pearwaldorf | Reading

Usually, I shower at night, but last night, I stayed up too late reading and didn't feel like delaying bedtime so I put the shower off until this morning. While I was in there, I noticed a spider, but it was on the far wall, and I was naked and without my glasses, so I let it live and it disappeared somewhere (the whole room is tiled, floor to ceiling, so I don't know where? but also. I don't want to know where).

This evening, I had to wash my hair, so there I was back in the shower, and I turned off the water and stepped back while I was lathering the shampoo, and there was the spider, dropping down from god knows where right in the middle of my shower!

So I had to get out - with my hair still full of shampoo - grab my glasses and a paper towel, so I could kill it, because come the fuck on, spider, that is not okay! The shower is sacrosanct!

It's a good thing I still have to stay up for an hour to detangle because I would not have been able to go to sleep right away after that, omg.

*

Current Mood: shocked
Current Music: if it's a mess you're in, i'm in

hannah

Along with strawberries and rhubarb, sticky nights have arrived. Not each night, not yet, and I'm savoring that - another couple of weeks and it'll hit, but for now, there's still a few where it's simply gentle.

Continuing with my Steven Spielberg kick, I've now seen all his kids-focused CGI stuff and say with some confidence it's only going to get better from here. The Tintin movie felt uncannily like I was watching a movie-length video game, down to the inventory puzzles and room searches. After this, it's people. Well, people and a horse.

Current Mood: listless
Current Music: Pressure's On - James

musesfool

Yesterday, I made these ricotta cheesecake bars, for which I had to shell 62g of pistachios (oh, the humanity!), and they are okay, but either there is not enough butter or I had too much graham cracker crumb because the crust does not cohere. (I used pre-smashed crumbs because that is what I had and probably used too much. Recipes really should give you some sort of measurement beyond "7 or 8 graham crackers, crushed" for these things.)

I also made KAB pretzel rolls (half the recipe) and as always, they are delicious, even if the whole boiling step is annoying. I definitely recommend them, and if like me, you never remember that they have a small amount of butter (2 tbsp) that needs to be softened ahead of time, you can always just substitute the same amount of olive oil, also like me. *wry*

With the LIRR on strike, I'm not going into the office this week (I had already decided that anyway), so I didn't have to do any other baking, and I just bought some spring mix and grilled chicken strips so that'll be lunch for the week.

*

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: the way you changed my life, no no, they can't take that away from me

hannah

I know it's odd of me to not do the baby-talk voice to my niece A. when she's around, and I'm sticking with my usual register and cadence just the same.

Her mother didn't show, but she did call once when I was around to hear it - checking in to find out if my brother J. had fed A., and then hanging up. He'd apparently send her a text earlier, but she'd called, and after getting what she wanted, quickly hung up. I don't know her week's schedules, and I don't know what her day looked like. I can only state the events as I witnessed them.

Current Mood: indifferent
Current Music: nothing now

cimorene

My first curséd sweater was ( Read more... ) Later, purple yarn I bought for myself became the second curséd sweater ( Read more... ) The third curséd sweater is the third of the triplet sweaters we promised to make last summer, originally saying we would try to finish them all by last winter, lol. The other two are done.

1. Wax started this traditional Aran cabled sweater last fall and knitted about 30% of it, but she had modified the pattern to make it smaller, and then decided it was too small (because all the cables contracted it so much).

2. I unraveled it and started over, following the pattern exactly (after Wax had to redo the first few rounds of ribbing for me, because the first time I knitted a couple of inches before realizing I had gotten the stitches twisted and was knitting a Möbius strip). I hated the design. Way too many different cable crosses slowed it down a ton.

3. Then I realized, after working for weeks, and especially right after like ten hours of knitting in two days, that I was using the yarn too fast and we didn't have enough left to finish. This shouldn't be possible, because we ordered the yarn using this pattern as a guide. But it was! And because it was over six months ago, we almost certainly could not get more yarn in the same dye lot.

4. Started over again with a new, much simpler cable pattern, and again got the stitches twisted. It's not like I wasn't checking! Both times I was worried about it and checked twice, then incorrectly concluded they were not twisted¹! At least this time I realized that I was knitting a Möbius strip after only about a centimeter.

Footnote
1. this part is just adhd, not the curse

hannah

Last summer, it was two showings each of Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick at the MOMI; this year, it was in IMAX on one of the biggest screens in the country. Last summer I took the subway under a river; this year, I rode a bike about thirty blocks. Last summer it was Top Gun on 70mm and Maverick in Dolby in the same theater; this year it was the same theater again, with Top Gun on an elegant film-to-digital transfer and Top Gun Maverick where I finally saw it with the full aspect ratio shift.

Both years I took the same local friend with me to at least one of the showings, and had even more of a blast because of her company.

Both years I recognized a few familiar faces up at the front of the line, and they recognized me too, all of us pleased that sometimes it isn't that big a city or that wide a world.

Both years I started and ended with Maverick, which was necessitated last year by the MOMI's programming and allowed this year by my deliberately choosing that order.

What's quite nice about the theater is that it's such a huge screen, there's exits up at the very top of the theater, the rows all the way in the back. What this means in practical terms is that not only does it increase safety and help reduce a bottleneck at the bottom of the stairs, there's extra bathrooms up there, plus a space where I can easily avoid the more annoying previews. Having to get back to my seat in the pre-screening "turn off your phone" bumper is a small price to pay for that. Trust me, after four screenings I can tell you which ones were worth my time.

I'm thinking I could probably squeeze in a couple more showings of one or both of them, and I'm also thinking that in terms of real-world practicalities - scheduling, costs, errands, chores - as well as in terms of keeping the mirroring motif consistent, I should say that doing it twice each is enough, and to be content with having been able to get as many showings in as I've already managed. It's a local theater, and it's also a time commitment. So, I'll take what I've got as best I can.

Rather amusingly, the original Top Gun score got classified by my music player as "new age." Though perhaps, given things like box office records, theatrical runs, National Film Registry selections, knock-off effects like sunglasses sales and military recruitment, it isn't wrong. A new age, indeed.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Top Gun Anthem - Harold Faltermeyer

hannah

My older brother J. announced his plans to come to Manhattan this Saturday with his child A., and no mention of his wife E. I can't say I'm at all surprised at that.

I'm looking forward to it a reasonable amount. I'd like to get to know A., though as she's quite a ways from talking, it'll be a while before much of anything can happen there.

What I found odd on the phone call where he told me was the number of times J. used 'um.' Easily two or three times a sentence, and I'm not exaggerating. I'm someone who pays attention to what I say - I realized today I'd used "just" as an intensity modifier when I hadn't needed to qualify my statement at all, and I'm going to try to pay attention to that going forward, and I know what people say, and I still struggle to internalize that because of how much effort I put forth. And I'm not even very good at this.

Current Mood: cynical
Current Music: nothing now

musesfool

While this isn't thematic or plot-related or anything, I did remember one thing I wanted to comment on from PoH because it's probably the most relatable* Carl has ever been to me: ( minor spoiler )

*There's a post on tumblr that I think I've reblogged a couple of times, that notes that characters don't need to be relatable for me to enjoy them, but they do need to be resonant. This was a case where something was both. *g*

In more real world news, last I checked (earlier today), the MTA and the various railroad unions are still far apart on finalizing a new contract, so it's entirely possible there will be a strike starting on Saturday and the LIRR will stop running. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if there were an eleventh hour agreement to prevent that, but I also wouldn't be surprised if there weren't. In the face of this uncertainty, my boss made going into the office on Tuesday optional (and non-tenable if there is a strike, since she lives out on the island), so I have opted to not go in regardless. So all my cupcake baking will have to wait until next time. (I think our June in-office day is also currently non-tenable because it's a day when there will be an afternoon World Cup match and nobody wants to be in Manhattan during that, but especially around Penn Station or the Port Authority, as required by many commutes, but we'll see what happens when we get there.)

In other work news, they are scheduling our annual summer staff picnic someplace up in Dutchess County(?!) and everyone on my team is like, WTF? DNW! about it (it appears I will already be on PTO for it, so at least I'm well out of it). I also had some charter bus horror stories to share, from my own personal experience, so I hope the folks managing that have great intestinal fortitude, because managing transportation for large groups for an outing is the worst, and they're planning to do it from multiple locations. They're also requiring people show up for the busses at like 8:30 am and they won't leave from upstate to come home until 4 pm (the team planning this had to be talked down from making it 5 pm), and it's at least a 90 minute drive (longer to/from Brooklyn or Queens) and then you still have to commute home from the pickup/drop-off location. I think this is an even worse proposition than the Governor's Island location, which required a railroad > subway > ferry trip from me so I noped out of it repeatedly. The one time I went, many years ago now, was when it was from 1 - 4 pm at Riverside Park, which is super accessible by subway and also not a full day affair. It's also why I dislike corporate events on boats (which I have also had experience with) - you're just stuck for the length of the affair with no escape.

Anyway, now that I've fully exposed my asocial personality, I will hit post. *g*

*

Current Mood: surprised
Current Music: The Mets are...winning???

lilly_the_kid posting in

vidding

Fandom: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Music: I got a Name by Jim Croce
Characters/Pairing: Thunderbolt/Lightfoot
Summary: If you're going my way, I'll go with you.
Warnings: injury, sadness

here on AO3

hannah

I managed to successfully "I have food at home" myself tonight, and I don't expect a medal or a commendation. Mostly, I wanted to mark it down so I'd have it on personal record. The better to remind myself to stay in the habit going forward. Same with doing the dishes before I head out.

Somehow, this doesn't stick for going to bed early. It's going to take a more substantial effort than knowing there's tasty leftover chicken in the fridge.

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: nothing now

musesfool

I finished Parade of Horribles earlier but I totally need to read it again because there's some stuff I don't think I actually understood. ( spoilers )

There were also definitely things I meant to highlight so I could talk about them but then I didn't and now my brain is just !!!! about everything, so I need to reread at a slightly slower pace.

We interrupt this post because I need to complain about some umpiring in this Mets-Tigers game - Baty didn't even touch his helmet and the umpire says he challenged the call (and lost, so the Mets are out of challenges) and they showed the replay and his hand stops at eye-level - he never touches his helmet! Ugh. That is some bullshit.

Anyway! Overall ( spoilers )

Oh, now this umpire just fucked the Tigers on a pitch clock violation, so I guess it evens out? Idk idk.

One last DCC thing: ( I guess this is obliquely a spoiler )

Again, anyway, I will reread and then have more to say, I'm sure. Right now, my brain is soup. However, one thing I will always remember is ( spoiler )

*

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Mets losing to the Tigers

hannah

Someone canvassing for an upcoming local election talked to me today, and not wanting to walk off in the middle of a sentence, I stopped to talk to them for a bit. She didn't know if her candidate had a stance one way or another on compost or the proposed pied-à-terre tax, and encouraged me to check out a Youtube video. I pointed out if I couldn't look up her candidate, find the website, and find the link to the video on the website, she'd need to have a talk with the campaign manager.

I also said I wasn't going to watch the video, I was going to read the transcript since I can read faster than they can talk. I also said I wasn't going to go to any local debates, just look up the candidates' positions and track records and vote from there. She asked why I wasn't concerned with interviews or debates, and wanted to know why I didn't want to hear about their passion.

I told her passion was what cost Carter a second term.

From the look on her face, she wasn't at all prepared for me. Not for someone who didn't want passion informing their vote and not for someone to cite Carter. Especially when she said she hadn't known anyone who voiced wanting to vote Reagan in 1980.

I agreed the hostage situation was a factor, and suggested that if he'd been harsher in the debates - "Hey, Reagan, did YOU piss radiation for six months?" - it would've helped, but passion was no small part of it. So I didn't want to expose myself to any of it and would rather judge the candidates by their actions and political alignment.

I don't know what she hoped to find, and I don't think I was it. Nevertheless, I got some entertainment out of it, so I can't say I'm all that upset about having been waylaid this afternoon.

Current Mood: naughty
Current Music: Suburban War - Arcade Fire

musesfool

Things, and also, stuff:

- NEW DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL TODAY!!! 🙌 🙌 🙌

- I did cancel the expensive hardcover in favor of the kindle edition and stupidly didn't think to check when the ebook actually becomes available. At midnight last night, I was refreshing my order page but the book was not yet available. A quick search revealed that Amazon releases things at midnight Pacific time, which I guess makes sense considering the location of their headquarters, and it saved me from staying up past my bedtime reading, but I was a little disappointed.

- Needless to say, not a whole lot of work got done today because I was READING. Luckily, I only had one meeting and that meeting doesn't require written notes, so...I answered emails and teams chats, but was otherwise glued to the book. ( minor spoiler from early on ) I'm sure I will have much more to say once I'm done reading. *g*

- Speaking of DCC, I learned the other day that the Avs' goalie, Wedgewood, is a fan (apparently he is a BookTok-er? or something?) and also last month, the Avs did a DCC-themed pet adoption night at which their mascot dressed up as Carl and all the potential adoptees were named after characters in the books. I can only imagine what the majority of people in that arena, who probably haven't read the books, thought was happening.

- Speaking of hockey, I am now kind of torn between rooting for the Habs and the Sabres, mostly because of Martin St Louis and being reminded about Mother's Day 2014 and also that if the Habs won it all there would be no White House invite to be grossed out by. I still think it's going to be Canes vs Avs in the end, and I guess I'd be rooting for the Canes, but that is a very unappealing final, imo.

- Once hockey is done, I will be able to catch up on SO MUCH TV: new seasons of Deadloch, For All Mankind, and Paradise, plus that surprise episode of The Bear that dropped last week and that new season (coming June 25th!), plus I still haven't watched s2 of Andor or Poker Face, and there's a new season of My Life Is Murder, as well! And I need to catch up on Abbott Elementary, too, and finish my Orphan Black rewatch. It is a lot!

*

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: At the Beach, In Every Life - Gigi Perez

callmesandyk

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cimorene

I want to see Project Hail Mary, but not enough to go to the theater for it.

Fine, it'll reach streaming soon enough.

The problem is that it has become one of those fandom epicenters of twee. I am seeing an explosion of nauseating sentimentality and noxious preciousness about it on Tumblr, just an absolute flood of posts from people too excited to remember to tag, and a large quantity of spoilers and eye-watering takes still get through before I manage to scroll past them. These are blogs I don't want to unfollow for other reasons, obviously. I might reach critical saturation before the movie reaches streaming at this rate.

When was the last time this happened? I cannot put my finger on an example fandom that predictably yet undeservedly became this kind of tweeness vortex, yet I am bothered by the feeling that I've seen this happen before.

hannah

It's fairly amusing to get scam calls to hang up on me - I'll ask for a website or an email, and they cut their losses then and there.

"Do you have a website?"

"No."

"Why?"

It was one of the brighter points of the day. There was a decided lack of stimulation, and it's making the evening drag on somewhat. I'm hoping a light weights routine will help some, once I decide what movie to do it to.

Current Mood: uncomfortable
Current Music: Apartment Story - The National

musesfool

Yesterday, I made both these and these lemon cupcakes. I did both with a whisk and I liked that they didn't require the stand mixer.

The first ones were quite different than a typical lemon cupcake recipe - they had ricotta and honey in them, and I used this fancy lemon honey I had and I think that was a mistake. The cupcakes domed brilliantly, but had a weird aftertaste I did not like and the only thing I can think that could cause it was that honey. I otherwise used sour cream instead of creme fraiche, and olive oil for vegetable oil, but neither of those things should have caused the weird aftertaste. So maybe I'll eventually work my way back to that recipe (chosen because I have ricotta in my fridge that needs using up) and use clover honey and see how they are.

I think the second recipe is going to be my go-to for lemon for now. The batter is a super weird texture - it looked like curdled custard, or maybe bad cafeteria scrambled eggs - but the cupcakes are moist and lemony, though I guess the real test will be how they taste tomorrow, since if I'm taking them to work, I'll bake them on Sunday and bring them to the office on Tuesday, so they have to be good for that long. I made this strawberry cream cheese frosting this afternoon, but it wasn't stiff enough to pipe (not a euphemism) since I only used 2 cups of powdered sugar (and still think it is pretty sweet), so I just dipped the cupcakes into it. (I also did not make strawberry puree, I used 3 tbsps of seedless strawberry jam instead.) The tang of the cream cheese goes well with lemon and also helps cut through the sweetness of the frosting, so it worked pretty well, I thought. Next week, though, I plan to make strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream, which is much less sweet. We'll see how it goes.

I also tried to make homemade bbq sauce but I did not like how it tasted at all, so I didn't use it. Next time maybe I will try something that has no tomato base at all. Regardless, I cooked both racks of ribs and they were delicious and I will be eating ribs all week. I also made my own cole slaw dressing again, and this time I liked it better because I added onion and garlic powder - it is mind-boggling to me that the recipe doesn't include that and the first time around I just let it go but come on. Season your food!

So this weekend was delicious but so fucking messy - I ended up with egg yolk, bbq sauce, frosting, lemonade, and hot pork juice (not a euphemism!!! the ribs cook for 3 hours wrapped in foil and then for the last hour you take the foil off and it is a precarious situation!) on my shirt, but not all at the same time, thankfully.

*

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: Inside the NBA

hannah

In trying to free up apartment space, I need to de-accession some materials. In de-accessioning some materials, I need to free up hard drive space. In needing to free up hard drive space, I'm taking a long, hard look at what I've collected over the last couple of decades. Some of these files date back to freshman year of college. Few of them are shows I'm at all interested in rewatching. There's a half-season of something here, the last season of something else there, the season where I downloaded everything and then wandered away from the fandom halfway through watching them, episodes I later ripped from DVDs and Blurays. It's a weird form of digital nostalgia. There's no needing these. There's liking the record of having them, and there's no needing it.

Certainly for some of the newer ones where there's no boggling over downloading it that long ago, there's an ease in getting rid of them. Admitting I'm not going to watch that, giving up on the sense of obligation, reminding myself if I really want to watch it then I'll find some way to do it and if I really wanted I'd have likely done it by now. Sure, there's stuff like Rome where I downloaded the first season in 2007 and only got around to watching it a few weeks ago, but those I'd ripped so I knew I'd have everything, plus subtitles. By now, I'm not watching those old files because the quality's so low compared to what I can get now. I can find my way to the full seasons of Psych and 30 Rock if I'm so compelled, on one format or another, on box sets or a streaming service.

The technology of streaming remains largely positive to me. It's the vertical integration of the distribution methods and fragmenting of the market that's the true downfall of the whole affair. Ages ago, I saw it suggested that a Steam-like service for shows and movies would solve a lot of problems, and as there's less money in that than the alternative, it's going to take an act of God to get it going. Until then, I'm having to say I need to take comfort and relief in knowing I don't have to commit to hauling these around anymore.

Amusingly, checking the local library for DVDs of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes gets me a David Bowie concert movie. I can't say it's wrong. Not what I'm looking for, and also not wrong.

Current Mood: sympathetic
Current Music: nothing now

thesleepingbeauty posting in

graphics

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musesfool

Since I know you all enjoy my ridiculous grocery delivery stories, this week boneless pork country ribs were on sale for $3/lb so I ordered 2 lbs for approximately $6. I figured I'd put one package in a pot of sauce on Sunday, and freeze the other for some later date.

Instead, I received SIX POUNDS of baby back ribs for TWENTY-EIGHT DOLLARS. For those of you playing the home game, that made my grocery bill today $22 more than expected. That's just nuts. Also, since I was planning to put the boneless ribs in sauce, I did not purchase any bbq sauce, so now I guess I can try to make my own. I thought about doing Chinese bbq ribs instead, because I do have all the ingredients for that, but the racks are too big to put into a container to marinate. I might be able to cut them into smaller slabs and marinate that way, but that seems like a lot of extra work I was not planning on this weekend, since mostly I planned to test out a couple of new lemon cupcake recipes.

I think I mentioned that one of my co-workers requested vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting next time I'm in, and I thought I might also do lemon cupcakes with strawberry frosting since there will be a lot more frosting than cupcakes.

Anyway. I found a bbq sauce recipe that doesn't include ketchup - I tried one that did once and did not care much for it - so maybe I will do that. I also have a bag of cole slaw, so I'll make the dressing for that as well, and see how it all goes.

In better news, the Knicks just went up 3-0 on the Sixers in round 2 of the playoffs. Bing bong!

*

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Mets vs Dbacks on tv

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July 2025

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Page Summary

musesfool - maybe take me with you, we can hide
hannah - Face of self-control.
musesfool - the way you hold your knife, the way we danced til three
hannah - Family gathering.
cimorene - A new curséd sweater appears
hannah - Cue sunset and end credits.
hannah - Thursday night.
musesfool - and the mets put the hammer down
lilly_the_kid in vidding - New Vid: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot "I got a Name"
hannah - Personal growth.
musesfool - he did not challenge
hannah - Erasing all the streets.
musesfool - and i heard about the twister that lives inside your heart
callmesandyk - whatever
cimorene - Localized tweeness event
hannah - Arms around the stereo.
musesfool - they're in trouble going forward
hannah - Digital packrat.
thesleepingbeauty in graphics - XO, Kitty (Anna Cathcart, Lana Condor, Sang Heon Lee) icons
musesfool - especially when the roof is open

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Style: Early Edition for Five AM by winterfish

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Page generated May. 18th, 2026 06:20 am

Compadres. Partners in crime. People I stalk.

Reading

maybe take me with you, we can hide

Face of self-control.

the way you hold your knife, the way we danced til three

Family gathering.

A new curséd sweater appears

Cue sunset and end credits.

Thursday night.

and the mets put the hammer down

New Vid: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot "I got a Name"

Personal growth.

he did not challenge

Erasing all the streets.

and i heard about the twister that lives inside your heart

whatever

Localized tweeness event

Arms around the stereo.

they're in trouble going forward

Digital packrat.

XO, Kitty (Anna Cathcart, Lana Condor, Sang Heon Lee) icons

especially when the roof is open

Profile

July 2025

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Style Credit

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