I shall miss the stars.

Not that I shall stop looking
as they pattern their wild will each night
across an inchoate sky, but I must see them with a different awe.
If I trace their flames’ ascending and descending –
relationships and correspondences –
then I deny what they have just revealed.
The sum of their oppositions, juxtapositions, led me to the end of all sums:
a long journey, cold, dark and uncertain,
toward the ultimate equation.
How can I understand? If I turn back from this,
compelled to seek all answers in the stars,
then this – Who – they have led me to
is not the One they said: they will have lied.

No stars are liars!
My life on their truth!
If they had lied about this
I could never trust their power again.

But I believe they showed the truth,
truth breathing,
truth Whom I have touched with my own hands,
worshipped with my gifts.
If I have bowed, made
obeisance to this final arithmetic,
I cannot ask the future from the stars without betraying
the One whom they have led me to.

It will be hard not ask, just once again,
see by mathematical forecast where he will grow,
where go, what kingdom conquer, what crown wear.
But would it not be going beyond truth
(the obscene reduction ad absurdum)
to lose my faith in truth once, and once for all
revealed in the full dayspring of the sun?

I cannot go back to night.
O Truth, O small and unexpected thing,
You have taken so much from me.
How can I bear wisdom’s pain?
But I have been shown: and I have seen.

— Madeleine L’Engle

Challenge #2: Pets of Fandom

I originally wasn't going to do this one because it got me thinking about Phoebe and I was sad, but then I decided I wanted to talk a little about Phoebe and let myself be sad.

( CN: Pet death )

Having one of those days where I feel like running off to live in a cabin in the woods. Or like, digging a burrow and never coming out.

Author: Audrelite Title: He Could Never Understand Fandom: Yugi-Oh 5Ds Prompt: #476 — Regret Rating: T Characters: Kalin Kessler and Yusei Fudo Word Count: 100 Summary: No. Yusei Could never understand. The darkness had not swallowed him up, And never would.

AO3 Link

Earlier today I decided to gently, carefully, with references, talk to some people in my local discord - as in, these are people I know IRL - that ConformityGate is not real. It's easy to debunk ConformityGate because some of their 'proof' are claims that certain things happened on the show, but those things did not happen. You can just screepcap or clip and 'no, that is not what happened, they literally made shit up, here is what actually happened.'

If you have remained blissfully unaware, it's Byler Truther bullshit. Unhinged Stranger Things fans who learned nothing from being humiliated in Scriptgate.

Don't ask me what Scriptgate is, because I will explain and you will take 1d4 psychic damage

Now, it's being covered by MoistCr1TiKaL, a very prominent youtuber. 17.6 million subscribers. Their collective meltdown is big enough to be covered by Charlie of all people. jfc....

Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

My love language is dessert.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHERLOCK HOLMES!

The jams of this year's epiphany tart are raspberry and apricot.

I wrote for True Detective: Night Country this year and kind of just sunk myself into this world for a couple of months. Did a bunch of research on polar night, only to have to acknowledge that the show just hand-waved whatever it wanted so I followed suit. I love these characters so much that I had an absolute blast writing this.

Endless Night (4657 words) by alchemise
Fandom: True Detective: Night Country (TV)
Relationships: Liz Danvers/Evangeline Navarro
Characters: Liz Danvers (True Detective: Night Country), Evangeline Navarro, Peter Prior, Rose Aguineau, Bee Malee
Additional Tags: Case Fic, Horror, Cosmic Horror, environmental horror
Summary: Liz hadn’t intended to watch the first sunrise of the year.

( fic )

Title: everything a man is supposed to be
Author: bluerosekatie
Fandom: The Protomen (Rock Opera)
Pairing/Characters: Dr. Light & Emily Stanton & Protoman & Megaman
Rating/Category: Gen, background Het
Prompt: Protomen, The (Rock Opera), Emily & Dr. Light & Mega Man & Proto Man, Family fluff (Happy AU)
Spoilers: N/A, but addresses characters/concepts from act 2.
Summary: Blues welcomes his new brother and starts to teach him about their home and family.
Notes/Warnings: Fic is archive-locked to avoid AI scraping.

Read it on Ao3 here!

I'm sad the Corporation for Public Broadcasting voted to dissolve, but it helped a little to read that they ultimately chose to do so to make sure it could not be used against public media:

“When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks.”

I'm glad I have a PBS Passport membership that supports my local station and I'm thinking about upping my monthly donation amount.

Posted by Matt Kiser

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/01/06/day-1813/

Today in one sentence: Trump is “discussing a range of options” to acquire Greenland, including that “utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option”; Democrats plan to force a Senate vote to reassert Congress’s war powers after Trump renewed claims that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security; Trump said Venezuela will turn over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S.; on the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Trump warned House Republicans that Democrats would “find a reason to impeach me” if they lose the 2026 midterm elections; and the White House published an official webpage on the events of Jan. 6, that describes the Capitol attack as a “peaceful protest,” and that Democrats and the Capitol Police – not Trump supporters – were responsible for the violence.

---

1/ Trump is “discussing a range of options” to acquire Greenland, including that “utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option,” framing control of the Arctic island as a U.S. national security priority. Trump claimed that the U.S. “needs Greenland” to counter Russian and Chinese activity, while Denmark and Greenland have said the territory isn’t for sale and that Greenlanders will decide their own future. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller questioned Denmark’s legal right to control the territory and refused to rule out military force, saying “nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.” He added: “We live in a world […] that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, told lawmakers in a closed briefing that despite Trump’s rhetoric, his goal is to buy Greenland from Denmark and that threats of an imminent invasion are to pressure Denmark into negotiations. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Associated Press / New York Times / Axios / Politico / Reuters / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / CNN / Politico)

2/ Democrats plan to force a Senate vote to reassert Congress’s war powers after Trump renewed claims that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security. The effort, led by Democratic senators, would use a privileged resolution to require congressional approval before any use of force, framing the move as a check on presidential power after the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other Republicans said an attack on Greenland is not seriously being contemplated. (Politico / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Semafor)

3/ Trump said Venezuela will turn over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S. Trump said the oil would be sold at market prices and that he would personally control the proceeds, while separately suggesting U.S. taxpayers could reimburse American oil companies for repairing and rebuilding Venezuela’s damaged energy infrastructure. U.S. agencies haven’t confirmed either arrangement, and it remains unclear how the oil transfer, reimbursement plan or broader production push would comply with sanctions law, existing contracts or international norms following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro, who has pleaded not guilty to federal charges. Nevertheless, Trump directed Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute the transfer immediately using storage ships to deliver the oil to U.S. ports, which described the crude as “high quality” and “sanctioned.” (CNBC / The Guardian / Bloomberg / NBC News / NBC News)

4/ On the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Trump warned House Republicans that Democrats would “find a reason to impeach me” if they lose the 2026 midterm elections. Speaking at a House GOP retreat at the Kennedy Center, he told lawmakers they “got to win the midterms,” framing the vote as protection against a third impeachment after he was impeached twice during his first term and acquitted both times by the Senate. Trump also mused about canceling the elections, saying he would not call to “cancel the election” because “the fake news will say ‘he wants the elections canceled. He’s a dictator.’” (NBC News / New York Times / Daily Beast / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Axios / Reuters)

5/ The White House published an official webpage on the events of Jan. 6, that describes the Capitol attack as a “peaceful protest,” and that Democrats and the Capitol Police – not Trump supporters – were responsible for the violence. The page calls Jan. 6 defendants “patriots” and “hostages,” praised Trump for issuing sweeping pardons, and claims that the 2020 election was stolen even though election officials and courts have found no evidence of widespread fraud. The page also accuses Democrats of fabricating an “insurrection” narrative, and blames the Capitol Police and Mike Pence for certifying the 2020 election results. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)

---

✏️ Notables.

1. Homeland Security began deploying up to about 2,000 federal agents to the Minneapolis–St. Paul area as part of the largest immigration enforcement operation of the Trump administration. The monthlong surge, which started Sunday, combines immigration arrests with investigations into alleged fraud tied to federally funded programs, though the scope, targets, and results of those investigations remain unspecified. (CBS News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Associated Press)

2. The Trump administration said it would freeze about $10 billion in federal funding for child care, cash assistance, and social services in five Democratic-led states. The freeze affects California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York, and includes more than $7 billion for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, nearly $2.4 billion for the Child Care and Development Fund, and about $870 million in social services grants. The administration hasn’t provided evidence of widespread fraud outside Minnesota. (Axios / NPR / New York Times / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)

3. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s board voted to dissolve the organization after Congress eliminated its federal funding. CPB leaders said they rejected keeping the nonprofit dormant after losing more than $500 million in annual appropriations, arguing that an unfunded shell could be vulnerable to “political manipulation or misuse.” CPB said it would distribute all remaining funds and close after more than five decades of channeling federal money to PBS and NPR member stations, underwriting national programming, and subsidizing rural and small-market outlets that lacked reliable sources of support. (NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times)

4. The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that two state abortion bans, including the nation’s first ban on abortion pills, violated the Wyoming Constitution. The 4–1 decision keeps abortion legal statewide. The justices said the laws conflicted with a 2012 constitutional amendment guaranteeing competent adults the right to make their own health care decisions, rejecting the state’s argument that abortion is not health care. (Associated Press / Mother Jones)

5. Trump told House Republicans to be “flexible” on a decades-old ban on most federal funding for abortion as a way to secure a health care deal and “own” the issue ahead of the midterm elections. Trump said easing the restriction could help unlock legislation to address rising insurance and prescription drug costs, including a proposal to send health care dollars directly to consumers rather than insurers. Senate Republican leaders and anti-abortion groups, meanwhile, said the Hyde Amendment remains a red line for them and warned that abandoning it could fracture the party. Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the issue “probably the most challenging part” of the negotiations. (Politico / Associated Press / Axios / Politico)

⏭️ Notably Next: The 2026 midterms are in 301 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 1,036 days.

---

• Today last year: Day 1448: "A routine act."
• Four years ago today: Day 352: "A perpetual state of emergency."
• Five years ago today: Day 1448: "Death spiral."
• Six years ago today: Day 1082: Get this done.

---

Support today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/01/06/day-1813/

Jon is taking his lunch break at his new job. I suppose he's been bringing his lunch and eating at his desk every day so far, so he won't have to make the effort to walk down the hall on crutches and take the elevator to the cafeteria. But he's doing it this time.

When he arrives at the cafeteria double doors, he pauses to catch his breath, and wonders if it was worth it to come here. Probably not. But then Sarah, the mainframe technician we met briefly in an earlier scene, throws open the doors. "Jon! Hi! Let me get that for you," she gushes, and invites him to sit with her.

I've done numerous scenes where Jon is taking his time going places or performing tasks, and we all get to watch his slow progress, panel by panel. Sometimes, he's in the background while other characters do things in the foreground. I have one scene, not in the book or the daily comic but just for a feedback exercise, where it takes him 3 pages - that's about 16 panels - to pour himself a drink and sit down with it.

I had a friend in college who was disabled, and was extremely defensive about the pace at which he operated. Well, I say 'a friend' but we only hung out a few times. He had the hots for me, and I didn't reciprocate because I was dating the custodian, and then he found a girlfriend and we kinda never saw each other again. But that's neither here nor there. The thing I found interesting was the whole concept of living your life at your own speed. Especially because Jon has three speeds! Racing speed, limping speed, and a complete standstill.

The speed of his personality adjusts to the speed of his body. I wonder if anyone ever noticed that? While he's never extremely outgoing, when he's in his good wheelchair, his personality gets stronger. So even though he's pretty sensitive to the general cultural attitude that being in a wheelchair isn't a good thing compared to not being disabled, he certainly feels better when he's in it.

2026 Jan 6: Görkem Şen (Yaybahar on YT): Yaybahar III Nadiri



The description text:

The essence of gold was rare, he conquered with his virtue, offered his gifts and fell behind the sun...

Dedicated to the soul of my dear friend's father, Nadir Oğuz...

I am surmising that "Nadiri" means "Of Nadir". Yaybahar is the instrument, the artist is its inventor:

The name yaybahar (pronounced /jajba'har/) has Turkish origin. It is a composite of two words: yay means a "string" or a "coiled string" and bahar means the season "spring." According to Gorkem Sen, the name is derived from the idea of a new life or a new beginning. [1]

I assume this is the third one of its kind the artist has made.

Artist's website: https://www.gorkemsen.com/

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh



Blurb:

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.

Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…

I discovered that this book is a re-working of the Korean legend/myth of Shim Cheong, who placated a dragon god and married the emperor. I love stories that expose me to mythology from other cultures beside the Euro-centric one I was raised with.

I really enjoyed this book - it read like a Ghibli movie with a similar atmosphere and surreality. And indeed had much in common with Spirited Away to the point where I was not slightly surprised by the twist. Okay, I didn't anticipate part of it.

Anyway, highly recommend.

love's such an old fashioned word
By: heydoeydoey
Wordcount: 30,038
Pairing: Trent Crimm/Ted Lasso
Rating: Teen+
Summary: He takes the piece of paper with Trent’s phone number on it out of his wallet and sticks it under the Tin Man fridge magnet from The Wizard of Oz set Henry sent him for his birthday.
Looking at Trent’s quick scrawl across the page, a lifeline if he ever needs it, some of the pressure in Ted’s chest eases, just a bit.

constant as a northern star (constantly in the dark)
By: laiqualaurelote
Wordcount: 10,481
Pairing: Trent Crimm/Ted Lasso
Rating: Teen+
Summary: “I just met Ted Lasso,” Sachiko Crimm says bluntly when her ex-husband picks up.
Trent is silent for a while. “And?” he says finally.
Sachiko gives it five seconds, and then she bursts out laughing.
“Stop it,” says Trent wearily.

Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
By: Mardia
Wordcount: 22,449
Pairing: Trent Crimm/Ted Lasso
Rating: Explicit
Summary: Ted Lasso: Schrodinger's Witch.
Or, the one where AFC Richmond are leading the Premier League table, and Trent Crimm and the rest of the British press are slowly losing their minds as a result.

The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret
By: Laiqualaurelote
Wordcount: 20,270
Pairing: Trent Crimm/Ted Lasso
Rating: Teen+
Summary: “Ted,” he says, mouth dry.
“Trent,” says Ted.
“Is this a date?” says Trent stupidly.
“Trent Crimm, bringing that heat.” Ted still hasn’t withdrawn his hand.
They’re standing in the street outside Ted’s flat where any tosser in Richmond could gawk at them. Trent hasn’t blanked so hard since his first press conference at Man United, where Alex Ferguson insulted his hair. His mouth, trained by years of journalistic habit, says on autopilot: “Follow-up question.”
In 48 hours, Trent Crimm lands a scoop, implodes his career and makes some drastic life decisions. And then there's the aftermath. And Ted, of course.

i don't joke about crushing balls
By: Anonymous
Wordcount: 1,481
Pairing: Trent Crimm/Ted Lasso
Rating: Teen+
Summary: The sight is so bizarre, so out of place that for a minute, Roy’s not sure what he’s looking at. Trent (Crimm, the Independent) looks just as shocked as Roy feels. He’s wrapped in a fuzzy blanket, stupid hair ridiculously mussed, and he’s holding a mug of steaming coffee.

Q&A
By: pocky_slash
Wordcount: 7,124
Pairing: Trent Crimm/Ted Lasso
Rating: Teen+
Summary: "Good evening, Ted," Trent says.
"How long?" Ted asks. Trent sighs.
"Right to it, then?"
"Bingo, Ringo," Ted says.
After Ted goes back to Kansas, Trent sends a finished copy of the book to his house. Ted has some questions. Trent's not sure he's ready to answer them.

 

I posted five fics to AO3 in 2025, in addition to being a neutral spreadsheet mod for Battleship. I watched a couple TV shows, a lot of movies, and read a whopping 12 books for the first time in years. 2025 was a weird year.

( Favorite Media )

( Fics Posted )

( End of Year Fandom Meme )

Fandom Goals

Here are my 2025 fandom goals, none of which I accomplished:

Don't participate in bangs/fests/exchanges until July 1 or I've posted 2 fics outside an event, whichever comes first (not counting my in-progress treat for Candy Hearts)
Post 4 fics outside of bangs/fests/exchanges
Post 3 unfinished fics from the past two years
Post one work to AO3 that isn't fic
Post my Stranger Things post-canon Will/Mike/Eleven fic before the final season comes out and josses everything

My 2025 royally sucked for reasons that had nothing to do with politics or current events (so all that suckiness was happening in addition to the other suckiness). It's honestly a miracle that I wrote anything, let alone that I wrote things and modded one of the biggest most complex exchanges in fandom and read twelve books to completion.

Instead of making more goals I won't meet, I'm going to list a bunch of good things that happened to me in 2025, because it's important to remember that good things happened.

-I finished twelve books, the most I've read in probably a decade. Some of those books are going to be forever favorites.
-A lot of people had a great time with Battleship despite the stress, and my hard work and time commitment made that happen.
-Oasis reunited!! I couldn't travel to see their reunion tour because life sucked, but good quality concert videos on YouTube got me through a really tough month.
-I got to see Jaws and Scream on the big screen for the first time.
-The "I Lied To You" dance sequence in Sinners exists.
-Will Byers got a nosebleed, which I've been desperately wanting to see since season two.
-I got to see Mission Impossible stunts in IMAX for the first time, and the arctic sub sequence in Final Reckoning was absolutely worth the wait.
-I got to see The Brutalist in 70mm, and the part in the beginning where the camera flips over to film the upside down Statue of Liberty took my breath away.
-Stardew Valley was a much needed escape this year, and my himbo husband Alex was always there to tell me how buff I'd gotten from farming.
-The Stranger Things finale was much kinder to my ships than I anticipated, and the Duffers did two things I really wanted them to do.

Happy new year, my friends. At the beginning of 2025, I talked about some of my creative plans for the year. There are certainly fanfics that I want to write, but for various reasons, I haven't had a lot of energy for it lately and am hesitant to commit to even one project, let alone several.

But that doesn't mean that there's nothing in the fannish world to which I'm looking forward. Here are some of those things, in no particular order.

1. Finally reading and sending feedback for my fandomgiftbasket gifts

2. The return of threesentenceficathon on January 17

3. Receiving my beta reader's feedback on a Five Things fic that I wrote months ago for The Hypnotists, which is still my small fandom of choice

4. Reading Through Gates of Garnet and Gold, the latest installment in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series

5. Talking about Stranger Things with anybody who has also finished the series, because I have feelings

What are some of your fannish hopes and/or goals for 2026?