rj-anderson

[rj-anderson]

[rj-anderson]

[rj-anderson]

I wrote the companion novel Quicksilver when my own mom was in treatment for cancer back in 2012 (she too is in remission now, still alive at 93), so that makes this story even more close to my heart. Thank you so much for reading Ultraviolet and sharing this, @illustratedbyjass. I'm so glad to hear the book was (and is) such a comfort.

I just need to say how special Ultraviolet by R J Anderson is to me… I first read it when I was 15 and was halfway through when I got the news that my mum had cancer, I stayed up all night finishing the book to distract myself from the hard news and it was confusing because I was OBSESSED with this book even though I was sad, and when my friend came over to comfort me the next day all I could talk about was the book. (My mum has been in remission for 9 years now, so all is ok)

Now that I’m 27, I’ve been struggling with my own health issues a lot this year and so I decided to reread ultraviolet. I finished it in 2 days, exactly as I did the first time.

It’s just such a comfort to me. It really spoke true of everything I felt about myself as a teenager, and now was like a familiar hug.

[rj-anderson]

You: Hey, of all the cool superpowers you've seen in comic books and such, which would you-- Me: Teleport. You: Wouldn't you want to read minds though-- Me: Nope. Teleport. You: But if you could fly-- Me: Teleport. You: Just imagine though, if you could turn into-- Me: (summoning my soulsword, conjuring a stepping disk and putting a hole in my pocket like cartoon Ringo Starr simultaneously) WHAT PART OF TELEPORT DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND???

[rj-anderson]

Apropos of nothing in particular (*cough*) I have finally managed to articulate my three bulletproof types when it comes to male leads:

brainy nerds who have never known the touch of a woman’s hand

cheeky monsters who are secretly dying inside

ruined choirboys

I can think of very few characters in literature who manage to be all three (Lord Peter comes close, but not quite).

Feel free to nominate your fave blorbos in each category!

[rj-anderson]

I've just realized I never posted another update here about how we got my 93-yo mom into assisted living a couple months ago, and it is THE ABSOLUTE GREATEST STORY and I'm still just reeling with amazement over how it all came together, so here it is under the cut.

As you will know if you read my earlier posts about Mom, I've been her primary caregiver for the last few years, especially since my dad passed away in early 2020 (we were able to hold a beautiful, well attended memorial service for him right before the first lockdown, another bit of timing I am still very grateful for).

And as you will also know if you read those previous posts, Mom's mental clarity and ability to look after herself has been going downhill for the last couple years, and despite her overall sweet disposition and gratefulness for everything I was doing, by Dec. 2024 I was at my wits' end and really close to burning out. Only a blessed last-minute increase in respite care, thanks to a pilot program coordinated by my local hospital and Alzheimer's Society, enabled me to keep going while I waited and prayed for a long term care placement for Mom.

That being said, we'd already been warned that it could be up to five years before Mom got an offer, because despite her acute nerve pain attacks, chronic vertigo and increasing cognitive issues, she was not considered to be "in crisis". (I was definitely having a crisis as her caregiver, but that didn't count.) So from an outside perspective, it looked unlikely if not downright impossible that we would find a place within the next 12-18 months, unless Mom had a major health crisis.

Despite that, though, I had a strange deep-down confidence that something was going to change soon. In fact, part of me really felt sure that it would happen by spring at the latest. Now this was a bewildering feeling to have, because I am one of the least mystical woo-woo people in the world, and objectively it didn't seem likely to happen at all. So I found myself praying that God would keep me from clinging to false hopes (if they were false) and prepare me not to be discouraged or bitter if my feeling turned out to be groundless.

But I also found myself praying, "Lord, I don't how this is going to work out with Mom, but I look forward to praising you for whatever you're going to do." Because I remembered how things had gone with my Dad's care, and how the best plans I had in mind turned out to be not nearly as wise or good as the way God arranged it in the end.

Anyway, a number of things happened in December that made me question my belief that Mom would be best off in long term care, despite all the efforts I'd gone to choosing the right places for her. I took her to see the closest home on our list, thinking it would be a positive experience and put some of her fears to rest, but EVERYTHING about that tour was a disaster. It was far too big, and noisy, and overwhelming, and my mom kept saying "I could never go to a place like that, I would be totally lost. I'd rather be out on the street."

So I ended up having to take that particular home off the list, which brought our options from three down to two and made it even less likely to get a room offer. But that experience did make very clear what kind of place Mom wanted -- small, homey, quiet, and easy to navigate, with fellow residents she could talk to, and ideally some opportunity for Christian fellowship. Unfortunately, I didn't know of a single long term care home in our area that fit that description.

Until the first week of January 2025, when I joined my regular Zoom prayer meeting with three women from my old church. And as I was telling them about my difficulties, one of them said, "Oh, I wish your mom could go to the home where [a woman who also used to go to our church] is living! It would be so perfect for her!"

Now, I had heard plenty about that woman and the wonderful Mennonite assisted living home she'd moved into a few months earlier, but I never thought it could be a fit for my Mom. However, after that conversation I looked up the home's website and realized that not only was the place much closer than I'd thought it was, it sounded like they might actually be able to provide the level of care Mom needed.

I called the care home. We had a good, thorough talk about Mom's needs. I set up an appointment for a tour. And from the instant I stepped in the door, I knew this was the place our family had been praying for. Not only was it newly renovated, small, quiet and cozy, offering home-style meals and regular church services, there was a lovely vacant room with a view that immediately made me think, "This is Mom's room."

Long story short -- and skipping over a multitude of other unexpected blessings and mercies of God along the way -- we moved Mom into her new apartment in mid-February. They even allowed us to paint the room her favourite colour, and set it up with all the furniture and pictures she needed to make it feel like home, before we brought her in. And since then, she's been getting all the medical and personal care she needs, I've been able to enjoy regular visits with her while also having a life of my own again, and despite having had twelve acute pain episodes over the six months before the move, Mom has not had even one attack since she got there.

Despite all the hardships, discouragements, seeming dead ends, and other ups and downs of the past year -- even because of them, in some cases -- God has been faithful and very, very good. So I am keeping the promise I made a few months ago, when all seemed utterly hopeless, and praising Him for what He's done.

[rj-anderson]

Teaching him the wax on wax off technique

[rj-anderson]

I couldn't sleep the other night and so (as one does) I started thinking about how, in The King of Attolia, Gen carves out time and space in which he and Relius can actually talk and get to know each other one-on-one. And okay yes by "carves out" I mean he throws Relius in prison and then visits him by cover of darkness while he's recovering from being officially interrogated. But that's just kinda how relationships kick off in Attolia, sorry. Anyway, it's not just about Gen wanting to save Attolia (queen and country) or yearning to be known in his own right or thinking (correctly) that Relius still has value as a friend and an advisor—although it is certainly all of those things. It's also about two people approaching each other as people, and learning about each other's hearts and minds, and coming to a place of mutual understanding and respect and shared objectives (and even love!) despite past antagonism. And while this all sounds rosy and redemptive, it also forces them to reckon with and stare clear-eyed at the ways they've hurt each other. Which is the painful path that ultimately leads to forgiveness and reconciliation. And that's the path Gen chose to take towards the man who almost destroyed him, the man he very easily could have destroyed in return, because they both love Irene, and Irene loves and needs them both. Gen flips the tables but he flips them upright the better to prepare a feast for Relius in the presence of their mutual enemies. You see why this makes me emotional at 3am.

[rj-anderson]

I am Extremely Bad at Social Media these days, for which I apologize, though I have no particular intention of changing that at present. But I am happy to report that now my mom is settled and doing well in assisted living, my creative brain has revivified beyond all expectations and I am spending pretty much all my free time revising the secondary-world adult fantasy romance I've been poking at intermittently since 2016. So there's that.

[rj-anderson]

[rj-anderson]

My previous opinion was that like xikers' Hunter*, Xdinary Heroes' Jooyeon was absolutely not meant to be blond**.

However, this gifset has me second-guessing. -- * The bleached eyebrows in particular were a Choice I hope never to see again. ** Unlike, say, SKZ Felix, or Bae from NMIXX.

[rj-anderson]

not a want, but a need

[rj-anderson]

A trend of nouns and tedium (is it over yet)

a court of thorns and roses. ballad of songbirds and snakes. bowl of macaroni and cheese

[rj-anderson]

[rj-anderson]

[rj-anderson]

facebook marketplace listings within a 25 mile radius of you: One ugly rotten dog tooth. $470 NO LOWBALLS I KNOW WHAT I HAVE

facebook marketplace listings in a city 8 and a half hours away: the ark of the covenant $15 OBO

[rj-anderson]

Today was potentially the stupidest day I've experienced in 25 years of working in vet med.

Reblogs with pet reptiles or fish would be greatly appreciated