Strugglebus

Feb. 9th, 2026 11:25 pm
[personal profile] cosmolinguist

My alarm went off two hours earlier than usual today. I'd had the kind of bad sleep you do when you know you'll need to get up early: it took me longer to fall asleep in the first place and I woke up repeatedly, convinced at one point that I'd definitely slept too late until I looked at the clock and saw it was 4:30am.

I was starting work early so I could be interviewed for BBC Radio Leeds. It went really well, thanks I think to a journalist I'd spoken to a couple weeks ago. I had a really nice conversation. And then a quiet morning with a big cup of coffee while I gently got myself up to dealing with meetings and emails.

My mood and mental state have been low all weekend, and I'm really struggling with sleep again. And eating.

Oddly, in a total inverse of the past...oh, year or more, it seemed like I was feeling least bad during work hours. Walking Teddy now kinda marks the end of my work day, and it's a really nice little ritual that sometimes gives me time to file away the work day and think about what's ahead. But today, I didn't feel the usual relief at finishing work, but more... overwhelmed maybe. Everything feels like so much at the moment: watching the effects I'm seeing around me from ICE, Gaza, the Epstein files, UK politics thanks to the by-election we're living amidst, politics in sports from the Olympics to Bad Bunny...

All my podcasts are being boring and/or not updating, they're all conspiring to make me actually read my book-club book even though i don't wanna -- it's The Day the World Came to Town, about the multiple airliners' worth of passengers that descended on a small Newfoundland town on 9/11 when the U.S. closed its air space. I'm still at the beginning and just stressed out hearing about people in Europe getting on these transatlantic flights, the normal day the air traffic controller thought he was going to have... The book is leaving me both agitated and bored at the same time somehow.

I screwed up a plan to get nice takeout as a treat tonight, I couldn't help do this week's Tesco order as had been the plan for this evening, and I could only sit through half of Sinners, my favorite movie from all of last year, before I had to go lie in the dark. But that was hours ago; I can't sleep.

kerk_hiraeth: Me and Unidoggy Edinburgh Pride 2015 (Default)
[personal profile] kerk_hiraeth posting in [community profile] halfamoon
 
    TITLE: When the clouds are in your shoes kerk-hiraeth.dreamwidth.org/22595.html

   PROMPT: Day Five – The Outlaw

   FANDOM: Firefly (post-movieverse)

   AUTHOR: [personal profile] kerk_hiraeth 

   RATING: PG-13

   LENGTH: 425

   CHARACTERS: Zoë Alleyne; River Tam; Jayne Cobb; OC (Saisyu Washburne)

   SUMMARY: Concluded that nothing I could say would summarise better than this allpoetry.com/Here-Is-A-Wound-That-Never-Will-Heal,-I-Know by Edna St. Vincent Millay

A/N: This was inspired by halfamoon's own Big Damn Admin [personal profile] cmk418's Day 5 Firefly fic halfamoon.dreamwidth.org/567034.html ; mind was too busy writing stories in my head, including this one.

 

 

Goddess be with you,

天下無不散之筵席 { There is no such thing as a feast that never ends } 

kerk

 

 


How to Like Ballet, Part 4

NSFW Feb. 9th, 2026 10:15 am
chestnut_pod: A close-up photograph of my auburn hair in a French braid (Default)
[personal profile] chestnut_pod
( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

DAY 8 - FIC - AGGRETSUKO - RETSUKO

Feb. 9th, 2026 01:18 pm
lovelytomeetyou: (Default)
[personal profile] lovelytomeetyou posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Day 8 - Pet Peeves

Title: My closest confidant, Karaoke
Fandom: Aggressive Retsuko | Aggretsuko
Characters: Retsuko/Haida + friends and family
Rating: Gen
Summary: Who’s your best friend, the one who knows everything about you, holds all your secrets? Who do you vent to?
Retsuko wishes she could name someone that isn't a singing machine.

Story in ao3 
linky: Rinne holding up her ring. (Gotchard: Rinne - Ring Up)
[personal profile] linky posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Title: Focus
Fandom: Kamen Rider Gotchard
Pairing/Characters: Rinne
Rating: G
Word count: 100
Author's note: For The Scholar prompt. Also for [community profile] 100_women's prompt of Focus.
Summary: Rinne studies.
Also on Ao3 or read below the cut:

Read more... )
lightbird: http://coelasquid.deviantart.com/ (Default)
[personal profile] lightbird posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Title/Link: Time Heals
Fandom: Quantum Leap
Character(s): Donna Elesee, Original Female Character
Rating: G
Prompt: The Scholar
Summary: The loneliness and unhappiness she'd felt from his sudden, never-explained leaving had finally dissipated. She only pitied him; he'd missed out on watching his bright daughter grow up to be a brilliant young woman.
sisterdivinium: jillian salvius from warrior nun (jillian)
[personal profile] sisterdivinium posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Title: Dedication
Fandom: Warrior Nun
Characters: Yasmine Amunet, with Mother Superion and Camila in the background
Rating: G
Notes: Done with felt tip pens, Chinese ink and graphite.
Summary: Yasmine has done perhaps a little too much studying.

Over here, at my journal!

Day 9 Theme - The Scholar

Feb. 9th, 2026 06:27 am
cmk418: (willow-tara)
[personal profile] cmk418 posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Today's theme is The Scholar.

Here are some ideas to get you started: Also know as The Sage, she has studied and seems to have a wealth of knowledge at her disposal. She enjoys teaching others and gives good advice. What is she an expert in? How was her time at school? How do those around her react to her sharing her knowledge?

Just go wherever the Muse takes you. If this prompt doesn't speak to you, feel free to share something that does. You can post in a separate entry or as a comment to this post.

Want to get a jump start on tomorrow's theme? Check out the prompt list in the pinned post at the top of the page. Please don't post until that day.

The Jewish War: Preface

Feb. 8th, 2026 07:08 pm
cahn: (Default)
[personal profile] cahn
This week: All right! As a preface to Josephus Book Club, I am just reading the preface this week and we will do a bigger chunk starting this next week (see below). The preface is just a few pages long (I'm reading up until what in Oxford is paragraph 30, "All of these contents are set forth in seven books... I shall now begin my narrative as indicated at the start of my summary.")

I'm sure you all will have deeper things to say than I do about this, but wow I am just amused by how Josephus just starts out pulling no punches about how annoying and inferior he thinks the other historians are. (The footnote to The historians of this war fall into two categories... hearsay... or distort the facts namechecks Justus, who featured prominently as a frenemy in Feuchtwanger's Josephus trilogy.) I do like his logic in saying, hey, if you want to make the Romans look good, why make the Jewish side look feeble? Also his logic in saying, hey, actually, it makes more sense to be writing contemporary accounts for which one has eyewitnesses, as opposed to writing about ancient history "as if the ancient historians had failed to give their own accounts sufficient finesse," lol. (Although I guess that is what academic historians do!)

Titus Caesar is also namechecked, lookin' good.

The footnotes also say that historiographical writers generally claimed impartiality, so Josephus talking about his personal feelings of sorrow here is atypical, which I thought was interesting.

In fact, looking over the whole sweep of history, I would say that the sufferings of the Jews have been greater than those of any other nation -- and no foreign power is to blame. Oooooof. I guess that's a good tagline to pique interest in the book, though...

(I'm really glad I read Feuchtwanger's Josephus books first to orient myself, though!)

Next week: We'll start Book 1! [personal profile] selenak advised that we read up to Herod the Great's killing his favorite wife. My Oxford edition has "verse"/paragraph numbers but not chapter numbers as selenak's has, but I think (selenak, please let me know if this is incorrect) in my edition the idea is to read up to paragraph 443/444: Maddened by unbridled jealousy, Herod ordered the immediate execution of them both. Remorse quickly followed rage: his anger subsided, and his love was rekindled. The heat of his desire for her was so intense that he could not believe she was dead...

WELL ALL RIGHT THEN. I can see we have lots of sensationalistic gossip ahead of us!

An Academic Affair (McAlister)

Feb. 8th, 2026 07:05 pm
cahn: (Default)
[personal profile] cahn
[personal profile] thistleingrey mentioned that it was a solid depiction of academia and characters in academia, which immediately piqued my interest. I have read Ali Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis and enjoyed it, and I know Hazelwood is in academia, but I sometimes thought... well, let's just say that it's a romance between a grad student and the young hotshot professor in her department, and... okay... that part... is totally realistic actually... but I feel like I kind of got stuck a lot in all my feelings about the potential deep pitfalls. Hypothesis was also, I think, much more concerned with primarily being a romance novel and secondarily a novel about academia.

Anyway, this is unabashedly a romance novel, complete with marriage-of-convenience and sometimes even the one-bed trope, but without any particular kinks like professor/student :P But the thing that makes it interesting (to me) is that it's at least as interested in both the experiences of the precariat (*) and also familial relationships as it is in the romance itself. In fact, it does not have a conventional romantic Act 3; here the Act 3, as well as the understandable but frustrating misunderstandings that prolong it, is passed squarely on to the familial relationships rather than the romantic ones. Which I personally really like!

The two main characters, Jonah and Sadie, are adorably academics. (**) I laughed out loud when Jonah said, "I'm all for radically revised gender roles in the heteronormative institution of marriage, but I should still pay for my wife's engagement ring," if only because I've never heard anyone else talk that way in a romance novel -- though if you have, please rec it to me. (Their engagement is the aforementioned engagement-of-convenience and the ring is $27.99, I hasten to append, and she pays for his ring.) (lol, I think I actually paid for my engagement ring, because it was an important transaction involving me and an important piece of jewelry -- what?)

Anyway, I rarely like romance novels, but I liked this one!

(*) I did not know the term precariat: the precarious proletariat, that insecure class of unstable work and low wages -- but I was familiar at least by reputation with the academic pre-tenure-track life that the term describes, in the sense that it is one of the many reasons why I did not pursue academia

(**) Jonah likes using footnotes; I guess your mileage may vary but I found it adorable, perhaps inevitably
cornerofmadness: (Chaggie1)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Title: The Ache for Home

fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Characters/Pairings Charlie Morningstar/Vaggi, Angel Dust

Summary: When neither Husk nor Cherri could make any headway with Angel in terms of bringing him home, Charlie decides to take her chances and try to show him how much he’s missed.

Rating: teen

warnings : angst, mental health issues, drug/alcohol abuse, mentions of sex work

Find the story here on AO3.

Rec - Day 7 -

Feb. 8th, 2026 04:03 pm
ineffablecabbage: red shoes (Default)
[personal profile] ineffablecabbage posting in [community profile] halfamoon
 Title + link: Althea (Consumed by love)
Author: Fanbase_Universes
Prompt: Day 7 - The Lover 
Fandom: Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
Characters/Pairing:  Diana Barry/Anne Shirley
Length:  772 words
Rating:  General Audiences
Warnings: None Apply
Summary:  Anne Shirley, Diana thought, was the oddest girl she had ever met.
 
 
Reccer's notes: Anne Shirley's passion and longing for love and connection made her a prime candidate when I was looking for inspiration for the "The Lover" prompt. Here she is paired with Diana, complete with references to reciting Sappho. It's a short fic that packs in the same longing and sweet resolution that makes for the best of the L.M. Montgomery stories, except this time with a femslash twist. 

14 icons

Feb. 8th, 2026 07:45 pm
violateraindrop: (KPop Demon Hunters: blue)
[personal profile] violateraindrop posting in [community profile] icons
[3] The Diplomat
[6] Heated Rivalry
[5] KPop Demon Hunters



Here at [community profile] iwillnotdance

FIC: Day 6 - 9-1-1 - Maddie Buckley

Feb. 8th, 2026 12:59 pm
ineffablecabbage: red shoes (red shoes)
[personal profile] ineffablecabbage posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Title: Scorpions Sting When Fighting Back
Fandom: 9-1-1
Pairing/Characters: Maddie Buckley (and all the people she loves/loved.)
Rating: M
Word count: 5905
Warnings: Non-Linear Narrative, Canon child neglect, Unreliable Narrator, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence
Author's note: Written for day 6 of halfamoon: "Her own personal code." One of the things I think 9-1-1 does really well is show that grief is complex, and rarely a clean cut. Sometimes you love people even after they hurt you. That being said, I always kind of wanted Maddie to be okay with killing Doug (while understanding why she wasn't) and in fact, kind of wanted her to start a "killing evil abusers" arc by the time Vincent came along. That is not the show that 9-1-1 is, but it is the a/u that I wrote here.
 
Summary: The first time Maddie Buckley kills someone, it's in self-defense. Her other kills protect her friends and her family. She'll never regret that.
 
 
linky: Rinne hugging Nayuta. (Gotchard Girls Remix: Rinne/Nayuta - Hug)
[personal profile] linky posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Title: Careful Motions
Fandom: Kamen Rider Gotchard + Kamen Rider Girls Remix
Pairing/Characters: Rinne/Nayuta
Rating: G
Word count: 150
Author's note: Prompts used were Motion from [community profile] 100_women, and hair braiding & 100 words for Fresh Femslash Salad Bar.
Summary: Rinne braids Nayuta's hair.
Also on Ao3, or read below the cut:

Read more... )
lightbird: http://coelasquid.deviantart.com/ (Default)
[personal profile] lightbird posting in [community profile] halfamoon
Title/Link: Baby Sis
Fandom: Hey Arnold!
Character(s): Helga Pataki, Olga Pataki
Rating: G
Prompt: Pet Peeves
Summary: Nothing annoyed Helga more than Olga calling her Baby Sis.
melagan: John and Rodney blue background (Default)
[personal profile] melagan posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairings/Characters: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Mature
Length: wc 5541
Content Notes No AO3 warning apply
Creator Links: AO3 profile
Theme: Inept in Love

Summary: "We had a fight and he dumped me." Foofy humor.

Reccer's Notes This is a funny and delightful gem that just goes to show you that even when in an established relationship, John and Rodney (esp John) are horribly inept in love.

Link Proof
dolorosa_12: (beach path)
[personal profile] dolorosa_12
I spoke with sister #1 on Friday morning, and for various reasons the conversation left me with lingering miserable feelings for most of the weekend, and a real lack of motivation to do much. Nevertheless, I persisted and tried to do happy things in spite of myself.

Yesterday, Matthias and I caught the train and then the bus out to St Ives for another beer festival held in a church. The weather outside was miserable, but the atmosphere indoors was bubbly and cheerful. People brought their small children, and dogs of various sizes, and sat around chatting in the pews. We bumped unexpectedly into R and K, two former students from our niche subject department in Cambridge (the pair started their undergrad degrees the same year I started my MPhil, and I attended all the undergrad medieval Welsh classes at the same time as R) and their toddler son. They live in Windsor now, and I don't think I'd seen them since before the pandemic, so it was somewhat surprising to see them at a random beer festival in St Ives! The world is at once big, and small.

Matthias and I finished up our St Ives excursion with a drink in a tiny cocktail bar (the whole space only has about twelve seats in it), then a very hasty dinner in a restaurant in order to catch our bus back and make it home at a reasonable time. I do enjoy these days out to nearby towns and villages, and should remember to do things like this more often.

Today — because I was trying to be kind to myself and my bad mood — I cancelled my 8am swim and had what passes for me as a lie-in (i.e. I still woke up without an alarm at 7am but lay around in bed until 8am instead of immediately getting up), before going on a walk with Matthias. Without a car, there aren't many options in terms of walking (there are about four routes we can take), so it was the same loop walk we did on New Year's Day, which goes along the river, then through leafy suburban streets, before ending up in the market square, taking just over an hour. We drank hot drinks from the coffee rig, and sat in the crisp wintry sunshine, watching the world go by.

Other than that, it's been a day for pottering about at home with the Winter Olympics on in the background. I haven't really been able to focus on reading (although I did finish a reread of Vanessa Fogg's beautiful little fairytale of a novella, 'The Lilies of Dawn,' while eating lunch, and I enjoyed Rebecca Ferrier's The Salt Bind — nineteenth-century smugglers, miners and Cornish folklore, with the sea an ambivalent and constant presence — earlier in the week), and in general I just feel a bit scattered and unfocused. But I've got hibiscus tea, later I'll light the wood-burning stove, and yesterday was the first evening of the year in which the sun set at 5pm, and that's enough light and softness on which to build.
sisterdivinium: the garvey girls as seen from jp's coffin (bad sisters)
[personal profile] sisterdivinium posting in [community profile] halfamoon
I don't recall anyone pointing out other people's gifs before (is that a thing?) but whether or not that's been done has no bearing on the fact that it is precisely what I propose to share today.

This lovely gifset by [tumblr.com profile] michaun and [tumblr.com profile] appleciders's other nice little collection of gifs here both illustrate how the Garvey sisters end up using one another's clothes quite often. That's a bit of a family tradition, it seems, that must have started as a pet peeve (see Bibi's line there, "That's my scarf, Becka", which the gifs don't show as followed by a hard "I want that scarf back, Becka!" and the justification that "she always keeps my shit" when Eva and Ursula look at her following the outburst). Regardless, it lends another lovely dash of colour to the sisters and yet one more fun thing to look out for as the episodes go by.

August 2025

M T W T F S S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
1819202122 2324
25262728293031

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Feb. 9th, 2026 11:58 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios