Viridian5's House of "...What?"

I can feel it coming / the morning light

2026-07-09T07:19:34Z

Something brought "People Are People" back to my mind, so I borrowed Depeche Mode's The Singles 81>85 from the Queens library system. I hadn't heard some of these songs in ages, since I had their earlier albums on cassettes but didn't rebuy all of them on CDs. Some of the music sounds like toy music these decades later due to the synthesizers being used, and the songs sound brighter, partly as an '80s thing and partly as the band's shift into darker sounding stuff mostly happened later. I still remember my surprise when 2013's Delta Machine had a low end that sometimes made my car's speakers buzz.

It's nostalgic and sometimes a bit funny. This singles album also reminds me that while it's not something Depeche Mode is primarily known for, they've been writing occasional, somewhat political "message" songs their whole career, no matter what some disgruntled listeners of 2017's Spirit had to say about it on Amazon.com, but you know what the "what can't they leave politics that aren't mine out of music and stick to fluffy stuff!" crowd is like.

Speaking of Spirit, here's one of my favorite songs from it, a love song.

I tend to have a preference for songs that tell a story or paint specific images of times and places, something evocative. The first stanza of "Cover Me" sure does that for me. The music also takes you places and has a cinematic feel.

Though you guys can rarely hear my music the way I do, since I often sing along with the melody or harmonize on a lot of songs. With Depeche Mode, I'm singing right with Dave Gahan or with Martin Gore, or creating my own harmonies on some lines and/or putting it into a register of my own. For "Cover Me," it's a mix of Dave and one of my own registers, with occasional harmony to what Dave's singing.

If anyone had told me in the '80s that Depeche Mode would still be a band and still be putting out music I find interesting over 40 years later, I would've been so surprised.

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viridian5 @ 2026-07-09T01:13:00

2026-07-09T05:38:59Z

Now that I've figured out the current iOS's way of making wallpapers, I'm going hogwild. I loved my June one, and I figure on bringing it back at some point, but for now it's this, which turned out interesting.

( screenshots )

Ah, the red and the blue. I also think it's funny that the weather app on the lockscreen is situated over the reflection of a window across the street and looks deliberately done. I'm annoyed though that for some reason the wallpaper's colors aren't as vivid as in the original photo, especially on the home etc. version. (The colors are very vivid in the original photo when seen on my iPhone but less so off it.)

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Denied

2026-07-08T06:37:08Z

I lost the turtle dangle from my car's keyfob today. Well, I didn't lose it.

I had a dental appointment. Everyone I dealt with there today was doing the amateur hour version of their jobs, just miserable and frustrating throughout--for example, the X-ray tech first tried to have me do an X-ray I didn't need yet and thus wouldn't be covered by my insurance, then for the X-rays we did his attention was obviously more on the World Cup match playing on a TV in the next room--so maybe I should've expected the valet to as well....

( Read more... )

It's not worth any real money, obviously, but I love this cute little thing and it had real sentimental value for me. The store I bought it from doesn't carry it or anything like it anymore; I checked today. I'm not seeing anything directly comparable online and they're all more expensive too somehow.

My guess is that when he put the valet ID tag on the keyring, he took the pendant off or it came off and then he just... fucked off. It's not such a small piece that you wouldn't notice, so it's not like he could've just overlooked it. I think what bothers me most is just that this didn't have to happen.

( photos )

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And if you come to understand

2026-07-07T08:05:27Z

From reeby10:
Put your mp3 player/phone/streaming collection on shuffle and write down the first line of the first twenty songs. Post the poem that results.

It's the dark night of my soul
I'm so glad that you decided to come
Sell the kids for food
This whiskey sour
You'll be the killer
Data trails
Finger food and an ice-cold keg
You know I never meant to see you
Memories consume
Soldier
Loving you isn't the right thing to do
I've got to take a little time
I belong here where the world ends
We don't need no education
Infinity ...infinity?
One mile in the air, that's where she lives
Blink and you miss a beat

( song titles and artists )

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This time I heard "Love Is the Drug" by Roxy Music playing at the Plainview Trader Joe's. I am so curious about the person doing this.

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You see dimensions in two

2026-07-06T04:34:26Z

Discord on Desktop wasn't opening for me for two days, but then I went to a troubleshooting website, did one of the things, and now I'm back. I Ended Task on all the Discord stuff in Task Manager, which fixed the problem.

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I had a somewhat weird brain thing last night. Macy's decided not to set off the July 4th fireworks near Midtown, so Queens wouldn't get to see any, so I drove a friend around last night with us looking for homegrown, personal, illegal Queens fireworks or trying to get a view of downtown Manhattan where the Macy's fireworks were. We were on a deadline, so I had to figure out places to go in real time while driving instead of stopping and using my phone's map as I sometimes do for routes and live traffic conditions. I could feel my brain tilting and turning my mental road map as I figured out routes and locations while driving. I don't often have to change directions and destinations often enough and fast enough for it to be that noticeable.

My phone may have destroyed my memory for retaining phone numbers, but my map and direction sense (in areas I know) remain keen. (I am not someone who can instinctually know where, say, west is.)

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OMG

2026-07-04T03:52:59Z

After about half a year, a friend asking about my LiveJournal led me to contacting LJ Help instead of trying and failing to figure out a solution myself to why I was now only allowed to make Private posts, no Public, through the FAQ. Turns out I needed to turn off Cyrillic services at the settings page. Who knew? Not me.

But is turning off Cyrillic services why I now can't leave a comment on a Russian friend's LJ? I don't want to contact LJ Help again so soon, also while figuring out a delicate way to ask if this is why I'm now prohibited from interacting with Russian LJ users.

I turned Cyrillic back on and tried to comment, but it still wouldn't let me do it. ~sigh~ Has turning it off once revealed me forever more?

(Will she now be prohibited from commenting on my LJ if I start posting new things there again?)

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Also! I got an AO3 comment on one of my recent fics. The first comment in two months on anything new of mine. (The other few were rereads of old fics by longtime readers, which I very much appreciate, but it'd be nice to get something on a recent work.) I am initially cautious, because my spambot to actual comment ratio for the last several months is stupidly high on the spambot side. It's talking about the actual story, omg!

Then it revealed itself as another "I have art for you, contact me at a different site" spambot.

I kicked myself twice, the second time for getting hopeful.

It's already been scrubbed off AO3 by someone else, so I assume I'm not the only one it spammed.

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With where Macy's decided to situate its fireworks barges this year, Queens won't get to see jack. I had some thoughts about going somewhere to catch them--Brooklyn for Macy's? Long Island for their own local stuff?--but not with this heat. I'm not getting in my car early to try to avoid traffic and then try to find somewhere comfortable nearby to spend the hours waiting.

Hopefully some Queens locals will let off some illegal personal stuff to make up for it... and won't get harassed and found by the NYPD police drones.

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viridian5 @ 2026-07-03T04:40:00

2026-07-03T08:43:04Z

All my talk of shopping for new podiatrist-approved sneakers, seeing if I can take advantage of any July 4th sales, that's not happening because it's too hot to live and will continue to be until at least Monday. With my Chiari, I fall apart in the heat, so I can barely move indoors or outdoors, especially before darkness falls.

When I am going outside, I'm wearing the SAS walking shoes since my left sneaker is too busted.

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"Private Firmament" [Encanto gen]

2026-07-02T07:14:58Z

Encanto gen: “Private Firmament” [@ AO3]
RATING: PG.
SUMMARY: While awake late one night, after Casita’s fall, Mirabel goes looking for company and ends up on the roof sharing a sunrise with Tío Bruno.
NOTES: Thank you to akira17 for beta.

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Inside (2023)

2026-07-01T04:59:12Z

I decided to take a chance on a movie I could watch for free on my cable's On Demand, choosing Inside (2023), featuring Willem Dafoe as a high-end art thief whose heist goes wrong and gets trapped in the luxury penthouse apartment he was trying to burgle, slowly losing his mind from deprivation and isolation. The movie is 99% a one-man show, but I thought Dafoe could make it interesting.

He often does, but sometimes the movie just meanders too much.

There are some plot boost moments, ( spoilers )

This movie also led to me discovering that you now need to create an account at imdb to see full reviews. Boo.

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I fell for you

2026-06-30T06:23:43Z

It's weird having an "appointment TV" night again because it's been so rare the last few years. Sundays I'm watching The Vampire Lestat, House of the Dragon, and Last Week Tonight. (Though Last Week Tonight will be off for a few weeks in the near future.) I used to have "appointment TV" nights several nights a week.

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I'm still writing WIPs.

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These days I've been reading a lot of Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia fic on AO3 but not interacting with anyone. (How do people even do that when going into new-to-them fandoms anymore?)

Which I why I have a question with no one to answer it: Is there a canon reason why Shindo Yo is the villainous other man in so many Bakugo/Deku fics or is he just someone who "won" the fanon lottery? I mean, he's not just the other man, he's often evil about it, manipulative and/or abusive. I'm not deep into canon lore, but what I've seen of him in it is just that he can be cocky sometimes.

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I recently went to a different New Balance store and tried on yet another kind of sneaker there with the kind of sole I need. And once again my feet hated them too much for me to buy! This time the part of the foot the sneaker hurt was the back of my foot near the top of the shoe. When I asked the saleswoman if it felt like this because I was accustomed to my broken-in sneakers and if this will get better with wear, she answered that the sneakers have a metal piece inside some cushioning there "for better stability." So, it won't get better. So, I didn't buy them either.

When you try six pairs of different New Balance sneakers and something doesn't work for you in every single pair, it's time to stop trying New Balance.

Meanwhile, the left sneaker of my current eight-month-old Easy Spirit pair has broken down even further and become more painful to wear. I'm mostly wearing my SAS walking shoes that don't have stiff soles and feeling how much more my feet and ankles move around due to their flexibility, so I need to get new stiff-soled sneakers immediately, even if I need to go for Easy Spirit again.

I just have to try to survive the heat to go out shopping for shoes. It's going to be about 100ºF/37.78ºC for two days this week, and it's already in the upper 80sºF now. When I called my local mall's Foot Locker this Sunday, they claimed they have Hokas and wide widths, though when I tried them in person last summer they claimed they didn't carry wide widths; I have to decide if it's worth going there to take a chance on it. (I also hate the look of Hokas.)

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A few things

2026-06-25T04:46:28Z

I finally received news that my Medicaid was recertified through four different envelopes Saturday. Their claiming it was done June 1 is bullshit because when I called June 13 I was told it was still processing. But at least I have it.

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My Sunday drive home was crazy. There was a car accident on the Long Island Expressway. And the Northern State Parkway. I passed an accident on the Horace Harding access road. While on the Northern State, I saw a small collision happen two lanes away to my right. I have no idea what was wrong with people Sunday.

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I'm so glad the primaries are over. No more unsolicited mailers or texts is a big reason, but also that there seemed to have much more fraud, pettiness, and backbiting than usual, and it was Queens Democrat on Queens Democrat. ( Read more... )

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"Hearts Ablaze" [Encanto gen]

2026-06-23T07:15:26Z

Encanto gen: “Hearts Ablaze” [@ AO3]
RATING: R.
SUMMARY: Having triplet time alone together lets them reconnect and talk about more adult things, like marriage, sex, and romance novels.
NOTES: “A Long, Long Way to Go” is completely in Mirabel’s POV, what she’s there for, seen, heard, and eavesdropped, while I wanted to give the triplets a chance to dish without worrying about what young ears would make of it. You don’t need “A Long, Long Way to Go” for this though, since they explain here what you’d need to know.
Thank you to akira17 for beta.

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Watch

2026-06-21T06:08:58Z

I did a photo run last night and have posted 16 window display photos from it; more to come another day. These are window displays with a Supergirl movie theme and a Bloomingdale's series in orange and blue celebrating the New York Knicks' win.

I noticed that some of the mannequins in the Supergirl displays aren't the super skinny sylphs I more often see in windows these days. I like.

You can see them at my Flickr.

I also got a shot of the newly renovated Grand Army Plaza, Pulitzer Fountain, and Pomona again, while Pulitzer is actually working as a real fountain. At 2 a.m. for nobody, as opposed to Monday afternoon for the day crowd in full sunlight. Depending on the app I used to identify them, the spindly young trees in the plaza are American sycamore or ficus.

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Don't know nothing 'bout Instagram

2026-06-21T02:57:23Z

I have two people posting on a recent Instagram post of mine that they want me to "share the picture" and "send me the post." Are those things doable on Instagram and if so, how? I posted a Bloomingdale's window display celebrating the New York Knicks' recent win and had Knicks as one of the tags, which drew two strangers to my IG.

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Things I've read and watched

2026-06-19T06:23:19Z

"How Algeria won over a Kansas town – and became the World Cup’s unlikeliest love affair"
Lawrence, a college town of about 100,000 in northeastern Kansas, has embraced Les Fennecs with a fervor that has surprised everyone but the people who live there

Though Supernatural fans know Lawrence, Kansas for something else.

"Miracle on the highway as strangers rescue passengers from burning plane"
Several motorists who happened across a fiery plane crash on a Texas highway rushed to help — putting their own lives in danger to help those on board escape

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Maven of the Eventide hates on the Vampire Lestat/Interview with the Vampire TV series, and when she details the ways The Vampire Lestat is different from the book she manages to even further emphasize what a Mary Sue Lestat is in the book. Maven, there are reasons that wouldn't do as well 40 years later, just as there are reasons why a Lestat coming out in 2025 would be a lot less optimistic and have less joie de vivre than the one in the '80s. The 2020s are a dumpster fire, which she acknowledges once.

Otherwise, I agree with some of her dissatisfactions!

The Charismatic Voice reacts to the vocals of the Cure's "Close to Me" and ends up having a revelation: the lyrics are much darker than the music sounds! Elizabeth, we've been over this, like when you covered a song by the Smiths. Though her other revelation is Robert Smith's uses of his audible breaths here, which... yeah. It helps that she's watching the music video, which I never saw before, in which the concept is that the band is locked together inside a small armoire, enhancing the anxiety of the song.

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Everything for a reason

2026-06-19T05:54:42Z

So far my brother has been enjoying The Vampire Lestat TV series more than I am. Personally, I would've enjoyed even more time of ( spoiler ) in episode 2.

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Looking at Wikipedia's entry for the Pulitzer Fountain, I saw that it's been "restored" several times in its 110 years. The photo at Wikipedia shows the fountain when it's actually being a fountain, instead of just mildly dribbling about one glass of water like it was Monday.

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I borrowed the TRON: Ares soundtrack from the library, all Nine Inch Nails, so with this and all the Rotersand I'm listening to, for June I'm going full electronic. (Unlike May, when I was either techno/industrial/electronic with Nine Inch Noize or mellow 70s and 80s pop or rock singles.) I enjoyed the TRON: Ares soundtrack, though I prefer the Nine Inch Noize version of "As Alive as You Need Me to Be" since it has more thump, drive, and grit.

My iPhone even let the TRON: Ares soundtrack show up in my Music app with its own cover image, something it's still screwing up on 97% of the time. And Apple absolutely doesn't care.

I need to listen to Rotersand's Don't Become the Thing You Hated more to see if it repetitions let me "get" the first half of the album, which on first listen struck me as too slow, soft, and sentimental. Listening to the faster, dancier Truth Is Fanatic Again first probably didn't help. Really enjoyed the second half of Don't Become the Thing You Hated much more immediately. Consider that one of the songs on the second half is titled "16 Devils (Hell Deep Down)"....

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Sad

2026-06-18T06:54:59Z

The renovation of Pulitzer Fountain and the part of Grand Army Plaza around it is finished, and I hate it. It looks so bare and sterile to me. And there's no shade! It doesn't help that they were barely running any water through the fountain.

Imagine putting all this time and money to renovate Pulitzer Fountain and Grand Army Plaza. Imagine creating a permanent plaque to honor and showcase the people who donated money to the effort. Imagine seeing the first text you're inscribing look like this, deciding that's fine, and continuing to do more just like it and then post it. It's nearly illegible.

At least you can read this plaque.

This is what Pulitzer Fountain looked like in 2011. (Those animal heads were a temporary art installation of sculptures by Ai Weiwei.)

The Bradford Pear trees in the background were ripped out during the renovation.

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We dare not doubt

2026-06-16T06:50:36Z

Two folks said that New Balance sneakers lasted well for them, so I decided they might be worth the greater price and went to try on stiff-soled sneakers at a New Balance store.

And none of them worked for me! They either had that "rocker" effect that feels super precarious to someone like me who has balance issues and loose joints, had the back of my feet coming up inside the shoes as I walked, had my foot moving around too much, or hurt. There was a pair that looked good and initially felt good, but when I wore them out of the store after buying them they started really hurting the sides of my feet! The very helpful salesman tried lacing them differently to see if it helped, but it didn't help and now the backs of my feet were coming up inside the shoes as I walked. So, I had to return them. So disappointed. Thus, for now, I'm still walking in Easy Spirits I keep Krazy Gluing.

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While I was given a Rotersand album as one of my birthday gifts from my family, my brother mentioned a remix album of theirs that I wasn't aware of, 2015”s Truth Is Fanatic Again. It's very good but also very different, especially some of the vocals! Some of the vocals are gothier, a lot of the music is dancier. I'm good with them. I haven't gotten the chance to listen to Don't Become the Thing You Hated, the actual birthday gift, yet but I'm looking forward to it.

Also discussed that night is that footage of our band from the late '90s and early '00s on VHS tapes is deteriorating due to it being on tape. He's done some work on the images and sound on the digital files ripped off the tapes but there's only so much that can be done.

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I could've put it down to experience

2026-06-11T06:55:01Z

I watched The Vampire Lestat's season premiere episode and I'm somewhat intrigued, though I don't know if I'll be able to handle so much undistilled Lestat through a whole season. Only one way to find out.

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Today I managed to get back to the cellular store 52 miles away near my dad's home that I got my iPhone 17 from six months ago, and they helped me re-sync my phone to my car so it'll link automatically again like it used to. Yay!

While driving home from it, Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" came on, and it's definitive to me that I can't sing that song without at least some of Weird Al Yankovic's "Perform This Way" lyrics sneaking in. Especially the "My mama told me when I was hatched" and "Express yourself!"

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Since I've been taking digital photos on an iPhone for twelve years and keep a lot of my favorites in its Photos app, my iPhone 17 has a lot of contenders to choose from when suggesting lockscreens and homescreens for me. This was one of them, and I'm using it to be festive for June.

( photo/lockscreen image )

It uses part of a photo I took June 30, 2022 of the main branch of the New York public library on Fifth Avenue.

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A Few Things

2026-06-06T06:08:42Z

RIP to Anthony Head. And Marjane Satrapi, the creator of Persepolis.

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"Amazon's New Stargate Series Is Officially Dead"

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During today's visit to Plainview Trader Joe's, I heard "She Sells Sanctuary" by the Cult, so my favored programmer is still there and still playing.

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Tweet tweet

2026-06-04T08:39:43Z

Since my laptop computer is nine years old and its fan cooling pad was only feeling lukewarm, I bought a new cooling pad to hopefully extend my computer's life. Plus, summer's coming.

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Previously, I thought my area's local birds were rock pigeons, mourning doves, sparrows, American robins, starlings, the occasional northern cardinal and blue jay, a woodpecker I can hear but have yet to see, and the very occasional hawk, but the sound ID function on my phone's Merlin app has let me know that within three miles of my Queens home in the last two weeks there have also been American redstart, gray catbird, chimney swift, northern mockingbird, barn swallow, and Carolina wren. I had no idea.

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The way it makes me feel

2026-06-03T06:02:48Z

I put about 45 new window display photos up. (I still have more Saks Fifth Avenue to go, but I gotta take a rest.) You can see them at my Flickr.

Unlike the deeply disappointing run I did May 1, late May netted me some good stuff, even if Bloomingdale's is still using the same sets and concept in its window displays as it did in the middle of March. I start my night trips with Bloomingdale's, so I was worried I'd be seeing an early May rerun with all my stores.

I got so excited that the Gucci windows had mannequins with hair and makeup in them. Alas, I think a lot of the hair and makeup wasn't done well. Look at the hairlines on a lot of these girls! (Also, look at how one mannequin has no lighting on her whatsoever, wtf.) But given how rarely anyone does it anymore, maybe it's becoming a lost art.

I was amused that Paris Theater is holding its "Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair" movie series starting June 5.

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I'm still writing and posting "A Long, Long Way to Go."

It's named after a song, like many of my fics. My go-to when I'm stuck for titles is song lyrics/titles. I go for a long drive or walk with Shuffle on and see what the universe throws at me. My funniest Shuffle run for one WIP where the setting is "apocalypse in NYC due to (murderous) aliens landing" (A Quiet Place: Day One) included “Subterranean Homesick Alien,” “Rx 4 the Damned,” or “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.” I ended up going with a Sade song from the run, finding out that a lot of the Soldier of Love album actually applies pretty well for that canon.

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The last three times I went to the Plainview Trader Joe's, the music selection wasn't the elite, often deep-cut alternative songs I'd loved in my previous visits, just some rap, Whitney Houston, and 70s classic rock. I hope the person who gave me the music I loved gets another chance in a future visit I make.

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The stiff-soled sneakers I bought late August by my podiatrist's demand are starting to come apart already, and when I asked the salesperson and my podiatrist's office about it, I was told that six to eight months is standard for mesh sneakers! I paid $80 for these Easy Spirits but some of the shoes I looked at ranged to about $200, and they have about the same life length! I'm currently Krazy gluing my Easy Spirits as I decide whether to go for more of the same or spring for a pair of New Balance that would be $150 that their salesman said could last five months to a year. I don't have the option to go back to my sturdy but flexible SAS Free Time walking shoes because these stiff soled sneakers have seriously saved my ankles a few times. Like the night I shot these window displays, when my left foot went into a hole in the street I didn't see. A lot of Manhattan's streets and sidewalks are trash.

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I'm still waiting for news on my Medicaid recertification, nerve-wracking given our current administration and the fact that I mailed my recertification paperwork a week and a half before the May 10 deadline. I know the office got my paperwork May 5 by checking with their phone system, so????

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I've been informed that I have to start using a new Medicare ID number and card June 17 due to "problems" with my current ones. What did somebody do?

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I have somehow messed up the pairing between my iPhone 17's Bluetooth and my 2020 car. Before, they paired automatically, now I have to laboriously manually pair them back up every time after I turn off my car or use the USB cord. Like, stopping to get gas with my car turned off is long enough to break the connection. Help!

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Couldn't wait another day

2026-05-22T06:46:25Z

For the second time in two months, a photo I posted to Flickr has been chosen by Explore and thus has a lot of traffic and likes (that doesn't translate over to my account or other photos). Again, it's from St. John's Cemetery. Again, I have no idea how Explore chooses photos since this current photo isn't unusual or striking from what I usually do. I understand their choice from March better. Again, Explore has chosen a photo I've taken involving the Picarelli site, since last year Explore chose this one, shot May 2025.

I guess it's cool that a photo of mine has been chosen by Explore three times in the last year, and it's not like I'm deliberately shooting things to get their attention since I have no idea what they look for.

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Trying to get Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" on CD from the Queens Library sent me down a rabbit hole since I could only get it on compilations of a variety of music. (For redundancy's sake, I got it on two different CDs, which unexpectedly led me to having an album version and radio edit version of the song, which is a state of affairs I'm quite happy with.) The radio edit version is on Hard to Find 45s on CD, Vol. 14: 70s and 80s Pop Classics, which also netted me "The Promise" by When In Rome, "Cool Night" by Paul Davis, "I Love You" by Climax Blues Band, and this song, which had an especially full and moody sound on the CD, "The Captain of Her Heart" by Double, all songs I used to hear a lot at the time of their release but not often since.

Then, after about an hour's wallow in vintage mellow pop, I switched over to Nine Inch Noize.

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"A Good Cog in the Madrigal Machine" [Encanto gen]

2026-05-21T06:13:45Z

Encanto gen: “A Good Cog in the Madrigal Machine” [@ AO3]
RATING: PG.
SUMMARY: The lesson Isabela learns might not be the one we’d wish.
NOTES: Thank you to akira17 for beta.

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Jumbo

2026-05-21T06:03:25Z

I saw these at CVS today, 5/20/26. These lollipops (with a surprise toy) are bigger than my fists so.... What is the candy to toy ratio on these things?

How many licks does it take to get to the end of a Jumbo Pop that's bigger than your hands?

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