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  <id>tag:dreamwidth.org,2017-04-10:3019973</id>
  <title>Aurora Borealis!?</title>
  <subtitle>At this time of year, at this time of day</subtitle>
  <author>
    <name>strryeyedgrrl</name>
  </author>
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  <updated>2026-09-08T19:03:53Z</updated>
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  <entry>
    <id>tag:dreamwidth.org,2017-04-10:3019973:1234381</id>
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    <title>[LJ Idol Season 20] Week 0: Introduction</title>
    <published>2026-09-08T19:03:53Z</published>
    <updated>2026-09-08T19:03:53Z</updated>
    <category term="therealljidol"/>
    <category term="ljidol20"/>
    <dw:security>public</dw:security>
    <dw:reply-count>10</dw:reply-count>
    <content type="html">&lt;span style="font-size: larger;"&gt;So here we are and here I am.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I went back through my posts and determined that the first time I participated in Idol was in September 2008.There's an intro post there from a lifetime ago. 18 years! The four-year-old daughter I wrote about is now 22 and married. The best friend I mention (who gave me my original LJ invite code, when those were a thing) is no longer in my life. I told you all about a job I'd been at for seven years - 11 years later, they'd very unceremoniously lay me off. I've moved from the PNW to the desert outside Phoenix. The cat I had then has since passed away, but I now have three cats that are getting on in their own later years.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Suffice to say, it's been awhile. But I'm still here and I'm still Jill.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I still love Tori Amos. I still love the travel industry after managing to work my way back to it post-layoff and post-COVID. I got my degree in communications because I still love writing and communicating. I'm semi-retired from Girl Scouting, but only because I couldn't find my place in it here in the desert. I've got three (Four? Maybe four.) cross-stitch projects in progress and I bake cookies for my co-workers at my side hustle as your local old lady barista. If I had the time and money in this economy to go back to college for my masters, I'd get it in History - I minored in the subject alongside my bachelors in communication and my niche period of interest is LGBTQ+ history of Germany's Weimar Republic. Instead, I just buy and read a lot of books on and around the topic.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have two story ideas baking in this head of mine - one that has more meat than the other and really needs to grow its legs and become a real boy. The other is destined to be a short story if I ever get past the executive dysfunction of not being able to start something new without having finished the first thing. I'm thinking I might play with them both here, but I also might not. Hell, I'll just be happy enough if the perimenopause doesn't eat my brain and make me miss too many deadlines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, hey, friends. Glad to be back.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=strryeyedgrrl&amp;ditemid=1234381" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/&gt; comments</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>tag:dreamwidth.org,2017-04-10:3019973:1234090</id>
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    <title>Move bich, get out the way, I've come to LJ Idol to play.</title>
    <published>2026-08-28T21:52:51Z</published>
    <updated>2026-08-28T21:52:51Z</updated>
    <dw:security>public</dw:security>
    <dw:reply-count>2</dw:reply-count>
    <content type="html">I dropped the T because bich is Latin for generosity. Mkay.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here's my Very Official Statement of Intent to compete in this, the 20th anniversary of LJ Idol.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sometimes I try to making writing goals when it comes to Idol and if I've learned anything over the years, that's just - for me, anyway - a &lt;strong&gt;stupid &lt;/strong&gt;fucking idea. So I've got just one goal - write to each prompt, each week. No loafing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*waves*&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Nice to see you all again. Game on!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=strryeyedgrrl&amp;ditemid=1234090" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/&gt; comments</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>tag:dreamwidth.org,2017-04-10:3019973:1232463</id>
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    <title>I swear it'll be different this time.</title>
    <published>2024-06-28T04:27:16Z</published>
    <updated>2024-06-28T04:27:16Z</updated>
    <dw:security>public</dw:security>
    <dw:reply-count>1</dw:reply-count>
    <content type="html">Hey.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For real, I'm gonna do it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm gonna do this mini-season of Idol.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yeah, I know. The last time I touched this blog was in 2015 and I said the same thing and then *checks blog history* I clearly didn't do the thing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But 2024 Jill is a different person than 2015 Jill.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For starters, she remembered her password for Dreamwidth, so she's already got that going for her.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here I am!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*no cartwheels this time, my knees pain me*&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=strryeyedgrrl&amp;ditemid=1232463" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/&gt; comments</content>
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