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What's Making Me Happy Today: Starfleet Academy

The first season of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy just wrapped up, and man, that was a season of television that did my heart good.

I didn't initially think this show was going to be for me. Hopefully it goes without saying that this wasn't for any of the range of awful reasons people have wanted to hang a grievance or grift on it. Media with protagonists in their teens and twenties just usually aren't my thing, and so while I was glad to see Trek branching out, I went in aware I wasn't the target audience and figured I'd watch an episode or two to see if any of the older characters appealed to me.

Well, they definitely did. Free-spirited, complex, centuries-old school chancellor Nahla Ake might be my favourite character I've met this year. I am in love with her. The Doctor (from Voyager) and Jett Reno (from Discovery) are both back in supporting roles with some really wonderful scenes, and Jett has a hot and hilarious Klingon/Jem'Hadar wife (Lura Thok) who is definitely worth moving across the galaxy for.

But to my surprise, I also really love the kids! Not all the moments landed for me, but I ended up legitimately invested in their coming-of-age stories and journey into becoming a little family. I don't want to spoil some of the things I loved, but I am always here for mentorship, adoptive parent-child relationships, and queer romance, and I wasn't disappointed. Add in some good solid science fiction and a lot of classic Trek optimism and belief in the work of building a better world, and this was exactly what I needed right now. My only real complaint is that it was such a short season.

Watch on YouTube

Question: The Polychrome Historical Haggadah by Jacob Freedman

Does anyone have or have access to the The Polychrome Historical Haggadah by Jacob Freedman? I'm curious as to what kind of hagadah text it has. I can find a write-up that lists the levels and one of them is Contemporary, defined as beginning in 1900. What's the contemporary stuff? Are there notable things this hagadah includes/doesn't include?

It having contemporary things/cup of Miriam/etc is not a downside, I just want to know what sort of thing is in this before I decide if I wanna get it for this year or not. My utmost value in a hagadah is "is this usable", not really "is this beautiful", and my "is this historically interesting" niche is already fulfilled by the hagadah shelaimah. So is this the sort of thing that would perfectly slot next to the hagadah shelaimah on the shelf, or is it more of a gimmick? The last hagadah I got because it was artistic, I ended up giving away, because it was pretty but not actually functional.

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!2026,
pinch hits

Deadline has passed! PDPHs: 1-3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 14-17

Our works deadline has passed! However, many of us still have extensions until Wednesday, the 18th, which is when we should expect to see the next round of potential pinch hits rise. Stay tuned, and whatever you do, don't take your foot off the gas.

These pinch hits are due Friday 27 March at 9:59 PM EST. Claim a pinch hit by commenting on this post with your AO3 handle and the AO3 handle of the pinch hit. All comments are screened.

Any request can be filled with minimum 10,000 words of fic. If the person opted in to receiving a comic for a given request, that request can also be filled with a comic of minimum 10 pages/minimum 25 panels. Read the full rules here.

You can only have a total of two active assignments/pinch hits at a time, you absolute maniacs. Finish one of those before grabbing another.

To make any request look prettier, drop the person's username into the Auto AO3 App. To learn more about a fandom that looks interesting and cool, see the fandom promos.

( PH 1 - [SAFETY] Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Crossover Fandom, Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold, Jem and the Holograms (Cartoon), Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV) )

( PH 2 - Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes (Granada TV 1984), Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened (Video Game), [SAFETY] A Study in Emerald - Neil Gaiman, [SAFETY] Art in the Blood - Brian Stableford, Battlestar Galactica (2003), Dark Shadows (1966) )

( PH 3 - NoPixel (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF, 仙王的日常生活 | The Daily Life of the Immortal King (Cartoon), [SAFETY] 可愛いだけじゃない式守さん | Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san | Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie, [SAFETY] ALICE - Erin LeCount (Music Video), 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs )

( PH 5 - Crossover Fandom, The Hurricane Wars - Thea Guanzon, [SAFETY] The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood )

( PH 6 - [SAFETY] Bullet Train (2022), [SAFETY] Kraven the Hunter (2024), The Fall Guy (2024), Gladiator (Movies - Scott) )

( PH 8 - [SAFETY] Jósika Miklós - Király és Koldus | King Matthias and the Beggar Boy, Hallo itt Mátyás király! - Bogáti Péter, Night Prince - Jeaniene Frost, Jumurdzsák gyűrűje | Yoomurjak's Ring (Video Game) )

( PH 11 - Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling, Crossover Fandom, Crossover Fandom, [SAFETY] 长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng (Web Series), Grimm (TV), 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018), 绅探 | Detective L (TV) )

( PH 14 - [SAFETY] When the Angels Left The Old Country - Sacha Lamb, The Fairyland Series - Catherynne M. Valente, [SAFETY] Wind Will Rove - Sarah Pinsker, [SAFETY] Into the Woods - Sondheim/Lapine, [SAFETY] The Forbidden Book - Sacha Lamb )

( PH 15 - 내가 키운 S급들 - 근서 | S-Classes that I Raised - Geunseo, 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, 괴담에 떨어져도 출근을 해야 하는구나 - 백덕수 | Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story I Still Have to Go to Work - Baek Deoksoo, 내가 키운 S급들 | The S-Classes That I Raised (Webcomic), [SAFETY] Original Work, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer, 恋与深空 | Love and Deepspace (Video Game), Crossover Fandom, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening )

( PH 16 - Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Manga), [SAFETY] BCV: Battle Construction Vehicles (Video Game) )

( PH 17 - From a Knight to a Lady (Webcomic), 흔한 빙의물인 줄 알았다 | Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story (Webcomic), [SAFETY] 矢野くんの普通の日々 | Yano-kun's Ordinary Days (Anime & Manga), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime & Manga), Crossover Fandom, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017) )

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writing quote

Write every day! - March 2026 - Day 16

Brisk scene on a rocky beac hwith a gull.

"Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong." (Ella Fitzgerald)

Quote chosen by

sylvanwitch

Tally:
Welcome post
( Days 1-10 )

Day 13:

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 14:

badly_kntted,

brithistorian,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 15:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

glinda,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 16:

china_shop

Let us know if we missed you or if you didn't check in for a while, so we can add you. Of course joining the fun is possible at any point.

~ ~ ~

ysilme here: tons of nonfic today, including two short articles for my voluntary job, but only an alibi sentence of fic as my brain was too fried for coherent writing afterwards. ;op

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第五年第六十五天

部首
手 part 46
擦, to rub; 攀, to climb; 擤, to blow your nose (I have never seen this character in actual use but I like that it exists) ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=64

语法
3.13 把 with result and degree complements
https://www.digmandarin.com/hsk-3-grammar

词汇
动画片, cartoon; 动摇, to shake/to waver; 摆动, to swing; 电动车, electric car; 激动, excited; 移动, to move; 运动会, sports event; 运动员, athlete; 转动, to turn ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
车子和那个孕妇就擦肩而过, the car almost hit that pregnant lady
有本事你把我也杀了, kill me too if you think you're up to it
麻醉手表啊，就动画片里的那种, a paralyzing watch, like in the cartoons?

Me:
我没有攀过岩，太恐怖了。
你拍的视频手都抖，动摇得把我晕车了。

Current Mood: busy

3 things make a post

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: busy

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Fossils

The Kotlin Crisis: Earth’s first mass extinction may have been far worse than previously believed

Fossils of the first sea creatures, long assumed to have vanished before a major mass extinction about 550 million years ago called the Kotlin Crisis, have now been found and are providing new details about that time period.

This discovery transforms what once looked like a routine species decline in Earth’s early history into what may be the first catastrophic extinction in animal history.

Second, actually, after the Great Farting Oxygen Event changed the atmosphere from reducing to oxydizing -- almost everything died, except a few archaea that found anoxic refuges and a few organisms that figured out how to use oxygen. But most people forget about that one.

( Read more... )

More about Mirage City & Golden Boy

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Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and frigid, spitting snow and howling wind. :/ It stormed last night.

I fed the birds. I've seen a small mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus several cardinals.

I put out water for the birds.

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: the evening
Current Music: "Clouddrop" by Jamie Paige

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Aphmau Minecraft Diaries Thoughts (Episodes 1-5)

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Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Golden - Huntrix

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we're going up, up, up, it's our moment

Oscar winner Michael B Jordan! Woohoo! I did not watch the Oscars but I am so happy for MBJ!

Also for Kpop Demon Hunters and "Golden!"

Here are two links I enjoyed this morning:

= Don't Fence Ted McGinley In (NYT gift link) (also, spoilers for aired episodes of Shrinking)

= 'The Pitt,' as Told by Its Patients

*

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Day 21: Shadow Continues to Mellow

While he was quite surprised to walk out for his morning on-leash ablutions into heavy snow above his knees, he's really starting to relax.

This morning I reached down to stroke his back and he didn't flinch.

Just now I was resting on the floor by his bed, petting his back. I started to scritch the scruff of his neck, and he relaxed even more, his dark eyes shining up at MyGuy behind the camera. (I'm reclining on my tripled-up exercise pad just behind him, shockingly without glasses.)

( Read more... )

Only 28 days of enforced rest to go!

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: headspace
Current Music: "My Darling, My Companion" by Jamie Paige

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Prompt Table: 100Ships

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镇魂 | Guardian: 520 Day Reverse Exchange 2026

Guardian Reverse Exchange 2026. Image shows Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan facing each other, gripping the Sundial between them.

Links: General info/rules/schedule | Sign-ups on

sid_guardian

Description: A 镇魂 | Guardian fandom multimedia exchange covering the drama, the novel and RPF. Participants can offer and/or request fanfic, fanart, icons, vids, podfic, meta, a remix of an existing fanwork, or fanart for an existing fanwork. Or any combination of the above!

This is a reverse exchange with a two-part sign-up process: first you make your offer, saying what you like to create; then you choose three anonymised offers from the list and make your requests. (Only one of your requests will be assigned.)

Important Dates:
Sign-ups part 1 (offers): until Friday 27 March - sign-ups open now
Sign-ups part 2 (requests): Saturday 28 March - Friday 3 April
Deadline: 13 May
Reveals: 20 May (520 Day)

For more info, see the General info post.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Location: bedroom
Current Music: "Love & Ponystep" by Vylet Pony ft. Tracey Brakes

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Prompt Table: 100Femslash

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Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

blogging,
personal

Monday Update 3-16-26

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "Colorful Opportunities"
Tool Use
Cyberspace Theory
Birdfeeding
Science
Today's Adventures
Urbana Free Library Seed Exchange
Wildlife
Creative Jam
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Pictures
Communities
Safety
Today's Adventures
Gardening
Birdfeeding
Crafts
Follow Friday 3-13-26: Love
Friday Five
Crafts
Birdfeeding
Ethnic Studies
Community Thursdays
Poem: "To Understand Water"
Cyberspace Theory
Science
Today's Adventures
Safety
Birdfeeding
Science
Prairie Moon Order
Select Seeds Order
Hard Things

Linguistics has 44 comments. Philosophical Questions: Pregnancy has 60 comments. Safety has 54 comments. Wildlife has 48 comments. Food has 67 comments.

There will be a Bonus Fishbowl on Tuesday, March 17 with a theme of "anything goes." Think back over your favorite ideas that haven't fit a prompt call yet; you can suggest whatever you want in this one.

March Meta Matters Challenge banner

marchmetamatterschallenge is running this month. See my tracking post and the first check-in post.

The weather has been erratic here. We've had warm days. Yesterday was cold with howling wind, then pouring rain; today it snowed a bit and is still howling wind. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a mourning dove, and a fox squirrel. Red-winged blackbirds have been singing overhead. Currently blooming: crocuses, snowdrops, winter aconite, miniature irises, daffodils, squill.

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Admin: Loss of a member

As some of you already know, our wonderful

minoanmiss left us on March 3rd. Her loved ones asked us not to make any public announcements for reasons involving her family of origin, but we've been given permission to announce to the community now.

Those here in

agonyaunt will remember her for her contributions from Ask A Manager, and her insightful comments on family, found family, and other topics. The wider fannish community will remember her for her amazing fiction and her art, particularly her drawings of Minoan culture. Others will remember her for her amazing fruitcake and other culinary adventures.

sabotabby created this lovely portrait. I think I will try to remember her this way.

Checking in

Despite an assortment of kids and adults sick with a bad cold, I managed to make four pies for pi day: pumpkin chiffon (this has meringue mixed in with the pumpkin mixture to make it fluffier, it's the only pumpkin pie I ever make), cherry (we had frozen cherry pie filling already, so this one was easy), chocolate (it's just pudding in a graham cracker crust), and for the first time, lemon meringue. The lemon meringue turned out pretty good except that the meringue topping shrank and pulled away from the crust, so it ended up like a fluffy island on a yellow lake. Still tasted good!

We've now watched up to episode 36 of Guardian. The ancient past episodes were very fun! I'm a little worried about watching the final few episodes because I know it's not going to end well. I'm in theory still reading Record of the Missing Sect Master but tbh I'm considering dropping it. It's very slow moving and feels like at least half (this is an exaggeration) the content is other characters reacting to the couple-ness of the main couple, which. I guess is a trope that some people like (a lot of people like, judging by some of the fanfic out there) but it is not my thing at all. Also it's doing this thing where it feels like at this point, both the mains are on the same page re. a lot of the hidden information, but the author's still holding it back from the reader just ...because? I think if you want to a dramatic reveal later on some things need to be a mystery to the characters who care about it, too. Anyway. A lot of the mysteries and secret identities and such, which should be right up my alley, feel more artificial here than they have in other books. So I should probably just drop it and read something I'll enjoy, instead.

I did manage to work on some projects, too! I modeled/printed some attachments to help build a sewing frame, as well as an adjustable hole-punching template! ~~I even worked on some actual books too.~~ And I got my assignment for this year's cnovel bookbinding exchange, which. I am going to have so much fun with this.

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Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson (2020)

I liked this book when it was a fantasy noir starring a biracial knife-throwing assassin with magic hands in 1940s New York who's trying to get out of the business but keeps getting pulled back in. But that book wraps up about a third of the way through the actual book. Then it turns into a completely different book where the assassin moves upstate with her boyfriend and the story becomes about slimy small town politics and the characters' profound guilt for their actions in the city, and I became increasingly confused about what the book was trying to do and decreasingly satisfied with my reading experience.

Part of the problem is that Dev (the boyfriend) kind of rubbed me the wrong way and I didn't feel invested in the romance between him and Phyllis (the assassin), so shifting the focus more to their relationship was not going to work well for me. I actually liked both characters less and less as the book went on, and by the end I was feeling pretty fed up with both of them. A late promotion to the group of main characters is Tamara, Dev's ex, who comes to have a close bond with Phyllis as well. There is some interesting complexity to the dynamic of this trio, but I ended up frustrated with the way it was handled.

relationship endgame spoilers

It seemed to me that this was going in a poly triad direction, and then backed off of it. And I mean... it's not not poly. Phyllis, Dev, and Tamara have a one-night threesome, and Tamara also has a boyfriend who's deployed overseas, and in general it is not a book that assumes people only love one person at a time. I did appreciate that. What specifically threw me was this passage in Tamara's POV:

Sure, she and Phyllis had kissed that night with Dev and even now, in certain light, she didn't mind the notion of touching Pea [Phyllis] until she came. But the love she felt wasn't really that kind—it was a blood love, a bone love, and it ricocheted off of her other loves at unexpected angles.

Maybe I'm misreading the author's intention in pushing away the idea that Tamara's love for Phyllis is "that kind", or maybe I'm misunderstanding what "that kind" is supposed to be. But to me it read like the poly dynamic was being held at arm's length, which was not the direction I'd hoped it would go. I guess the Tamara/Phyllis relationship is ambiguous and not clearly defined as (queer)platonic or romantic, which sometimes I like, but the way it was presented here didn't land for me.

I also didn't understand what we were supposed to take away from the reveal of how the magic in the book works.

worldbuilding and plot spoilers

Only certain rare people have magic, and only people of color. It's eventually shown that the magic is a gift from their ancestors, who intended for their descendants to use it to fight white oppression. But if the ancestors are displeased with how the magic is used, the magic can turn against its holder or disappear completely. This explains why Phyllis loses control of her hands—the ancestors wanted her to assassinate the sadistic mob boss Vic (who is white), but by that point Phyllis wanted to stop killing so she didn't do it. She spends the rest of the book trying to make amends for the murders she's committed, yet her hands continue to torment her for not killing Vic, and she eventually sickens and dies. Dev, who also has magic, does kill Vic, and is tortured by guilt for the rest of the book, and he also dies. Tamara has magic too, and also becomes consumed with guilt because even though she never hurt anyone directly, she worked for Vic and looked the other way; she tries to sacrifice herself to save Phyllis but doesn't succeed.

To me it ended up reading like the characters were being punished for not living up to binding magical agreements that they never consented to or even knew about, which override their own agency and moral convictions. What are the ancestors trying to accomplish here? How does any of this help in the fight against racism? We're told that magic is getting rarer, but it's not really explained why. I know it's not because people of color in the 1940s don't need the help, and I can't imagine the author is saying it's because they're not worthy of it, but... what, then? Phyllis and Dev's daughter is supposed to have extraordinary powers, but I don't think that's explained either and I didn't have a clear sense of what she's expected to do. The whole cosmology of the book didn't make sense to me.

It sucks because I find Johnson's prose excellent, and the first third worked so well for me. I really didn't want to have to say I don't like this book! But alas, here we are.

Current Mood: tired

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🌈BL Manga Check-in: "You & Harujion" (reread)

"You & Harujion"

Kinoshita Keiko, 2004

MangaUpdates

MyAnimeList

Chill Chill

Summary: Akaishi Haru 's father has just died, leaving him an orphan at age 17. It seems his father was in a lot of debt and took out some shady loans, and just when the Yakuza-esque creditors come to collect, a mysterious lawyer named Senoo Yuuji appears and says he'll deal with the matter personally. As it turns out, Mr. Senoo was someone Haru befriended many years ago as his mother ailed in the hospital, but Haru has forgotten about him.

When the bank takes back the mortgage on his house, Haru takes Mr. Senoo up on his offer to live at his apartment. While Mr. Senoo claims that he's only trying to offer financial support to Haru as a minor, perhaps there is a stronger bond between the two than either realize at first.

My comments: The art and the expressions make this story very soft which really fits the story. It's about two people who've lost something and are alone but connected at two different right times and found a way forward together. I see no need to change my rating and I'll definitely reread it.

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Art:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Rereadable: 🇾

BookCrossing 2010 note: I love this story! I re-read it every once in a while. I think the first few times I wanted there to be more, but in the last reread I came to feel that it's just fine the way it is. I would love to have more of this author's work in my real life collection. 10/10 stars

Content warnings: Adult x minor (30-somethingx17), they share one kiss but Senoo says they'll wait until Haru is 18 to do anything else

My rating: 10/10