Finally made it there

Jul. 22nd, 2025 09:07 pm
cornerofmadness: (tom)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
And since I love flowers this counts as fannish 50. So today it was like 70 outside so I hurried on to the Pittburgh Botanical Gardens and if not for the lone handicapped spot I wouldn't have gone because every other spot was taken. On a Tuesday morning! Guess all of Pittsburgh and every tourist had the same idea.

As for the Pittsburgh Botanical Garden it's a misnomer all around. It's about 20 miles outside of Pittsburgh in Oakdale where my Great grandfather and great aunts/uncles are buried. It's also WAY more an arboretum than a garden. Very little of it is actual garden. Much of it is trees and a lot of it I can do in my own backyard but I like to go. It had a new art installation I wanted to see and the last time (which was the first) I was still too early in my recover to do more than the lower loop.

What I DO love about the path to the Lotus pond is they have several mailboxes set up, in each is a laminated 'newspaper' about a tree it's in front of, year sprouted and other things that happened that year. It's engaging.

I rather wish they'd stop calling the Asian Woodlands that since it lacks a lot of what would be IN those but it's a nice pond (and they have a nice write up about how they mitigated the nasty water that was once there) The art installation is simple but pretty especially when viewed as intended (reflected in the water).

This time I headed into 'the european woodlands' to see the whimsical follies they put up there. There is a giant nest, a dogwood meadow, the hermit's hut, the bookworm glen and the apiary (closed path). I made it through those and then went back to the garden side of things but not all of it (I did that last time and it was getting hot)

I did go to the garden of five senses, really more designed with kids in mind such as the water fountains and little rocks to feel. I much preferred the sound and sight. Sound were metal flowers with mallets to make music one, a drum and a xylophone and sight was a big pot of flowers with kalideoscopes over it using the flowers as the swirly bits. The sense of smell and taste were veggies and herbs that I touched (as if I don't have chocolate mint, lemon balm and oregano at home)

They had seeds on sale. Since I have a greenhouse at my disposal I picked up greek oregano (could always use more) and blue lake snap beans.

My knee did okay, the leg went numb. It started to recede the longer I pushed it. It's a bit swollen now and gave out a bit ago.


And you get a little extra Fannish 50 from me. I love history. Have you been watching Hazardous History with Henry Winkler. Yeah almost no one on the show is a historian and a lot of it is played for levity but OMG the stuff that was common place especially in the early 20th century. Heck some of the stuff I remember (especially in the toy episode) is scary enough (lawn darts, anyone?) It's a fun show and from what I know accurate (no depth but breadth) I know for instance that yes Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup was 65 mg/Oz of morphine and also, yes lithium was one of the 7 ingredients of 7 Up. Check it out. You might have fun with it.

Welcome to the Garden )

Sunshine and disappointment

Jul. 21st, 2025 11:30 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
I've been trying to go to the Pittsburgh Botanical Garden for days but it keeps raining. Today was beautiful. The high was 75 F (24C) and no rain with enough cloud cover so the digital camera wouldn't be washed out by light. And naturally it's not open on Mondays. Sigh.

At least the writers' zoom went MUCH better this time.

Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-2.png

Journaling prompt: What games do you play, if any? Are you a solo-gamer or do you view games as a social activity?
Creative prompt: Write a story/fic around the theme "game night".


I've got nothing for the creative prompt but games...I don't get to play as many as I'd like. As a family we play poker, blackjack and Uno when we can. Online I basically play June's Journey right now (I love hidden object games and this one is free and while you can buy stuff to get further along you can still get everything you need without having to do that so that's a bonus (I mean most of the free games you have to keep buying things to clear a level and I won't do that)

I used to play video games like a fiend. In the 80s I haunted arcades. I would have killed to get an ESports scholarship like some of my students do today. I had an Intellivision in the house and then later a Sega. Then medical school happened and I had time for nothing.

By the time I was no longer seeing patients I had a nerve damaged hand and a lot of games are out of the question as a result. It's too painful. Also I tend to get obsessive about it and it is probably better I don't play.

I started playing Dungeons and Dragons and other TTRPGs when I was 13. I would still be playing if I could. There are no local games and I don't really want to do this online since every time I've played an online group game it has ended badly. Like SO badly. I don't want to go through that again. And that makes me sad.

I did get introduced to having a 'gaming office hours' at my work con this year and I love that idea. Instead of only coming to see the professor because you aren't understanding something, you come and play games with me and then if you need to ask questions you can. Also gamification is becoming BIG in teaching and I'm hoping to work up a game or two as a teaching tool. I do love my games.

And for another love of mine music! It's music monday. I'm doing the alphabet challenge where we're sharing songs that begin with a specific letter. We're up to P. I'm only sharing songs from the lasts 5 years (but you can share whenever you'd like)

Not a lot of Ps )

(Belated) Sunday Motivational Post

Jul. 21st, 2025 09:28 pm
apachefirecat: Made by Apache (Default)
[personal profile] apachefirecat

Sorry this is late, guys. We've suddenly had A LOT going on -- A LOT of bad but some seriously good things too. This is going to be the last post for a little while, but please know I love you all!!! Also, if you want, pm me and I'll give you my number for texting.

Didn't get to finish this post, but just sharing what I had brought together in the hopes that it will/can help at least one soul out there. :)

Please do continue with your learning/therapy/sermons while I'm gone, and hey, if you find something really good, don't hesitate to share it! Much love and hugs hugs to you all!!!

Also, those vision boards, guys, like Steve Harvey and others talk about, really DO work!!! Our way of getting things done, though, is not always the good Lord's way, but in the end, it all works out according to His plan -- and thereby for our good!






Read more... )
apachefirecat: Made by Apache (Default)
[personal profile] apachefirecat
Please be sure to stop by and give the creators some love! Remember, feedback is the breakfast of Champions!

Sorry this is late, guys. We've suddenly had A LOT going on -- A LOT of bad but some seriously good things too. This is going to be the last post for a little while, but please know I love you all!!! Also, if you want, pm me and I'll give you my number for texting.







Read more... )

Writerly Ways

Jul. 20th, 2025 09:09 pm
cornerofmadness: (writing typos)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
this is less of a writing blog and more of a question for everyone. How do you write what could be a negative (but important to the character) without being utterly offensive. Yes, I know you can't avoid offending everyone but on the other hand you CAN offend the many if you do things wrong.

What brought this up is this book i'm reading The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths. Someone recced this mystery to me (Can't remember if it was here or elsewhere) and while I like the mystery part, Ruth, the main character absolutely has me THIS close to quitting the book. (which will suck since it fits one of my popsugar prompts and I paid full price for this thing)

I'm overweight, by a lot. I do not like this about myself. On the other hand I'm not always thinking about this. I dress however I please for myself. Would I change this? Yes I'm working on it (and yes there are a subset of overweight people who find that alone offensive. I've run into that).

Anyhow Ruth in chapter 1 is talking about wearing only black because she's fat. Okay in the 90s and early 00s (this was pubbed in 09) that WAS the rec for overweight women. Wear black it's slimming. Uh huh. In ch 2, she is paranoid about getting into the car with the detective because what if the seatbelt won't go around her (I have never had this fear, in an airplane, yes, car no), images a siren blurting out from the seat giving away how fat she is. in ch 3, the detective is thinking about how fat she is, how she can barely do her job because she can't walk to the site (she's a field archaeologist) and how horrified his wife would be at how fat she is. ch 4 has her being picked up in a police car and she images it's for the crime of being single and fat. Thankfully the next few chapters don't mention her weight but....


So how fat is she? 12 stone. For the Americans of the group that's 168 pounds. Let that sink in. This woman is barely 30 pounds overweight. I thought she was going to be the size of someone who might have a weight-based show on TLC, my 600 pound life or something. I was put in mind of my friend at work and her struggles (she is in that weight range). ALL THIS FUSS and she's 30 pounds overweight. I'm literally 100 pounds more than here and I can still hike a few yards without breathing hard. Never have I worried I'm too fat for a car seat.

It made me a) want to not read this book b) wonder how to make a character unhappy with their physical appearance without being horrendously fatphobic or ableist etc etc

How do/would you handle it? I think in some ways I do a decent job of it (points to story in yesterday's post) For example while it's not really in the canon, it is in Viv's notes and is a huge part of fanon. Angel Dust hates his feet. I'd like to think I did a decent job of depicting that without being obnoxious or insulting.

There has to be a happy medium, right?

OPEN CALLS


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Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores August 2025 Window Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world.

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My day as a manatee

Jul. 19th, 2025 11:45 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
I went swimming at my brother's and that was nice.

Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-2.png

Challenge #5

Journaling prompt: Be a carnival barker for your favorite movie, book, or show (or any other of your choice - game, comic, anything else)! Write a post that showcases the best your chosen title has to offer and entices passersby to check it out.
Creative prompt: Write a fic or original story about a character reluctantly doing something they are hesitant about.


This time I did both. So barker Dana...you'd think I'd go for Hazbin Hotel my newest fandom but no, let me tell you about The Owl House. Yes this show ended prematurely but Disney allowed it to wrap it up. I know that there is a lot of bitter feelings between the creator and Disney to the point Dana Terrance doesn't want to even think about revisiting it or doing anything else with it which is a pity (and while I have no proof of it I do feel like DeSantis and the pressure Florida was putting on Disney at the time might have played a role)

This is not your typical Disney. Take our lead, Luz Noceda, a Dominican girl (Latinx), light brown skin and she's bisexual. We get portal fic as she's transported to the Boiling Isle. Season one is mostly Luz's adventures with King, a small dog like creature with a bone head (who has such a big role that I don't want to ruin if you haven't seen it) and Edalyn who gives us chronic illness rep and independent woman as she lives with her curse (the illness).

Luz meets Amity Blight (boom enemies to well not quite lovers, they're 13 and this is disney). Amity brings in intelligence, parental neglect/abuse and our lesbian rep. Luz befriends first Willow Park (perhaps in her way the strongest of them and our pansexual rep and she's raised by two dads) and Gus (Black main character) Eda's sister, Lilith goes from enemy to friend (and is our Ace rep) and Eda's former/future lover Raine is our non-binary character.

We also have a child soldier, Hunter (another enemy to friend an bi rep) along with his 'uncle' Emperor Belos one of the best drawn villain I've seen in a long time.

So yes incredibly queer animation meant for young teens out of Disney of all things. I love this animation so much.


Now my story is very rough (sorry) and not what I thought I would do. What I did was find my beginning for the next story in my Husk Overlord series all that glitters. It will become the story Husk and Angel become lovers but I wanted more than an pwp and couldn't find my story. But the idea that Angel doesn't want to show his feet is canon and I thought this could be what gives me the story, someone it out to hurt Angel so yay for that.

Anyhow, this would be the opening scene of a much longer work but here you go. It has blood/injury, swears and references to Angel as a sex worker and Angel's past sexual abuse at Valentino's hands (nothing graphic but it's probably clear what he means)


Story under here )

Game Called on account of rain

Jul. 18th, 2025 09:00 pm
cornerofmadness: (everythings fine)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
I had planned to go to the botanical garden. Yesterday Accuweather and the weather channel said no rain today. this morning they said 90% rain which was MUCH more accurate. It rained way too much to go to a garden. I am a bit worried about my apartment because Gallipolis flooded. And I got multiple texts from the Jackson sheriff. FOUR culverts were burst by the flooding and one bridge is gone.


I did manage to finish the edits for one story (haven't sent in anything in 2 months) and will hopefully send tonight and edited partially through another.

I was going to do the sunshine thing tonight but I am tired and I've had lemon drop martinis and my tooth hole hurts so have the fannish friday 50 recs



Teach an Old Snake New Tricks Hazbin Hotel

Standards Torchwood

Only Feel FAKE

(Mis)Trust (Mis)Placed Horrid Henry

Necessary Skill Stargate SG-1

Out Of Time Torchwood

Hyperpop The Murderbot Diaries

The Truth is Out There Oz/The X-Files/Firefly

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

Decorative Torchwood

Lonely For You Buffy the Vampire Slayer

In the Bath Final Fantasy XV

One Night With Jupiter Jones The Trixie Belden Mysteries/ The Three Investigators

Vee Noceda The Owl House

Dear Chief Prosecutor Franziska von Karma
逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney

The Human Centipede Prodigal Son

Sign-ups open early!

Jul. 18th, 2025 08:57 am
classicfilmex: (Default)
[personal profile] classicfilmex
Sign-ups are open from now until July 29. [form | countdown | in your time zone]

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