Crossovers50 (prompt table)
May. 23rd, 2026 04:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flareonfury posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_community_promo
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
crossovers50 is a prompt table community dedicated to Crossovers, feel free to claim characters, pairings, places, fandoms or simply "multifandom" if you can't decide. Write 50 new crossovers!Rules | Tables | FAQ | Claim
We were originally from LJ, made the import last year, but hope to see some new works/faces! If anyone from over there still wants to focus on their claim, feel free - just let me know of any updates (to either your claim/name/table location!)
(no subject)
May. 23rd, 2026 12:54 amthedarlingonehave gotten in touch with the pcp. apparently my insurance is denying the prior auths that have been filed, because the recall for their preferred brand of test strip and meter is not properly in some system or other, i have to assume due to how the regime has gutted the fda to line its pockets. i know the recall is on the fda website itself because i have gone and looked at it there, but obviously one cannot expect an insurance company to look at a website, they're too busy denying every possible sort of care in case somebody might be too sick to fight it.
( long )
( long )
Aomori 1
May. 23rd, 2026 11:57 ammindstalkAomori morning:
Bed was more comfortable for sleeping than I feared. OTOH it's not good for using a laptop cross-legged; I'm best off just sitting on the floor with a table. The host ruled out providing a floor chair or something.
Civil twilight starts at 3:40 AM, in the northeast; the Venetian blinds on my north-facing windows do jack. I managed to get some more sleep between 5 and 8, I think, then got up, figuring I should keep good habits as I'll need to check out at 10 Monday. Then lots of noise happened at 9, so good call.
Back to the supermarket, 6 minute walk for me, but kind of unpleasant. Partly not many plants lining the way, like the potted plants I'd see in Osaka. Partly the cars: even on these residential streets, they seem to go relatively fast, like Taiwanese drivers. Sapporo may have been a very car city, but it had lots of sidewalk, and still-tame drivers.
Though on the way home, I took a different route, and ended up avoiding much traffic at all. Woo, annoying residential streets.
( Read more... )
So-Called “Real” Friends - If only it were so simple
May. 22nd, 2026 12:00 amgzeAuthor: V
Length: 4-7 minutes
Warnings: Mentions of religion
It was recently where I happened to gaze over the shoulder of the ones possessing my new eyes upon this strange, at times incomprehensible world, and I read a statement with such a sentiment:
“If your friend does __, that means they were never your real friend to begin with.”
( As is evident from the following, this one sentence incensed me to write paragraphs. )
Length: 4-7 minutes
Warnings: Mentions of religion
It was recently where I happened to gaze over the shoulder of the ones possessing my new eyes upon this strange, at times incomprehensible world, and I read a statement with such a sentiment:
“If your friend does __, that means they were never your real friend to begin with.”
( As is evident from the following, this one sentence incensed me to write paragraphs. )
Hakodate-Aomori ferry
May. 22nd, 2026 08:22 pmmindstalkI realized another reason this part of Hakodate reminds me of San Francisco: hills, and streets that go up the hills like a middle finger raised to contour lines.
So, I'd decided to go to Aomori today, and assumed it'd be by shinkansen with walk-up ticket, that being reasonable. But last night I discovered there's a ferry. Slower, but cheaper. Hmm! I wouldn't want to pass on good train views, but I'm not sure if there are any. The track isn't coastal; looking at it on Google Terrain, you'd think it has to pass through lots of mountain tunnels (boo) or cross lots of valleys (whoo). My one short-notice source recalled neither, which is odd, though admitted she was busy online.
Well, been a while since I was on a boat, I decided this morning I'd do that. (I put the P in INTP.) Taking a taxi to the terminal ate up much of the savings. (There was a cheaper streetcar + bus option, but I was leery of big luggage on a bus, and it was just... eh.) But before that I had to pack, not having packed at all last night! Took like 33 minutes, minus some backpack stuff at the end, with some cleaning mixed in as well; I feel if I'd focused on just packing, wouldn't have taken that long. I am getting more optimized for short stays.
( Read more... )
The Friday Five for 21 May 2026
May. 21st, 2026 11:12 pmanais_pf posting in thefridayfive1. How long to you hope to live (to what age)?
2. Based on the lifespans of your grandparents and/or great-grandparents, what is your realistic lifespan?
3. What is the average lifespan of people in your country?
4. At what age do you plan to retire (or did you retire)?
5. What are your plans for retirement?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
2. Based on the lifespans of your grandparents and/or great-grandparents, what is your realistic lifespan?
3. What is the average lifespan of people in your country?
4. At what age do you plan to retire (or did you retire)?
5. What are your plans for retirement?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
(no subject)
May. 21st, 2026 05:56 pmwolffylunaI've cracked. The propaganda has worked.
I have put in a library hold request for the first volume of Witch Hat Atelier.
(no subject)
May. 19th, 2026 10:07 pmthedarlingonestill alive. have had to stop doing finger sticks to double-check my blood sugar because my pcp's office does not appear to understand the concept of a prior auth and i only have enough test strips left to cover the week i expect to be without a cgm before my endocrinologist appointment since i do not expect the pcp to be able to get me a cgm if they can't even get me test strips. also i'm having to reuse insulin needles both because medicaid will only cover 100 a month (which you may notice is less than the 120 a month needed to do four daily injections each with a fresh sterile needle) and because i also don't expect to get another box of needles prescribed until i, again, see the endocrinologist in mid june.
i forget if i mentioned i'm fiddling with titrating up my insulin so i'm not stuck in the 250 range (on the blood sugar scale where a non-diabetic is ideally between 70 and 120, i can never remember which units that one is) for the next month. so far i have managed to get my blood sugar to hover around 220 instead of 250 most of the day, and i just managed to have a post-meal sugar not hit the alarm for 250+, so i think i'm making progress. i really really want to have something mathematically solid figured out in the next three weeks before i run out of CGMs, because i am *not* willing to play this kind of guessing game with my blood sugar when i'm limited to four finger sticks a day.
there has been a weather system sitting on my head the past couple days which is unhelpful for doing anything but lying around feeling vaguely migrainey, since i get both light sensitivity and sound sensitivity with my pressure migraines. (technically they aren't diagnosed as migraines but i think i have at least half a dozen more specialists to sort shit out with before i get around to figuring out what species of doctor you ask about migraines.)
i forget if i mentioned i'm fiddling with titrating up my insulin so i'm not stuck in the 250 range (on the blood sugar scale where a non-diabetic is ideally between 70 and 120, i can never remember which units that one is) for the next month. so far i have managed to get my blood sugar to hover around 220 instead of 250 most of the day, and i just managed to have a post-meal sugar not hit the alarm for 250+, so i think i'm making progress. i really really want to have something mathematically solid figured out in the next three weeks before i run out of CGMs, because i am *not* willing to play this kind of guessing game with my blood sugar when i'm limited to four finger sticks a day.
there has been a weather system sitting on my head the past couple days which is unhelpful for doing anything but lying around feeling vaguely migrainey, since i get both light sensitivity and sound sensitivity with my pressure migraines. (technically they aren't diagnosed as migraines but i think i have at least half a dozen more specialists to sort shit out with before i get around to figuring out what species of doctor you ask about migraines.)
Hakodate, San Francisco, and Ainu Museum
May. 19th, 2026 08:01 pmmindstalkHakodate has been making me think of San Francisco. I think a combination of the weather, slopes, low and somewhat color buildings, and views of the ocean. In particular it reminds me of parts of the Richmond and Sunset districts, which I recall had also been quiet and sleepy without making me fear for their economic health.
Then I realized something: I'm on a peninsula between two coasts. The narrow part is less than a kilometer, and even the southern bulb is 2.3 km or 1.4 miles. Of course there's not much east-west (NW to SE) traffic: where would it go, or come from?
( Read more... )
Temperature readings, according to the meat thermometer
May. 18th, 2026 01:06 pmbrin_bellwayUpper floor: 73
Ground floor: 70.5
Basement: 65
---
(The thermostat (ground floor: living room) and the "fridge" thermometer (upper floor: bathroom) roughly agree with these numbers. The thermostat has crept up a degree since I started writing this, while the outdoor temperature has climbed from (keeping the same language) 72 to 80.)
---
It's weird how the inter-floor temperature difference is very noticeable in summer but not in winter. I think of "the beginning of summer" as the day you go up the stairs and get hit by a wall of heat, and that was yesterday.
(Though it's expected to go back to being cool in a couple days. Probably not time just yet to put the window air conditioner in upstairs, to pump out the upper-floor heat without being able to open a window to the toxic pollen outside.)
((You bet your ass I *thoroughly* duct-tape a seal around the edges of that window air conditioner. Which is a big part of why it would be a hassle to put it in for two days and then take it out again.))
(((I feel like there has to be a better way, some setup involving mounting a HEPA filter on your open window, but thus far I have failed to think of anything that wouldn't involve daily re-taping.)))
---
We have poor insulation (except in the attic) but high thermal mass, which makes us surprisingly good at coasting through periods of hot days and cold nights. We have only lost 3.5 of our 8 degrees of stored coolth from two days ago. On cool evenings after sunny days, the temperature in the living room often drifts *upward* in the late evening, the passive solar heat still working its way through the brick.
Tonight, however, is not expected to be cold.
---
Dad is in his usual basement chair, wearing a hoodie. Mom, alas, is too mobility-disabled to chase temperature gradients, and is in an upstairs bedroom with a ceiling fan.
---
Summer is always a hard adjustment. I'm so used to carefully hoarding heat, to practices based around keeping heat *in* and not keeping it *out*.
(I grudgingly boiled pasta on the stove yesterday, deliberating on whether to dig out the lid. I hear you can make pasta in a pressure cooker, and I really need to experiment with that.)
I haven't taken down the black tarp on the building-envelope wall of the mudroom, but I *have* closed the blinds so it's not getting direct sunlight. The blinds in the southeast are closed too (which is disorienting, as I spend much of my time there), but probably I will open them in the afternoon.
It is the time of year to be reminded of why I haven't pushed for forms of increasing our solar gain that don't have an exit plan.
Ground floor: 70.5
Basement: 65
---
(The thermostat (ground floor: living room) and the "fridge" thermometer (upper floor: bathroom) roughly agree with these numbers. The thermostat has crept up a degree since I started writing this, while the outdoor temperature has climbed from (keeping the same language) 72 to 80.)
---
It's weird how the inter-floor temperature difference is very noticeable in summer but not in winter. I think of "the beginning of summer" as the day you go up the stairs and get hit by a wall of heat, and that was yesterday.
(Though it's expected to go back to being cool in a couple days. Probably not time just yet to put the window air conditioner in upstairs, to pump out the upper-floor heat without being able to open a window to the toxic pollen outside.)
((You bet your ass I *thoroughly* duct-tape a seal around the edges of that window air conditioner. Which is a big part of why it would be a hassle to put it in for two days and then take it out again.))
(((I feel like there has to be a better way, some setup involving mounting a HEPA filter on your open window, but thus far I have failed to think of anything that wouldn't involve daily re-taping.)))
---
We have poor insulation (except in the attic) but high thermal mass, which makes us surprisingly good at coasting through periods of hot days and cold nights. We have only lost 3.5 of our 8 degrees of stored coolth from two days ago. On cool evenings after sunny days, the temperature in the living room often drifts *upward* in the late evening, the passive solar heat still working its way through the brick.
Tonight, however, is not expected to be cold.
---
Dad is in his usual basement chair, wearing a hoodie. Mom, alas, is too mobility-disabled to chase temperature gradients, and is in an upstairs bedroom with a ceiling fan.
---
Summer is always a hard adjustment. I'm so used to carefully hoarding heat, to practices based around keeping heat *in* and not keeping it *out*.
(I grudgingly boiled pasta on the stove yesterday, deliberating on whether to dig out the lid. I hear you can make pasta in a pressure cooker, and I really need to experiment with that.)
I haven't taken down the black tarp on the building-envelope wall of the mudroom, but I *have* closed the blinds so it's not getting direct sunlight. The blinds in the southeast are closed too (which is disorienting, as I spend much of my time there), but probably I will open them in the afternoon.
It is the time of year to be reminded of why I haven't pushed for forms of increasing our solar gain that don't have an exit plan.
some Japan population numbers
May. 18th, 2026 11:16 ammindstalkOsaka: absolute peak population was 1940, and had lost half by 1945, whoops. Postwar peak was 3.1 million in 1965, vs. 2020 2.7 million; been increasing since 2000.
Sapporo has increased in every 5 or 10 year period between 1920 and 2020. No obvious hollowing-out effect here, unless people have been resettling outward.
Hakodate: peaked at 320,000 in 1980. 266,000 in 2015, having lost 10% since 2005. If that trend continues it's probably around 240,000 now, 75% of peak and 83% of 20 years ago. Yeah, you hear about Japan losing population, but I think of that as more of a rural thing, not hitting a regional center city of (formerly) 1/3 million people.
Overall, Japan's unemployment rate is 2.7%, vs. 4.3% in the US. But I'm guessing there's a shift toward working in big retail centers rather than running small shops, thus a lot of shuttered shops even without city opulation decline (like Tengachaya in Osaka).
Hokkaido catchup
May. 18th, 2026 10:55 ammindstalkCatching up on daily entries seems increasingly quixotic. But a quick summary
Sapporo events
Went to Maruyama park a few times. Enjoyed a lot of cherry blossoms, and climbed to the summit, which wasn't the greatest experience.
Took ropeway and cable car up to Moint Moiya. That was cool
Train to Otaru. Views from the train might have been the best part, for a good stretch it runs right between the ocean and hills.
Hakodate
Train to Hakodate was less pleasant in both experience and views. JR seems to like running the Green cars hot. But the seats in ordinary cabin would have been very narrow.
Ropeway to Mount Hakodate
Visited Goryokaku star fort
Coast east of me, park, and little zoo. Album
Coast west of me, shopping area, and bikeshare ride. Album
Hakodate (or my part of it) continues the Sapporo feeling of "where are all the people?" With more justification: Hakodate's population is down by like a third from peak. Though I suspect there's also a thing of businesses being more concentrated than in Tokyo or Osaka, with residential places being quieter. Or the fact that all the streets are wider leads me to expect more.
Ironically, I write that as I wait in Hakodate Park, in between Airbnbs, right next to a small amusement park which is decently busy even at 11 AM on a Monday morning in mid-May. Some of these kids look older than six...
New Community > briaru
May. 16th, 2026 11:32 pmflareonfury posting in dw_community_promo
briaru is a brand new community dedicated to the universe that contains Off-Campus, Briar U, and Campus Diaries series by Elle Kennedy including Elle Kennedy's other Hockey Romance novels such as the HIM and WAGs series (just because!) along with the new Amazon Prime TV series based on the universe, Off Campus!The Aging Alterhuman - Time marches ever onward
May. 16th, 2026 12:00 amgzeAuthor: G
Last Updated: May 17, 2026
Length: 8-14 minutes
Warnings: Aging, brief mentions of death anxiety
We helped peer pressure Goratrix into writing, and now we’re being peer-pressured back into actually sitting down and writing this, haha.
It bears repeating for the nth time that we aren’t active on 95% of social media. (If you see any posts claiming to be us on places like Twitter, Bluesky, Tumblr, Facebook, or Instagram, then they’re impostors.) It’s been a boost to mental health to stay away from those platforms for the most part, only looking at things we’re linked to or very occasionally browsing a particular blog’s entries. Consequently, however, it means we’re out of the loop when it comes to a lot of alterhuman/plural community happenings. So I/we could have the totally wrong impression of the community at large, here, and if that’s the case then…whoops! My bad! But worth it to stay far away from the drama and slapfighting, I guess?
It really does feel like a lot of writing we see in places like Tumblr are by those who are bodily young (24 and under) and often just figuring themselves out. There doesn’t seem to be nearly as many writings by people we can recognize who are 30+ and more settled in their alterhuman identities. (I do recall an essay by Page Shepard I believe? reflecting on settling after being part of the community for awhile, and no longer writing as much, but I can’t seem to find it again. If I do, then I’ll link it here. Edit: Found by Nova! Thank you, Nova!)
( So we figured: why not be the change we want to see by adding our own voice to the pile, as a bodily 30+ system feeling more settled in how we are? )
How about it? A year 2050 Howlcon for senior citizen alterhumans to laugh about the 2000s and bitch about our knees and backs, lol.
Last Updated: May 17, 2026
Length: 8-14 minutes
Warnings: Aging, brief mentions of death anxiety
It bears repeating for the nth time that we aren’t active on 95% of social media. (If you see any posts claiming to be us on places like Twitter, Bluesky, Tumblr, Facebook, or Instagram, then they’re impostors.) It’s been a boost to mental health to stay away from those platforms for the most part, only looking at things we’re linked to or very occasionally browsing a particular blog’s entries. Consequently, however, it means we’re out of the loop when it comes to a lot of alterhuman/plural community happenings. So I/we could have the totally wrong impression of the community at large, here, and if that’s the case then…whoops! My bad! But worth it to stay far away from the drama and slapfighting, I guess?
It really does feel like a lot of writing we see in places like Tumblr are by those who are bodily young (24 and under) and often just figuring themselves out. There doesn’t seem to be nearly as many writings by people we can recognize who are 30+ and more settled in their alterhuman identities. (I do recall an essay by Page Shepard I believe? reflecting on settling after being part of the community for awhile, and no longer writing as much
( So we figured: why not be the change we want to see by adding our own voice to the pile, as a bodily 30+ system feeling more settled in how we are? )
How about it? A year 2050 Howlcon for senior citizen alterhumans to laugh about the 2000s and bitch about our knees and backs, lol.
The Friday Five for 15 May 2026
May. 15th, 2026 03:47 pmanais_pf posting in thefridayfive1. How often do you hear live music?
2. What was your favorite live musical performance ever?
3. Do you play an instrument, or sing?
4. Have you ever performed music onstage?
5. Who is your favorite musician?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
2. What was your favorite live musical performance ever?
3. Do you play an instrument, or sing?
4. Have you ever performed music onstage?
5. Who is your favorite musician?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
(no subject)
May. 14th, 2026 07:33 pmthedarlingonenot dead. arm infection still very painful and concerning. do not think i am physically capable of traveling anywhere till monday though when the course of antibiotics is set to finish anyway so i am planning to wait till then unless it explodes or does something really alarming (more alarming than its current slowish spread over my forearm, like turning non-pink colors or reaching above my elbow). at that point if it is not cleared up i am leaning towards "take it to urgent care" with a secondary option of "take it back to the ER" depending on whether it has improved at all under the antibiotics.
blood sugar continues to run high despite me reducing my carbs (on the advice of the hospital's diabetic educator who is following up with me) and meticulously following the insulin dosage instructions, except for last night when i panicked myself with an accidental dose of 7 units instead of 3 and somehow still did not dip below 200. (i did arrange with a local friend to call a welfare check if i became nonresponsive, because i know how often leia has nearly died from brittle lows, and she stays conscious if not coherent much lower than a normal human would. my favorite freak of nature. i do not fuck around with low blood sugar.)
am wearing a cardiac monitor patch to check on my tachycardia. it does not like how much i sweat and keeps trying to come off. hopefully it can get some useful results.
just did the math and realized my cpap mask is probably approaching 18 months of nightly use. including the parts that are designed to be replaced every three months. it is a fucking miracle every day i wake up and it hasn't exploded yet. i asked my insurance for a list of pulmonologists before but it doesn't look useful so i need to call them tomorrow and ask for sleep clinics instead. i have a list of other medical followup shit that's approaching two dozen line items. why are bodies.
blood sugar continues to run high despite me reducing my carbs (on the advice of the hospital's diabetic educator who is following up with me) and meticulously following the insulin dosage instructions, except for last night when i panicked myself with an accidental dose of 7 units instead of 3 and somehow still did not dip below 200. (i did arrange with a local friend to call a welfare check if i became nonresponsive, because i know how often leia has nearly died from brittle lows, and she stays conscious if not coherent much lower than a normal human would. my favorite freak of nature. i do not fuck around with low blood sugar.)
am wearing a cardiac monitor patch to check on my tachycardia. it does not like how much i sweat and keeps trying to come off. hopefully it can get some useful results.
just did the math and realized my cpap mask is probably approaching 18 months of nightly use. including the parts that are designed to be replaced every three months. it is a fucking miracle every day i wake up and it hasn't exploded yet. i asked my insurance for a list of pulmonologists before but it doesn't look useful so i need to call them tomorrow and ask for sleep clinics instead. i have a list of other medical followup shit that's approaching two dozen line items. why are bodies.
(no subject)
May. 14th, 2026 02:11 pmcamwynMy office building now has a gym on the second floor. Free weights, weight machines, kettlebells, barbells, some boxing equipment, exercise bikes, treadmills, at least one elliptical, two Peloton bikes, and one rowing machine which is unfortunately also a Peloton. I say unfortunately because when I am exercising I do not WANT yet ANOTHER damned computer screen in my face- I get those often enough in daily life- let alone one that tracks you and sends your information God knows where in the interest of Being Helpful!.
Fortunately the machine works without you having to log in or use an account or subscription, so I draped a towel over the monitor rather than having to look at it and left it on the 'log in to use super awesome features!!1!' screen. I just wanted 25 minutes of cardio that wouldn't put strain on my knee.
At least not all the exercise bikes are Look At The Screen, Send Your Data To Central Headquarters, You're Creating An Aggregate Picture Of The Exercising Population For Us To Profit From models, but honestly I just wanted to use a basic rowing machine.
Fortunately the machine works without you having to log in or use an account or subscription, so I draped a towel over the monitor rather than having to look at it and left it on the 'log in to use super awesome features!!1!' screen. I just wanted 25 minutes of cardio that wouldn't put strain on my knee.
At least not all the exercise bikes are Look At The Screen, Send Your Data To Central Headquarters, You're Creating An Aggregate Picture Of The Exercising Population For Us To Profit From models, but honestly I just wanted to use a basic rowing machine.