May We All Live To See Such Very Boring Times.

And keep caring for yourselves. Rest is resistance ❤️

posted on Kate Bornstein's substack

Not me showing up at my new job and immediately becoming besties with everyone who wound up being a fellow neuro-🌶️👀

sometimes I instinctively like people without knowing why, until I start talking to them and they reveal that all they watch on youtube are long deconstructions of public transit systems, and that by the way their shirt is an abstract design representing their favourite subway line, and then it's like ohhhh........autism ant pheromones at it again. like finds like.

3+1 HP Wandlore recs

Raise your wands 🍆 for three Drarry fic recs containing delicious wandlore, plus one bonus non-Drarry ficlet!

🪄 1

Pathless Woods by @shealwaysreads /onereader (30k, Explicit)

Harry finds himself unexpectedly reacquainted with Draco Malfoy when his work as an apprentice wandmaker takes him to Wiltshire. Amongst the trees Harry finds magic, growth, and a man who might finally be proving he’s worthy of the wand that chose him.

Hawthorn, Unicorn hair, 10 inches, reasonably pliant.

A story of found family, trees with feelings, belief in the power of growth, wandlore, and gratuitous description of Handsome Estate Owner™ Draco Malfoy swanning around in white shirts and leather boots.

Wand nerd Harry! Tree nerd Draco! Amazing wand lore and 'forest lore', beautifully and lushly described by Bella, the queen of magical atmosphere. Bonus points for Mr Darcy-style Draco tromping around his estate. Quote that made me snort: "Any promotion of your business will absolutely be based on how gorgeous your wood is.” Harry smiled reassuringly, then blanched at how ridiculous his wording sounded. “Er. I mean. The wood, not your wood. The wand wood, that’s yours.”

🪄 2

A Hag, A Hex, A Tale of Redemption by @aibidil (43k, Explicit)

A fuck-or-die fairytale in which Draco Malfoy lives a despicable and unapologetic life — that is, until he's cursed to die unless he can fall in love with and fuck Harry Potter.

Not only does this fic have fabulous wandlore (wands for non-wizards!), but it's a twenty-four carat fuck-or-die curse fic (in a CONSENT fest, so think about the implications there). It features a a deliciously unredeemed and furious Draco and, of course, is crammed full of Aib's impeccable humour and smarts. The deft use of a folklore-y fable adjacent narrative style rounds off what is simply an excellent fic.

🪄 3

Body Electric by @lastontheboat (8k, Mature)

“What could you possibly want?” Harry asks. "Would you believe I’m here for assistance with my wand?” Malfoy replies, still refusing to meet his eyes, and Harry snorts. “There are other wand makers,” he says tightly. “Unless you’ve slept with all of them as well.”

Packed with magical theory and both wandmaking craft AND Veela magic. The characterisations had me kicking my feet (these boys could bicker for England), and the insanely hot UST had my heart racing. Absolute banger.

🪄 Bonus rec

Ollivander & Thomas, Makers of Fine Wands by @rainstormradish (584 words, Gen)

“Spruce and unicorn hair, eleven inches.” This was how Garrick Ollivander greeted Dean, voice faint and croaky, in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor. Dean nodded, before realising abruptly that the spruce wand was no longer his.

A glimpse at Dean’s life after the war, his relationship with magic and the wandmaking art he learned to master.

Utterly glorious and fascinating worldbuilding from Radish, featuring Dean Thomas as a wandmaker. This fic is the loveliest thing, chock full of feels, and you'll fall in love with the fabulous goblin girl! 500 words of sheer gorgeousness. Why, why *thumps fist on table* WHY do we not have more Dean fic?

✨Enjoy!✨

so like I said, I work in the tech industry, and it's been kind of fascinating watching whole new taboos develop at work around this genAI stuff. All we do is talk about genAI, everything is genAI now, "we have to win the AI race," blah blah blah, but nobody asks - you can't ask -

What's it for?

What's it for?

Why would anyone want this?

I sit in so many meetings and listen to genuinely very intelligent people talk until steam is rising off their skulls about genAI, and wonder how fast I'd get fired if I asked: do real people actually want this product, or are the only people excited about this technology the shareholders who want to see lines go up?

like you realize this is a bubble, right, guys? because nobody actually needs this? because it's not actually very good? normal people are excited by the novelty of it, and finance bro capitalists are wetting their shorts about it because they want to get rich quick off of the Next Big Thing In Tech, but the novelty will wear off and the bros will move on to something else and we'll just be left with billions and billions of dollars invested in technology that nobody wants.

and I don't say it, because I need my job. And I wonder how many other people sitting at the same table, in the same meeting, are also not saying it, because they need their jobs.

idk man it's just become a really weird environment.

Anne Carson, from The Glass Essay

Can you or your followers recommend fics, that speculate what might have happened 1941?

I can offer you this short, soft first kiss fic but other than that i’m going to have to call upon the gomens hive please help a bestie out and share your recs in comments or reblogs

The fact that Fountain is pissing off trads over a 100 years later is so fucking funny

why is this about to make me sob

Keep hard copies of your favorite recipes and download your favorite fanfics. 👀

You should be starting a recipe book. I don't give a shit if you're only 20-years-old. The modern web is rotting away bit by bit before our very eyes. You have no idea when that indie mom blog is going down or when Pinterest will remove that recipe. Copy it down in a notebook, physically or digitally. Save it somewhere only you can remove it. Trust me, looking for a recipe only to find out it's been wiped off the internet is so fucking sad. I've learned my lesson one too many times.