zyzyly

Violet stayed home from school today because she wasn't feeling well. She wasn't feeling well yesterday morning either, but recovered by the afternoon, and today she repeated the same pattern. She says her nose is stuffy, so I hope she is just fighting a cold and nothing worse. I read to her for about an hour this afternoon, by which time my throat was very dry and scratchy, but we did manage to finish a book we'd started a few days ago. ("The Hamster Princess: Whiskerella", #5 in a series, all of which I've read to the girls over the last couple of years. Very funny, for both adults and children.)

This morning I went for a run after breakfast intending to cover about 5 to 6 km (3 to 4 miles) but the day was so nice that I extended it to 10 km. My legs were a bit tired by the time I got home because it's been quite a while since I've run this distance (I basically don't do longer runs over the summer or once the humidity rises) but I recovered quickly.

mallorys_camera

TITLE

Part 1: Grazia

Chapter 1

I drove up to Neal's house to say goodbye to Daria, who was red-eyeing it back to California.

GPS decided to take me on an exciting tour of the eastern Catskills. It was a lovely day, so not unpleasant.

Thing about GPS in the Catskills is that there is no cell coverage. Like nil, nada, niente. And the narrow roads have unexpected forks that GPS does not account for, and the unexpected forks always seem more attractive than the straight & narrow path—do we all see the metaphor here?—so it is very, very easy to get completely lost, especially for people like me who were born with no sense of direction.

When that happens, one must simply trust that GPS will make the necessary adjustments and that eventually, one will get where one wanted to go.

GPS, in other words, is a lot like the Judeo-Christian God.

###

( But wait! There's more! )

fflo

Tr*mp was supposed to come out at 2:00 and say something live on camera about the b.s. "Space Force". But really it's about showing he's not dead, or not close to it. What's up with the delay? Buidling suspense?

I've got the lawn mower battery charged while laundry's going around and this week off work. Decided quickly, to my relief, the other day, that I'm not up to continuing to strip the paint/stenciling, either completely or to some neatened "doormat", for winter. And/but now, today, 80 degrees out, the last of these warm days underway, I am considering another shot at it. Wrenched back on top of knees, but couldn't I go slow? And didn't I get up and down offa that stoop a coupla dozen times last year? Have I deteriorated that much?

How much is my deterioration behind the little spate of human sympathy for Tr*mp, should he be experiencing any of the grisly things postulated or outright wished by TikTok commenters in the is-he-dead/my-he's-failing posts? I do want him gone, and of course I'd still worry about what's next. But it'd be nicely to outlive him, and soon. As far as wishing extra suffering or any comeuppance or fear of hell or whatever, I don't think that works. I don't think it makes anything better, or diminishes any inflicted wrongs/pains, or even happens. It's not relevant. And wishing for it to befall someone is bad for us, I say. It's not that different from the death penalty that way, maybe.

This half an hour is taking forever, though.

Somebody having a watch gathering on TikTok is watching the C-SPAN feed. I've just called up the PBS one, and have the TV on too.

Whatever it is, I'm getting up and outside the house afterwards, for a palate cleanser, at least. Or to avoid rabbitholing into TikTok in search of a form of fellowship. Or to go out and be near others if the announcement includes him dying right there.

susandennis

Growing up in the South East, sweater weather didn't even think about starting until November. (My first winter in Minnesota, it snowed the first week of November.)

But, when I first moved to this part of the country more than 30 years ago, Fall began the day after Labor Day. It was so weird. It was like someone flipped a switch. The week before was sunny and too hot and then on Tuesday, you needed a sweater. Global warming has put the kibosh on that. We have some more hot weather coming but this morning, Tuesday, it is cool and cloudy and even foggy out. Lovely. Alas, it's supposed to get up to 78.

Today is house cleaner day and I think I'll go the the dollar store while she is here. I have a dollar store list so I can just pound that out.

Only one baseball game today and it's not til 4.

Key Bank bit off my last nerve. I made a special point of going into the branch get info (as opposed to calling) and the woman told me that my remaining account - a checking account - was fee free. Then, over the weekend they slapped on a $25 service charge. Nope. That's it. I'm out.

My main credit card is an Amazon visa with Chase. And all I want with a backup checking account is atm's and a place to get five dollar bills if I want them and no fees. Chase has a brick and mortar just up the road. And their rules for no fees are crystal clear. So I opened up a backup checking account with them. I'll probably regret it some time down the road but for now, I'm cool.

My favorite swimsuit was still damp this morning after yesterday's swim. Not much but enough to be annoying at 5:30 am. It was only $19 so I thought I'd just go back and get another one. Amazon, of course. Only this time, it was $12!! Score. Be here tomorrow.

conuly

Here's hoping the fall is everything we could ask for.

*****************

( Read more... )

conuly

The IRS invites the public to participate in an anonymous feedback survey on tax preparation and filing options, which will run through Sept. 5, 2025.

The survey is being conducted as part of the Department of Treasury and the IRS’s efforts to fulfill a reporting requirement to Congress under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act. The law directs Treasury to deliver a report to Congress by Oct. 2, 2025, on several key issues related to free tax filing options for the public.

Treasury and the IRS encourage taxpayers to share their perspectives and help inform this important congressional report.

Translation: We have to report to Congress about the public's interest in Free File (filing directly on the IRS website) because they want to quash it, so here's a survey!

survey here

There are a couple of leading questions that I personally found HIGHLY entertaining. But I do recommend that if you are an American taxpayer you take a look at it/take it.

There was one question that asked what's important in filing taxes, and it had an "other" option that opened a handy text window, so I used that text window to tell them all about how filing taxes is a waste of time and money when the IRS already has all that information. There is absolutely no reason they can't just send you a bill or a refund every year, with a receipt, and you'd only have to file if you had to correct errors or had income or deductions that had been unreported for whatever reason.

conuly

So, responses here are not terribly helpful.

The OP is specifically confused about the use of the prhase "such as" in the highlighted sentence. I said that this is not wrong, it's just formal and old-fashioned, but like most Americans I've had very little formal education in English grammar and with google I still can't find either the words to define it or a few well-placed citations by prestigious authors.

maju

I didn’t get out for a walk today because I was needed at various times to watch the girls while their father was out doing errands and their mother was working. I have definitely not been sitting still though.

Aria (6 years old) and I played a board game called Silly Street; we played three rounds and she won every time, partly through luck and partly through sheer determination not to be beaten. That girl is a killer competitor!

susandennis

I had a lengthy dream last night during which my left thigh from the knee to the hip hurt a lot and wouldn't stop. Then I woke up to pee and discovered that the thigh thing was no dream. It hurt. Lots. Then when I got up this morning, the hurt snaked down over my knee. I know it's my back and I had not been doing my back exercises and ugh.

I got up and got coffee and internetted and tried to interest myself in those exercises. And failed. But, it is another wonderfully cloudy morning so why not try swimming a few laps? I couldn't think of a reason not to. So I did.

Speed records were not broken but I did make sure my legs were working the entire time. I stopped twice for brief breathers but otherwise just kept going. I am sure it has been more than a year since I did any laps. It was really nice. The forecast shows some more cloudy mornings coming up. I might try it again.

But I really should do those back exercises.

Timber Ridge usually takes any excuse to shut down all the meal options and consolidate into one early afternoon buffet. Real holidays and faux holidays. Except for this year's Labor Day. For some strange reason, they are ignoring it. Very weird.

But baseball is on - one game at 1 and one game at 4.

I think I might go out and puzzle a bit this morning. But that's it for plans.

mallorys_camera

The novel writes itself when I'm in the shower. Or driving in my car. Places where it's not easy to take dictation.

###

One of my favorite literary anecdotes of all time comes from Michael Chabon, talking about a block he encountered while writing a major scene in The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.

At the time, Chabon was enrolled in an MFA program at U.C. Irvine. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh was his master's thesis.

The novel is about a young man who simultaneously falls in love with a man and a woman—very gaspworthy at the time (1988).

Chabon was writing about the moment his protagonist & the male objet du désir first have sex.

He didn't want to make it porn. (And then he unzipped his pants & unveiled his massive trouser trout...)

He didn't want to make it funny. (Ditto.)

He didn't know what to write and was afraid the novel was going to end right there.

So, he decided to go for a walk. It was some time past midnight.

Now! Anyone who has ever spent time in Southern California knows that nobody ever walks in Southern California. And especially nobody ever walks after dark.

In the comic I'm imagining, Chabon's this very, very tall man with seraphic wings of long, long hair and an antiquated waistcoat, chiaroscura-ed against the monotonous, endless, vapor-lit expanse of empty Irvine Center Road (though actually, Chabon's shorter than I am and doesn't have a Victorian sartorial fixation).

Chabon walked and walked and walked. And finally after a couple of hours passed another human being—a man holding a wad of tissue to his nose because he was having a nosebleed.

Eureka!

The perfect detail to denote the loss of a particular kind of virginity.

I love this anecdote because it demonstrates so perfectly how the Universe is always willing to collaborate with you if only you can keep yourself porous enough to be open to its suggestions.

###

Meanwhile, I trotted off to a craft fair yesterday.

It was a very bad craft fair filled with uninspired stuff and very high price tags. Bad people-watching, too. I suppose nobody uses the slang term "yuppies" anymore—invented by my pal Alice Kahn! And my X-boss Lanny Jones invented "Boomers"!—but that's what these craft fair goers were.

I passed a mirror and saw reflected in it an older woman with large strained eyes and a sagging jawline—and ohmyGAWD, that woman was me!

I tried to explain my shock on the phone to Ichabod afterwards: "No, honestly, it wasn't vanity! It was, well... This is really the first time I've noticed that my chin is starting to go. I'm finally getting what Marybeth used to call 'crepe neck.' I can't pass anymore."

"Pass as what?" Ichabod asked.

He loves me but finds me vaguely irritating—as the offspring of all parents with over-sized personalities do.

Pass as somebody younger? No, that's not it. I've never dissembled about my age.

"Pass as somebody who's not a caricature of themselves," is the best way I can describe it.

###

On the Work of Progress front: I have indeed come up with some very obnoxious behavior for Mimi. In fact, it may be too over the top for a chick lit novel. I blame David Foster Wallace.

But anyway, I can see the end of Chapter 1. Though I may not be able to finish it today because Remuneration.

asakiyume

There is a cardinal pair in our yard, and I love them very much. I drew them having a cup of tea.

female and male northern cardinal with blue and white teapot and cups of tea

female and male northern cardinal with blue and white teapot and cups of tea

female and male northern cardinal on either side of a blue and white teapot

A mi me enseño a cantar la calandria y el cenzontle,
la calandría y el cenzontle y el pájaro cardenal
la calandría y el cenzontle y el pájaro cardenal

--Biomigrant & El Monte Adentro: "Voz emplumada del monte"
calandría = chalk-browed mockingbird (Mimus saturninus)
cenzontle = northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottus)
pájaro cardenal = northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

Current Music: Biomigrant & El Monte Adentro: "Voz emplumada del monte"

mark posting in

dw_maintenance

Per the dw_news post regarding the MS/TN blocks, we are doing a small code push shortly in order to get the code live. As per usual, please let us know if you see anything wonky.

There is some code cleanup we've been doing that is going out with this push but I don't think there is any new/reworked functionality, so it should be pretty invisible if all goes well.

summersgate

Jules and I drove down to Pittsburgh and picked up Hazel this morning. I laugh and have fun with Hazel more than anyone else in my life. I knew she'd be game to do an "usie" (selfie with the two of us) so that I could play around with it in AI. Lots of versions, and a couple that actually (kinda) look like us: ( Read more... )

rejectomorph

It's very strange how I can sleep several hours, wake up and be unable to get back to sleep, then get up and do various things for a few hours, including downing a decent amount of caffeine, and then suddenly find myself unable to keep my eyes open. It's less than four hours since I left my bed, but here I am like some exhausted old geezer mindlessly doddering graveward... oh, wait. That shoe fits better than the ones I'm literally wearing.

Fits well enough that as soon as I finish posting this I'm going back to bed for a nap. No telling how long that nap will last, though lately they've often turned into sleeps that go past sunset. It being Sunday there will be no mail to fetch, so I guess it doesn't matter. I mean aside from the depression I usually get from waking up so late in the day. But then what's an extra bit of misery to a near-cadaver? Oh, if I don't get around to posting anything tomorrow, happy belabor day.

( Sunday Verse )

denise posting in

dw_news

A reminder to everyone that starting tomorrow, we are being forced to block access to any IP address that geolocates to the state of Mississippi for legal reasons while we and Netchoice continue fighting the law in court. People whose IP addresses geolocate to Mississippi will only be able to access a page that explains the issue and lets them know that we'll be back to offer them service as soon as the legal risk to us is less existential.

The block page will include the apology but I'll repeat it here: we don't do geolocation ourselves, so we're limited to the geolocation ability of our network provider. Our anti-spam geolocation blocks have shown us that their geolocation database has a number of mistakes in it. If one of your friends who doesn't live in Mississippi gets the block message, there is nothing we can do on our end to adjust the block, because we don't control it. The only way to fix a mistaken block is to change your IP address to one that doesn't register as being in Mississippi, either by disconnecting your internet connection and reconnecting it (if you don't have a static IP address) or using a VPN.

In related news, the judge in our challenge to Tennessee's social media age verification, parental consent, and parental surveillance law (which we are also part of the fight against!) ruled last month that we had not met the threshold for a temporary injunction preventing the state from enforcing the law while the court case proceeds.

The Tennesee law is less onerous than the Mississippi law and the fines for violating it are slightly less ruinous (slightly), but it's still a risk to us. While the fight goes on, we've decided to prevent any new account signups from anyone under 18 in Tennessee to protect ourselves against risk. We do not need to block access from the whole state: this only applies to new account creation.

Because we don't do any geolocation on our users and our network provider's geolocation services only apply to blocking access to the site entirely, the way we're implementing this is a new mandatory question on the account creation form asking if you live in Tennessee. If you do, you'll be unable to register an account if you're under 18, not just the under 13 restriction mandated by COPPA. Like the restrictions on the state of Mississippi, we absolutely hate having to do this, we're sorry, and we hope we'll be able to undo it as soon as possible.

Finally, I'd like to thank every one of you who's commented with a message of support for this fight or who's bought paid time to help keep us running. The fact we're entirely user-supported and you all genuinely understand why this fight is so important for everyone is a huge part of why we can continue to do this work. I've also sent a lot of your comments to the lawyers who are fighting the actual battles in court, and they find your wholehearted support just as encouraging and motivating as I do. Thank you all once again for being the best users any social media site could ever hope for. You make me proud and even more determined to yell at state attorneys general on your behalf.

maju

29. What are you uncertain about? How the next month or two are going to play out.

30. What do you think about when you lie awake in bed? It depends on whether or not I'm feeling worried or stressed about something; if I am, that's usually what I think about. Sometimes I think about the past, about good or bad times with other people. I'd say there's a huge range of subjects which might play across my mind when I'm lying awake in bed.

31. What’s something most people don’t know about you? That I grew up on a farm with no electricity or running water until I was about 12, and that I started school a year late because there was no school bus to get me to the school in the town 16 miles/25 km away when I should have started.

maju

This morning has disappeared in a flash; I'm not sure why, because yesterday morning seemed to drag. I guess the main reason is I went for a walk after breakfast and was gone for more than an hour. It was such a perfect morning for outdoor exercise that I just had to go. (Clear and sunny but only in the mid 50s/mid teens, and with a slight breeze.) The girls were all otherwise occupied so nobody clamoured to go with me.

They have now gone to their other grandmother's for a barbecue lunch; one of their uncles is also there but I don't know whether any other relatives will be present. My daughter is spending the day working, because when her husband takes the girls out it's a perfect opportunity for her. Eden asked me if I'd take them to the school playground when they get home, which I will be happy to do.

susandennis

So I finally got the app to work correctly, with no help from Audible. But, I decided to cancel anyway. 20 years ago, actually even 5 years ago, Audible was great. Easy and with wonderful customer support. You could return any book you didn't like and buy another. Easy and simple. Even after Amazon bought them. But, gradually, that simple totally disappeared and started to take easy with it. In order to return a book you had to go to chat and beg. They always granted but it was annoying. Cut to this morning.

My annual membership renews at the end of September. I had used up all my credits. I pre-ordered 3 books but two of them won't be available until the end of October. I wanted to make sure I could listen to those books without a membership. So I went to Chat. Holy fuck. You've seen those chats that won't transfer you to a live person until you categorize your reason in about 20 different selections? Then finally you get a 'chat with representative'. This was like that except there were only 5 choices and no other options. I finally cracked the code and got a representative who told me I didn't have 3 books on prepay but only 2 and why did I want to cancel??? We finally after 45 fucking chat minutes got the 3rd book back into my account. And the reason I am canceling is that. 45 fucking chat minutes??????? And my experience on Reddit the other day when they asked for my operating system 3 different times. Audiobooks are not tangible. It's not like I can take my goods and leave. I am totally dependent on their customer service which is not even trying to rise up to the level of sucks.

Hilariously, because the agent fucked up and put a credit in my account, I need to spend it before I cancel. ha! But, at least I'm not longer on the fence about leaving.

EXCEPT. When you actually cancel, they throw some pretty serious discount offers in your face. Now I might have to think about it some more. And, just now, I got a comprehensive, well written, easy to understand email* from the chat agent who - in chat - consistently did not answer my questions or use understandable English. Wild. Just wild. But, yes, I guess I'll sign up for another year with their 40% off. Fuck. Oh well.

*The email was probably written by some AI app but that's fine by me. It spells out everything and provides me with a paper trail if I need it so I'm fine with that.

In other news...

It's raining! Well dripping really but there are raindrops on the sidewalk. Yesterday, it stayed beautifully cloudy all day and today looks like maybe more of the same. My kind of weather.

Today will be baseball and other TV and knitting. Maybe some puzzling but maybe not. And tomorrow, with the holiday, will be the same and I'm perfectly happy with all of it.

I finished (probably) the Halloween dolls and ghosts and made one of the regular mini monsters but didn't get a photo yet. I need a better photo background, the one I've been using is kind of beat up. Maybe today's project. Maybe not.

mallorys_camera

Only, I did go tromping. It was too beautiful a day to stay inside. I laced my hiking boots very tightly.

My knee isn't hurting, but it is making a weird clicking sound when it articulates, so, yeah—something's out of alignment.

###

I Remunerated—1,500 words. I had somehow gotten it into my head that magically I would be able to crank out 4,000 Remunerative words, which would buy me a couple of days to give the Work in Progress my undiluted attention. But that ain't gonna happen, and when I got back from tromping, I was thinking too hard about David Foster Wallace to continue the Neal-Palooza scene.

###

The three great Post-Modernists whose works I've never had any great interest in cracking are David Foster Wallace, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo.

Well. I did read The Crying of Lot 49. And I didn't dislike it! But neither did it fill me with any great desire to read anything else by Pynchon. Authors who saddle characters with names like "Oedipa Maas" are not my cup of tea.

And I have read a couple of Wallace's short stories and non-fiction. I was mildly impressed. Also, I'm a big fan of Wallace's protege and self-styled BFF, Jonathan Franzen.

Plus I've read Wallace's biography, the evocatively titled Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story. (In general, I am more interested in Great Writers' bios than their actual books. Not sure what that sez about me.) In it, Wallace comes across as someone who was hideously depressed by his own physical repulsiveness. Like if some doctor had only prescribed him Botox for those overactive sweat glands and a really effective acne medication, he wouldn't have needed all those antidepressants. Caliban would have metamorphosed into Ariel!

All of this is by way of a preamble: I've decided to read Infinite Jest.

To try to read Infinite Jest!

Like I'll commit to reading the first 200 pages, and if I don't like it, I'll stop.

Reading is what I do. I spend at least two hours a day reading. And it's unrealistic to ban fiction entirely during the next six months—which, reasonably, is about the time it will take me to knock out a first draft of the Work in Progress. Assuming I keep up with it: I'm a true Aries in the sense that I'm great at starting things, not so great at finishing things.

The trick will be to read fiction that is sufficiently unlike my own writerly voice that I'm not unconsciously plagiarizing from it.

I don't write anything like David Foster Wallace!

###

The Neal-Palooza scene is mostly written except for a couple of speeches & some character business. So next, I have to wrap up the chapter with Mimi being obnoxious on the porch.

Kinda at a loss, though, at coming up with suitably obnoxious action & dialogue.

I suppose I could always type in red font: Mimi is obnoxious.

Move on to Chapter 2.

Fill in the details of Mimi's obnoxiousness when I do the second draft.

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zyzyly

August 2024

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Untitled Chick Lit Novel

Postcard of the Day

awaiting proof of life

Monday but it isn't.

Happy September!

PSA text from celli

Does anybody have an explanatory link?

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Oh my achin' back

Porous

The cardinals' tea party

Code deploy happening shortly

sunday

52/199-200: Having a Fit

Mississippi site block, plus a small restriction on Tennessee new accounts

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August 2024

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