Minor operations; testing new serving path

Tuesday, 3 February 2026 10:25 pm
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[staff profile] mark posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance

Hi all!

I'm doing some minor operational work tonight. It should be transparent, but there's always a chance that something goes wrong. The main thing I'm touching is testing a replacement for Apache2 (our web server software) in one area of the site.

Thank you!

Crossroads (2002)

Friday, 30 January 2026 01:35 am
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[personal profile] ritalovett
Just finished watching Crossroads (2002) and first off, Britney Spears is a surprisingly good actress. Secondly, this movie gave me all kinds of feelings. I remember watching this come on TV when I was like 13 but never knew how emotional it would make me all these years later.

Like seeing the early 2000s aesthetic hit me so hard even though I was only 2 years old when this movie came out. Seeing the three friends (and Ben) singing at the top of their lungs while riding down the freeway honestly made me tear up. During these moments, it just made me feel nostalgic for a life I never experienced. I miss the youth I never got to have, miss the friends I never got to know.

Britney had such a beautiful natural singing voice and I deeply enjoyed it in this movie. The worst thing the record producers did was force her to sing in that “baby” voice.

This movie brought forth a lot of emotions in me and makes me want to get into Britney’s early albums again because she really was an icon of a generation.

guess who i am?

Friday, 30 January 2026 12:37 am
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[personal profile] reggiekray posting in [community profile] iam
[community profile] iam the billy hargrove (stranger things) of dreamwidth!

It’s finally over

Tuesday, 27 January 2026 04:17 pm
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[personal profile] ritalovett
After 843 days, 12 hours, 6 minutes, Hostages Square clock goes dark with Ran Gvili’s return




I’m so relieved that this horrible war is finally over, and that the families can now buried their loved ones. These past two years have opened my eyes about humanity, and I’m never going to trust it again. But I’m relieved that there will no longer be a reason to fight anymore.

May their memories be a blessing.

just a few.

Monday, 26 January 2026 07:44 pm

I LOVE this anime

Friday, 23 January 2026 08:26 pm
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[personal profile] ritalovett
I just finished watching A Little Snow Fairy Sugar - both the main series and the summer special, and it’s so freaking adorable. All throughout the main series, I was going between laughing my ass off to crying my eyes out to just having a warm fuzzy feeling in my chest. I love slice of life anime, but even more when it’s mixed in with magical elements.

I have just grown so emotionally attached to every single character shown in this show. When Greta first showed herself on the show, I found myself wanting to hit her upside the head with a chair, she was so annoying. But I quickly found her endearing and knew she was a good kid at heart. I also fully believe that she had a crush on Saga.

And the fairies themselves are just far too adorable. Especially Sugar, Salt, and Pepper… watching Salt contemplate changing his path in life was deeply emotional.

Sugar herself reminds me of what I imagined an imaginary friend following me around as a kid would be like, so I immediately fell in love with the little fairy.

I just loved this anime so much. I was sobbing by the end of the series, when Sugar went away and Saga no longer saw the season fairies. The last time I sobbed this hard over an anime was probably Violet Evergarden, Episode 10…

I’m so sad that it’s finally over… I am now looking online for similar anime to watch to fill this void in my heart.

Guitar

Thursday, 22 January 2026 07:17 pm
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[personal profile] ritalovett
I forgot just how much I used to love playing the electric guitar. I think I quit when I was around 20 or 21 because I felt more drawn to the bass. But when I was around 18-19 years old, my strat had basically become an extension of myself, and I was just determined to learn the entire Tornado of Souls song, including Marty’s face melting solo, because I thought surely if I learned the hardest song imaginable, I could then play anything. I never did learn the full solo, but Megadeth sure taught me a lot about rhythm and palm muting so the effort wasn’t completely fruitless.

I pulled out my old Fender Strat that my dad gave me in 2020, and it’s one of those that the neck is made out of some kind of wood that makes each sound amazing - even when the guitar is unplugged.

I quit music sometime in 2022 when my depression drained away all of my energy and I just couldn’t be bothered to use the energy to practice…

I’m really looking forward to picking both instruments back up this year. Holding the Fender in my arms again made me remember the absolute joy I would get at learning a new riff or solo. And this particular guitar sounds so good.