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Nun gets payback at the Blue Moon.
Jan. 7th, 2026 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sistawendyCelebrated going off call with one of Brit Jean's FLINTA* open decks nights at the Blue Moon. I'd missed two of her nights in as many weeks, so it felt like payback.
I got to see, but not hear, Onyx; I still have to go to work this morning. But I did yet to hear Hazelwood, Juju, and Miss Min D, who brought the sweet, sweet house music. Miss Min D even introduced herself as I was sitting, drinking a beer, and head-bopping. As always with open decks nights, there was one DJ I just wasn't feeling: River. Kids these days and their uppers, or something. But! It was a most enjoyable night out, and I even went to bed at a reasonable hour.
*Female, lesbian, intersex, non-binary, trans, and agender. I like it better than ABCD — anyone but cis dudes.
I got to see, but not hear, Onyx; I still have to go to work this morning. But I did yet to hear Hazelwood, Juju, and Miss Min D, who brought the sweet, sweet house music. Miss Min D even introduced herself as I was sitting, drinking a beer, and head-bopping. As always with open decks nights, there was one DJ I just wasn't feeling: River. Kids these days and their uppers, or something. But! It was a most enjoyable night out, and I even went to bed at a reasonable hour.
*Female, lesbian, intersex, non-binary, trans, and agender. I like it better than ABCD — anyone but cis dudes.
Floods and finds
Jan. 6th, 2026 08:50 pmrimrunner
One of the several citizen science projects I volunteer for is the Seattle Urban Carnivore Project. One of its components is the placement of motion-activated trail cameras in and around the city to gather data about the presence of target species. (Non-carnivorous species are also recorded.) I started volunteering in part to learn how such data collection protocols work; I have cameras on my own land in Thurston County, which have recorded a number of different species, some of them domestic, and including at one point some rather startled late-night hikers.
The team I’m with currently is assigned to a camera is right next to the Green River. As you may have heard (if you’re a PNWer anyway, though I think there was some broader news coverage), we had some flooding here recently. River valleys were especially affected; while some of them do flood regularly, a combination of warmer than usual temperatures and atmospheric rivers flowing in from the Pacific Ocean made for much higher water than we typically see. A few levees, including one along the Green River, were breached.
Flooding doesn’t just displace humans, or just alter human behavior. Accordingly, when my group got ready for our January camera check, we had two major questions: one, would the camera still be functioning, or did the floodwaters reach it and render it inoperable? And two, what interesting or unusual animals might we see, if the camera had survived?
I can’t share any images because of the project specifications, but I can tell you that the camera did survive; judging by the images we retrieved, the water didn’t get quite high enough to flood it. Entirely separate from what showed up on the SD card, though, I took advantage of the large volume of sediment left behind as the floodwaters receded to do some tracking.
“Didn’t there used to be a tree there?” one of the other group members asked, and indeed, there was clear sign of beaver work:
That there should be beavers on the river wasn’t too surprising, but it was the first time I’d seen sign from them at our camera’s location. They did some work on another, larger tree as well:
More exciting was down nearer to the water, which was still running a bit high but much closer to its usual level than in previous weeks. The receding of the flood had left behind smooth washes of sediment on ground previously thick with English ivy: a perfect track trap. While my teammates investigated the camera and filled out the data sheet, I investigated the ground. Top find: otter tracks!
I don’t have photos of them, but there were also raccoon prints, and one very nice coyote track. Most of the tracks were at least a little washed out, which can complicate identification. In the case of these otter tracks, all that’s really clearly visible are the tips of the toes. A few look more like raccoon tracks, and I couldn’t swear to you that they aren’t; they can look similar, and at some point I’ll share about the trail I followed last fall that kept changing species ID until I finally reached a definitive conclusion.
(no subject)
Jan. 6th, 2026 01:51 pmcupcake_gothIt's the company kickoff week in AZ, and I'm not there because my back makes it a bad idea to travel. I just got a FedEx package from my boss, and that's how I discovered that we now have an award for excellence in technical writing, in memory of the writer who had hired me. I'm the inaugural recipient. My boss is going to announce it at the team gathering later this week. I haven't stopped crying yet.
As post-holiday Mondays go, it could have been worse.
Jan. 6th, 2026 12:31 pmsistawendyNo post yesterday because I was in headless chicken mode.
A mercifully aggro-free if late night at Lambert House, both with the trans group and with crunching the numbers. Every once in a while, someone enters the same youth twice, and this causes problems for statistical reporting. B the volunteer manager and I do our best to fix it, but last night things still weren't quite square. Even if I'd wanted to stay until 0200 to fix things as I did in years past with Ken the director looking over my shoulder, that would have been a rotten thing to spring on B. He's responsible for closing up the "house". (Yes, we're still at St. Mark's carriage house, but only until June.)
I'm off call as of this morning. I shall celebrate this evening, one way or another.
A mercifully aggro-free if late night at Lambert House, both with the trans group and with crunching the numbers. Every once in a while, someone enters the same youth twice, and this causes problems for statistical reporting. B the volunteer manager and I do our best to fix it, but last night things still weren't quite square. Even if I'd wanted to stay until 0200 to fix things as I did in years past with Ken the director looking over my shoulder, that would have been a rotten thing to spring on B. He's responsible for closing up the "house". (Yes, we're still at St. Mark's carriage house, but only until June.)
I'm off call as of this morning. I shall celebrate this evening, one way or another.
Whatever it is, we won’t know until after it happens
Jan. 5th, 2026 10:26 pmrimrunnerSo U.S. forces snatched Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro early Saturday morning, giving the people who make their living explaining this stuff to the rest of us plenty of time to unpack events by Monday. It’s weird to me that the weekend still sort of exists in the news cycle, social media notwithstanding, but the sources I tend to check for coverage of big stories, legacy and new media alike, had their deep dives queued up and ready to go today.
The overall theme is general agreement that Maduro isn’t a good guy, alongside questions as to whether Trump was legally allowed to order the extraction (such a nicer word than kidnapping) and whether that makes any difference. Certainly nothing that happened over the weekend was without precedent (I’m old enough to remember Noriega, though was young enough at the time to not really understand what it was all about), and that’s where a lot of what justification has emerged from the White House rests: we’ve done this before.
What next is a guessing game, but some things seem likely: the existing regime, minus Maduro, will probably remain in charge, possibly with U.S. military intervention; American oil companies will likely move in, at the president’s invitation; this will become another incident in high school history textbooks that the students reading them will lack context to understand until it happens again. (It’ll probably involve some of the same people…yet again, if history is any guide.)
A thing I’ve thought about a lot in the last ten years is what kind of country we want the United States to be, anyway. It’s troubled me during events like the No Kings marches, where a whole lot of people showed up to, in essence, express disapproval—but I saw and heard very little about anyone’s vision for what America, and American leadership, should look like instead. Perhaps we don’t really know.
At some point, though, our own authoritarian-style leader will be gone, too. It’s very unlikely that it’ll be due to the forces of another country literally helicoptering in and flying him off. It might even be through free and fair elections, and a peaceful transfer of power, though there again history gives us cause for concern. We won’t know, until after it happens.
It feels like wasting time to wait until then to start building the kind of country we want to be—especially if what we want it to be is something other than what those in power have been building toward for literal decades.
The overall theme is general agreement that Maduro isn’t a good guy, alongside questions as to whether Trump was legally allowed to order the extraction (such a nicer word than kidnapping) and whether that makes any difference. Certainly nothing that happened over the weekend was without precedent (I’m old enough to remember Noriega, though was young enough at the time to not really understand what it was all about), and that’s where a lot of what justification has emerged from the White House rests: we’ve done this before.
What next is a guessing game, but some things seem likely: the existing regime, minus Maduro, will probably remain in charge, possibly with U.S. military intervention; American oil companies will likely move in, at the president’s invitation; this will become another incident in high school history textbooks that the students reading them will lack context to understand until it happens again. (It’ll probably involve some of the same people…yet again, if history is any guide.)
A thing I’ve thought about a lot in the last ten years is what kind of country we want the United States to be, anyway. It’s troubled me during events like the No Kings marches, where a whole lot of people showed up to, in essence, express disapproval—but I saw and heard very little about anyone’s vision for what America, and American leadership, should look like instead. Perhaps we don’t really know.
At some point, though, our own authoritarian-style leader will be gone, too. It’s very unlikely that it’ll be due to the forces of another country literally helicoptering in and flying him off. It might even be through free and fair elections, and a peaceful transfer of power, though there again history gives us cause for concern. We won’t know, until after it happens.
It feels like wasting time to wait until then to start building the kind of country we want to be—especially if what we want it to be is something other than what those in power have been building toward for literal decades.
2026 Prediction Meme
Jan. 4th, 2026 11:27 pmbrithistorianNew Year Book Meme, via trobadora:
- Grab the nearest book.
- Turn to page 126
- The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.
Here's mine: The book nearest at hand to me is Japanese Soul Cooking by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat. Page 126 was a page of photographs, page 127 was a mini table of contents for a chapter, so the next full page of text is page 128, where the 6th sentence is "The cities and towns on the western side of Japan, like Osaka and Hiroshima, are the okonomiyaki heartland," which is an interesting fact, but I'm not sure how to take is as a fortune!
brief but productive night out
Jan. 4th, 2026 11:33 amsistawendyWent to Caturday at the Mercury in my pink Alice in Wonderland costume because I'd received a gift of sparkly pink cat ears to go with them. Chatted with A&J. Met a future Burning Man campmate! And on my way out the door, fairly early because I have an errand to run with the Wendling in a few minutes, Suburban K**, whom I've dated a few times but not lately — she lives waaay out in the suburbs and yet somehow goes out on weeknights — said she wanted to get together again soon. I just might!
*Why must J be so attractive yet heterosexual? Why?
**I could have sworn I had a better moniker for her, but I can't find it.
*Why must J be so attractive yet heterosexual? Why?
**I could have sworn I had a better moniker for her, but I can't find it.
sleep nonsense
Jan. 3rd, 2026 09:25 amsistawendyGood: I got about eight hours of sleep last night.
Bad: It took twelve hours, 1930-2330 and then 0330-0730.
Bad: It took twelve hours, 1930-2330 and then 0330-0730.
Book reaction: Beggars in Spain (Nancy Kress)
Jan. 3rd, 2026 09:12 ambrithistorianLast month I read Beggars in Spain after sanguinity recommended it in the comments to a post I wrote in which I (once again) objected to the necessity of sleep. I enjoyed it — enough that I'm currently reading the sequel — but I do have one objection to it that I perceive as a major flaw.
The premise of the book, as laid out in the first chapter, is the existence of genetically modified people who don't need to sleep. And we do get that. But we also get these same people having a number of other useful genetic modifications, one of which is that they're effectively immortal[/1]. Plus we also get a society with more or less infinite free energy.
And this is something that I've seen in a lot of science fiction (Robert Heinlein and Kim Stanley Robinson[/2] do it a lot): The problems of aging and energy are so large that they easily overshadow any other issues you might want to address, so you hand-wave them away so you can look at the other issues. Unfortunately, I don't feel like the issues of aging and energy are waved far enough away in Beggars in Spain, so that the issue of sleeping or not becomes negligible by the time you're about a third of the way into the book. The fact that the genetic modifications that created the sleepless also make them effectively immortal pretty much completely overshadows the issue of them not needing to sleep: When one group of people have an expected lifespan of 75 or so and the other has an expected lifespan of infinity, what does it matter that the second group gets an additional 35% of infinity?
Now it's possible that Kress addresses this issue in the second and third volumes of the series (I'm only about 15 pages into the second book). Or it's possible that she decided that lack of need for sleep wasn't really issue she wanted to address at all. But based on the reason that sent me to the book and the premise presented in the first few chapters of the book, it feels like a flaw in the book.
[/1] In the role-playing community in the 1980s, we called this "limited immortality" — you live forever unless you get killed.
[/2] It felt awkward to write "Heinlein and Kim Stanley Robinson," but at the same time, I didn't feel at all comfortable that people would know who I meant if I wrote "Heinlein and Robinson," so I've a stylistic decision that Heinlein, Asimov, McCaffrey, et al. don't get to be mononymous in my writing just because they happened be the first (or one of the first) to become famous while having an uncommon (in America, at any rate) surname.
Grumpy New Year
Jan. 2nd, 2026 11:45 amsistawendyI should have known I was in trouble when, after going to bed at 0230, I woke up not much later than 0630. I did my usual morning things like bike to the supermarket, which was open by the time I got there.
But even after drinking a pot of tea, I crashed hard at about 1230. I thereby missed the annual day rave at the Monkey Loft, which I'd already bought a ticket for, plus C's mellow "Ow My Head" party. Even if I'd managed not to sleep, I got paged for on-call duties something like six times yesterday, mostly in the afternoon. There were no major disasters, thank Goddess, but there was a steady trickle of chores that couldn't wait.
I'm now feeling that the universe owes me some groove and/or fun. Hey, at least my house is clean because I wanted it to be ready for Dancer on New Year's Eve. And I'm stocked up on groceries. And my iron skillet is re-seasoned. And I've actually caught up on sleep.
But even after drinking a pot of tea, I crashed hard at about 1230. I thereby missed the annual day rave at the Monkey Loft, which I'd already bought a ticket for, plus C's mellow "Ow My Head" party. Even if I'd managed not to sleep, I got paged for on-call duties something like six times yesterday, mostly in the afternoon. There were no major disasters, thank Goddess, but there was a steady trickle of chores that couldn't wait.
I'm now feeling that the universe owes me some groove and/or fun. Hey, at least my house is clean because I wanted it to be ready for Dancer on New Year's Eve. And I'm stocked up on groceries. And my iron skillet is re-seasoned. And I've actually caught up on sleep.
QOTD: On actually doing the thing
Jan. 2nd, 2026 08:48 ambrithistorian“By far the dominant reason for not releasing sooner was a reluctance to trade the dream of success for the reality of feedback.” (Kent Beck, software engineer)
I find I do this a lot. I spend time "planning" or "gathering knowledge," often until I lose interest in the thing before ever actually trying to do the thing. While I recognize that this is often an attempt to try to avoid the awkward phase where I'm learning the thing and can't really help doing the thing badly, it's still hard to put that recognition into action. I don't really do new year's resolutions, but I'm trying right now to try to more actively recognize when I'm doing this and take action to stop myself from doing it. So, with that being said, I'm going to take the air-dry clay that I got for Christmas out of its package and go make some awkward looking sculpture!
Happy new year
Jan. 1st, 2026 11:17 pmrimrunner
It’s been a quiet one for me for various reasons, which perhaps I’ll go into some other time. Fog wrapped Seattle in a blanket last night, as though the weather wanted to hibernate too. Today the cats got me up early and my husband and I went down to our land to work on the new house, which we hope to get habitable in 2026. Two dear friends came to help. I’m grateful for them, for so many reasons, beginning with their steadfast kindness.
Other things I’m grateful for today include:
Pigeons. People tend to think of them as pests, when they flock in large numbers in urban areas, hassling us for handouts and pooping on buildings. These populations of Columbia livia, the rock dove, are the feral descendants of domestic birds that escaped or were turned loose to fend for themselves. This is why they’re so willing to approach us and live among us, and so we tend not to think of them as special. But watch some sometime. They’re really pretty neat.
Canopy Cat Rescue. Got a cat stuck in a tree? Call these guys! At least if you’re in western Washington; otherwise, check here. They work for free (donations accepted) and are professional arborists. Peep their Insta for rescue videos.
Ballpoint pens. I’ve tried so many fancy pens over the years, and keep coming back to cheap Bics. They just work and fit in my hand well. (I like Pilot pens too, but they have a tendency to leak catastrophically at the worst possible moment, often on airplanes.)
And, that we’ve all made it this far. I’ve never made as much of the turning of the calendar year as I often feel I ought, though I also frequently fail to make any plans when the time comes around again. And for me, the big turns are at the solstices anyway, and to a lesser extent, the equinoxes.
But here we are, it’s 2026, and I’m still here, and so are you.
Resolutions. Maybe.
Jan. 1st, 2026 10:07 pmjelizaI'm having trouble formulating any kind of clear resolutions this year. I want to get healthier -- like every year, let's face it -- but how to go about that is still a fog. Eating more vegetables doesn't seem weighty enough for a resolution, though it's definitely something I hope to do.
Make art regularly without the intent to sell it? Just commit to working through the not-business art supply stash? Massively purge my belongings? Yoga every day? Being more social? All good ideas, certainly. But nothing is really leaping out.
(no subject)
Jan. 1st, 2026 05:10 pmcupcake_gothWe hung out with friends for a low key NYE, which is exactly what we wanted. There was takeout Indian food; over the past few years, both the Stroppy One and I have developed a sensitivity to something in Indian food, but this was from a pace we hadn’t tried before. It was delicious, and for the rest of the evening I felt fine!
The awfulness apparently decided to wait until I was trying to fall asleep. Even tho’ I took Benadryl, Pepcid, and some Tylenol, I ended up with ferocious acid reflux; not only did it keep me awake until almost 5am, but it was bad enough that I now have a phlegm-filled cough, and it brought back all the horrible symptoms I endured from the Covid vaccine. This isn’t how I wanted to start my new year
—-
Speaking of the new year, I decided to state some resolutions!
- Do more witchcraft. Even if on some days it’s only lighting some candles with focused intent. That still counts. I nd to wrap myself in my own power and comfort.
- This is the big one: I’m going to try to not buy new clothes during 2025. I’ll buy fabric for dresses if it’s truly amazing, and things like bras, knickers, tights, and socks are exempt from the no-buy. I’m curious if I can stick to this, as I’m a magpie who likes hitting the shiny “add to cart” and getting packages in the mail. Buuuuuuuuutttt I will confess that I have an overwhelming amount of clothes. Thanks to the Madwoman in the Attic, I have enough dresses that I could wear a different one every day for more than a month. So! No clothes buying! Okay, except for this dress, which I plan on buying with the money I save by not buying anything else.
New Year's Eve cluster turns out OK.
Jan. 1st, 2026 08:36 amsistawendyDancer & I had arranged to go to the Mercury last night, but then it got foggy, and I don't mean lightly. Said Dancer early yesterday evening, there were already three accidents on I-5 between her place and mine. Between poor conditions and motorized drunks, she really didn't wanna come up, and I didn't blame her.
I had a plan B, or so I thought: ravey goodness that was to be the last night at that venue. I had the mistaken and outdated impression that I could pay at the door. Nope. It sold out minutes after I heard from Dancer.
OK, so stag at the Merc it was. I poured myself into my 50th birthday outfit plus mask, only with more practical boots because I took transit*. I don't regret that decision.
A certain vile ex was there, but A spotted him recoiling from her and me at our usual table. It is to laugh. Temptress was there, but he wasn't sitting with her. That can only be a good thing.
Got to see Shiny G, who recently had a nasty breakup with Shiny H. I commended her for staying classy; she grasped the implications and raised her eyebrows. She does seem to be recovering nicely, though. I hope to see more of her in the future.
I do love seeing the Merc full of people dressed up more than usual. The eye candy was nun-approved, perhaps especially DJ JQ in brand new latex. Ahem.
Left shortly after midnight. Had reasonable transit mojo, especially considering the hour. Nommed cornbread I'd made.** Was in bed by 0230.
New Year's resolution: find a girlfriend who lives in the same county as I do. Freaks preferred, naturally.
*The (Metro) buses were free and advertised themselves as such. The (Sound Transit) trains were also apparently free, but there was no way to tell that, at least until you tapped your card on the reader. Bizarre.
**Betsutenjin, the ramen joint, was closed. I guess their management isn't completely evil.
I had a plan B, or so I thought: ravey goodness that was to be the last night at that venue. I had the mistaken and outdated impression that I could pay at the door. Nope. It sold out minutes after I heard from Dancer.
OK, so stag at the Merc it was. I poured myself into my 50th birthday outfit plus mask, only with more practical boots because I took transit*. I don't regret that decision.
A certain vile ex was there, but A spotted him recoiling from her and me at our usual table. It is to laugh. Temptress was there, but he wasn't sitting with her. That can only be a good thing.
Got to see Shiny G, who recently had a nasty breakup with Shiny H. I commended her for staying classy; she grasped the implications and raised her eyebrows. She does seem to be recovering nicely, though. I hope to see more of her in the future.
I do love seeing the Merc full of people dressed up more than usual. The eye candy was nun-approved, perhaps especially DJ JQ in brand new latex. Ahem.
Left shortly after midnight. Had reasonable transit mojo, especially considering the hour. Nommed cornbread I'd made.** Was in bed by 0230.
New Year's resolution: find a girlfriend who lives in the same county as I do. Freaks preferred, naturally.
*The (Metro) buses were free and advertised themselves as such. The (Sound Transit) trains were also apparently free, but there was no way to tell that, at least until you tapped your card on the reader. Bizarre.
**Betsutenjin, the ramen joint, was closed. I guess their management isn't completely evil.