Entry tags:

[ Prompt: Break ] Changing Seasons (TWST)

Fandoms: Twisted Wonderland
Characters: Fafnir Starweaver (OC)
Rating: Teen
Words: 875
Prompts: Break for

fandomocweekly and ficwip's Level Up challenge!
Summary: After waking up from his coma and adjusting to a new "normal", Fafnir takes to his journal to jot down his thoughts.

Notes: Originally posted to AO3 on 5/3/24 and now being archived here! Using "break" since Fafnir is up at em from his coma and his giving himself a break for once HDSJKHDJKS Original Notes: Never written first person POV before, so wanted to try my hand at it with one of my OCs! Enjoy! (Also crossposted to my journal!)

****

The first thing they don’t tell you about being in a coma is how disorienting it can be.
( Read more... )

(no subject)

So happy it's Thursday.

I have been doing pretty good on the work month end items. I may have everything ready for the boss to close the month tomorrow. Tomorrow is my goal, but I know she won't close on a Friday. Fine by me, but it proves I can do it.

This week was the first time ever that I mowed a lawn. Oh boy. All I can say is that it is better than shoveling snow. My plan is to only mow every 3 weeks. I also hope to get some real gardening done. I view mowing as a chore. If I had money (HA) It put in a big round patio in the center of the yard and put in a gas fire pit with chairs around it.

This Saturday it is supposed to be rainy so my plan is to wash the deck... I'll be wet anyway. Funny, I had a wood deck for 20 years at the old house and only painted it once. This engineered wood stuff attracts black dirt and can grow algae.

I do have some travel plans coming up. Fatherly weekend I am going to go with Dad to New Hampshire to the white mountains. I want to get him to use a camera and see what he does. I want to spend time at Sabaday falls and Jackson falls doing photography/.

The next weekend will be be NJ. I think I will bring the new lens with me to give it a work out.

May 2025 Newsletter, Volume 200

Posted by Lute

https://www.transformativeworks.org/may-2025-newsletter-volume-200/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=265402

I. 200 NEWSLETTERS

This month marks the 200th edition of the OTW Newsletter! Starting in February 2012, the newsletter has consistently provided updates on committees across the OTW. Over time, the newsletter’s format has grown and shifted, settling into the format used today.

If you’re curious, older newsletter editions can be found on AO3 News and the OTW website! Thank you so much for supporting the OTW and our projects. Here’s to many more!

II. ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN

Policy & Abuse is currently running a weekly spotlight series about the AO3 Terms of Service. These news posts have been highlighting various nuances of AO3’s policies, and Policy & Abuse has been coordinating with Communications’ News Post Moderation subcommittee to answer follow-up questions in the comments.

AO3 reached 15 million fanworks in May! Communications published a news post to celebrate.

Also in May, Accessibility, Design, & Technology deployed a few enhancements related to username and password changes, as well as fixed some longstanding bugs in tag sets. Systems is preparing to mount new servers, after which they’ll be able to get them up and running for AO3.

Open Doors announced the import of Homosapien Press: the publisher of multi-fandom fanzines such as Samurai Errant, Homosapien, and Pure Maple Syrup. They also completed the import of Slash Advent Calendar and Snow Lands. Lastly, they launched a way for archivists and publishers to designate a Fannish Next of Kin to take over collection management post-import.

In April, Policy & Abuse received 2,734 tickets, while Support received 3,003 tickets. Tag Wrangling wrangled just over 490,000 tags, or approximately 1,100 tags per wrangling volunteer.

III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW

Fanlore’s annual Fanlore Bingo Challenge is in full swing! This year the event is running from June 2 to June 15, and the bingo is beach themed. All Fanlore visitors and editors, new and old alike, are invited to participate!

Fanlore also celebrated May with a themed month: Creature Feature! Their editing chat on the Fanlore Discord server was a big success; thank you to everyone who joined. You can check out Creature Feature highlights on Fanlore’s Tumblr.

Translation’s recent recruitment led to the addition of a new translation team for Irish! User Response Translation’s first ever recruitment has also concluded.

Transformative Works and Cultures continues to seek submissions for their upcoming special issue on Latin American Fandoms. The deadline for submissions is January 1, 2026.

IV. GOVERNANCE

Elections announced the 2025 Election Timeline in coordination with Communications and Translation. Candidates will be announced on June 22, and the deadline to become a member for voting is June 30.

Development & Membership is continuing to send donation gifts from April’s Membership Drive. They’re also starting to work on membership queries for the 2025 election and related mini-Drive in June.

Board, with the help of the Board Assistants Team, held a public board meeting on April 26, 2025. The meeting had 74 attendees, and Board answered 10 questions live and 7 questions asynchronously after the meeting. Meeting minutes are available on the OTW website.

Board also approved the creation of the Organizational Culture Roadmap workgroup, continued work on Crisis Procedures and Paid Staff Transition projects, and met with the Cybersecurity Delegate to discuss their report and next steps. The Board Assistants Team continued work on multiple ongoing projects, including updates to the Board Discord moderation guidelines, OTW roadmap goals, and non-profit training.

Lastly, Board announced the resignation of Zixin Zhang as a Board Director. We wish Zixin all the best in her future endeavors.

V. OUR VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers & Recruiting conducted recruitment for three committees this month: Fanlore, Finance, and Open Doors. Volunteers & Recruiting also began a large-scale project regarding their procedures on inductions and removals. This project aims to ensure documentation is consistent across all roles in the OTW, focusing especially on tools managed by Volunteers & Recruiting.

From April 21 to May 18, Volunteers & Recruiting received 154 new requests and completed 149, leaving them with 36 open requests (including inductions and removals listed below).

As of May 18, 2025, the OTW has 933 volunteers. \o/

New AO3 Documentation Volunteers: 1 Editor
New Open Doors Volunteers: Fandoms_addict and 1 other Admin Volunteer
New Policy & Abuse Volunteers: BlackTeaAndVodka, WonderfulWorld, Pent, and 1 other Policy & Abuse Volunteer
New Strategic Planning Volunteers: Everett Merian and Camilla Zhao
New Support Volunteers: 1 Tag Wrangling Liaison
New Tag Wrangling Volunteers: Ebonwing, Jazzberries, Keladry, megidola, and Tal (Tag Wrangling Supervisors)
New Translation Volunteers: Bluebear, flatlander woman, Lavinia, Mici Pici, ömer faruk, Somber, and 3 other Translation Volunteers
New TWC Volunteers: 1 Symposium Editor
New User Response Translation Volunteers: Ekevka, meat, Patkiecoo, Remu, and 4 other URT Translators

Departing AO3 Documentation Volunteers: 1 Editor
Departing Communications Volunteers: 1 Chair-Track Volunteer and 1 TikTok Moderator
Departing Fanlore Volunteers: 1 Policy and Admin Volunteer
Departing Open Doors Volunteers: Fandoms_addict and 3 other Import Assistants, and 1 Technical Volunteer
Departing Support Volunteers: 1 Support Volunteer
Departing Tag Wrangling Volunteers: Eirinen, Luhba, Vyslanté, and 2 other Tag Wrangling Volunteers
Departing Translation Volunteers: D.Taradi, dhriti, hedvig, Mai, Meep, and 4 other Translation Volunteers

For more information about our committees and their regular activities, you can refer to the committee pages on our website.

https://www.transformativeworks.org/may-2025-newsletter-volume-200/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=265402

St. Charles’ Church in Freetown, Sierra Leone

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/st-charles-church

The front of the St. Charles' Church

After the United Kingdom passed the Slave Trade Act of 1807, Freetown in the new colony of Sierra Leone became the hub of British anti-slavery activity in West Africa. The West Africa Squadron of the Royal Navy would patrol the coast looking for illegal slave-trading ships and capture them, bringing them to Freetown to undergo the legal proceedings that would see the ship impounded and the captured Africans released. However, the Africans were not returned to their homelands. Instead, they were resettled within the colony as the colony’s leaders hoped to make the endeavor profitable via agricultural export.

Towards this end, Governor Charles MacCarthy established the “village system,” in which the “liberated Africans” were settled in villages in the modern-day Western Area of Sierra Leone. One of these villages was Regent, originally known as Hogbrook. An important feature of the village system as envisioned by Governor MacCarthy was that each town would be “managed” by a missionary from the Church Missionary Society. Preaching from a parish church, the missionaries aimed to convert the liberated Africans to Christianity.

The Reverent William Augustine Bernard Johnson, known as W.A.B. Johnson, arrived in Regent in 1816. He preached from St. Charles’ Church, named in honor of Governor MacCarthy and completed that same year, thus predating St. George’s Cathedral in Freetown (completed 1817). Reverend Johnson was immensely popular—the large crowds he attracted necessitated expansions to the new church. Johnson's magnetism helped make Regent one of the most successful of the village system towns (in the eyes of the colonial government) due to its agricultural output. Regent produced more surplus coconuts and cassava than did any other village.

After the death of Reverend Johnson in 1823, attendance at St. Charles’ Church dropped, but the church has been maintained throughout the centuries. Certainly the oldest stone church in Sierra Leone, St. Charles' Church is typically also billed as one of the oldest stone churches in West Africa if not Africa entirely. As a church with an active congregation, it has been maintained and is still in use today by the people of Regent.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/st-charles-church

Entry tags:

prompt: #445 - in your shoes

Original: Empathy 101 [445. In Your Shoes]

Title: Empathy 101
Original
Rating: G
Notes: mentioned injuries

( Read more... )

The Friday Five for 6 June 2025

1. Have you ever been to summer camp?

2. Have you ever made a s'more?

3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)?

4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?

5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy, warm, and damp. It rained off and on yesterday and last night.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

Entry tags:

Check-In Post - June 5th 2025

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: We all probably have multiple WiPs, but which of yours has been hanging around longest, waiting to be finished?

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

It's fine, it's cool, you say that we are nothing but I know the truth

THE GIRLS LOVING GIRLS MEME

This meme focuses on female/female relationships. From shy starts to sexy nights spent lost in each other, here is your chance to play out whatever femslash ship you've ever wanted. Whether it's a curiosity that's always been under the surface or a way to release tension in a less violent way, your character is now acting on a secret impulse.

Just post your character's name and any preference you might have. You can set up a scenario yourself or let the person responding choose. Please be respectful if someone isn't feeling a pairing or option you suggest!
( Read more... )

Challenge #392. Nothing

Title: An idle mind is the devil's workshop
Fandom: Original
Characters/Pairings: Faith & Stuart
Word Count: 300
Rating: T
Summary: making shitty music is probably better than doing something like gay sex.

( Read more... )

h & c

the hurt/comfort meme

Hurt/Comfort - Hurt/comfort is a fan fiction genre that involves the

physical pain or emotional distress of one character, who is cared for by

another character. The injury, sickness or other kind of hurt allows an

exploration of the characters and their relationship.

- Post with Character Name | Series in the subject.

- Others respond.

- Roll 1- 22 at RNG for a scene, play it out and have fun!

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

Poet's Corner: Miracles by Walt Whitman

from Leaves of Grass

Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—the
ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?

East Van Vodville Cinema in Vancouver, British Columbia

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/east-van-vodville-cinema-vancouver

The miniature theatre’s 200-seat capacity is slowly being filled with tiny figurines of beloved film characters, from classic movie stars to Muppets. Statler and Waldorf are perched in their usual spot at the front-right balcony. There’s even an ongoing call for visitors and locals to add their own favorite characters to the growing crowd.

The East Van Vodville might be easy to miss if you’re not looking for it: a small, unassuming window is embedded into the boarded-up facade of an otherwise plain building. Visitors can peer through the little windows, as though they have snuck into the theater, where they will be greeted by a methodically crafted 1:55 scale model of Vancouver's now-demolished First Pantages Theatre.

The little theater comes to life when visitors press the start button and project short films onto its little screen. The films are constantly changing and can range from experimental works by local filmmakers to quirky collections of forgotten clips from old Hollywood. A tiny, flickering marquee outside the window keeps passersby in the know about what’s showing

There’s an ongoing call for visitors and locals to add their own favorite characters to the growing crowd seated in this 1:55 scale masterpiece. Right now the theatre’s 200-seat capacity is slowly filling. Visitors will spot tiny figurines of beloved film characters, from classic movie stars to Muppets, with Statler and Waldorf perched in their usual spot at the front-right balcony.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/east-van-vodville-cinema-vancouver

Entry tags:

books,
quotes

.

"I never know what I mean in my telegrams—especially those I send from America."

—Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

Entry tags:

Fanfic, ENA - Joel G, ENA & White and Red ENA, Generation Loss

Title: pieces that were picked up on the way
Author: bluerosekatie
Fandom: ENA - Joel G. (Web Series)
Pairing/Characters: ENA & White and Red ENA
Rating/Category: Gen
Prompt: ENA - Joel G, ENA & White and Red ENA, Generation Loss (the copy of a copy)
Spoilers: Ending spoilers for chapter 1 of ENA: Dream BBQ
Summary: ENA tries to escape a dangerous situation — but leaves a remnant of herself behind.
Notes/Warnings: Some body horror and canon-typical weirdness. Fic locked to archive users only to avoid AI scraping.

Read it here on Ao3!

Gombe National Park in Kasekera, Tanzania

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gombe-national-park

Gombe mountains seen from Lake Tanganyika.

In 1960, Jane Goodall was sent to Gombe National Park (then called Gombe Stream Game Reserve) to research an unstudied wild group of chimpanzees. Despite Goodall's world-famous work, Gombe only receives about 2,000 visitors per year and has no more than 15 to 25 visitors at any given time due to its remote location. There are no roads to the park, and the only way to visit is to take a two-hour boat ride to the Gombe Stream Research Center.

Gombe National Park is located in Northwestern Tanzania on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Across the lake, mountain ranges of both Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo are visible on clear weather days. The park features high mountains of rainforest rising up from the lakeshore.

Gombe is a functioning research center that continues to study chimpanzees, baboons, and other wildlife residing within the park. As a 60-plus year ongoing study, Gombe has collected long-term research information about not only the chimpanzees and other wildlife but also climate change patterns, habitat loss outside of the park's borders, and infectious diseases that can spread from humans to chimps.

Two communities of chimpanzees live within the park, the Kasekela chimps and Mitumba chimps. The research approach to the chimpanzees involves as little human interference as possible, so researchers watch them from a distance and only intervene for serious medical issues.

The Gombe Stream Research Center is also home to a herbarium of local plant samples, a research lab and postmortem lab, and a bone room containing the skeletal remains of many of Gombe's most well known chimpanzees.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gombe-national-park

Another cycling day

I rode for 40 minutes which is a good amount on the second day of riding. And I did a fairly steep hill. It is not long but is pretty steep. Pumped up my heart rate to about 155. One of the problems with walking is that it does not do that. Pickleball does it and cycling hills definitely does. I feel like I need to get my heart rate up in intervals to build it up as a muscle. There is, of course, tons of research on that but it is all towards sports performance not age endurance. Cycling is good in so many ways but that may well be the most important.

Tomorrow is another shot at pickleball. This time of year the mornings tend to get rained out but tomorrow we're scheduled for noon. It will be a nice cool 85 degrees when we start. We'll see how that goes.

Before cancelling out of USAA I paid for a year of Progressive. Or put it on my credit card. Then I took Zoe to a new vet across the street. She needs some drugs to help with her arthritis pain (a household commonality). $415 later we have an anti-inflamitory and a pain pill. Of that money, $120 is the meds so that is going to suck going forward. We'll see how long they last. The vet is a stone's throw away from us and has a really nice place for dogs to stay when we go out of town in October. So I changed to them. I felt badly about changing from my old vet as I think they are not doing really well and they have always been nice. But driving into Georgetown was inceasingly hard on Zoe.

The combination of a year's auto insurance for two cars plus the Zoe appointment has sucked our account down some. Fortunately not so much that it will matter but for the short term. And it will pay back every month when I'm not laying out the monthly insurance payment.

Since USAA is a mutual and I have money in it, there is a $5k+ balance they owe me. I think I get it in three months which will be well timed for the wedding. All in all we are better off financially without USAA. There is an emotional tie but I can always rejoin Navy Federal Credit Union if I want to regenerate a military connection.

Keep calm and idk

Some of the coolest threads come from just putting characters in situations! This meme is a chance to do just that.

How to Play:

No blank top-levels. Put a "don't panic, but..." statement in your top-level. Examples:
- "Don't panic, but my father's coming and I need you to hide me."
- "Don't panic, but everyone's throwing up."
- "Don't panic, but I think something just exploded around the corner."
- "Don't panic, but there's someone following you."
- "Don't panic, but your shoes clash with that purse really badly."
Respond to other people's statements. Maybe you can help them. Maybe you can make the situation worse. Maybe you can't help but panic.
????
Profit

Walk

take a stroll

paces matched, let's walk!

prompts
1. in the garden
2. on the beach
3. in the woods
4. in the desert
5. under the stars
6. along a walking trail
7. in dangerous terrain
8. after dinner
9. surreal - neverending staircases, paths to the afterlife, etc
10. to get away from it all/de-stress
11. romantically/courtship/date
12. run instead, because you're being chased
13. gone too far, now you're lost
14. going somewhere with purpose
15. arm-in-arm
16. wildcard

Victory!

I pulled the Litter Robot out and disassembled it and still the pieces where too big for our shoot. I found a dumpster down in the garage and a push cart so I came back up here, loaded up and unloaded down there. Done. Probably broke a dozen rules but fuck 'em. It's done. I cleaned up the area in the utility room and the rug that catches the litter spills is now in the washer.

Then I went to aqua fit. I did not want to go. It was better than those damn machines and, honestly, I knew Martha would check (which she did since her yoga class is in the gym at the same time). The water was very cold when I got in but, really, it was very lovely in less than a minute. Invigorating. I last took the class a year and a half ago. Now they have music which makes such a difference. And it was good and it was hard. And I thought it was 30 minutes but turned out to be 45! My arms are going to be very mad tomorrow but I'm going to do it again next Tuesday.

I bought a Litter Genie from Amazon and it came with a giant dent in it. So I returned it and bought the plastic one which isn't arriving until tomorrow. PetCo didn't have one but, hey, Pet Smart does AND if I order online and go get it, I save 20% - plus it's cheaper than Amazon anyway. So score score score. Cancel Amazon. Now I'm going to get dressed, take my two Amazon returns and go to PetSmart.

The utility room looks so much nicer and tidier without that gynormous Litter robot.