fardell24 ([personal profile] fardell24) wrote2025-07-13 04:27 pm

Church notes - 13th July 2025

13th
Daniel 6
Darius, like most ancient, and not so ancient, kings and emperors, had delusions of grandeur.
Eunuchs as a way to prevent infidelity.

Deuteronomy 23:1

Was Daniel a eunuch?
Quite likely
2 Kings 20:14 - 18
How would this affect Daniel?
Isaiah 56:3 - 5

God says; "If you humble yourself and come to me, I will accept you."

The Jews were spreading their faith.

Matthew 7:24 - 27
Daniel built on the rock.

Daniel knew in his heart that God was real. He continued praying openly, despite Darius' decree.
fardell24 ([personal profile] fardell24) wrote2025-07-12 07:23 pm
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elayna: (elayna)
elayna ([personal profile] elayna) wrote2025-07-11 11:33 am

Fannish Fifty 2025 #27 Consistency...

Thy name is not Elayna. No, it's really not!

I hadn't thought much about writing until suddenly I had a story in my brain and was writing it. And kept doing that, and at some point I thought, I should probably read some advice on writing. I've read a lot but not studied that much about the actual mechanics of writing. So much advice is "Write What You Know." Really! So much! And I found this sorta stressful! I was a middle-aged female bureaucrat with a job in an 8x8 cubicle, I wanted to write about Jedi in a galaxy far, far away, not what I knew, thank you very much.

But I go through life and I swear, so often I'm thinking, how can I use this in fanfic?

I got a free turkey recently, which had been in a freezer since last November. Normally I cook a turkey once a year, on Thanksgiving, but I didn't want to keep this one for another 4 months. I cooked it yesterday. My brother always carves it on Thanksgiving, so I had to do that myself. I looked up instructions online, and it went fine.

Today I'm boiling the bones with vegetables for turkey stock. It smells absolutely delicious.

And I just keep thinking... who should be roasting a turkey> Thanksgiving or some other time? What do they think about how good it smells? What did they think about carving it and getting grease on their hands? I feel Bucky would snap a glove on his prosthetic hand so the turkey grease wouldn't invade the finger joints. Would Tony find cooking stock an extremely odd thing to do, or would it bring back fond childhood memories of Ana Jarvis?

I seem to be MCU these days.

I don't want to write what I know... except I totally do. EVERYTHING.

/weird writerly ramble
elayna: (Steve Rogers)
elayna ([personal profile] elayna) wrote2025-07-10 06:47 pm

Fannish Fifty 2025 #26 Changing Attitudes

Mine and society's, I guess.

When I was a kid, I watched a lot of movies from the 1940s and 50s. Many of the characters smoked, which looked glamorous to me. I often pretended to smoke with those white candy cigarettes.

Then my parents stopped when I was around 13, and I got to watch first hand the difficulty of breaking an addiction. Also, a health unit at school on smoking showed a picture of a smoker’s lung and ew. Smoking still looked glamorous in movies but the impact in real life very much did not.

I saw The Materialists this week, primarily for my love of Chris Evans. In several early scenes, Dakota Johnson’s character smokes, looking very elegant with how she holds the cigarette. Chris’s character does too, though with less stylistic drama.

And it was so weirdly distracting! I don’t remember the last time I saw a character smoke in a movie set in modern times. All I could think was how nasty those characters must have smelled.

As the movie progresses, both characters stop smoking, like it was just something to give ‘a bit of business’ to their hands until the plot got more intense, but not really supposed to be part of their personality.

I’m very happy attitudes have changed so much toward smoking. I don’t know anyone who smokes. I only smell it when I go to a casino, which always makes me so grateful that California outlaws smoking most places.

I have no clue why the director had those characters smoke, but it seemed like a bad decision to have it and then inconsistent to drop it. I found the movie interesting though a weird mix of jaded cynicism and hopefulness. I don’t know that I’d recommend it, though if you want to watch for Chris, he definitely looked very good. There’s a scene where he has a few lines about love, and the camera stays focused on him the whole time, and I thought: someone must use that in a video. It would be perfect.

Pedro Pascal looks very good too.

So qualified rec. But really, why have main characters smoke? Why? It's a unpleasant habit that kills people.
fardell24 ([personal profile] fardell24) wrote2025-07-09 07:47 pm

Brittany - Cafe of Contention - Part 3

Brittany thought about what DeMartino said as they moved on. That Ms. Li was lining her own pockets wasn’t surprising. But why were his funds meagre?


Brittany, Daria, Andrea and Donna were far from the only students doing fundraising for the Coffee House. They saw another group of students in the distance as they left DeMartino’s neighborhood.

“Is that Quinn and her friends?” Andrea asked.

“Probably,” Daria answered.

“Then we could go a different way?” Donna asked.

“We could,” Brittany said.

“Let’s do so,” Daria said.

“Certainly,” Andrea said.

“We can take up De Martino’s offer and find Mr. O’Neill,” Daria suggested.

“But do we know where he lives?” Andrea asked.

“Yes,” Donna answered.


They headed in that direction.

“Good afternoon,” O’Neill said. “I suppose you’re here for the Coffee House fundraising?”

“Yes,” Brittany answered.

“Excellent.”

“We’re selling holiday wrapping paper and chocolates,” Donna said.

“How wonderful!” O’Neill said. “But of course, I knew that.”

“Are you interested in buying something?” Brittany asked.

“Of course!” O’Neill said.

“Great!” Brittany responded.

“I’ll have some of the wrapping paper,” O’Neill decided.

“Sure!” Brittany said.

“How much?” O’Neill said.

“I’m sure you know,” Daria said.

“Um…”

“You forgot?”

“Um…” The teacher dissembled.

“You did, didn’t you?”

“Yes. But I have a lot to do.”


Daria wasn’t sure what to make of that interaction. But then she had figured that there were things wrong with O’Neill from her first Language Arts class in Lawndale.

“Something on your mind?” Andrea asked.

“Oh, just wondering what might be up with O’Neill,” Daria answered.

“All of us do from time to time,” Donna added.

Daria nodded.


Most of the afternoon went by without further incident.


“How did it go?” Quinn asked when they arrived back at the Morgendorffers.

“Better than I expected,” Daria answered.

“That’s great!” Quinn said.

“Except that we ran into Mr. O’Neill,” Donna said.

“What happened there?”

“Mr. O’Neill forgot how much the wrapping papers were,” Brittany answered.

“Oh,” Quinn said.

“That might mean something,” Daria said.

“That he’s forgetful?” Quinn asked.

“Yes” Daria answered. “But could be something deeper.”

“We also ran into DeMartino,” Donna added.

“How did he react?” Quinn asked.

“How do you think he reacted?” Daria asked.

“In his usual way, ranting about students being more into things other than their classes?” Quinn asked rhetorically.

Daria nodded.

“But otherwise, it was a good afternoon,” Brittany said.

“That’s good,” Quinn said.

“And we achieved something,” Donna added with a smile.

“I didn’t think Daria would make friends here,” Quinn said.

“I was patient and she was willing to take a chance,” Brittany responded.


They went up to Daria’s room.

“This is cool,” Andrea said.

“The previous owners had a psychotic aunt up here,” Daria explained.

“That explains it,” Brittany said.

“I didn’t want a normal room after I saw how this was,” Daria added.

“It does look unique,” Donna said. “It suits you.”

“Thanks,” Daria said.

“It does look cool, now that I think about it,” Brittany said.

Daria smirked.

“But how do you think we’ll use the coffee house?” Andrea asked.

“I’m not sure,” Daria answered.

“A hangout spot?” Brittany asked.

“Obviously,” Donna said.

“With you three, I would,” Daria said. “I might share some of my writing.”

“Cool!” Donna and Brittany said.
melagan: Coffee cup with Atlantis in the rising steam (Default)
melagan ([personal profile] melagan) wrote2025-07-08 03:42 pm

Plot Bunnies! Nooooo I don't need another one!

smaller plot bunny banner


I'm drawn to the idea of Rodney being ordered back to Earth. Only he doesn't want to leave, so he doesn't go back to Earth.

Why not? Because various Pegasus cultures step in. They recognize his value and put up a bidding war for McKay.

I want to see the SGC have to enter the Pegasus bidding war to get Rodney back (because we know the SGC will come to realize that Atlantis can't or won't function without him).

Which begs the next question. What would John do to get him back? The brain ponders...

*weeps* I don't need another bunny right now. How about you? Got any plot bunnies that are jumping up and begging for attention?

Do you side-eye them and pretend they aren't there? Kick them under the bed? Give up and feed them chocolate?
fardell24 ([personal profile] fardell24) wrote2025-07-08 08:35 pm

Spider Quinn 17 Tempestuous Origin of Mysterio Part 7

Ninja Talon hadn’t been waiting long on the Hecuba-Croft’s roof when SpiderGirl arrived. “Ready?” the former asked.

“Of course,” SpiderGirl said. “I’m just worried that she didn’t find anything.”

“Same here. But we will find Jane and the critics anyway.”

“But just searching near the Lake probably wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“Not if it’s done randomly,” Ninja Talon said.

“Another plan?” SpiderGirl asked with a slight giggle. “I’d like to hear it.”

“After we talk with Andrea.”


Andrea saw the two vigilantes enter her room again. “I did find something,” she said.

“Which was?” SpiderGirl asked.

Andrea brought up a document she had compiled the data on. “Someone was seen leaving the Historia at the time, carrying someone else to a manhole nearby.” She then brought up a collage of screenshots.

“So, that proves Jane was taken,” SpiderGirl said after she had had a look.

“It does, but not where she was taken,” Ninja Talon pointed out.

“Too true,” SpiderGirl considered.

“So, what now?” Andrea asked.

“We’ll scout the area now, and return sometime tomorrow for more intensive search,” SpiderGirl decided.

“I agree,” Ninja Talon said.

“Let me know how it goes,” Andrea said. “I’ll be at the Historia for morning tea.”

“Great!” Ninja Talon said.


Up on the roof the heroes paused. “Which way?” Ninja Talon asked. “By the Creek, or along the road?”

“Probably the Creek, but what do you think?”

“The Creek would have more cover, if he’s looking out for us.”

“He probably wouldn’t be, in the middle of the night,” SpiderGirl said. “But we’ll be careful anyway.”

They then swung away.

Read More )
tielan: (SGA - Teyla 2)
tielan ([personal profile] tielan) wrote2025-07-08 11:53 am
Entry tags:

work contract renewed

Well, I have employment to March next year. Which is interesting, because usually it would be until January - ie. "6 months". That said, they will be getting 6 months out of me because of the vacation. So...

Anyway, continued employment (shy of colossally screwing up) is assured. Huzzah.
intothisshadow: Mosaic window (Default)
Ariane ([personal profile] intothisshadow) wrote2025-07-07 02:32 pm

Question of the Day

So I had totally forgotten these question of the day montly things by [personal profile] spiffikins at https://spiffikins.dreamwidth.org/1251745.html that I was in the habit of posting my answers to last year *headdesk*

This set I was supposed to post last October! Better late than never...? ... yah.

October

1. What Rites of Passage Have You Participated In?

I count going to a vocational or business school or somesuch or university after the basic aducation to be one, so that's sure one!

I can't think of other ones.

2. Will Humans Live on Mars In Our Lifetime?

Within my lifetime (I'm 50)? Nope.

3. Do/Did You Ever Hang Out at the Mall?

Nope. My friends and I always conducted our business and then went somewhere more quiet and/or interesting.

4. Do You Unknowingly Submit to Peer Pressure?

Yes.

5. Is Breakfast Really the Most Important Meal of the Day?

Health authorities say it is, but I'm not convinced... I've always had problems eating in the morning; I'm just not hungry and have no appetite before midday.