Mother Otter Takes Her Pup for a Romp
Mar. 18th, 2026 09:48 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
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Photo by Helen Pinchin via New Forest Wildlife Park
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He tried to run away, well, she hit him with a hammer
Mar. 17th, 2026 03:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sovayFor Saint Patrick's Day, I had a foreign body removed from my eye and was immunologically shot in the shoulder. Who needs booze?
fun with errors
Mar. 17th, 2026 11:22 amjulianThere's this Utah murder case I just found out about, with this woman who killed her husband with Fentanyl, who then wrote a children's book on grief and loss called "Are You With Me?"
I tried looking this up on Amazon, and presumably the listing's been taken down due to the, you know, murder parts, so the first result in the search currently leads to another author's book...
There Are Moms Way Worse Than You.
No, no, I don't... quite think so.
( Are You With Me? looks syrupy but perfectly fine. Meanwhile, There Are Moms Way Worse Than You looks quite fun.)
I tried looking this up on Amazon, and presumably the listing's been taken down due to the, you know, murder parts, so the first result in the search currently leads to another author's book...
There Are Moms Way Worse Than You.
No, no, I don't... quite think so.
( Are You With Me? looks syrupy but perfectly fine. Meanwhile, There Are Moms Way Worse Than You looks quite fun.)
Little about my day, more about being sad about dance and gender
Mar. 16th, 2026 11:29 pmsorcyresswriiiiite the words
I am very tired and don't wanna write the words.
Work today was pretty good but also hella unsatisfying because there was Serious Bullshit with classroom assignments and needing to last-minute move the classroom. I had like......fifteen minutes of warning in order to pack up my everything I would need for class five and move down to a computer lab. It was awfullllll and I'm not happy about it. Blah.
But focusing on the good stuff...uh....the kids seem to grok the Pythagorean Theorem? That's nice. Tomorrow we're moving into our special rights triangles and it's not totally rubbish as a lesson --we did good work last year! I had a good long talk with my mentee last week about his future (and need to send some networking emails on their behalf). Even though the kids are being forced into super dysregulating situations, they were mostly fine?
And yesterday I got a bunch of things done and also had a nice evening with a friend/comet. I didn't sleep enough, but that's Unfortunately Normal, and at least all my sleep hours were in a bed with the lights off, which is Unfortunately Abnormal right now. I'm working on it?
Went to demo team on Sunday, which was fine, and then dance tonight which was...like...it was pretty decent, both Keira and Beth pick good dances and stuff. But for one of them I was dancing on the larks side with my buddy DJ on the Robin's side. And one of the other dancers made some comment about how we had "switched sides just to confuse her". Which like. Fuck off. Fuck off fuck off fuck offfffff.
I understand that I need to be gracious and kind and help people slowly understand in a non-threatening way but also fuck offff. I know I don't pass. I know I will never pass. I know you don't see me as anything as a woman. But you're wrong and you will never know how absolutely hurtful it is to be told that there is an obvious gender box you think I should be in and therefore if I'm on the lark's side it's "wrong".
It was intermission after, so I didn't have to dissociate for that long, and I could go and sit with my knitting and talk to all the various people who came and sat by me and then Sharon asked me to dance. But it still feels bad. I appreciate that the teachers here are trying to normalize larks and robins1. But the class does not actually get it, and as long as the dancers as a whole are just treating this as "weird names for men and women" nothing is actually going to change.
There's no wrong side to dance on. There is especially no wrong side for me, a nonbinary person to dance on. There is especially no wrong side for anyone to dance on when the role terms are Lark and Robin and have nothing the fuck to do with anyone's gender.
Oh hey, I figured out why I am so tired and draggy and don't wanna write the words. :/
Anyways, I will continue to quietly dance when and where I can with people who are willing to ignore conventions based on what genitals a doctor thought you had when you were born and instead take into consideration, like, who's taller if the dance has an allemande in it. And even that is negotiable.
I'm gonna snuggle Austin and go to bed.
~Sor (they/them)
MOOP!
1: (I am _genuinely thrilled_ that Beth is restating the terms every evening, and also that she is doing a much-better-than-average job of not using gendered pronouns with ungendered role names. Unfortunately, better-than-average means "occasionally says "their partner" instead of "her partner"" but baby steps!)
I am very tired and don't wanna write the words.
Work today was pretty good but also hella unsatisfying because there was Serious Bullshit with classroom assignments and needing to last-minute move the classroom. I had like......fifteen minutes of warning in order to pack up my everything I would need for class five and move down to a computer lab. It was awfullllll and I'm not happy about it. Blah.
But focusing on the good stuff...uh....the kids seem to grok the Pythagorean Theorem? That's nice. Tomorrow we're moving into our special rights triangles and it's not totally rubbish as a lesson --we did good work last year! I had a good long talk with my mentee last week about his future (and need to send some networking emails on their behalf). Even though the kids are being forced into super dysregulating situations, they were mostly fine?
And yesterday I got a bunch of things done and also had a nice evening with a friend/comet. I didn't sleep enough, but that's Unfortunately Normal, and at least all my sleep hours were in a bed with the lights off, which is Unfortunately Abnormal right now. I'm working on it?
Went to demo team on Sunday, which was fine, and then dance tonight which was...like...it was pretty decent, both Keira and Beth pick good dances and stuff. But for one of them I was dancing on the larks side with my buddy DJ on the Robin's side. And one of the other dancers made some comment about how we had "switched sides just to confuse her". Which like. Fuck off. Fuck off fuck off fuck offfffff.
I understand that I need to be gracious and kind and help people slowly understand in a non-threatening way but also fuck offff. I know I don't pass. I know I will never pass. I know you don't see me as anything as a woman. But you're wrong and you will never know how absolutely hurtful it is to be told that there is an obvious gender box you think I should be in and therefore if I'm on the lark's side it's "wrong".
It was intermission after, so I didn't have to dissociate for that long, and I could go and sit with my knitting and talk to all the various people who came and sat by me and then Sharon asked me to dance. But it still feels bad. I appreciate that the teachers here are trying to normalize larks and robins1. But the class does not actually get it, and as long as the dancers as a whole are just treating this as "weird names for men and women" nothing is actually going to change.
There's no wrong side to dance on. There is especially no wrong side for me, a nonbinary person to dance on. There is especially no wrong side for anyone to dance on when the role terms are Lark and Robin and have nothing the fuck to do with anyone's gender.
Oh hey, I figured out why I am so tired and draggy and don't wanna write the words. :/
Anyways, I will continue to quietly dance when and where I can with people who are willing to ignore conventions based on what genitals a doctor thought you had when you were born and instead take into consideration, like, who's taller if the dance has an allemande in it. And even that is negotiable.
I'm gonna snuggle Austin and go to bed.
~Sor (they/them)
MOOP!
1: (I am _genuinely thrilled_ that Beth is restating the terms every evening, and also that she is doing a much-better-than-average job of not using gendered pronouns with ungendered role names. Unfortunately, better-than-average means "occasionally says "their partner" instead of "her partner"" but baby steps!)
portrait of the artist, 1918 ...
Mar. 15th, 2026 11:40 pmnineweaving... in a garden in Oxford.
The year was actually 1988, but finding it gave me the strangest sense of timeslip.
Nine
The year was actually 1988, but finding it gave me the strangest sense of timeslip.
Nine
(no subject)
Mar. 15th, 2026 10:26 pmsorcyressWe're bad at everything. Let's write down the things we've done today:
***
I wrote all of the above earlier. I've since finished all the laundry --it appears that the shirts no longer smell, so success-- and gone to demo team and hung out with Maia some, so all of that is quite good.
I couldn't maintain GOGOGO the entire day, but also like, I shouldn't have to? I shouldn't in general? It is important to do mindless fuckoff stuff as well as Srs Useful Stuff? Yeah.
I hope you are well. <3
~Sor
MOOP!
- Brushed hair
- Braided hair
- Ate Breakfast, also caught up on comics and even read a bit of Dreamwidth finally (I miss y'all, it's another symptom of the same Problem that is my brain right now.)
- Unloaded dishwasher, reloaded dishwasher
- Brought the load of laundry that's been in the dryer for three days upstairs finally (thanks Rey for basketing it, sorry to have left it)
- Brought a bunch of laundry downstairs, started it (load two is just in the washer now, and load one in the dryer)
- Switched my stuffies from their hamper into a steralite bin, eventually this will turn into like...one of those ottomans that opens up and you can store blankets (or stuffed animals) in but then it has a surface instead of being an amorphous blob sticking out of the top of a hamper, bonus, was able to use the hamper for my spare quilts/heavy blankets, double bonus, went through the stuffies a little and have some I can maybe give away.
- Folded most of the laundry from that old load, while putting it away, successfully went through underwear drawer and pulled out the "good enough to keep but I'm not going to wear it regularly" stuff to put in the "save for Pinewoods" box
(At Pinewoods I would like to have approximately three pairs of underwear a day. If I do something absolutely batshit crazy this year, that will change, but I want to have the option to be able to wear clean underwear always.) - Also socks, pulled out a handful of pairs I don't like so I stop wearing them by accident and being all :/ about it, also pulled out all the pairs that I know have big holes (they're currently due for the trash, but I may put some into my scraps bag instead)
- Got stuck in a serious yak shaving rabbit hole but I think I have finally managed to put the additional music I wanted onto my phone, and also I have taken off last year's photos, which is important because now my phone should run smoother? Anyways, that took forever but now I can listen to music while I do additional chores? Seems fake. I'm into it!
- I also reset the "accessories" boxen, which technically go with socks --long stockings, tights, kilt hose and accessories, suspenders and belts, scarves/pashminas. It's been a while, so that was good.
- I'm now sitting down to eat lunch. Laundry load two is on my bed upstairs to put away, load three is in the dryer, four in the washer. (I'm aiming for like...six? It wouldn't be so high, but a) I have been slipping on the "own more than one set of sheets so that you don't get trapped with an unmade bed by having all your sheets dirty at once" and so I need to catch up there *and* there's been some sort of funky smell in my t-shirts boxen for a couple months and I'm not sure what's up with that, but I think step one is probably just wash _all_ my t-shirts.
On the plus side, that latter problem doesn't seem to be anywhere in my dresser except my shirts, so that's a good sign? I guess? I mean, mostly it just means there's probably not, like, a dead mouse behind my dresser or something (a thing I would not be able to rationally deal with)).
***
I wrote all of the above earlier. I've since finished all the laundry --it appears that the shirts no longer smell, so success-- and gone to demo team and hung out with Maia some, so all of that is quite good.
I couldn't maintain GOGOGO the entire day, but also like, I shouldn't have to? I shouldn't in general? It is important to do mindless fuckoff stuff as well as Srs Useful Stuff? Yeah.
I hope you are well. <3
~Sor
MOOP!
irritatingly
Mar. 15th, 2026 09:41 pmjulianI did manage to lose my wallet after Ny's thing, at/near Moruichi in Arlington, because I am Good Like That. I likely tried to put it back in my purse and it fell out.
Found out after the place closed, when I stopped for gas, so I couldn't even call them to see if they found it. (Will tomorrow, just in case.)
On the bright side, I'm going to be near my main bank tomorrow anyway, due to visiting my parents, so I can just get a new ATM card then. And I had to get a new driver's license anyway due to address change and not getting around to it yet, so, again, not a big thing.
Just, as usual, I liked that wallet, and I annoy myself. Harumph.
Found out after the place closed, when I stopped for gas, so I couldn't even call them to see if they found it. (Will tomorrow, just in case.)
On the bright side, I'm going to be near my main bank tomorrow anyway, due to visiting my parents, so I can just get a new ATM card then. And I had to get a new driver's license anyway due to address change and not getting around to it yet, so, again, not a big thing.
Just, as usual, I liked that wallet, and I annoy myself. Harumph.
that was weird
Mar. 15th, 2026 08:14 pmjulianWent to a memorial Thing, for minoanmiss. (Speaking of, apparently her parents are getting told soon, so we're cleared to go posting in the clear.) Meant to get there early enough to help with cooking for the Watertown Free Fridge, but I didn't, or rather, I got there late because I hadn't had coffee and got some, and then discovered I had forgotten my seltzer I'd gotten as an event thing, so I waffled and came down on the "bringing something is important in a symbolic way" and stopped at Trader Joe's to get lemonade.
I did get there theoretically in time to cook (which we were doing as a memorial thing because Ny did buttloads of cooking for the Fridge), but I kept getting happily lodged in conversations and/or hugs instead, so, well, it was what it was, and it was good.
(I will donate to and/or volunteer at my local Food Pantry in her honor, methinks.)
Stickers, fans, poetry, food, pictures, recipes, music, people, laughter, sadness, occasional sudden memories popping up for people. Because of someone else's story, Eggplant Caponara will now be associated with Ny for me. And when I was outside taking a people break,katarik sang what turned out to be an Episcopal mourning hymn but which to me (before I asked) was someone with a very nice voice singing something that works very well for her voice, which was steeped in sadness yet joy and beauty. It spoke to and of the afternoon.
I took enough fans that I can use some of them as Kid Prizes at work. (And buy some more later. The stickers aren't quite my thing; Ny gave them to small people she met in the subway and doctor's offices and so on, but I think I'll leave that as a thing to smile about about Ny, not as a Thing To Adopt.)
Saw someone from High School I literally have not seen in what, 30 years? (I mean, we read each other's journals, but it's different.) Honestly, haven't seen most of these folks in at least 15 years, because school eats my brain and then my work schedule is peculiar and family stuff is what it is, but the point is: was good. Even though I felt like I was hyper and a little off balance.
(Thanks to the Cambridge Commons co-housing folks for hosting. And thanks to the snowdrops there, too. First of the season for me!)
The Virtual Memorial, I have just learned, will be on April 12 at 1 pm Eastern, via Zoom. I assume the link will be shared on the Google announce list. (If you're not on there yet, just follow the link and explain how you know Ny to the nice friendly info-boxes.)
Also, more info on Things Ny Related, including vague but pertinent info on who her organs went to, here.
minoanmiss. (Speaking of, apparently her parents are getting told soon, so we're cleared to go posting in the clear.) Meant to get there early enough to help with cooking for the Watertown Free Fridge, but I didn't, or rather, I got there late because I hadn't had coffee and got some, and then discovered I had forgotten my seltzer I'd gotten as an event thing, so I waffled and came down on the "bringing something is important in a symbolic way" and stopped at Trader Joe's to get lemonade. I did get there theoretically in time to cook (which we were doing as a memorial thing because Ny did buttloads of cooking for the Fridge), but I kept getting happily lodged in conversations and/or hugs instead, so, well, it was what it was, and it was good.
(I will donate to and/or volunteer at my local Food Pantry in her honor, methinks.)
Stickers, fans, poetry, food, pictures, recipes, music, people, laughter, sadness, occasional sudden memories popping up for people. Because of someone else's story, Eggplant Caponara will now be associated with Ny for me. And when I was outside taking a people break,
katarik sang what turned out to be an Episcopal mourning hymn but which to me (before I asked) was someone with a very nice voice singing something that works very well for her voice, which was steeped in sadness yet joy and beauty. It spoke to and of the afternoon.I took enough fans that I can use some of them as Kid Prizes at work. (And buy some more later. The stickers aren't quite my thing; Ny gave them to small people she met in the subway and doctor's offices and so on, but I think I'll leave that as a thing to smile about about Ny, not as a Thing To Adopt.)
Saw someone from High School I literally have not seen in what, 30 years? (I mean, we read each other's journals, but it's different.) Honestly, haven't seen most of these folks in at least 15 years, because school eats my brain and then my work schedule is peculiar and family stuff is what it is, but the point is: was good. Even though I felt like I was hyper and a little off balance.
(Thanks to the Cambridge Commons co-housing folks for hosting. And thanks to the snowdrops there, too. First of the season for me!)
The Virtual Memorial, I have just learned, will be on April 12 at 1 pm Eastern, via Zoom. I assume the link will be shared on the Google announce list. (If you're not on there yet, just follow the link and explain how you know Ny to the nice friendly info-boxes.)
Also, more info on Things Ny Related, including vague but pertinent info on who her organs went to, here.
There's no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard
Mar. 15th, 2026 04:27 pmsovayThe wall-to-wall crowd of the memorial from which I have just returned testifies to the love poured out and returned by the guest of honor, but I would still rather have been in the worldline where they were present to be celebrated in more than memory.
Performing some traffic maintenance today
Mar. 14th, 2026 01:04 pm![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
mark posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceHappy Saturday!
I'm going to be doing a little maintenance today. It will likely cause a tiny interruption of service (specifically for www.dreamwidth.org) on the order of 2-3 minutes while some settings propagate. If you're on a journal page, that should still work throughout!
If it doesn't work, the rollback plan is pretty quick, I'm just toggling a setting on how traffic gets to the site. I'll update this post if something goes wrong, but don't anticipate any interruption to be longer than 10 minutes even in a rollback situation.
A Rare Look at a Rare Otter
Mar. 13th, 2026 10:26 amdaily_otter_feed
Via IUCN SSC Otter Specialist Group, which writes:
A rare and special moment with one of the world’s most endangered otters 🦦
During a recent photo safari in Ancud on Isla de Chiloé, Chile, wildlife photographer Cristian Larrere captured this incredible encounter with a southern river otter, also known locally as the huillín (Lontra provocax).
This species is one of the most threatened otters on Earth. The southern river otter is classified as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with populations declining due to habitat loss, water pollution and historical hunting. Today it survives mainly in remote rivers, wetlands and coastal habitats of southern Chile and Argentina.
Encounters like this are far from guaranteed. Even in the wild landscapes of Chiloé, spotting a huillín is rare, which makes moments like this incredibly special for conservationists and wildlife photographers alike.
The huillín is larger than its coastal relative, the marine otter (Lontra felina), aka the chungungo. Watching one quietly feeding along a riverbank is a powerful reminder of how important it is to protect these fragile ecosystems.
A big thank you to Cristian Larrere for sharing this beautiful moment from the wild. Experiences like this help bring attention to a species that urgently needs protection 🌎
She's got a common full of love
Mar. 12th, 2026 05:11 pmsovayIt is the dozenth birthday of Hestia Hermia Linsky-Noyes, lhude sing meaw! We sang to her after midnight. She ate eagerly of her festive ham. She has spent the afternoon in the pursuit of Bird Theater. I remember her brother under that same light. Bast smiled when our cats were born.
wednesday books have been away
Mar. 11th, 2026 10:36 pmlandofnowhereRecent travel means that I haven't done much beyond keep up with my book club. (But there's a new Una Silberrad on Gutenberg, so maybe you'll hear about that next week.)
Chroniques Du Pays Des Mères, Élisabeth Vonarburg. So much is going on here, sometimes heavy, but with occasional comic relief. The secret ritual! Archaelogical expeditions! Ancient artifacts and books that are recognizable to the reader (and sometimes let us know that the protagonist has no idea what she is doing, Schliemann-style). Our protagonist is starting to learn that men are people too... We are clearly building up to a climax but I'm not exactly sure how it will play out.
Chroniques Du Pays Des Mères, Élisabeth Vonarburg. So much is going on here, sometimes heavy, but with occasional comic relief. The secret ritual! Archaelogical expeditions! Ancient artifacts and books that are recognizable to the reader (and sometimes let us know that the protagonist has no idea what she is doing, Schliemann-style). Our protagonist is starting to learn that men are people too... We are clearly building up to a climax but I'm not exactly sure how it will play out.
Twelve and a half years and four computers now
Mar. 11th, 2026 08:36 pmsorcyressI have started occasionally experiencing selective mutism.
And on the one hand, I don't actually think this is all that new an experience to me. I think I've always found it hard to talk sometimes, I've just not had a good language to refer to those times in any useful way. Selective Mutism is good language, and enough people are starting to know it that it kinda even is a useful thing to indicate to others on the rare occasion it matters.
But like everything about me, I don't _really_ have it and should probably not appropriate from other people's struggles just to sound cool. Especially because I don't actually have it. If I need to talk, and am experiencing a no-talk moment, I just step out of the no-talk and do what I need to do until I can return to it.
The phrase "slightly upsetting and marginally poetic" comes to mind, for no reason at all.
~Sor
MOOP!
And on the one hand, I don't actually think this is all that new an experience to me. I think I've always found it hard to talk sometimes, I've just not had a good language to refer to those times in any useful way. Selective Mutism is good language, and enough people are starting to know it that it kinda even is a useful thing to indicate to others on the rare occasion it matters.
But like everything about me, I don't _really_ have it and should probably not appropriate from other people's struggles just to sound cool. Especially because I don't actually have it. If I need to talk, and am experiencing a no-talk moment, I just step out of the no-talk and do what I need to do until I can return to it.
The phrase "slightly upsetting and marginally poetic" comes to mind, for no reason at all.
~Sor
MOOP!
If I were you, I'd be out on the town
Mar. 11th, 2026 06:27 pmsovayWhatever passes for my health these days has tipped over onto the sidewalk, but my afternoon which contained far too much communication with doctors on far too little sleep was measurably improved by the discovery of Avalon Emerson's "Don't Be Seen with Me" (2025). I think of Oppenheimer Analysis as so extremely niche in appeal that it almost never crossed my mind that anyone would cover one of their songs, much less drench it in heart-racing, echo-dragged dream-pop like a night drive high on the endless windshield slide of light. I still prefer the colder, dryer original with its relentlessly weird garbage-can drum programming and glitteringly nervy columns of synths against which the vocals sound even more paranoid and plaintive, but just the fact that someone else went for their own version makes me happy. I suppose electronically unsettled meditations on the Manhattan Project and the Cold War have come back around into fashion.