The Marci Rating System

fic rec Friday: May 1st edition

Fri, 01 May 2026 12:04:23 GMT

(I didn't actually look for or know of a fic that has anything to do with May 1st. If I was really on top of things, I'd probably have picked a Star Wars fic for today, with the whole 'may the 4th' connection. But I generally just look through whatever I have in bookmarks and AO3 history for the last week, and there's not any Star Wars in there, so.)

broken heroes on a last chance power drive, by LiarsandThieves22

Camilla meets Steve on a Thursday in the middle of April when he walks through the front door of her bar to ask about the help wanted sign she hung in the window last week. She almost turns him down immediately.

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April finale poem!

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:44:11 GMT

Another one I already posted back in 2023! (Very loyal to the few poems I've emotionally bonded with.)

In the House With No Doors, by Sarah Kay

we have given up on knocking.
Incoming! we say, with our eyes lowered for modesty,
or, Hello! or sometimes, Sorry, sorry!
You have to pass through everyone’s bedroom
to get to the kitchen. We only have two bathrooms.
As a courtesy, nobody will poop while you are showering,
but they might have to do their makeup or shave
if they are in a rush, if we have somewhere to be,
so you can recognize every person by their whistle
through a wet shower curtain, you haven’t seen your own face
on an unfogged mirror in weeks. It doesn’t matter,
self-consciousness has no currency here.
If you were nosy, I suppose the little bathroom trashcans
would spill their secrets to you, but why bother,
privacy is a language we don’t speak.
Someone is always awake before you,
the smell of coffee easing you into a today
they have already entered,
a bridge you will never need to cross first,
and no matter how latenight your owl,
there is always someone still awake
to eat popcorn with, to whisper your daily report to,
to compare notes on what good news you each caught in your nets.
In bed, you say, Goodnight! in one direction
and someone says it back, then turns and passes it,
so you fall asleep to the echo of goodnights down the long hallway
’til it donuts its way back around to your pillow.
Someone is doing a load of laundry,
if anyone wants to add some extra socks?
Someone is clearing the dishes,
someone has started singing Gershwin in the backyard
and you can’t help but harmonize,
and for a moment what you always hoped was true
finally is: loneliness has forgotten your address,
french toast browning on the stovetop,
the sound of everyone you love
clear as the sun giggling through the window,
not even a doorknob between you.

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poetry celebration: bird edition

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 10:56:09 GMT

I'm sometimes wary of Robert Frost, because I had a high school poetry class that insisted everything was a metaphor for death, while I was over there like 'seems like this guy just really likes writing stuff about his daily life.'

But crows! Gotta shout out a crow poem. Maybe it's about death, I don't know. Looks like it's about how great birds are to me. Heck yeah, birds! Save that day I rued!

Dust of Snow
by Robert Frost

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

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more poetry, more celebration

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 10:52:43 GMT

I linked this back in 2017, attributed to Shiv, with the title 'Sometimes it hurts when people scorn internet culture,' but that link is no longer active and now -- in the way of tumblr posts -- I was able to find the text of the poem but nothing that definitively confirmed that title, and nothing at all with that author name. It mostly seems to be attributed 'via herrsassyfras' now, but that's also a deactivated account.

Let that be a lesson to me about not including the full text of these things!

“Your generation would probably ‘livetweet’ the apocalypse” you say, and you laugh
You mean it as an insult, and I understand,
Or you don’t
because the word lies awkwardly on you tongue, stumbles as it leaves your lips, air quotes visible
You meant it as an insult, so you don’t understand, when I look into your eyes and say “Yes”
Because we would.
It would be our duty, as citizens on this earth
to document it’s end the best way we know
and if that means a second by second update
of the world going up in flames, or down in rain, or crushed under the feet of invading monsters
so be it.
It would mean a second by second update of
“I love you”
“I’m scared”
“Are you all right?”
“Stay close”
“Be brave”
It would mean a second by second update of the humanity’s connection with one another,
Proof of empathy, love, and friendship between people who may have never met in the flesh.
So don’t throw the word ‘Livetweet’ at me like a dagger, meant to tear at my ‘teenage superiority’
Because if the citizens of Pompeii, before they were consumed by fire,
had a chance to tell their friends and family throughout Rome
“I love you”
“I’m scared”
“Don’t forget me”
Don’t you think they’d have taken the chance?

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poetry celebration day 2

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 12:06:53 GMT

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"yes, I've read a poem"

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:17:32 GMT

(*from 'Serenity')

So April is National Poetry Month, which I've been aware of and ignoring all month, but have now decided to embrace! Been feeling a lot of feelings about expectations of women and men at work lately, and this poem really hits the spot.

This Vote Is Legally Binding, by T. Kingfisher

Someone always says it, whenever it comes up:
“I guess I’m just not allowed to talk to anyone any more!”

Well.
Yes.
It is my duty to inform you that we took a vote
all us women
and determined that you are not allowed to talk to anyone
ever again.

This vote is legally binding.

Yes, of course, all women know each other,
the way you always suspected.
(Incidentally, so do Canadians. I’m just throwing that out there.)
We went into the women’s room at the Applebee’s at the corner of 54
and all the others streamed in through the doors
into that endless liminal space,
a chain of humans stretching backward
heavy skulled Neanderthal women laughing with New York socialites,
Lucille Ball hand in hand with the Taung child.
We sat around in the couches in the women’s room
(I know you’ve always been suspicious of those couches)
and chatted with each other in the secret female language
that you always knew existed.
Somebody set up a console–
the Empress Wu is ruthless at Mario Kart
and Cleopatra never learned to lose
and a woman who ruled an empire that fell
when the Sea People came
and left no trace
can use the blue shell like a surgical instrument.

Eventually we took the vote.
You had three defenders:
your grandmother and your first-grade teacher
and an Albanian nun who believes the best of everybody.
Your mom abstained.
It was duly recorded in the secret notebooks
that have been kept under the couch in the Applebee’s
since the beginning of recorded time.
And then we went back to playing Mario Kart
and Hoelun took off her bra
and we didn’t think about you again
except that I had to carry this message.

So anyway
good luck with that
it’s just as you always said it was.
Hush now,
no talking

hush.

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it's April 25th!

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 12:28:27 GMT

"Describe your perfect date."

"That's a tough one. I'd have to say April 25th. Because it's not too hot and not too cold. All you need is a light jacket."

-Miss Congeniality, circa 2000*

(*lol this led me down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out if I was using the word 'circa' correctly, which is to say, if it worked as a funny joke about my recent realization of how long ago the year 2000 was. research was inconclusive, but it made me laugh, so I'll take that as a win)

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fic rec Friday

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:39:46 GMT

I was NOT expecting an Avengers fic to pop up in my emails this week, but what a delight! (Chapter 11 is the update I read, I expect I must have read the other 10 chapters at some point, but chapter 11 is a standalone story.)

How Are You Going to..., by danger_floof

After some (a lot of) arguing, their first video is titled 'Avengers Try Real Life Trick Shots.'

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thrilling conclusion of the audiobook saga

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:16:01 GMT

I finished the 14-hour audiobook! They finally figured out the mystery! (Okay, I feel like there were maybe more than a few loose threads left unresolved, but the central mystery was figured out.) They sorted out their relationship, mostly! There were several exciting scenes that made me stop working so that I could pay closer attention!

In conclusion: very satisfying!

(Also, my next audiobook is only three and a half hours long. I need a break from all that plot and excitement, lol)

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happy Earth Day!

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 11:01:22 GMT

aka this is my workaday Wednesday post, in disguise as an Earth Day post, because of office bingo-related reasons*

But also, happy Earth Day, because the Earth is awesome! Heck yeah, planet we live on! Happy Birthday, Earth!

(Yes, I know that Earth Day is not technically a celebration of the Earth's birthday. But it COULD BE, and I'm putting that out there as a suggestion. MAKE EARTH DAY THE EARTH'S BIRTHDAY PARTY PLEASE, IT WOULD BE SO FUN AND JOYFUL!)

(*so there's a bingo card for 'Earth Month,' which is not a thing, but sure, that's a lot easier than trying to do all the bingo card activities in one day, and one of them is 'post about sustainability on social media,' and yeah, I'm planning on counting this post for that)

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audiobook UPDATE

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 10:55:05 GMT

I am now a whopping FIVE HOURS into the 14-hour audiobook, and still going strong! Strong-ish, at least.

The thing about a five hour audiobook is that when you reach the five hour mark, you can think to yourself 'well, thank goodness they've wrapped that up and everything will be fine now! good job all!'

But in a 14-hour audiobook, I'm thinking more along the lines of 'I wonder what's about to go wrong next, because I'm pretty sure there's not going to be just nine hours of happy-ever-after epilogue.' (I mean, also they haven't figured out the murder mystery plot, but I am admittedly not very invested in that.)

It can get very stressful, is what I'm saying.

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audiobook ramblings

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:46:02 GMT

I joke that I have an audiobook attention span problem, but mostly that's because it's easier than saying 'my expectations get higher as audiobooks get longer, so it's harder to find things I want to listen to.' (And it's MUCH easier than saying 'my default state is that if I start something, I have to finish it, and not finishing feels like a failure, and even though I know that's not true, it can be a lot of effort to talk myself through All Of That compared to just, you know, not starting long audiobooks.')

If an audiobook is only two and a half hours long, I'm happy as long as it is mildly entertaining. (These books are super helpful for 'long afternoon at the office' or 'keep me from getting annoyed while grocery shopping.' If an audiobook is 14 hours long, I want it to be actually engaging, with a satisfying-to-me conclusion.

The point is, I tried starting a 14-hour audiobook a couple weeks ago, noped out after an hour, and was hesitant to try again with a new, also 14-hour, book. Last night I told myself 'I'll just try it for ONE hour, then I'll stop crocheting and read fanfic instead.'

Very pleased to announce I got a full 90 minutes in and am interested in hearing more! (I actually stopped not to read fanfic, but because it was bedtime and I am in a competition with myself to WIN the '7 hours of sleep for 20 days in a month' challenge.)

(PS: The new book is 'A Rake of His Own' by AJ Lancaster. I have not read any of the previous books in the series. I'm not generally a murder mystery fan, but the magic part is fun so far.)

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tumbld wisdom

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:03:49 GMT

from tumblr user grubloved on May 4, 2025:

reading lynda barry i am noticing again the thing i like to call 'everything is poetry' which is that poets think the world is made of poems and that interacting with poetry is the most honorable and fulfilling and important thing to do. which i think is funny because the majority of people do not interact with poetry and in fact many do not like it at all. but poets continue on anyway and poetry remains for them the pin on which the world turns.

and artists feel this way about the image writers about writing and stories and robin wall kimmerer about looking at plants. again it is never the thing itself that is blessed but the person who is being in the mode of blessedness who receives it as such. the world is full of things that will save you if you let them

*********

ANYWAY I read that yesterday and had to sit and think about it for a while, and also look up the phrase 'the world is full of things that will save you if you let them.' (way too many links that tried to explain the 'let them' theory to me, none that indicated that's a quote from something famous)

I wish that I also had some deep words of wisdom to add onto this, but I will just say I think it's great, and true, and I love the idea that loving things is what makes life beautiful and meaningful.

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it's not not weird

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 12:46:27 GMT

Sometimes I get an email with a subject line like "your new escrow analysis is ready" and it reminds me abruptly that I am considered an adult, like an actual grown-up, with a mortgage, and a passing understanding of what an escrow analysis is.

(it's sort of like when you realize that the year 2000 was TWENTY-SIX YEARS ago, which is the same number of years from 2000 as the year *1976* in the opposite direction)

(ETA: ~~1976~~ LOL 1974. EMBARRASSING MATH ERROR SPOTTED)

(ETA: Escrow sounds way more grown-up than it is, since it actually means you don't need to remember to pay your own property taxes. Here's my Very Limited understanding: when you get a mortgage, the company that lends you money wants to make sure you pay it back, which means you need to not lose the house because you didn't pay taxes. So when the mortgage company collects the mortgage payment from you each month, it ALSO collects extra money which it keeps in 'escrow.' Then it uses that money to pay your property taxes. Since property taxes change a lot, the mortgage company does an analysis every year to find out if they are collecting enough money, and then it tells you what they find out.)

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fic rec Friday

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:51:03 GMT

The Core of the Matter, by trippednfell

Lan Wangji receives Wei Wuxian's golden core after his is irreparably damaged.

They figure things out.

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workaday update

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:48:47 GMT

Pleased to report that I did SUCH a good job at the car spa that I gave myself BOTH treats afterwards! AND there was some yarn I really liked on clearance!

The power of 'what if I give myself a little treat after I do the hard thing' really cannot be overestimated.

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workaday Wednesday

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:55:30 GMT

Instead of the office, I'm headed to the car spa today -- time to swap the tires back to summertime! (Better mileage? Quieter? Honestly I'm not sure, but I'm doing it anyway.)

I definitely scheduled it for an office day so I could skip going to the office, BUT also those are the days when I don't have meetings in the morning, so I can easily work from the car spa. So there was a work-benefit reason along with the me-benefit reason.

I am preparing as if for a day-long expedition, although I'm really hoping it only takes an hour. I've got my phone to do my duolingo lessons, my work computer so I can answer emails, my noise-cancelling headphones so I can listen to my audiobook (probably while doing work stuff), plenty of fanfic to read if I need to completely check out, and of course snacks and bevs.

Most importantly, I've promised myself a little treat if I behave myself (ie. definitely don't yell at the employees even if there is a delay, also try not to cry, but that's optional, they have a bathroom for a reason). If the weather is nice: a little walk break on the way home! If the weather is not good for walking: a little trip to the craft store on the way home!

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tumblr holidays: an incomplete list

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:53:24 GMT

*January 15: Boston Molasses Flood

*AM I MISSING A TUMBLR FEBRUARY HOLIDAY???????

*March 15: Ides of March

*April 13: anniversary of Neil banging out the tunes (this year with a beautiful illustrated poem!)

PS: fun article about searching for Neil's origins

PPS: Neil has his own fanlore page

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today years old

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:50:21 GMT

I've seen WADA statements for many years -- on products, on documents, on websites... And yet I was today years old when I finally learned that it stands for World Anti Doping Agency. Thanks, thehockeyboys fanfic!

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it usually isn't much of a problem, honestly

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 12:44:54 GMT

I am not great at remembering numbers. In high school, one of my friend group (who was great at remembering numbers) remembered my SAT scores for me, which was helpful, because for a while I needed to write those down a lot? IDK a lot of high school is a blur now, I mostly just remember it was really nice that at least SOMEONE in the room could remember numbers.

(This is probably related to the fact that I spent MOST of elementary school forgetting my phone number. Maybe that's not an issue anymore now that everyone has a cell phone? VERY USEFUL.)

The point is, I'm supposed to put my license plate number in a form, and I have no idea what it is. So I'm going to go take a picture of my car, because I have zero confidence in my ability to retain the number from the time when I view it outside until I get back inside and back to the computer.

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caturday updates

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 13:31:32 GMT

I love being subscribed to AO3 fics and authors. Every day I wake up and my email inbox has updates in it. Do I remember all of these fics? Nope. Does that impede my enjoyment of them in any way? Absolutely not.

It's especially fun with a very active fandom like the hockey boys right now, because I'll have six new chapters in my inbox, absolutely zero recollection of the context for any of them, and I'll just read them all in a row. No plot, just vibes.

(There are multiple authors I subscribed to when they were writing a lot in a fandom I was also in, and then they start writing in a different fandom. I still love seeing their updates! I don't always read them, but I'm thrilled that they are creating and sharing those creations. Sometimes we circle around to match fandoms again and it's like 'fancy meeting you here, what a delightful surprise!')

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fic rec Friday

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:31:31 GMT

clear to a hedgehog, by magneticwave

Every Boston Raider knows that although their captain has a girl in every port, he’s got a soft spot for the one in Montreal. Dr. Shane Hollander knows it’s better to have a semi-regular source of casual sex than try to make a relationship work during residency. Ilya Rozanov knows that the doctor he’s fucking in Montreal is unaware that he plays hockey, and in fact probably thinks he’s Bratva.

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wait, I have a picture for this season

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:02:50 GMT

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signs of spring

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:30:11 GMT

Yesterday I was out for a walk and I saw a shrub starting to leaf out! (Okay, it wasn't quite leaves yet. Some kind of buds? idk I'm not a botanist, and I didn't look it up to fact check anything.)

My first thought was: huzzah, the plants are back!

My second thought was: oh, I'm probably allergic to that

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workaday Tuesday

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:02:59 GMT

Heading back to the office after two weeks of escaping office days (first by being sick, then by the office declaring our presence not-so-mandatory after all). (Sometimes we have weeks that are optional, baffling everyone.)

ANYWAY.

Work-related things I plan to do in the office today:
*email coworkers who are not in the building because they live too far away to be impacted by the office rules
*email people who are not in the building because they work for other companies and I'm requesting information from them
*work with online files that could be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection

Non-work-related things I plan to do in the office today:
*eat the free breakfast
*drink the free coffee
*probably irritate a lot of people because I'm still coughing and sniffling a non-zero amount (I'm better! Definitely not contagious or anything, but sitting in a room with someone who is coughing or blowing their nose even once just isn't that fun, and I totally get that.)

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