fred_mouse

Following an IRL conversation with chaosmanor, an incomplete list of communities I follow. My profile tells me I'm a member of 72, and a subscriber for 132. I am not even contemplating attempting to rationalise that at the moment; that is not where my head is at. I have limited this to (mostly) those I'm a member of, where there has been at least some activity that I've engaged with this year, and that I think there is value in promoting. At the point I'm writing this, I have no idea whether I'm going to end up with a small number (unlikely), thirty odd (my prediction), or nearly the full set of 72.

aside to chaosmanor: the 'community' I mentioned is ao3cotd, which it turns out is not a community, but, um, the word I'm looking for is not 'user', but it's not not that, if you know what I mean.

beautifulmechanical - a laid back community for sharing music. Most posts are a single song, usually a video.
bitesizedcleaning - cleaning focused supportive community for those with limited spoons (and friends!)
c_ent - umbrella community for c-ent fanworks & general discussion (I lurk)
common_nature - photos of plants, animals, places, etc.
fancake - my go-to source for community sourced general fandom recs.
fandomcalendar - my source of general fandom happenings; links to multiple other communities as relevant
fandomsecrets - like postsecret, but fannish. Occasional discourse.
fictional_fans - sandbox where anything fannish goes. Originally created as a safe place to experiment with how DW communities work, now a real community.
findthatbook - low volume community geared at finding half remembered books. Somewhat successful.
gluten_free - sharing GF recipes, foods, reviews.
meta_warehouse - at the moment the majority of posts are links to meta on other sites.
queerly_beloved - queer focused. At the moment the posts are Thursday recs, where you can talk about anything queer (or queer adjacent) that you wish to recommend.
readingtogether - for parallel play reading challenges. There is a month long November challenge, and then whatever anyone wants to set up.
recthething - another rec community, typically recent stuff, more likely to have fanart* than fancake. Also allows requests for recommendations
thestoryinside - another reading community! This one runs on a monthly cycle; if you sign up you get paired with someone, then you pick three books from their TBR and they pick three from yours, with the goal of reading one of the selections.
threeforthememories - only open for three weeks in January, you get to post three photos from the previous year.
unclutter - decluttering support

... that bit about not tidying up my subscriptions while I was doing this? Yeah, apparently I have no idea how many spoons I have, and opening up all the community profiles so that I could remember what they all are meant I looked at some and did approximately WTAF past me?

* the award for today's WTAF autocarrot: fanart --> canary

For those who aren't already aware of it, holiday_wishes is a community that runs at this time of year (until some time in December? I am a little vague) where people post wishlists and other people attempt to fulfil them. Most of the wishlist items are virtual; some people will post a link to a wishlist at an online retailer or ask for specific items.

The community opened for the yesterday, and I'm having a great time reading people's requests. I can't fulfil the vast majority of the fannish requests, and I have learnt from past incompetence not to attempt to post anything. But I love seeing what makes people happy, and I will go wandering through parts of the internet seeing if I can answer a request.

I don't post a wishlist -- I did that once or twice, and I find it stressful (thinking of multiple things to ask for! Remember to respond to people!)

Instead I'm going to ask here. Does anyone have useful resources on a) teaching oneself to play piano (this is for a friend; I taught myself piano a long time pre-internet, and don't know how to start for someone who doesn't already read music) and b) using ipad drawing programs (needs to start at the very basics, I have forgotten almost everything I knew about drawing, and faced with the blank screen do some noodling, and then can't remember what it was I learnt last time). For the drawing -- learning how to draw objects of any description would be good. My pencil on paper art style is very very abstract, and doesn't translate to the ipad.

Oh! and c) tell me what your most memorable book of 2023 (or other 'recent time period' of your choosing) was. I think I'm going to post this question over at fictional_fans, and I'm umming and ahing over 'do it now, while I think of it' and 'try and wait until the end of the year'. I may or may not use such a list as a starting point for 2024

heard_community is a new DW community for people who intend to keep wearing masks after mask mandates go away, and who want a bit of solidarity and support. In particular, one of the things is to help people deal with being Strange In Public, for those who haven't previously had to deal with that.

Today on Facebook

the committee for the local science fiction convention has announced that they are cancelling for this year, based on medical advice and the likely timeline for peak cases in WA. People are disappointed, but making respectful commentary praising the committee's decision. Note, no 'community consultation', just cancelled outright. ^
Youngest's school has cancelled the student trip to NASA without consulting parents, and (some number of) said parents are screaming in the FB parent group about how dare they and why shouldn't the kids go they've been dreaming about it for ages.

Meanwhile, artisanat is coming back from Melbourne (on a plane as I type), having been at a three day dancing workshop; Youngest and I are going to Melbourne mid-April so that they can attend a three day skate camp; Youngest, artisanat, and I have tickets for Canada in early- to mid-May. I was worrying that the last of these might be risking not being able to get back in to the country, but given that Australia now has 93 cases to Canada's 67, I'm not so worried about that any more.

More people have recovered than are current cases, although I recognise that that may well be because the peak in China is going to be well before the peak in other locations. And yet I'm worried about the so many at risk friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers who can't do the same due diligence that they do for flu, because the vaccination option just isn't there.

^ and I want to add how proud of them for this decision. It takes the burden off our vulnerable community members making the choice between being part of the community or staying home (or being excluded, yet again), by meaning that we all have the same consequence in this space, regardless of our health status.

One of the comments that appears randomly around DW has to do with community feeling and visibility. In order to promote a bit of visibility for the communities I'm a member of, and maybe increase that community feeling for a few people, here is my list of communities I'm a member of (n=35!). There are also a number of communities that I subscribe to but am not a member of -- if I remember, I'll do a post on those tomorrow. These have been grouped by level of activity. I've used the 'community description' from the profile pages (if there is one), with maybe some additional details of my own in parentheses.

( wow, this got long ... )

[apologies to anyone who wades through this - I don't appear to be able to filter to 'interesting' and have resorted to 'everything in approximately chronological order']

Intensely busy weekend, where there were some optional activities I could have noped out of, but decided not to. Body has, of course, rebounded on me, with last night's slight headache (it will go while I sleep) has arced up into a 'cannot safely drive on the freeway/does not respond enough to paracetamol' monster*. I threw many things at it at about 7 am, then crawled back to bed. Have awoken just shy of noon, and tried the 'and coedeine' and a cup of (cold) coffee option. Am more coherent, so attempting to journal, which I haven't done for a while.

( many many details )

Following on from the dreadful weather that hit the US east coast and nearby locales earlier in the year,

james put out a request for patchwork squares to contribute to a donatable quilt. The request was for blue, 12.5" squares, and I set myself a deadline (which I slightly overran) of however many I could finish in a two week period. This was partly because I was in a 'no new projects' state, and partly because I had no perception of how long it might take for the completed patches to wing their way half way around the world, and did not wish to push my luck.

In the end, I think I took 3 weeks, and then I parcelled up the three completed squares and various trimmings, and sent them on their way.

Completed patches:

cream background with three blue patchwork squares. one has arrows pointing around a central square, one combines triangles to make diamonds and larger triangles, and one is a hodgepodge of left over pieces

( details of the project )

Reminded by a post by chaosmanor:

Anyone who would like a seasonal card/treat sent/brought, comment or PM me with contact details and any pertinent information (preferred seasonal event, address, if you want it to be a postcard, etc). I'm not making promises that they will get to all destinations in a timely manner, as I'm pretty sure I've missed seamail for everywhere including north america, but they will get there.

Comments *should* be screened, but I haven't tried using that feature from the iPad before, and I have occassional glitches with the interface.

And this can be extended to "such and such would be cheered up a postcard from a complete stranger, send zer one please!".

(note: I'm a lapsed pagan in a mostly atheist household with a partner who grew up in a Christian tradition and kids who don't care about the religious aspects, they just want presents. I'm reasonably comfortable with tailoring observances to the audience).

A and I are talking about going along to the following. Does anyone want to meet us there/come along with us?

On Sunday, August 16th 2009, join families, friends and community members who support same-sex and gender diverse couples at our community picnic and support day, “Families for Freedom”. Wear something bright or rainbow coloured, and bring a rainbow umbrella if you can find one (you never know - it may rain on our parade!)

Why are we gathering together?

This August, Senator Hanson-Young will be presenting a bill to repeal the ban on same-sex marriage, and to redefine marriage and family as an institution of love, not discrimination, that should be open to all those who have a committed, loving relationship.

Families are about more than gender balances, they are about providing a supportive, loving support network for each other and for our children. We want to show our support for this bill, and its potential to change the law to reflect the true diversity of Australian families.

Join with us, and show our gay, lesbian and gender alternative loved ones that we love them for who they are, and that we support their right to have their relationships treated equally.

Date: Sunday, 16th Aug 09
Time: 11am - 2pm
Location: Cottesloe Beach Foreshore

recently,

baby_elvis made a post encouraging people to put themselves on the Bone Marrow Donor registry. Today, I made the effort to investigate doing so. (see here for details). Unfortunately, of the five points that I must do to join, I fail on three* (although one of those is easily fixable). Thus, I can't do it. But I'm hoping that if I post this message, it will either prompt someone else to join up (the only extra restriction on top of the standard blood donation ones that I'm aware of is that you have to be under 40) or to pass the message on.

If I ever stop being tired, I have every intention of thinking about it again.

* 2) being willing to give a blood donation - I've never been acceptable. I've failed so many different questions over the years, but I'm pretty sure I still fail now. 4) being in good health. 5) having read the official donor brochure

Communities

Holiday wishes community / wishlist

Community for mask wearers

Covid-19 is doing my head in

Community pimp post

survived the weekend, but

November completed craft: patchwork squares

Seasonal cards/treats

who wants to live forever?

bone marrow registry

Profile

April 2026

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