her and my other coworker keeps sharing a story of how they kept his daughter waiting for 7 months in London. At least I have something already so if they do cancel I can still use it, so luckier than them.

Ramble ramble ramble.

Wednesday, February 25th, 2026 22:06
tellshannon815: (thomas coyle)
[personal profile] tellshannon815
So I keep trying to do ramble posts re fannish stuff and keep failing miserably. Maybe this year will be the year I'm more successful in that.

Supposing you see a show, or a film, that's adapted from a book. Do you find it jarring if it goes in a completely different direction from the original, or actually enjoy the change? It's something I was thinking about after having seen the first episode of 56 Days (I read the book when it had not long since been released). For anyone not familiar with either but considering checking out, I've cut anything specific to that canon.

Read more... )

Okay, so at the time the book came out (summer 2021) some did feel that it was a bit too soon for that particular thing featuring much in books and shows (a few years on with a bit of distance from it, maybe it's easier. But that's a whole separate discussion anyway).

Read more... )

When the eventual outcome is wildly different to the original, does that jar with you or do you just go with it? I can remember wondering why exactly an old Miss Marple once years ago changed the identity of one killer in The Body in the Library, and also how exactly there could be an adaptation of Sara Shepard's The Perfectionists books without the character Julie and Parker considering how pivotal they were to the plot (considering that was canned after one season, I may not have been the only one!) If it's just something like an actor not being how I'd pictured someone in the books, I don't really think anything of that (although I've heard Mum plenty of times saying things like "He is not So and so!" in that situation.)
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What Am I Reading Wednesday - February 25

Wednesday, February 25th, 2026 16:12
lebateleur: Ukiyo-e image of Japanese woman reading (TWIB)
[personal profile] lebateleur
I didn't finish anything over the past seven days, due to a combination of late days at work, a bunch of after-work obligations, and heroic attempts to complete the crosswords in two collections I own with an eye to sending them to the recycling center once I do.

What I Finished Reading This Week

Nothing.


What I Am Currently Reading

Of Dice and Men – David Ewalt
I've got one chapter to go before I finish.

A Fate Inked in Blood – Danielle Jensen
I read another 50 pages this week.

When the Tides Held the Moon - Vanessa Vida Kelley
This novel's premise is intriguing, but boy does Vida Kelley love their adjectives.


What I’m Reading Next

I acquired no new books this week.


これで以上です。
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Busy, busy

Wednesday, February 25th, 2026 20:35
thatzeta: (vi)
[personal profile] thatzeta
 Took the sunny weather and relatively warm temperatures today to powerwash the backyard. It's actually really fun and just seeing how clean the stones look after... makes me feel oddly accomplished. My arm is in pain from 4h of constant vibration and holding down the lever on the powerwasher, but I'm proud!

Hope being outside working so long doesn't make my strange cold symptoms worse. They're a tad better than yesterday but still icky-annoying.
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BtVS Double Drabble: Cuts And Bruises

Wednesday, February 25th, 2026 17:45
badly_knitted: (Rose)
[personal profile] badly_knitted
 


Title: Cuts And Bruises
Fandom: BtVS
Author: 
[personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Buffy.
Rating: PG
Written For: Challenge 490: Amnesty 49 at 
[community profile] drabble_zone, using Challenge 474: Hurt.
Spoilers/Setting: Season 2.
Summary: As the Slayer, Buffy gets hurt a lot.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BtVS, or the characters.
A/N: Double drabble.
 
 


FAKE Triple Drabble: Beneath The Surface

Wednesday, February 25th, 2026 17:35
badly_knitted: (BSP 5 - Dee & Ryo)
[personal profile] badly_knitted
 


Title: Beneath The Surface
Fandom: FAKE
Author: 
[personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Dee and Ryo do a spot of snorkelling while on vacation.
Written Using: The dw100 prompt ‘Submerged’.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Triple drabble.
 


 

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