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Is there anyone who'd be interested in co-watching Bridgerton S4 with me?

I want to watch it, I just need to schedule time to watch it, and have someone else metaphorically "on hand" to keep me from rushing off and doing something else.

Yes, we would have to do some tricksy scheduling to manage it if you're in the (usual) locations of Europe/the US. I'm happy to try to work something out.

So this is at the edge of an "I am not coping with life right now" kind of week.

Unfortunately, the weekend also looks a bit busy.

Pick a female character you know I'll write, and one of the prompts below. Preferably one nobody else has yet chosen.

Day 1 - The Innocent
Day 2 - Guilty Pleasures
Day 3 - The Caregiver
Day 4 - Needs
Day 5 - The Outlaw
Day 6 - Her Own Personal Code
Day 7 - The Lover
Day 8 - Pet Peeves
Day 9 - The Scholar
Day 10 - Acting the Fool
Day 11 - The Explorer
Day 12 - Her Sanctuary
Day 13 - The Ruler
Day 14 - Letting Go

I never manage to write for halfamoon because my stories end up seriously epic. Maybe this off-the-cuff thing will work instead. (Or maybe those will just turn seriously epic.)

The Enigma left the facility the way she had come in. “SpiderGirl is sure to be far away by now,” she said to herself. ‘But I’m not far from the Giant Strawberry.’ She headed in that direction.


Tania saw that Dafoanairi was still there after the service had ended. “You must have a reason to stay,” she said.

“I did want to talk with you about what’s happening in town further.”

“Here? In the park?”

“I was thinking of the Historia,” Dafoanairi said.

“Up on the roof again?”

Dafoanairi nodded.

“Sure.”


The Enigma looked at the town through a telescope on the top of the Giant Strawberry. The town looked peaceful, but she knew that belied the reality. ‘It’s not like Osborn has another glider that can be seen,’ she thought after fifteen minutes. She then glanced at the Historia and saw two figures on the top. “Can’t make them out, as the Moon isn’t full,” she murmured. ‘I know it isn’t SpiderGirl, but it could be Dafoanairi. I’ll go and tell her about what happened.’

( Read More )

I'm reccing crossovers at stargateficrec this Feb. I had a list. The same kind of list we all have of favorite rereads.

And yet, I can't rec most of them because they're under an AO3 lock. (you have to be a member to read).

People lock their fic for good reasons. It's silly to rec a story some people won't have access to.

The solution *crackles knuckles* read more crossovers!

I soooo got this.

Yes, I'm back with the Georgian trip!

Day 1: Overview | Day 2: Vashlovani Nature Reserve | Day 3: Jvari Monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral

-----

The night of the Jvari Monastery and the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (still Wednesday) we stayed in a little vineyard tucked away in the back of beyond, which required a hike along rough tracks and up and down roads. Our luggage was (thankfully) taken by a very old jeep - Soviet era, we were told. It surely looked it!

A B&B up in the mountains

The vineyard had been owned by a former church minister, and they were still doing it up. The road there was a little rough, and a few of the women struggled somewhat with the path.

There was also almost no signal.

But there were kittens!



This night was a particularly bad case of "we can't eat anything, we're too stuffed full of food". I didn't even take photos of the food, I was so full!

And the next morning was no better.





Ruins and vineyards and buildings on the walk back down to where the bus awaited us in the morning:

Thursday: Uplistsikhe

Yeah, it's a bit of a mouthful...

Uplistsikhe Rock Village dates back to the 2nd Century BC, and translates to 'God's Fortress'.

The carvings and design of it indicate both pagan and Christian residency (a pagan temple's fire altars were filled in when the community converted to Christianity and the space used as a chapel/cathedral), and multiple cultural influences from outside Georgia are indicated by its architecture and decoration before it was sacked in the 12th Century by the Mongols.







There was so much of it to see, but we only had an hour, so it was a very truncated tour of a really interesting historical site.

And I spent long enough in the chapel that I and my roomie (only other non-American on the tour, apart from the 'host' who was local, and the 'organiser' who was ) lost the rest of the group on the way out of the site. I found the chapel particularly fascinating to me for the black Madonna-and-Child portrait, the layout of the space, and the "drooping arms" cross symbol, which is representative of St Nino's grapevine cross she carried to Georgia when she brought Christianity to that part of the world.





Oh yes, and the black Madonna and child!



No, not me! (I just realised the juxtaposition of the photos. XD XD)

More seriously, there was a woman in the chapel who was praying or observing her pilgrimage. I had to be quiet while she was there and even after she left, I had to be quiet because there was a woman manning the shop right outside the door. *sigh*

I find it a bit restricting, actually, that the chapels and cathedrals all demand silence of you. There are times for silence, of course. But there's also time to sing and be joyful - to shout to the Lord! To everything a time and a season, as Ecclesiastes declares. I did manage to sing a hymn in a chapel in Positano, Italy and that was fun!



Anyway, there was a tunnel we missed out on seeing because we didn't work out where the rest of the group went, and then we got stuck at the top and ended up having to go back down the way we came, whereupon we met the rest of the group and went along to the bus.

On the way to lunch, we passed through the city of Gori, which is Stalin's birthplace. Many of the older Americans wanted to hop out and have a look at it, and I hopped out because the architecture looked really interesting!

C'mon, tell me this isn't fascinating to the daughter of an architect!

Gori: birthplace of Stalin

The location is the house in which he was born. The neighbourhood was "bought out" (*cough cough* we know how that goes in the west, now imagine it in Soviet Georgia!) and everything else razed to bring you...this edifice of stone and magnificence...

The Americans exclaimed over the details of Stalin's life. Me? I looked around at the architecture (very interesting, oddly beautiful for what I think of as 'communist brutalism') and then out at the public gardens surrounding it, and the Georgian national flag flapping in the wind. And I turned to our Georgia guide, grinned, and said "Stalin would have hated it." And she grinned back.

It was pretty much a fifteen minute stop because we were already kind of late to lunch. But then, we were still kind of full from the previous night and breakfast, so it's not like we were rushing to get to eat!

--

Lunch at Sisters-in-Law winery. The owner used to be in the diplomatic service, but married a guy whose family owned land out in the countryside and now runs a restaurant that they built out of reclaimed everything. All the bricks, all the wood, all the furnishings found and repaired and now reused. It's very permaculture.

books and food and activism against an oppressive government: what it can look like

They're also very socially active (also very permaculture) to the point where they decided to close the restaurant this summer, because they wanted to participate in local protests against pro-Russia government and they were worried about retaliation. That's a dedication to the cause. There were assorted signs and stickers around the place that showed the sentiment of the younger generation about Russia, but the older generations often recall the good times of the Soviet Union and want that back.

Sounds a bit familiar, really.

They definitely had some permaculture books...



Also, there was a wine there that was absolutely amazing, and honestly I'd have shipped an entire crate of it back home except they didn't have any left over from that batch! *sigh*

A beautiful place with a beautiful couple doing good, solid things in the world.

--

Kutaisi
At this point, my memories are growing a little fuzzy. I shouldn't have put off typing this up for so long, and since I've been back, a lot has happened!

But I do remember that the dinner in Kutaisi was a bit ordinary, all things considered...



A walking bridge, quite close to where we were staying, and the last light of day.

pipe bombs in perth

Finally on the 26th of January ("Australia Day"), there was an Indigenous protest march in Perth.

During the march, someone threw a pipe bomb into the crowd. It was packed with metal shards and nails and suchlike. He failed to light it correctly so it didn't explode.

He was white. He was a he. That's all we know about it. And even that was mostly reported by the people who bring online news commentary, rather than mainstream media. (I saw it first with Cheek Media, myself.) You know why? Because "we aren't putting out his name because he is accused of..."

FUCK THAT SIDEWAYS WITH A RUSTY SPORK.

They had ZERO compulsion about publishing the names of the Bondi terrorists.

But a terrorist action done by a white guy? (It wasn't even billed as 'a terrorist action'. Well, excuse me for bloody well thinking that a FUCKING HOMEMADE PIPE BOMB tossed into a group of people who are supporting a particular racial identity isn't 'a terrorist action'.)

Oh no, can't publish his name!

--

conservatives, right wing, and please let our electoral system hold

In other political news in Australia, our 'right wing' is going down. Hard. Not only is their current leader (she's technically a "conservative moderate" and has lasted since the election) on the way out, but the Racists And Arseholes Party (known more conventionally as 'Pauline Hanson's One Nation') is on the rise - at least in sentiment. Whether that sentiment can gather the centre-to-right-wing conservatives in Australia is another question.

Our holding institutions right now are pretty much the Australian Electoral Commission and common decency, but how long those will hold is another matter. Watching what is happening in the US, being told what is happening by billionaires who own all the media properties, having a point of view RAILROADED through thanks to a lack of media discernment, and general outrage headlines...

I can't see my conservative friends here in my electorate (strongly conservative - one of the very few suburban electorates that hasn't gone "Teal") voting PHON. And they have to vote, and they can vote for the "least worst" option - ie. preferences. Plus, we have a very large percentage of "not born here" Aussies in this electorate, possibly one of the reasons that Old Guy down the road (and a bit further in) has his house decorated with PHON and Trump flags. Yes, Trump flags. In Australia.

Great moogly googly.

Anyway, we know the guy - he stumped up on Election Day 2025, put his little sandwich board up, stuck a plastic sleeve with the "Trumpet Of Patriots" party 'how to vote' card on, and went away.

That sleeve was touched pretty much twice. Once by one of us volunteers for the other parties gingerly looking to see what they'd recommended (even the conservative volunteers were eyeing it like it was fresh dogshit), and then once by a woman from the AEC whose job it was to go around collecting the 'how to vote' cards for each party in each electorate, so that the AEC could archive them.

We left the sandwich board after we packed everything away, and it was gone the next night.

In the end, hard right-wing support isn't non-existent, and probably never will be, but the current state of world politics, where right wing conservative parties get hollowed out by hard right wing racist fucks is sincerely worrying. I've never thought Australia is immune, but it's a worrying trend to finally witness happening, even if nothing comes of it. Grievance politics is hell on the system.

Maybe it mitigates with mandatory enrolment and preferential voting - we can hope - but if it does, that's on the system and the institution, not on anything else. Heaven knows the parties and the politicians are NOT HELPING.

NOT. HAPPY. JAN.

Some thoughts I put down at the time, and which I'm going to store here.

( Bondi Massacre: shortly after - the aftermath )

--

( a few weeks later/now a few weeks ago )

While on a field trip, Quinn Morgendorffer is bitten by a strange spider. The next day she finds that she now has new abilities.

fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14543824/1/Spider-Quinn

Archive Of Our Own: https://archiveofourown.org/works/78701331/chapters/206375231

Reviews and or comments are welcome, and would be appreciated.

1st
Ephesians 1

We are the Bride of Christ
Ephesians 5:25 - 28

A faithful presence in a broken, corrupt and sinful world.

The Church that submits to Jesus
vs 1
Paul declared his authority to speak to the Ephesian Christians
vs 3 - 14
The Church - a salvation plan
Is blessed
With every spiritual blessing
To be holy and blameless

Chosen by His love to be
Adopted heirs through His Grace
Redeemed by Christ's blood from sin
Freely given lavish grace

Christ's body

His purpose in Christ to bring unity to all things through redemption and salvation.

Chosen before time
To bring praise for His glory
A promise that is sealed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

vs 16 - 23
Paul rejoices in their faithfullness to God and love for all people.

Set apart
Holy
Blessed
Spirit Filled
Faithful
Active
Hopeful
Committed to each other

Ephesians 5:19, 20
Hebrews 10:24, 25
Acts 2:42

"Lamech, son of Methushael, said to his wives, ‘Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me."

It's disproportionate violence to the imago dei, not merely sanctifying one over the other, but eliminating the other for daring to risk the one.

The ancient world said "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: as you have done, so shall it be done to you". We know the pattern of that through history. Blood feuds. Honour prices. Duels.

Our modern codes demand justice, yes, but part of the intent was to give grace for betterment or improvement. It was not a hand for a hand, nor even a hand for stealing, but a limitation for a while with the chance to make better. And sometimes people did manage to work out how to make better than they'd done.

And sometimes we just returned them to the situations they were in, that turned them back to the practices that got them in trouble, without any attempt to change what went wrong the first time.

Which worked about as well as one would expect.

Anyway, here we are, back at the violence of Lamech of the line of Cain - Cain who was marked by the blood of his brother, one like to him but unlike to him, also. Disproportionate violence to be visited on the 'lesser' - a hand for a injury, a life for an interruption.

Truly, humanity doesn't change, just goes round the block again with a fancier set of tools.

Went boating yesterday with friends. 33C-ish? Bright sun. Blue water. Good days.

I tried my hand at waterskiing again - at 430pm in the afternoon. A bit late for it, I think. After two tries, the skis came off, and I gave up. Earlier in the day, I'd have kept going because I was very nearly up on my feet! But by that stage, I didn't have the energy. Next time, gadget!

I may be a little sunburned, but it's mostly a 'glow' that will fade to a tan within a day or two. Then again, the temps are still pretty warm - today is supposed to be 30C, while tomorrow and Tuesday drop to the low-20s. Back up to 30s again later in the week, and then we settle into late 20s for (hopefully) the rest of the month. That'll make it nice and warm, but not enervatingly hot.

Anyway, I came home around 6pm, showered and washed my hair, played a little CivII, and lay down...

I vaguely remember the sisters on a call with Dad, and possibly removing the cats? I'm not entirely sure about that part. But I did pretty much fall asleep and dream, and then woke up properly around 6am this morning.

My body ached. Oof, waterskiing is hard, a lot of bracing needed. I felt it lightly in my shoulders and my core, that's for sure!

Anyway, I had to be up for some weekend work at 7:30 - about an hour's worth of stuff, standard things, nothing dire - and did some cooking, and a bit more CivII this morning.

Now that it's nearly 2pm, I might lay down for a nap. Again.

When you search by interest on dreamwidth and find a community already exists (in this case, Heated Rivalry). Though I'm a little tempted to make a Scott/Kip specific comm (even though I am already terrible at running the too many comms I have already made) because episode 3/Game Changer have a death grip on me, those two are ENTIRELY too cute.