green | Network

curiosity posting in

Y'all, it has been a year.

I'm Cat. Mid-40's AuDHD/C-PTSD who keeps on truckin'. Keeping it short and sweet because my spoons are in the negative.

1.) My bestie

lilliane posted her list earlier this month. Check it out. Her brain surgery is on the 29th so if you have good wishes or prayers, she's taking those too.

2.) I don't have any lists or fancy wishes. I'm in need of Amazon or Kroger gift cards. That's it. I'm looking at a new year with no way to afford health insurance so whatever I can put in to getting basics is more cash I can put towards my medication.

3.) Be excellent to each other. Do your daily clicks.

That's it. Be safe, be merry, don't let the world grind you down.

Peace.

Current Mood: depressed
Current Location: downward spiral
Current Music: Hozier - Eat Your Young

nineveh_uk

Merry Christmas to all celebrating! I hope you have a lovely day.

Watch on YouTube

rekishi

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

silveradept

It's December Days time again. This year, I have decided that I'm going to talk about skills and applications thereof, if for no other reason than because I am prone to both the fixed mindset and the downplaying of any skills that I might have obtained as not "real" skills because they do not fit some form of ideal.

( 24: Gamer )

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: ConcernedApe - Volcano Mines (Molten Jelly)

ashkitty

Outside revisiting old fics, I've been at my parents for the better part of a week. It's been a lot of work, but I love Christmas and I love my family, so I'm happy to be able to do things for them.

My mom got to come home today. After the long-term care hospital she was in a skilled nursing facility for a while, getting OT and PT to build her strength back up. Recovery takes a long time (I read somewhere you should assume a month of recovery for every week you were bedridden - I don't expect this to take a whole seven years, but it's fine if it's slow going for a while). She's still in a wheelchair a lot of the time and likely will be for a while. We went to church, and everyone was very kind. The point is that she's home for Christmas, which is the one thing I wanted most.

Nadolig llawen, friends. I hope you all have whatever sort of holiday you like best.

selenak

What a great thing to wake up to in my part of the world - the Yuletide archive is open! (Usually here in Germany it's noon before that happens.) Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and peaceful holidays for everyone. I will do my annual pic spam later, but for now, here are the two lovely Foundation stories I got, both Demerzel-centric, the former from her pov, the second from Cleon XXIV's - last season's Day, in other words - , and both superb in their characterisations.

Remembrance (3416 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Foundation (TV 2021)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Characters: Demerzel (Foundation TV 2021), Hari Seldon, Cleon XXIV
Additional Tags: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, mix of book and tv series canon
Summary:

Demerzel wanted to scream back at him, to explain how this was all his fault, Cleon the First damning them all to this nightmare fate that none of them could escape.

But she said nothing, and walked away. Like she always did.

standard deviation (4805 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Foundation (TV 2021)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Cleon XXIV & Demerzel (Foundation TV 2021)
Characters: Cleon XXIV (Foundation TV 2021), Demerzel (Foundation TV 2021)
Additional Tags: Character Study, Artificial Intelligence, Complicated Relationships, Mother-Son Relationship, Loyalty, Yuletide 2025, Yuletide Treat
Summary:

He can’t get a rise out of her, and can never push hard enough that she pushes back. Human mothers eventually raise their voices, yell back, get upset. You can fling hurtful words at a human mother. But as far as he can tell, it never lands with Demerzel; there’s no heart there to twist the knife into.

(Relationship study for what slowly went wrong between Cleon XXIV and Demerzel. Spoilers for all of season 3.)

Current Mood: jubilant
Current Location: Bamberg

smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/12/best-of-reviews-2025-part-two/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=163695

NB: This week, we’re taking a look back at 2025. We’ve got a week of best-of posts to share, with reviews, cover snark, sales, and more. We hope you enjoy revisiting our archives, and most of all, we wish you and yours a wonderful holiday and a happy new year – with all the very best of reading.

…

We’re counting down the best of our 2025 reviews, which I’m sure you’re all curious about. Time to reveal our top five reviews of this year. I’d love to know what your predictions are!

Let’s get into it!

…

A | BN | K | AB

5. Serial Killer Games by Kate Posey (April 28)

Review by Lara

Grade: A

I went into this book totally oblivious. I didn’t even know what genre it was. I had been drawn in by the slick cover and the vague blurb. This is 100% the way I recommend you approach this novel. If you’ve read a few of my reviews and you tend to like the books I like, I recommend stopping here.

…

A | BN | K | AB

4. Maid for Each Other by Lynn Painter (July 17)

Review by Lara

Grade: A-

This is an average length book at 368 pages. But it flew past in the blink of an eye. If I were to make a reading recommendation, I would say block off half a day and forbid anyone from interrupting you, then dive into this book and just revel in it.

I really really enjoyed this book. I wanted it to be so much longer so that I could immerse myself in more of their banter. I happily recommend this book to the Bitchery.

…

A | BN | K | AB

3. Rules for Ruin by Mimi Matthews (May 19)

Review by Lara

Grade: A

This is my first Bad Decisions Book Club of 2025. Sleep became a distant memory with this book. For context, I have a newborn. I had the opportunity to sleep, but chose not to because this book was much more important. It is also the start of a series and it’s a series I’m now very excited about!

If you too would like to join the Bad Decisions Book Club and immerse yourself in a tale of vulnerability and courage, with excellent dialogue, emotional depth, and very clever characters, then this is the book for you.

…

A | BN

2. Variation by Rebecca Yarros (February 13)

Review by Elyse

Grade: C

Variation is a tough book to review. On one hand, I found myself putting aside things that I needed to get done in order to keep reading it, but on the other, I found the frequent “surprise” reveals in the plot to be so frequent that sometimes they felt silly.

The result was the plot tension was kind of up-down-up-down and made me feel a little seasick. Everyone in this book could have helped themselves a lot by just talking to each other.

I think a lot of readers looking for high emotion or high drama romance will like that up-down feeling, though. It just wasn’t for me, in part because of the uneven tension, and because I think some of the plot twists were a little over the top. That said, I was enthralled by the detailed professional lives of the characters, and it left me searching for more ballet-related romance fiction.

…

A | BN | K | AB

1. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (April 21)

Review by Lara

Grade: A

I dithered for a week before starting this book. I had it in my possession, but couldn’t get past the first page. I’m not sure if this is unique to me, but when I’m really looking forward to something, it’s very difficult for me to start it. Then, one morning I bit the bullet and pushed through to page two. From there, I tore through the book, snatching reading time wherever I could until I finished it this evening.

Afterward, I think I felt every emotion there is to feel.

I loved this novel. As much as it put me through the emotional wringer, the quality of the writing forced me to keep reading it and I am so very glad that I did. I think the one caution I would add is that this is more women’s fiction than it is contemporary romance. Regardless of genre specifics, Great Big Beautiful Life echoed for days after I finished it. I’m not sure I’ll ever revisit it, but I will certainly remember it.

…

What did you think of our most popular reviews? Were there some you hoped to see in the top five? Let us know in the comments!

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/12/best-of-reviews-2025-part-two/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=163695

ashkitty

Day 12! We made it!

We end where we began, with Star Trek. This is the first K/S Advent fic I wrote, and the most enduring. I loved being able to make a world that is completely strange, completely alien, and to give the Enterprise a mission where while there is danger, there’s nothing trying to attack or harm them. Space is dangerous, but also wondrous, and the crew should get to enjoy that sometimes.

Snowflakes (Star Trek Reboot, Kirk/Spock, G)

‘Spock was already pulling out his tricorder. "It appears to be...life, Jim. Plant life," he said slowly. Spock had a lot of ways of speaking slowly. There was the way that meant he was thinking, and the way that meant he was thinking Jim was an idiot. There was a way that meant he was absolutely determined not to laugh, and a way that meant he was still processing something shocking. This was a new one, though, Jim thought. It was almost wonder.’

Song: O Holy Night

Rec: Wizards in Winter by Vibishan (Calvin & Hobbes/Young Wizards, G)

The one where Calvin becomes a wizard. I don't know what else to say about it beyond that - but look, you know (if you know Young Wizards) that the younger the wizard, the more raw power. And that wizards are offered the Oath when they're needed. Anyway, I knew from the beginning this was the rec I wanted to end on.

Merry Christmas.🎄🎁❄️

Back to Day 11.

dine

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

minoanmiss

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: amused

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 bnha_fans. The comm is really active in all sorts of good ways, which is LOVELY! :D

Commented on goals_on_dw.

Posted & commented on getting_started about whether image links also get redirected when using a rename token. The answer is YES which is pretty cool and good to know :D

Signal boosts:

Someone is asking about the kind of CSS allowed on Dreamwidth over at newcomers, in case any of you have more tips and paths to share.

alias_sqbr

During the family Christmas Zoom call Mum asked if I had any recs for historical computer games in which the protagonist does not commit acts of violence. When I asked what kinds of gameplay she enjoyed she just said "nothing too hard".

So here's what I came up with after exploring the historical and education tags on steam, if anyone has any recs or anti-recs please let me know!
( Read more... )

sonia

All That Means or Mourns by Ruthanna Emrys. I really love how Ruthana Emrys thinks about community and connection and the natural world. "Transformed by a broad-spread fungal infection that connects humans with nature, one woman feels closer to the world than ever, but further from the people she loves the most…"

offcntr

Get some rest, everybody.

landofnowhere

Pride and Prejudice, play adaptation by Sherwood Smith (

sartorias) of the Jane Austen novel. Thank you

sartorias for letting us read your adaptation of P&P originally performed by high school students! It did a really good job of condensing the plot while leaving in some dialogue that adaptations often leave out, and it was funny!

Much Ado About Numbers, Rob Eastaway. I picked this up again and finished it, but found that the bits that I'd already read were the most interesting to me. I found this book to be strongest when it was explaining the technology level of Shakespeare's time, and weakest when it was going into speculative interpretations of Shakespeare. (Though some of the theories it admitted were too far out there, like the joking theory that Cassio the "great arithmetician" might have inspired the naming of the Casio calculator.)

Alice James: Her brothers, her journal, edited by Alice Robeson Burr. I recently learned about Alice James, sister of the better known late 19th century American intellectuals Willam and Henry James, and was interested enough to pick up her diary. This book also contains Alice Robeson Burr's essay on the James family, which had some interesting tidbits that led to my learning more about forgotten 19th century American women intelectuals, like Mary Moody Emerson, aunt of and inspiration to the better-known Ralph Waldo, and Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley, of which Burr writes "In those days and communities, there was always a woman who read Greek, and in Concord it was Mrs. Ripley who had this distinction."

I'm about halfway through Alice James's diary ; being a diary (and without contextual footnotes) it is slow going although it does have some good passages writing about her chronic illness and other things.

St. Helios, Alice Robeson Burr. The diary being slow going, I decided to look into what else Anna Robeson Burr had published -- she was a prolific popular novelist, and encountered this entertainingly snarky review of her novel St. Helios, which was enough to get me to pick it up. I found it to be very readable but ultimately disappointing novel. It is set in 1920 and centers on the triangle between an aristocratic British poet who is both a relic of the Victorian era and a Byronic figure, his illegimate daughter, and the American lawyer who falls in love with both (though the book is not that slashy). The daughter starts out as the most interesting of the three main characters, but halfway through she gets a change of heart and moves from manipulative schemer to damsel in distress. After reading, I found two more contemporary reviews of this book, which are just as entertaining as the NYT review.

kaffy_r

Christmas Eve Thoughts

I'm sitting in the livingroom, listening to Kpop rather than Christmas music of either secular or Christian origin. I've been prepping for Christmas Day, when we'll entertain four friends, and the house is full of the smell of two types of dressing cooked tonight so that I don't run the risk of overcooking it in the same oven as the tiny turkey (10.5 pounds) I bought for our somewhat unexpected meal. Unexpected, because we hadn't planned to do Christmas at all; one of our friends texted to ask if we were doing Christmas, possibly because they remembered that I'd said I wanted to invite them to a post-Thanksgiving dinner, and I just texted back "Yep!" because they've been very good to us, and this was one way we could repay them.

We jumped into "Emergency Christmas" mode, and I've already completed the cranberry orange relish and the Green Slime (it's a 1950s/60s recipe I got from Bob's mom, and it's not a canonical Christmas for our friends unless this is part of the menu, lime jello, cream cheese, maraschino cherries and all.) Tomorrow morning I'll stuff the bird with some of the dressing that didn't get baked tonight; I'll bake the veggie side-dish Bob and I chose; I'll make the peach cobbler I decided on instead of pie because cobbler is much, much easier to make. Then it's on to sweeping and damp-mopping the diningroom before putting extra leaves in the table and setting the Christmas board.

Last year, we were both despondent about the federal election and, without having the kids and Harlan here to be Christmasy for, we spent the day in a bit of a funk. To put it mildly.

A year later, the despondency has lifted a bit, but we still hadn't thought about Christmas much. We had improved enough to buy gifts for our three closest friends, and their son, but we'd expected to share them on New Year's Eve. Instead, that text came, and the rest is recent history.

And tonight, I got a comment on my AO3-archived story, "It Was Wonderful," a fanfic based on "It's a Wonderful Life," which Bob, Andy, and I have loved for years. For several years on Christmas Eve, I've reshared the fic, which I originally posted on my LJ, then on Dreamwidth, and I eventually posted it on AO3, and was always tickled when I got the few kudos I did for it.

The comment was thoughtful and that would have been all I needed to read. But the person then asked if they could do a podfic. They were polite, said they'd understand if I didn't want them to do that because they'd still love the story. I checked them out and found that they a) weren't the type of scammers apparently infesting the archive these days (people pretending to be fans of stories, then working around to asking for money to "create fan art" for stories) and b) were experienced podficcers.

I told them I'd be honored. It's the first time anyone's done that for one of my pieces, and it seems like a lovely and unexpected Christmas gift.

I'm not much of a believer these days - not a Christian, certainly, although my experience with Christianity growing up in a house filled with love was very good, and that experience colored the way I approach spirituality. But as Bob has often said, and I believe him, some stories are true even if they never happened. The story of a child born in a stable and placed in a manger for warmth, a child who angels sang to sleep, who shepherds approached quietly after having heard the lullabies, a child who was a hope of peace ... well, that's not a bad story to happen, even if it never did.

And then there's "It's a Wonderful Life," and "It Was Wonderful." You can find the latter at the link, should you like to read it, either the first time or perhaps for another time.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. Peace be unto all, even those who don't celebrate. I am lucky to know all of you.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: the living room
Current Music: The Rose "Alive"

icanhascheezburger_feed

Posted by Ayala Sorotsky

https://cheezburger.com/10589911296/you-know-the-song

sovay

How did it get to be Christmas Eve? Are we sure? This year has been hard to believe in. I fell asleep in front of the decorated tree. Merry Erev Christmas.

Current Music: The Mountain Goats, "Dawn of Revelation"

superfangirl1 posting in

scans_daily

( Read more, )

cornerofmadness

After a rough start to the day (Dad naturally) the rest of the day went well. My brother and Sister in Law always come here for Christmas Eve dinner (and we used to do midnight mass but they only do mass here like around noon any more so...)

It was the feast of seven fishes...or in this case the four fishes (ah well) I made a salted anchovy bruschetta

( my recipe under here )

Current Mood: drunk
Current Music: NCIS

the magic circle

friends and sort-of friends

Network

Navigation

Happy Thingie.

Merry Christmas!

Really, Sidney?

December Days 02025 #24: Gamer

Merry and bright.

Yuletide!

Best of Reviews 2025, Part Two

12 Days (til) Christmas Day 12

hope you have a Christmas, and a very New Year

an acceptable substitute

Community Thursday

Historical games about not being violent

Story! All That Means or Mourns

That's it, we're done

wednesday christmas eve books

Dept. of Ambivalence and Hope

You know the song.

Plates will shift and the earth will groan

The Flash #28 K.O Round Six: Jay Garrick Vs Guy Gardner

Christmas Eve

Profile

December 2025

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags