frogs_of_war

My mother called me yesterday in tears. She'd just talked to my sister, wanting her to think about the possibility of writing one of those 'coupons' kids sometimes do for their parents. Mom wanted my sister to promise at some point to have a meal at Mom's house with me, my sister, and brother. I have no idea why this is important to her, especially the 'under her own roof' part. But my sister refuse, saying that all families are different and in ours this can never happen. (and if my mom and brother would have just come to the funeral my aunt didn't want, we all would have eaten together.)

So my mother stated she didn't want a funeral because it would break her heart if my sister was willing to eat with my brother after my mother dies, but not while she lives.

After two hours of talking her down, she asked my to call her in a few days so she didn't do anything drastic (like throwing out all my sister's pictures and pretending she had only two children). She called back a few hours later, sounding much better. She decided to leave the whole thing to God, which made her feel better, so that's all good.


I read an interesting essay the other day. It's about happiness and other people's expectations of what that mean when it comes to choosing not to have children. Would Virginia Woolf have really been a happier person if she'd had kids and written fewer works? Or would she have just raised several miserable children? And the fact a person counted as selfish if they don't want children (personally, I'd be more likely to call them selfish if they do, not a bad selfish, but selfish none the less unless the kids are adopted).

But the thing I took away from the whole thing was that happiness should never be the be-all-end-all because happy people never change the world.


Also I found out what an opposite of hyperbole is: litotes. Litotes is when you down play something, like falling seven stories is bound to be uncomfortable. I realize that I read examples all the time in books and had no idea what they were called. 

Yesterday I came across the item “Russian housewife fitted with good working instruments” as something that all ladies of 1889 should take when traveling. I really want to know what it is (I think the Russian part isn't the important part. Other items were Russian ink and a Russian writing desk), but how do you Google something like that? Especially if you’re a little squeamish like me.


Title: Stoppered Words
Series: A Balance of Harmonies (Three)
Status: Chapter one hundred thirty-seven of 142ish + sides
Genre: m/m romance, drama, city life, businessmen
Rating: R
Content: stoppered words, shared shower, despair, confusion, no words, restful sleep, muddling through, tears, a vow, one thing, worry, a long trip, important thing
Length: about 1,700 words
Summary: Peregrine can’t get his words out. Emil doesn’t understand. Kurt shares well.

Master list

( We are both the boyfriends )

I question my coworker from Morocco to make sure baba was the correct Arabic word for daddy and after a moment, I realized that we were talking across each other. When I asked for Daddy, he asked whether I wanted it in Arabic or English, but I knew that he couldn't write it in English, because the alphabet a word is written it doesn't change what language the word is from, so I asked him to write it in Roman letters, but he said he couldn't do that.

That was when I realized what he meant and just nodded. It was time for me to clock in from lunch and I what did it matter what he called it? I asked him to pronounce the word he wrote and romanized (a word I picked up while learning Japanese) twice as Abi and Aby and just to check (because I had Googled it first) I asked if this was the word for Daddy, the word a small child would use. He said no, Abi is father (what Google had told me) and he wrote and romanized Baba, which he insisted was the same word and had the same meaning.

I didn't question this either, but really I don't see Daddy and Father as the same word. Yes, they could potential mean the same person (but so could uncle and brother, depending on who said it) and they both do mean a man parent, but angry and irate and livid and steamed and riled and rabid and incensed all mean mad, but they aren't all the same word at all.

Someone else asked why I wanted it and I said it was for a story, used by the four year old sons of a Lebanese man and my Moroccan coworker smiled and said someone from there would definitely use these words. So I got both real world confirmation of my use of Arabic and a reminder that I use words that others don't (and have no reason to) understand.


Title: Mage Partners
Status: Complete
Genre: Fantasy, slash, magic
Length: about 3.4k
Summary: As a magic holder and not a mage, Gyorgy can’t use any of his power to save himself and those he cares for. But when rescue comes he finds more than he sought.
Note: According to name sites Gyorgy is pronounced Dyor dee (like Georgie with d's) or Dward ee (it’s Hungarian).


Gyorgy cringed and squeezed little Piroska tighter as the door thudded in its frame. The monsters had been attacking the house since sundown, but the fear of what would happen if they got inside made sleep impossible for the children. Gyorgy huddled with the other three in his group at the back of the entryway, probably the worst place to be, but he needed to know that the monsters hadn’t yet broken in.

( The world flared white )