It was a rough start to a good day. Once again the first DexCom I put on failed (this is the second time in 2 weeks) Lost my cute patch, pulled it off, once again a sensor wire lost in my arm (I sure hope these are NOT magnet reactive when I have my next MRI) SO much blood too when I pulled this off. The second one is fine but dammit that's 2 duds and that's like 600$ lost.


So last year the guy who started a small pop culture con at my university also started a tiny renn faire. Last year it rained but TH and I went. This year it was hot and sunny and I dressed, picked TH up at the university and we went up there. MUDDY because it rained for the last 5 days but it was fun.

They have a juggling show...and that's about the only entertainment other than a Punch and Judy puppet show run by my former work friend L. (but since she's been annoying me and TH we pretended we didn't see her and that'll fly since she was up with all the kid games and we didn't go there)

Other than that it's food trucks and vendors. The GyrOH place (which has a brick and mortar in Gallipolis and gives Rio staff/student 25% off) was my choice, that and the specialty lemonade stand (32 oz of Shark Attack lemonade (strawberry, raspberry and gummy sharks)).

There was A LOT of 3-D printed stuff (that were obviously printed off the same pattern because like 4 shops had the exact thing but the one with the gryphon...I should have bought it). There were jewelers, a couple of witch shops, there was the wheat wench (bread), fudge vendors (didn't do it) but I DID go for the local couple who do interesting jellies and do the Rio farmer's market (never when I've been there) including dandelion, red clover, goldenrod and a whole range of boozy jellies. I picked up the golden rod (out of curiosity) and garlic (which I know I can make glazes from)

Several of the same vendors from MothMan were there, including my former student who we want to teach Yoga for us.

I did find one I have NOT seen before P. House Games I do love games. I almost bought the dream game but I did get the cryptid hunter card game but more important, they were open to me talking to them down the road. I REALLY would love to try to come up with a physiology game for labs (there needs to be ones other than ones geared to the immune system) since gamification is big in teaching now. If nothing else they have artist contacts and know how to put out a board game. That seems useful.

I did pick up dandelion tea from my local tea dealer (she also works at the university) I am a dandelion fan (probably need to worry about the vitamin K) the tea will probably be gross tasting, or at least a li ttle bitter but I'm interested in the other health benefits of dandelion.

Picked up some Christmas gifts too and hey I finished a fandomgiftbasket story that I really like. tried to do some art requests. watched canva tutorials on blending and layering. no help. Hell the things they told me to click on didn't even exist. So sorry art requests. Ain't happening.

Watched the first episode of Law & Order Toronto. It wasn't bad. Will watch more. Mom and I are stumbling our way thru the first season of Hudson & Rex. Well at least the dog is cut (otherwise this is not great)


It's science saturday

Groundbreaking' gene therapy is first treatment for Huntington's disease to slow the condition this is major. Huntington is a horrible disease. I had Huntington patients and honestly they still haunt me.


Recycled glass could help fend off coastal erosion

Tug or fetch? Some dogs sort toys by how they are used

What happens if pregnant women stop taking Tylenol? In other words do not listen to Trump and RFK but we knew that

Swapping old immune cells in the brain with fresh ones could treat disease fascinating

that I have BIG classes this semester and if I put all the tests on one day, I'll be working for hours to grade it all in one night. That was my entire day.

That and finding out one of my EOBs was a denial for my DexCom monitors and I wrote and asked them WHY they denied a claim from the company they INSISTED I use. I hope that gets straightened out because that's 1000$ to me if they don't.

We needed rain bad. We're now on day 4 and flooding. fantastic. Lost my power third day in a row too. It was raining inside my building again. Also someone turned on the heat. Again. It was 77 when I showed up to work outside so WHY the heat is on....


I did manage to finish a fandomgiftbasket story but I'm worried that it's toeing the DNW list (Jealousy is one request but so is no other pairings other than listed...)



What I Just Finished Reading:

Nothing Special vol 2 - a fantasy webtoon, it's cute

Jaws - I needed as J and one of my dentists handed me this to read. Someone's thesis on why there is so much malocclusion. Riveting (no, it's not)



What I am Currently Reading:

Cards on the Table - Agatha Christie - a good reminder she was a woman of her time and that Italians were NOT liked well in the 20s and 30s The victim seems to have deserved to die because Dagos are shifty and untrustworthy....it's not in there much but it was there in the beginning and I set this aside for years and now it's back about mid way in...

Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World - imagine Gavin or Lindsey trying to get promoted at Wolfram and Hart and you more or less have it. It's interesting but it's hard to root for Colin since he's actively evil and petty


What I Plan to Read Next: I'm so behind on my challenges. something for that.

It's Mabon here in the north. It's my favorite time of year. It was not off to a good start today but you know what? It's all just minor work stuff and it'll work itself out.

I don't understand what Rybelsus did to me but ever since I took it just for those 3 days (and it took another 3 to recover) it seemed to reset me. My diabetes is doing good, blood sugar down to normal levels. I know it won't last and it makes me sad I couldn't deal with the side effects. It would be nice not to have to worry about all the damage done from the high sugars.

Had the authors' zoom tonight. It was a short one but that's okay because storms were raging around and I got a lot of words and I finished my second wipbigbang which is great. Now to get moving on other things. Too much to do.

And I got a request for my bio and buy links from the cryptid anthology I'm in. Finally. Still no release date.

So Mothman festival (pictures like all my pictures coming eventually). Last year I went on Saturday but my friend TH wanted to come with me this year and he couldn't go until Sunday. You know what, SO much better. On Saturday even getting there are 830 (it starts at 10) there was NO parking. Had to park blocks away (for some reason I wish I knew why, pre covid we had to park 2.5 miles in Krodel park but there were buses to the fest, now you still have to park there and WALK to town. No way)

But since Sunday had no 5K mothrun we got to park in the handicapped lot (which I doubt anyone knew existed because very few others asked the boys to move the blockage and let them in. I'm not shy about that). Last year everything was open before 10 (thank you racers) but yesterday no one was expect Silver Bridge coffee (my local favorite brand) I got caught and me and TH sat at a sidewalk table talking until things opened.

It was cool then (ended up around 90 by noon though) We left before 1 and the talks started but let's face it, I'm getting old and TH is several years older than me and it was getting hot. How many Bigfoot talks can we go to?!? We dipped out on that.

So it was a nice few hours of shopping around (and me showing him the new stores because he's a homebody and didn't even know about these stores) It's good. The town is recovering a little and it's great to see and for perspective, Point Pleasant has about 4,000 people. The festival had nearly 40K. Yeah.

Did I get much? No, oddly enough not as much as I usually do but again how much more crap do I need? I got some pins from the guy with popculture stuff, a couple fridge magnets, one book on creepy florida (ha, didn't expect that!) and two more cds from Nox Arcana whom I love. And some more infused maple syrup from the sellers I buy from every year.

I ran into a former student and we'll hopefully by hiring her on as part of the wellness committee to teach yoga.

Lunch was special...bad special, delicious but bad from coal miner diner, a hot dog with cheese, bacon, fried pickles and slaw. I felt SO much better after that and that caused me concern. I think my BP has been low (another sign I might have a slow bleed ulcer) I mean think of all the salt in that. It made me feel good so it raised my pressure up.

I saw storm troopers, ghost busters, men in black, mothmen, the hodag (another cryptid I lived in his town) and the hot new cryptid this year was the Squonk! That's right, the one I was going to his festival in July but had to house sit. He's also in the other cryptid story I wrote that I'm still waiting to hear (I hope they're not one of those we're never telling you you didn't get in) I didn't buy any squonk stuff. Maybe next year if my story gets taken in.

TH is looking at me like I'm crazy because I'm like hey Vendor, saw you at the Kecksburg fest, yo how was the bigfoot fest. No, not crazy but I am deeply weird.


It's just a free for all Music Monday share whatever makes your weird little heart happy. I'll go first.

For Mabon -


and here's the album I bought

I had thoughts about this, especially after the mothman festival so you can wait til tomorrow for that. And then the storm hit. My power went out. I wrote 3K in under 2 hours (so I can see what I'm capable of and what I USED to be capable of pre-social media) and then the power came back and I saw posts about two states trying to make it mandatory that all universities have a memorial to Charlie Kirk and my brain died of the stupid. (though I hope they do it and it fucking blows up in their faces) So instead have some links while my apartment cools back down (because omg why did it hit 89 again today)

OPEN CALL

Christmas Ghosts Short Stories Seasonal ghosts and spirits for Christmas

Horned Lark Press is open for Science Fiction and fantasy novellas Science fiction and fantasy novellas

Wars in the Stars Short Stories space stories that burst with imagination… and war!

In the Words of a Flower All stories should incorporate an aspect of floriography, the language of flowers. (deadline is this week. Too bad I didn't see this when it opened, it could have been interesting)

Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores October 2025 Window

94 Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers

30 Magazines and Anthologies Publishing Horror Fiction




From Around the Web


THE URBAN LEGEND THAT ATE MY STORY: How Folklore Fuels My Fiction. This is true of me

How I Write by Eugen Bacon

How a Character’s Personality Shapes Arc, Voice, and Goals

How to Polish Your First 5 Pages for Agents

How To Push Past The Fear of Never Getting Published

Craft Lessons from Reading Hundreds of Short Stories


From Betty

Six Wordcraft Questions Writers Fight Over

What a Panic on Twitter Revealed About Writers Today

So, Your Fantasy World Is Based on D&D


Five Important Ways Romances Engage Readers

5 Strategies to Pacing Your Dialogue

5 Ways to Manage Reader Expectations

How to Polish Your First 5 Pages for Agents

Writing for Children

How to Describe Characters

How to Show Your Character’s Repressed Emotions

What If No One Ever Publishes My Work?”

11 Successful Query Letter Examples for Writers in Various Genres

Writers: How to Read Email Reports to Improve Your Newsletters and Book Sales

How a Character’s Personality Shapes Arc, Voice, and Goals

Because the day was boring and I'm still unwell so have fiction



Title: Something to Make My Heart Beat the Faster

Summary: Charlie has decided to make a more in depth infomercial for the hotel. Alastor’s input is to add a little melodrama to it as well to showcase the idea of self-sacrifice as a path to redemption, volunteering Husk for the short movie. Angel can’t wait and he has ideas of his own for how this should go. He’s the movie expert, after all.

Rating: mature

Notes: Written for spikegirl58’s six word challenge. The six words were Wet, Implied, Thirsty, Dress, Grumpy & Surprise. These words couldn’t have been more perfect for a story inspired by (and spoilers for) the S2 teaser if they had tried. Also written for the allbingo prompt of rum and the lyrical titles bingo challenge for the prompt a pre-1950s song. I chose All the Things You Are, originally written for a 1939 musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammestein and covered by many. This version if by Ella Fitzgerald.

This is definitely a spoiler for that little teaser trailer for S2 so read or not accordingly if you don’t want even a hint of spoiler.

( Story at the above link or under the cut )

Goodbye For Now 光渊 | Justice in the Dark


Dressed To Kill Torchwood

Chance Meeting Doctor Who

You Are Perfect Final Fantasy XV

Trouvaille The Owl House

Crazy For Trying Torchwood

In At The Deep End FAKE

You're Too Sweet For Me Hazbin Hotel

Freeze Frames Hazbin Hotel

Power to the People Stargate Atlantis

Making Something from Nothing Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis

A Weapon of His Making Hazbin Hotel

Score: i√2 to 𓅧 Elementary

DVD Commentary for Score: Q to 12 Elementary

The Aftershow The Amazing Digital Circus

Barely Holding On Torchwood

A Better Man Buffy the Vampire Slayer

C is for.... Conductor Stargate Atlantis

who cares (i'm fine) The Amazing Digital Circus

My sugar crashed out hard but I'm fine. So the drug is lowering my sugar (yay) but it's tearing up my stomach (boo). I'll stick it out a little longer. It took me a couple weeks to adjust to gabapentin after all. But if the GERD gets worse I'll have to give up.

Got a letter from the hospital because they don't know phones apparently. They scheduled my abdominal ct scan at 7 pm on the first. Okay I love that they HAVE a night appointment for those who work. On the other hand I live over an hour away...I'll call them and see if it can be a thursday.

My dentist called monday to reschedule. I keep calling back and no one returns that call.

Aspen called me and the girl keeps repeating what I wrote about them, as if trying to....I'm not sure. You don't need to repeat what I said. I know what I said. I appreciate the apology but I am keeping my eye on you. Also they tried to blame the other Aspen in PA which fair, they didn't reach out to me. Eye roll.


I got my spook_me prompts.

For cannibal I got
one and
two Not sure which one to use, probably one


And for Graveyard I got
one and
https://public.fotki.com/trillingstar/spook-me/spook-me-2025/graveyard-8.html I'm leaning toward two for this one

What I Just Finished Reading:

Wrong Side of the Grave - Bryna Butler mothman as an alien...she's a local author


What Moves the Dead - T. Kingfisher a very cool, queer coded retelling of the Fall of the House of Usher

The Road to Strange: Travel Tales of the Paranormal and Beyond by Rosemary Ellen Guilley and Michael Brein, one of the last thing I bought from her at a Mothman festival before her passing. I wish this were more interesting.



What I am Currently Reading:

Nothing Special vol 2 - a fantasy webtoon, it's cute

Jaws - I needed as J and one of my dentists handed me this to read. Someone's thesis on why there is so much malocclusion. Riveting (no, it's not)

Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World - imagine Gavin or Lindsey trying to get promoted at Wolfram and Hart and you more or less have it. It's interesting but it's hard to root for Colin since he's actively evil and petty


What I Plan to Read Next: I'm so behind on my challenges. something for that. I've lost track of where I put the books. I mean I know they're in the computer room but what box did I stick them in?

Last night before bed, I put on my new Dexcom. It synchs and I cover it with a cute jellyfish cover. I'm waiting out the 25 minute start up time while I read in bed. It starts screaming. WTF? It failed. Sigh. I have to burn the cute jellyfish cover because I have to remove the defective dexcom (there's 300$ down the drain) the wire sensor is gone...again. Next time I have a MRI so many of these pieces of wire are so getting ripped out of my arm.

So I woke up early (as I do like twice a night) I took my Rybelsus, went back to bed, woke up an hour later with nausea. STILL nauseous 14 hours later. Burping up a ton of acid too. Worse, I'm dizzy. I haven't had that one with a GLP1 before. It does say that it should get better. I'm going to try to stick it out a week. Maybe I'll get used to it (Might call the endocrinologist and ask, hey can I take this when I got to bed and sleep off several hours of this bullshit).

But hey I'll lose weight because I can't fucking eat. Ugh

There was more b.s. at work today that is making all of us lose it. (It shouldn't have happened and impacted our students. it'll get fixed but still)

I noticed a strange color to one of my toe nails under the polish which I wanted to remove and redo one last time before fall. Yep, like I thought, the new cross trainers which made the tip of my big toe ache. Sure enough both nails (right > left) have leukonychia, white spots from the pressure. i.e. it's trauma. bah. Next time I'm in Chillicothe I'm going to try and get another pair of tennis shoes and keep these ones back for places I don't have to be on my feet all day (because they are cool looking and are comfortable except for the right toe which yeah is now traumatized. I better not get a fungal nail from this.

This is the second time mail hasn't been in my mail box after the USPS has scanned it in so I know it's coming. I'm getting annoyed and wondering if someone has been in there.

Oh and that whole 'oh your loans will automatically renew with the IRB' thing? Bullshit. My loan repayment was 4 times what it was last month. Screams into the void.

I had previously rescheduled my allergist and psychiatrist appointments, the former being today. Scheduled them right in the middle of class. Had to redo that. I am so done right now.

it's music monday and we're doing music that inspires you. For the next month or so, let's do one song that inspires us to draw or write. If you're not a creative, share one song that's making you happy right now. I wrote Master of Puppets

So here is the song for that