where I end and begin still belongs to me
Hi! I did say I'd be back, didn't I?
I’ve been thinking a lot about star signs lately. Growing up, my understanding of the zodiac was that my mom would sometimes ask me if I wanted to hear my horoscope, and it was always full of crab puns and references to “coming out of your shell” (I’m a Cancer). That was it. I had a vague idea that there was more to it, but never any interest in pursuing it.
A number of my coworkers are very interested in the zodiac, and I’ve spent the summer becoming accustomed to not quite understand a fair amount of conversations, and was fine with it. That is, until this week, when a throwaway remark on my part resulted in one coworker demanding (in very out of character fashion, for her) that I stop what I was doing and text my mom immediately for my birth time, because she had to know if my moon sign was Scorpio or not. She strongly suspected it was. My mom gamely responded to the text (“You were born around 9pm on a Friday!”), my coworker plugged in my information, and a random website spat out my natal chart. Sure enough, Scorpio moon.
I’ve come to learn that while sun signs indicate who you are outwardly–crabby, in my case–moon signs represent the inner you. Who you are when no one is looking. Being a Scorpio moon means I feel things deeply, and tend to be rather extreme in my emotions. I’m all happy or all sad, with no middle ground. And, well. You receive this newsletter. You get the accuracy of that.
Anyway, hi hello. It’s been 3 months! I’m a person who thinks about star signs now. Scorpio moon, Capricorn rising. What’s up?
Dog Thing
Vista lives here now! She has an allergy to this city’s grass specifically, which has been a whole wonderful thing, but we seem to have hit on the right ways of preventing reactions to that. She and the elderly cat we live with are getting along fine, and she is becoming known to all of the proprietors of our local haunts. They let you take your dog in everywhere here. It’s heaven.
Mixed Media
A good movie: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. You’ve seen this, right? It’s on Netflix, there’s no reason for you not to have seen it. I’ve seen it thrice. A delightful teen romcom about a girl and a guy who pretend to date and then possibly....fall in love?? Watching it gave me seeing-10-Things-I-Hate-About-You-for-the-first-time-at-14 vibes, which is honestly all I need from a romcom! I highly recommend it. Lana Condor’s facial expressions are a wonder, and the film’s color and direction are a visual treat. (Peep that wonderful fanart by my pal Betp!)
A good book: Witchmark by C. L. Polk. I’ve read a lot of books this summer, and a lot of them have been romances because that’s the mood I’ve been in, and by far the best of the lot was Witchmark, a queer fantasy romance about a doctor who’s secretly a witch and a man who’s secretly from an alternate universe solving a mystery. It hit all my favourite notes, and I cannot WAIT for the next book. Other recent good reads are Competence by Gail Carriger (3rd book in a series, but a lesbian monster romance!), Delilah Dirk and the Pillars of Hercules by Tony Cliff (another 3rd book in a very very good series), and Go For It, Nakamura! by Syundei (very cute story about a gay boy in love).
A good album: Gone Home by Chris Remo. I’ve been listening to Chris Remo’s score for the video game Gone Home a lot lately! It’s a really lovely, chill, atmospheric album. Makes you feel like you’re in an old house in Portland on a rainy night in the 90s. Also loving Metric’s new singles, in particular Now or Never Now. NEW ALBUM NEXT WEEK!!
A good fic: Anyway, Here’s Guilty Love by u_andcloud. EXTREMELY good Apollo Justice college AU that tackles pretty much all of the Ace Attorney plot lines involving Apollo (there are So Many) and wraps them up even more neatly than the games do. Plus, Klavier Gavin, acoustic-guitar-in-the-quad menace? Canon. Also: this very good Keith/Lance fantasy AU.
Lastly
Trying to get back in the newsletter routine! Thanks for sticking around! I love you!
