mindstalk | Reading

People at /r/englishlearning need to stop saying "Song lyrics/poems don't have to be grammatical! Don't try to learn English through songs/poems! People just do whatever, ungrammatically, to fit the rhythm/mood/rhyme scheme!"

This may be true, I guess, but funnily enough it's never true when people say it. At least half the time, the quoted text isn't even archaic or nonstandard!

That said, I do like reading (most of the) comments in that subreddit. There's always something! ( Cut for appropriateness )

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This new Yeld 2E Bundle presents the 2024 Second Edition of The Magical Land of Yeld, the all-ages tabletop fantasy roleplaying game from Atarashi Games about young heroes (called Friends) finding their way home.

Bundle of Holding: Yeld 2E

Civilization has crashed, humanity may be virtually extinct, but library books must be returned to their proper facility!

The Color of the End: Mission in the Apocalypse, volume 2 by Haruo Iwamune (Translated by John Neal)

I'LL go

Now there's a pair to strike horror in the heart.

I officially took possession of my new apartment on Saturday! I am not actually moved yet -- I am still living in my parents' guest bedroom in their basement -- but all the big furniture is there and I spent several hours unpacking and putting things away on Sunday afternoon and again this evening.

Getting my three U-boxes delivered was more of a production than it should have been, which was entirely due to technical glitches on U-haul's part. In summary, I wanted to create a reservation to have U-haul drop off all three boxes on the street, hire some movers for two hours to unload them, and then have U-haul pick the boxes back up on Sunday. I even got permission from the local police to have the boxes on the street overnight despite parking ordinances that require everyone to clear out between 2am and 6am. But U-haul's website would only allow me to create a reservation for box A. Even if I clicked on box B or box C to start the reservation, the only box that appeared as an option was box A.

Eventually I made a reservation for box A so I'd have an order number to reference, and then texted U-haul's help line. (Yes, they have a text-based help line. This is both very nice -- no phone calls! no hold music! -- and moderately frustrating, because it can be harder to explain exactly what you need via a phone keypad.)

Instead of adding box B and box C to my existing reservation, the help line guy created an entirely new reservation for all three boxes, but set it to self-delivery instead of company delivery. Which meant I now had to cancel the initial unloading-only contract with the movers (I got a credit) and create a new one for delivery AND unloading.

Also a couple days later I discovered (via a U-haul email telling me the delivery had been rescheduled from 9am to 10am) that the help line guy hadn't bothered to cancel the original reservation. I duly tried to cancel it. U-haul's website wouldn't let me. I texted the help line again, got a different person, and told them to please CANCEL order #1 and KEEP order #2. The new help line tech did that.

Which you would think would finally clear everything up, but when my moving crew showed up at the U-haul storage center on Saturday, the U-haul crew initially thought they were there for order #1 and only had box A ready. *headdesk* The moving crew lead called me to verify which order was correct, I told him order #2, he said "I knew it! I told them!" and then went and made U-haul fix their end.

I think in the end the expense wound up about the same, and this way all three boxes were cleared out and returned on the same day instead of staying overnight, but it was a pain in the neck.

...

I already knew I needed to buy a new sofa (this one, I think, will be some kind of sofa-bed) and also a new desk, but I think I also want to get some kind of open shelving unit to extend my kitchen. The current cupboards and drawers have a bit less useful space than my old kitchen, besides which I want to move a bunch of the cookware to easily reachable height instead of having things way up high or down where I need to crouch to reach them.

I also want to repaint a couple pieces of furniture I've been hauling around since childhood (they are both sturdy and useful, but primary colors are not really my style) and either paint or varnish/stain a wooden "shelving unit" that I knocked together out of two cheap-ass shoe stands (I flipped one upside down and bolted them together) about 15 years ago. In my old apartment it languished in my entry room gathering dust and holding assorted random junk, but I have decided it will suit well as a nightstand and therefore it needs to be made presentable. :)

Also also I need to install curtains to supplement the blinds, buy a shower caddy, and add some towel racks or towel loops to the bathroom, but those are easier projects. You can buy curtain rods, shower caddies, and towel fixtures practically anywhere.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: new brighton, mn

https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2025/11/a-little-redux-big-redux.html

posted by Dan Guy

There are a few remaining copies of the 25th Anniversary edition of Little, Big or, The Fairies' Parliament, by John Crowley, with art by Peter Milton. More information here.

While you are there, there is also a 15% off coupon for the trade edition and/or posters, as well as an invitation to make a donation in support of horticultural conservancy.

Labels: John Crowley, little big or the fairies' parliament, webgoblin words

https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2025/11/a-little-redux-big-redux.html

Castaways are trapped in a terrible Randall Garrett story!

The Queen Bee by Randall Garrett

Along with a lot of the interwebs...

. . . is that cake?

Rejoice at the vindication of speculation!

Not over this budget, anyway.

It boggles me that Canada had to endure 13 days of ambiguity about the budget vote. What next, an election cycle that lasts five whole weeks? The suspense would be palpable.

First day back at work fairly whizzed by; between catching up with email, Teams messages, and the spam queue, redoing and circulating all the team monthly reports because it turned out we didn't have any data for 30 or 31 October when I did them, and my interim PDR I was fairly bushed by the end of the day. The PDR went well, but was quite intense. Then I staggered off to my singing lesson, but surprisingly was somewhat revived by Schumann, who is not normally that inspiring for me.

Then I came home and tackled a pile of evening tasks. The cleaner is coming tomorrow, and I had an accumulation of things in my to-do list that I hadn't got to. There's still quite a few left, but I have least ordered the things I wanted from Boots. Or Miss H did it for me, at least, after a catalogue of disasters including six successful orders cancelled immediately after I placed them, Paypal getting into a loop where I had to input a 2FA code in order to be shown a captcha which then told me I had completed it successfully and hung indefinitely (at least three times), attempts involving two payment methods, three computers, two different web browsers, on multiple days... all of them identically unsuccessful. As I said despairingly to Miss H, I just wanted to buy some insoles, how could it possibly be so hard.

It worked fine for her, anyway, and I've paid her back so soon I will have my spare hot water bottle etc.

And on that note of triumph I am going to transport myself to bed where hopefully the current hot water bottle will have made everything lovely.

Scrappy scavengers in scrap-metal mech robots

Bundle of Holding: Salvage Union

I just had a phone appointment with someone, funded by the state of Massachusetts, to help decide between basic Medicare plus a Medigap plan, or a Medicare Advantage plan. I have gotten some useful information, but am going to double-check everything, because in at least one case what she told me contradicts what the official Medicare.gov site says. It's a relatively minor point--the existence of a roommate discount for some Medigap plans--but I asked about which plans it applied to, and she said it doesn't exist.

The new and interesting information is that apparently, because I am under 65 and disabled, I'm eligible for a Medicaid plan, without an income limit. It's called CommonHealth, and seems to be part of the state's "Commonwealth Care." If I understand correctly, after Medicare paid 80% of a bill, it would cover the rest, but only at providers that take MassHealth.

If I got basic Medicare (parts A and B), a part D drug plan, and a Medigap plan, I could see any provider that takes Medicare, without worrying about what's in-network. However, a Medigap plan would cost significantly more than this CommonHealth thing.

Or, I could sign up for another Medicare Advantage plan. The advantage there is there are some that would cost no more than the Medicare Part B premium. The disadvantage is being limited to in-network providers unless I'm willing to pay significantly more for that service.

I thought the question was, is it worth $250-$300/month (Medigap + prescription coverage) more to not have to worry about being in-network and prior authorization. It sounds like this CommonHealth plan would cost significantly less per month, but if the provider doesn't take MassHealth, I'd be paying 20%. Which gets back to the larger problem that there's no way to find out what number that will be 20% until after the visit.

If I understood correctly, all these options have copays for some things, and CommonHealth may require prior authorization for some things.

Current Mood: confused

The sights, the smells... the savings!!!

Five Reasons to Leave the House and Go Explore a Used Bookstore

2022: The British are heartened by Partygate revelations that the Tories celebrated in trust the gatherings barred to the rabble during Covid, the UK teaches the world a thing or two about political stability by going through three Prime Ministers in less than two months, and Queen Elizabeth II escapes the prospect of discovering how exactly the UK would continue its downward political arc.

Poll #33843 Clarke Award Finalists 2022

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 32

View Respondents

Which 2022 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Deep Wheel Orcadia by Harry Josephine Giles
0 (0.0%)

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
30 (93.8%)

A River Called Time by Courttia Newland
0 (0.0%)

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
3 (9.4%)

Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley
2 (6.2%)

Wergen: The Alien Love War by Mercurio D. Rivera
1 (3.1%)

Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2022 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Deep Wheel Orcadia by Harry Josephine Giles
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
A River Called Time by Courttia Newland
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley
Wergen: The Alien Love War by Mercurio D. Rivera

If I say I did not hear of something, it means that it is new to me. Did I not at least glance at the Clarkes in 2022?

"It's set in a time when things were hard for black people in America" - a line which so flabbergasted me that I don't think I ever figured out what to say.

But this one may have topped it!

"The story is about a black girl, somewhere between 8 and 16 years old, from a black family."

...I'm dying to ask why they think they need to specify that this girl is the same race as everybody else in her family, when that's usually how this works. There's no indication in the rest of the post that we might have reason to think she's not.

After playing phone tag I got the sleep study sorted out, seems they could change my pickup day to a friday and I dont have to drop it back off until monday, which they should have just done when I made the original appointment, but,...nooooo.... sigh.

Skin still healing up, but I do have one post injection side effect I need to chat with doctors about, its really only an event that happens once, 2-4 days after the injection. Or maybe I have delicate hemeriods. who knows.

Van goes in on the 24th, so far my insurance company has assigned liability to the person who hit me.

My allergy appointment was a colossal screw up, I wasnt sure what to expect, but, setting a low bar helps. Turns out that I was supposed to have a consult prior to this appointment, which I didnt, and I was to stop taking my antihistimines for 7 days. the test they were to administer was to put me into anaphylactic shock. When I was offered the do over, I declined, since I have heart issues now, and the not quite really diagnosed lung issues. Two of the major things with having a reaction is either to have a heart attack or stop breathing. so again, a very definate NO. getting tired of this.

Still having the erractic sleep issues of no sleep;, or lots of sleep.

I have been getting more reading done, which is a very nice things.

Went to see Nuremberg with my niece. I was impressed with it, the cineamtography was amazing, Russell Crowe was the epitomy of entitled banal evil, and the entire movie was well done. Yeah, there were some hollywood moments in there, but it was a historical moment in time.

Alien invasion and the local Nazis complicate Pelham "Rat" Garfield's simple dream of being a successful pimp.

A Sweet Sweet Summer by Jane Gaskell

One of the things I often lament in my life is how rarely I have help for anything in particular.

My mom had a physical disability that made her mobility somewhat limited, but for much of her life she was also a pretty thorough and compulsive housekeeper. This resulted in a lot of my childhood being this pendulum swing between being given chores that I was mostly just supposed to figure out on my own entirely or not knowing how to do certain chores at all because one or both of my parents thought it was simpler to do it themselves than to teach me how. This led to a lot of weird resentment toward basic household chores that I think could have been avoided if I had been taught the responsibilities in ways that were less "figure it out, you should know this through observation," or just having it done for me until suddenly that wasn't possible anymore.

My parents were good and doing their best overall, but it is something I have realized as an adult and had to think about a lot as I figure out how to exist in a space where if I don't do something for myself, it doesn't get done.

Even as I was getting older and my mom was getting weaker, whether she was sick yet or not, it always brought me an incredible rush of feeling loved if anyone just volunteered to do something for me. I can't remember if it was the year she died or sometime before, but I remember being at home with mom and not feeling well for some reason or another, and she offered to make me a sandwich. It really moved and surprised me, because my parents at some point kind of stopped doing small things for me like that, even though my mom did my laundry for an absurdly long time. (It was not even really me being lazy; it was that my mom didn't want individuals splitting up their laundry by person rather than by type.)

Now, I live on the other side of the planet from anyone who actually loves me. I get along with some friendly-at-work people, but none of them is close enough to me to ask to hang out independently of work-related group events. One of my coworkers tried to start a D&D thing at work, but we did it exactly once and then basically gave up on ever trying to do it again because of the fact that, after that, we found that there were such frequent random extra weekend obligations at work that none of us had the clear time to do it anymore.

I don't have it confirmed, but I think that coworker might be moving on again next year. At the very least, I think she is kind of disillusioned with my workplace.

I can see why some of my coworkers are, but at the same time, this is the least-bullshit job I think I have available to me at the moment. Will have to see where things land in April, I guess, unless something weird happens before then.

Yesterday, I had to go into work for several hours for those parent-teacher meetings I'm mostly useless in. A couple of the parents spoke English and asked me a few questions, but it felt like it was mostly a courtesy to me at the end for having sat there during the Japanese conversations.

Today, I had a lovely lady from a Sisterhood Japan group on facebook come over and help me with cleaning my apartment more thoroughly than it's been cleaned in months. It's not that it was completely disgusting, but it was dusty and cluttered, and I just did not know where to start.

I don't have any official neurodivergence diagnosis, and I'm not even sure it's an nd symptom, though I've read about it as such, but I find that I get really stuck on doing menial tasks that aren't daily-maintenance stuff (like hygiene or dish washing etc) if I am all alone. While the lady was here, I let her do most of the actual cleaning, but so as not to be an awkward lump or waste the time or be rude by, like, playing video games while she's working, I organized my closet a lot. Unpacked some winter and fall clothes I had brought here in August and stuck some stuff that's too summery into the vacuum pack bags I had the former in.

I paid this woman, of course, but it felt like it was a mutually beneficial situation. She got paid, and I got the companionship, more than that, the soothing balm of having anyone care enough to do something well for me. I know she did it for money, but she was really kind about it, and I know that the whole love languages thing was really just a conservative Christian dude trying to justify why men need to be waited on hand and foot and to have their wife play mom at all times, but it really does feel like meaningful assistance is something humans need, both to receive and to give. I do try to give it, in work and in personal relationships, in the ways I know how, but one of the reasons I feel like my emotional well runs so empty sometimes is because I don't have anyone to ask for help when I need it.

I found the solution in this case by asking if anyone could come and help me tidy/clean/organize for pay on that facebook group, and I finally followed through on doing it after getting really frustrated with my own efforts last weekend taking HOURS for little payoff. (I was trying to put together a flat pack shelf that I ultimately decided was trash.)

I only got Sunday off this week, and I have to work both days next weekend, too. However, we get Monday and Tuesday off the following week. Still, for sanity and not becoming physically run-down, I might take a day off midweek. I hope nobody gets pissed off if I do since I am very often a pinch-hitter when other people don't show up.

Current Mood: accomplished

Listen…
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees
And fall.

***

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Page Summary

conuly - I've picked out a new hill on which to die
james_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Yeld 2E
james_davis_nicoll - The Color of the End: Mission in the Apocalypse, volume 2 by Haruo Iwamune (Translated by John Neal)
marycatelli in girlgenius_lair - Wednesday's Comic
edenfalling - wherein Liz makes great strides toward reclaiming her own space
neilgaiman_feed - a little redux (a big redux?)
james_davis_nicoll - The Queen Bee by Randall Garrett
james_davis_nicoll - I know my site is down
marycatelli in girlgenius_lair - Monday's Comic
james_davis_nicoll - No election
wychwood - possibly boots just hates me personally
james_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Salvage Union
redbird - Medicare questions/decisions
james_davis_nicoll - Five Reasons to Leave the House and Go Explore a Used Bookstore
james_davis_nicoll - Clarke Award Finalists 2022
conuly - I think I may have seen something in /r/whatsthatbook more baffling than
martianmooncrab - (no subject)
james_davis_nicoll - A Sweet Sweet Summer by Jane Gaskell
prixmium - just having help
conuly - November Night by Adelaide Crapsey

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