- working on Eldest's 21st quilt (yes, it is very overdue). Worked out what is needed, what I have, how the colours are going to be picked for the sections that I'm adding (because the original had a large square of white in the top left corner, so I've started the pattern at the third row, and have to add two rows at the bottom).
- today's goal was to identify pieces for four blocks (of the remaining 24), stretch goal to sew them, extra stretch goal to finish assembling that strip (combining rows 5/6 into a single piece). I stalled out at identifying what fabric was suitable for the current set of blocks -- there are so many pieces!
- Old Shanghai for the traditional post-con Wednesday gathering. There was some lamentation at the lack of pancakes, and conclusion that the last Pancake place had closed a decade ago.
With the dramatic change in how I spend my weeks upon me, I'm revisiting Habitica to see what needs doing. I did a bit of a tweak last week, working through my habits list and deciding what was good. I haven't posted that here, because it needed editing, and at this point it is unlikely that I will. However, what do I have in dailies, and how am I going to change it?
- Daily journal - this is going just fine, and it is important to my daily process for getting things done; keep
- progress at least one to-do - I haven't been making good use of the to-do list, so this has been an issue. Making it optional, possibly to delete.
- Tuesdays: weekly update on annual goals - I miss this as often as I achieve it, but it is a useful reminder; keep
- read things 'today' list - I haven't been doing this consistently, but it is useful when I do; keep
- update the 100 days document with today's small tasks - useful reminder; making it optional
- Minimum progress on current project; list of craft projects - delete; make a habit* for 'craft'. I want to keep it, I have a 67 day streak, but I just can't guarantee that I'll be doing it daily, and having it as an intermittent habit is better than beating myself up.
- read a book (physical, ebook, doesn't matter) - another one with a good streak, although only 36 days, but can't continue to commit, so moving it to habits.
- check notes files for anything I can progress - this is a valuable reminder; I don't want to move it to a habit, making it optional. This is because I have a long term goal of getting everything out of notes and into more sensible locations -- I use the notes app for whatever I need to record Right Now.
- Delete anything out of DW inboxes -- useful reminder, but I now at least look at the inbox every day, so deleting
- read three emails - useful reminder, does help a little. 53 day streak. Keeping for now, might make optional or delete if it is still too much
- update email and safari tabs spreadsheet - the spreadsheet was working as a motivation for while, but now it isn't. I still have it open, and maybe I'll update, but this isn't important. Delete
- read at least one page of a drawing book (optional) - I've kind of abandoned this at the moment. I might take the drawing journal to uni with me, and take it places on my lunch break, but I want that to be more relaxed. Delete.
- blog post (optional) -- I don't think that aiming to post daily is a good idea going forward. While I wasn't working/studying, it kept me focused on what I was doing, but I'll have other things for that. Delete.
That leaves 7 daily activities, of which journal, reading the to do list and checking emails are required. My notes suggested adding a zotero related task, but I think I'm going to put that in habits instead.
* The advantage of moving things to habits is that on days that I do a lot of whatever, I can tick them off multiple times.
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beanside Jun. 7th, 2025 08:12 am)
beanside Jun. 7th, 2025 08:12 am)It's Saturday!
Half of Fridays plans got cancelled on account of not giving a fuck. We are still new computerless and we didn't make it to the steak house. Instead we went to a steak and sushi buffet. It was okay--standard buffet fare, though the abundance of seafood was very good. I had crab legs, stone crab claws, plus lobster tail and a pretty credible NY strip steak. Also some pretty good sushi. All that for $36 sounds pretty good to me.
One thing that did not get scrapped was my hair. It's not exactly what the picture showed, but I love it. It's bright and happy and fun and it makes me feel good. Picture below the cut.
( Read more... )
I'm going to go grab a shower and wash it out for the first time, so we'll see how much the tub looks like I slaughtered a muppet.
Today, we take Mao to be cremated. He's waited a long time, so it's good that we're finally doing it.
Then later, we have bowling with the work crew, which should be fun.
Tomorrow is all games all the time which will be fun. Okay, gonna go shower! Everyone have a perfect Saturday!
Half of Fridays plans got cancelled on account of not giving a fuck. We are still new computerless and we didn't make it to the steak house. Instead we went to a steak and sushi buffet. It was okay--standard buffet fare, though the abundance of seafood was very good. I had crab legs, stone crab claws, plus lobster tail and a pretty credible NY strip steak. Also some pretty good sushi. All that for $36 sounds pretty good to me.
One thing that did not get scrapped was my hair. It's not exactly what the picture showed, but I love it. It's bright and happy and fun and it makes me feel good. Picture below the cut.
( Read more... )
I'm going to go grab a shower and wash it out for the first time, so we'll see how much the tub looks like I slaughtered a muppet.
Today, we take Mao to be cremated. He's waited a long time, so it's good that we're finally doing it.
Then later, we have bowling with the work crew, which should be fun.
Tomorrow is all games all the time which will be fun. Okay, gonna go shower! Everyone have a perfect Saturday!
I really haven't been putting much effort into tracking things here; my last post about it was 10th of May. At that point I had finished 2 projects of the 10 I'm hoping for, and made good progress on three. I've not finished anything else since, but I have made good progress on some
Previous good progress
- towel rail - has not been progressed. I need a day a) without rain and b) that I have multiple hours available and c) (most importantly) that I remember this needs doing
- door mat(s) - I've used up all the existing 'yarn' and I have half a rag rug. Every time I am surprised by how much 'yarn' it takes. I need to work out where I stashed the rest of the strips while we had a houseguest, and assemble more.
- Teach myself to draw - this has stalled. I keep misplacing my drawing book or the sketch book I'm using, or the pencil. I need to get a better process.
Progressed since
- pink / white / brown crochet blanket -- crochet finished, sewing in the ends. I think I'm half done on the ends?
- brown / green knit -- this gets 4-6 rows roughly every second Thursday (when we game online) plus I've sat and worked on it while listening to podcasts.
- T's jumper - a handful of rows. I need to make sure to do this every second day at least
- blue / white virus blanket - I've finished the first of the two balls I had left, now on to the last one. It is just shy of 70cm square, and I'm on the 13th repeat of the pattern. I suspect this is the last repeat, based on available yarn. Hopefully I have enough to finish.
- Eldest's quilt - I have laid it out, I have worked out what is needed to finish it. I have made and joined four blocks and worked out that I was doing something different from the book, and now those are going to be the front of a cushion, just as soon as they aren't attached to the quilt any more (basically, I'm adding 1/2" to each so the finished size is 9.5" rather than 9", but hadn't noted that down anywhere).
- Knitting for Kitties - using up a couple of balls of yarn; the green one is done, and we have handed three squares over to purrdence
I'm reasonably happy with this progress. It is possible that either the knitting for kitties or the virus blanket will be finished next, because those are relatively portable. The former lives in my handbag; the latter is going to go in my uni bag (it is possible I will mostly stop carrying the handbag, because it doesn't fit a lunch or a laptop)
Kurt Kohlstedt has spent ten years creating audio and print stories for the design podcast, 99% Invisible. He also co-authored the 99% Invisible City book.
Last year, 99pi’s Kurt Kohlstedt suffered a severe injury that incapacitated his right arm and dominant hand. In the aftermath, new everyday challenges led him to research, test, and evolve accessible design solutions. These experiences set the stage for Adapt or Design, a twelve-part project of 99% Invisible in three acts, available at the short link 99pi.org/adapt
The Adapt or Design series includes many groan-worthy puns related to hands; six essays exploring assistive designs for people with one functional hand; three design hacks and mods that helped Kurt manage long-term rehabilitation; and three final essays diving deep into adaptive writing technologies including a free one-handed "mirror keyboard" for Windows PowerToys.
While the first article posted in April, I just heard about it via the 99% Invisible podcast 630, where Kurt and Roman talk about all these things.
I know I owe a bunch of comments/replies, sorry, I will get to them; I have spent all my time this week (including time I should have been working... took a nontrivial amount of vacation time this week) on the following:
- looking around at schools for A in case his school gets utterly consumed by the drama (yep, third teacher did leave, now we are screwed unless the Head can find someone really quickly, which to be fair he is working SUPER hard at), unfortunately all my friends who have kids at the local public school were like "if it were ten years ago we'd recommend it, but now we are telling you not to go there"
- talking (and TALKING) to people who are affected by the drama, or who are not directly affected but still angry about the drama, or who are in some cases causing the drama. There is some mean girl stuff going on and it is like, uh, we are all in our 40's and 50's, this is STUPID?? I have been on the phone A LOT this week, to the extent that E has to write a poem for Spanish about a member of her family and told me she was thinking about writing about her mom and how she was on the phone all the time.
- helping E with her final papers/projects in English and Media Arts; for the latter she sometimes needs someone to say things like "if you are making a commercial you probably need a script for it" and for the former she needs someone to be more like, "so... your thesis is made up of two sentences that seem unrelated, and also the way you're structuring this with all your lemma examples and then all your other lemma examples does not really flow very well, and also you begin several sentences in a row with 'This shows'" (some of these are the limits of approaching a paper like a proof, I guess)
Her teacher lets them rewrite after grading multiple times but does not give them any comments on their draft except for the ungraded rough draft, which means that E is on Rewrite #3 and counting, we have worked on drafts every night this week except last night, as her teacher has not graded #3 yet, which I am hoping is a good sign but might just mean that her teacher is tired of her turning in rewrites
(I do like that her teacher is a bit harsh on grading but lets them rewrite -- Rewrite #3 is quite a bit better than her original graded paper, and I think she's learned a LOT about writing a literary analysis paper, admittedly quite a bit more than I knew at her age. But more feedback would have been really nice, and then maybe she could have done fewer rewrites.)
She also has another final project in English with involves writing and illustrating a kid's story about racism, only using animals or objects or shapes instead of people. Of course when "shapes" were mentioned E jumped at that option. Her story is really sweet and involves tessellations of triangles, squares, and hexagons, but she is definitely a "tell not show" kid and also is having trouble with the part of the assignment that directs them to use descriptive language, which just goes to show you that she is legitimately D's and my kid.
In conclusion: ugh, drama. The only good things about all the drama:
- I may actually finish the crochet blanket for E that I've been working on for uh two years but have been making lots of progress on during all these phone calls? (Also getting lots of time to work on it during tutoring E, but at least that has other good things about it besides the blanket.)
- man I appreciate the other non-dramatic parts of my life a LOT more now! Including DW and all of my non-dramatic friends (the vast majority of them!) but I've also been thinking a lot of my church which is my other big social structure. There was one day where I just looked at my phone texts I'd gotten that day and half of them were school-related and were all drama, and the other half were from my church and things like "Hey, can you play piano for us?" and "I haven't forgotten about the D&D group we were talking about with E!" <-- dude and wife had a BABY last week -- and my favorite, this sweet older lady that we are friends with texting me that she went to her eye appointment and they said everything was great, and she was just happy about that. That totally brightened my day <3 And this morning they had the "morning seminary" party (these kids go to 7am scripture study five days a week -- E does it 3 days a week) and these people just give SO much <3
(edited bc cannot do math)
- looking around at schools for A in case his school gets utterly consumed by the drama (yep, third teacher did leave, now we are screwed unless the Head can find someone really quickly, which to be fair he is working SUPER hard at), unfortunately all my friends who have kids at the local public school were like "if it were ten years ago we'd recommend it, but now we are telling you not to go there"
- talking (and TALKING) to people who are affected by the drama, or who are not directly affected but still angry about the drama, or who are in some cases causing the drama. There is some mean girl stuff going on and it is like, uh, we are all in our 40's and 50's, this is STUPID?? I have been on the phone A LOT this week, to the extent that E has to write a poem for Spanish about a member of her family and told me she was thinking about writing about her mom and how she was on the phone all the time.
- helping E with her final papers/projects in English and Media Arts; for the latter she sometimes needs someone to say things like "if you are making a commercial you probably need a script for it" and for the former she needs someone to be more like, "so... your thesis is made up of two sentences that seem unrelated, and also the way you're structuring this with all your lemma examples and then all your other lemma examples does not really flow very well, and also you begin several sentences in a row with 'This shows'" (some of these are the limits of approaching a paper like a proof, I guess)
Her teacher lets them rewrite after grading multiple times but does not give them any comments on their draft except for the ungraded rough draft, which means that E is on Rewrite #3 and counting, we have worked on drafts every night this week except last night, as her teacher has not graded #3 yet, which I am hoping is a good sign but might just mean that her teacher is tired of her turning in rewrites
(I do like that her teacher is a bit harsh on grading but lets them rewrite -- Rewrite #3 is quite a bit better than her original graded paper, and I think she's learned a LOT about writing a literary analysis paper, admittedly quite a bit more than I knew at her age. But more feedback would have been really nice, and then maybe she could have done fewer rewrites.)
She also has another final project in English with involves writing and illustrating a kid's story about racism, only using animals or objects or shapes instead of people. Of course when "shapes" were mentioned E jumped at that option. Her story is really sweet and involves tessellations of triangles, squares, and hexagons, but she is definitely a "tell not show" kid and also is having trouble with the part of the assignment that directs them to use descriptive language, which just goes to show you that she is legitimately D's and my kid.
In conclusion: ugh, drama. The only good things about all the drama:
- I may actually finish the crochet blanket for E that I've been working on for uh two years but have been making lots of progress on during all these phone calls? (Also getting lots of time to work on it during tutoring E, but at least that has other good things about it besides the blanket.)
- man I appreciate the other non-dramatic parts of my life a LOT more now! Including DW and all of my non-dramatic friends (the vast majority of them!) but I've also been thinking a lot of my church which is my other big social structure. There was one day where I just looked at my phone texts I'd gotten that day and half of them were school-related and were all drama, and the other half were from my church and things like "Hey, can you play piano for us?" and "I haven't forgotten about the D&D group we were talking about with E!" <-- dude and wife had a BABY last week -- and my favorite, this sweet older lady that we are friends with texting me that she went to her eye appointment and they said everything was great, and she was just happy about that. That totally brightened my day <3 And this morning they had the "morning seminary" party (these kids go to 7am scripture study five days a week -- E does it 3 days a week) and these people just give SO much <3
(edited bc cannot do math)
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I'm on hiatus here generally; if you've emailed me and haven't heard back, I'm triaging due to work/other commitments. (In one case, there's someone with, I think, a name starting with C who emailed me a lovely note the week after my concussion and I can't find the email; I'm convinced I accidentally concussedly deleted it because my hand-eye/focus were so shot I kept hitting random keys; if that's you, I'm very sorry!) I will try to catch up when work/life permit. :]
(beanside Jun. 6th, 2025 05:51 am)
beanside Jun. 6th, 2025 05:51 am)It's finally Friday! Whoohoo! It's a short day at work for me, which I'm looking forward to, because the rest of my day is busy as hell. First, work til 11am, then I go to get my hair cut and dyed. I'm a little nervous about this, but I'm sure it'll be fine. The person I'm going to was in the same shop as my former hairdresser (the one who died suddenly) and they do good work. I'm not asking for anything particularly tough. I'm a little worried about borking my back up, but I'll be fine. Then, its home to relax for a few minutes, then we drive 45minutes to get Jess' new computer. Then, we go grab dinner, and then head home. It's a lot, but it'll be good.
Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, which just figures. Tomorrow we shall go down to get the frozen cat cremated. Once that's done, we have a bowling party tomorrow night. With my back, I won't be bowling, but I want to go to see people from work.
Sunday, we have games, which will be fun. I'm hoping the weather holds off tonight while I'm driving in the dark. The bowling is at 4pm, so I won't be out too late on Saturday.
Yesterday was busy, but not horrible. I had one spicy patient, who was scheduled incorrectly by a team member who is no longer with the team, so it fell to me to reschedule. They were not happy, but y'know, it's nothing personal, and I don't actually care that she's upset.
The other day, I went a little insane on pastries from Paris Baguette, a new bakery that opened in Towson. Holy shit, y'all, it was so good. The pastries are light and delicious and I will definitely be ordering from there again.
Tonight, since I'll be getting my hair cut, Jess is going to take care of dinner, which will be chicken. It's the first chicken I've had since the money came in. I'm sure it'll be good, but a little part of me was really enjoying the steaks.
Oh well, maybe more steak on Monday. We'll see.
I now have completed the trifecta of big box stores. I reupped my Costco membership and went ahead and got BJs, too. BJs had the creamer I wanted, and I've always been a fan of their fruit and veg. And Costco has Gimbap, and other ethnic foods that the others don't. And Sam's is cheap.
Okay, time for me to get my shit together. I still do have three hours of work to do today. Everyone have an excellent Friday!
Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, which just figures. Tomorrow we shall go down to get the frozen cat cremated. Once that's done, we have a bowling party tomorrow night. With my back, I won't be bowling, but I want to go to see people from work.
Sunday, we have games, which will be fun. I'm hoping the weather holds off tonight while I'm driving in the dark. The bowling is at 4pm, so I won't be out too late on Saturday.
Yesterday was busy, but not horrible. I had one spicy patient, who was scheduled incorrectly by a team member who is no longer with the team, so it fell to me to reschedule. They were not happy, but y'know, it's nothing personal, and I don't actually care that she's upset.
The other day, I went a little insane on pastries from Paris Baguette, a new bakery that opened in Towson. Holy shit, y'all, it was so good. The pastries are light and delicious and I will definitely be ordering from there again.
Tonight, since I'll be getting my hair cut, Jess is going to take care of dinner, which will be chicken. It's the first chicken I've had since the money came in. I'm sure it'll be good, but a little part of me was really enjoying the steaks.
Oh well, maybe more steak on Monday. We'll see.
I now have completed the trifecta of big box stores. I reupped my Costco membership and went ahead and got BJs, too. BJs had the creamer I wanted, and I've always been a fan of their fruit and veg. And Costco has Gimbap, and other ethnic foods that the others don't. And Sam's is cheap.
Okay, time for me to get my shit together. I still do have three hours of work to do today. Everyone have an excellent Friday!
Answers to questions at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
thefridayfive
1. Have you ever been to summer camp?
Nope. I never wanted to go. I have never liked big groups and crowds, and by the time the school year was over, all I wanted was to was to be by myself alone, or with my friends (1-2 friends), or at the most, when I was in years 1-2, with the small family day care group (2-3 kids in addition to me). And by the time I was in year 3, I had negotiated with my parents that I could be alone at home those weeks my parents weren’t on summer leave. The family day carer was a neighbor and lived in the same apartment building, so Mom and Dad made a deal with her that I can always go to her if I get scared or lonely or anything. I never did - didn’t need to: I loved being alone at home or with my 1-2 close friends at home/the yard/on biking adventures or whatever..
2. Have you ever made a s'more?
Nope, those are not a thing here.
3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)?
I’m not entirely sure! We used to spend most of the summers camping when I was a kid, with a tent. I vaguely think we might have slept under the stars as a novelty/treat once or twice, but I don’t really remember it. The nights were never that warm in the 80s when we were camping; sleeping in sleeping bags, wearing long johns, inside the tent was just comfortable enough, and rain was likely whenever, so if we did, it was just a special treat when circumstances were just weirdly right!
4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?
As a kid sleep over party? Nope.
5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?
My bed is 120cm x 200cm - no idea how that translates to US sizes. It’s technically wide enough for two, but I’ve slept on that size bed my whole life (except for the 2 years I was living in student housing while doing library studies - that bed was provided by the housing and was 80xm x 200cm and felt way too narrow and cramped - I almost fell off many times, not being used to narrow bed like that.) and if I ever acquire a long-term bed partner, I’d need to buy a bigger bed in order to sleep comfortably. The bed frame is made of wood and is about 25 years old but doesn’t show any sign of wear and tear.
My mattress is quite hard and I love it that way - it feels like it doesn’t give under me, but it does just a little. I love softer mattresses too, but after sleeping on one for more than 2 nights, my lower back starts to hurt and I can hard get up and move. So softer mattresses a nope for me. Last year we had to buy a new mattress and mattress topping, and it was surprisingly difficult! Few places sold only mattresses (and none of the big furniture stores had traditional bed frames for sale, ones like mine is.). Now it’s all jenkkisänky (I think it’s called continental bed in English) - they were all selling the whole damn bed system complete with a frame-mattress-bottom-with-legs, the mattress and the mattress topping! One place was able to order just the mattress and mattress topping for me, finally, because I already have a great wooden frame.
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Added screencaps from HTLJ two more selected episodes: 4.16 Porkules and 4.17 One Fowl Day!
Happy Thursday! I'm leaving this housesit tomorrow-- I have the weekend free for sightseeing and then I need to make my way over to Evanston, Illinois for my next (short) sit. Today is a lot of cleaning, packing, and trying to eat whatever's left in the fridge!
For now, here's some links for y'all:
The Quantum Bang multi-fandom fix-it big bang is live and stories are being posted now! (h/tstarwatcher)
June's theme atfancake is female relationships (of all kinds). Come make recs!
unfitforsociety posted some Batman (Batfamily) fanfic recs. ( More links! )
For now, here's some links for y'all:
The Quantum Bang multi-fandom fix-it big bang is live and stories are being posted now! (h/t
starwatcher)June's theme at
fancake is female relationships (of all kinds). Come make recs!unfitforsociety posted some Batman (Batfamily) fanfic recs. ( More links! )(beanside Jun. 5th, 2025 05:43 am)
beanside Jun. 5th, 2025 05:43 am)It's Thursday! We've almost made it to Friday!
Yesterday was a momentous day. The house is officially sold. The albatross is gone. The house that felt like my personal antagonist. (By the end, when there were problems, it felt like it was having problems at me personally.) Perversely, I'm having feelings about it.
I feel relieved, because it's over, but also a bit sad. It had been my grandparent's house since before I was born. We lived there until I was two with them, and then went to the apartments, which were literally around the corner. Then, when I was 17, we moved back in to take care of my grandmother. I'm 52 now, so that's better than half my life tied up in one place.
I remember it how it was, sparkling clean. All the years of Christmas morning, going over to open our pile of presents in front of my parents and grand parents, followed by the parade of family and friends. And all the animals that house saw. Tammy, Freddy, Sandy, Tigger, Flakey, Willow, Millie, Gracie, Mao, Samwise, Koty, Kyan, Tucker down to our current pair, Boodle and Yoda. All those memories. So many good things are bound up in those four walls.
But lately, there's been more bad things than good. Watching my grandmother die, my mother's death, Dad's slow deterioration. The flood in the basement, the heat being turned off for three long painful winters. The constant fear that if something happened, we wouldn't be able to afford it. The fear every rain or snow that this would be the time the roof leaked. It was a constant stressor. And with Dad taking up most of our time and energy, cleaning wasn't even a vague possibility. We spent our lives in constant filth, and no one had the spoons left to do anything about it.
Since we moved, so many physical symptoms have eased up. my asthma has improved, my anxiety, though still there, has gotten better.
Still, I feel wistful for what was and for now, what will never be again. I hope the new owners do an amazing job of refurbishing it. I hope it holds another family soon, and I hope they have good years in it. I'm just going to miss the good things that we had.
Tomorrow, I get off work early, and go to the hair dresser to see if she can make my hair look cool. It's way too long at the moment, but I haven't been able to afford to get it cut. I'm also getting it colored, because a vacation from gray sounds lovely. I will post a picture tomorrow, once it's done.
Then, we go to pick up Jess' new computer, and have dinner, and then come home. We're trying out Rodizigo Grill, which is an all you can eat Brazillian steakhouse. I'm looking at it as a possibility for the get together in August. It's a little cheaper than Fogo, so I want to see how the food stacks up.
Okay, time for me to get myself together. Everyone have an amazing Thursday!
Yesterday was a momentous day. The house is officially sold. The albatross is gone. The house that felt like my personal antagonist. (By the end, when there were problems, it felt like it was having problems at me personally.) Perversely, I'm having feelings about it.
I feel relieved, because it's over, but also a bit sad. It had been my grandparent's house since before I was born. We lived there until I was two with them, and then went to the apartments, which were literally around the corner. Then, when I was 17, we moved back in to take care of my grandmother. I'm 52 now, so that's better than half my life tied up in one place.
I remember it how it was, sparkling clean. All the years of Christmas morning, going over to open our pile of presents in front of my parents and grand parents, followed by the parade of family and friends. And all the animals that house saw. Tammy, Freddy, Sandy, Tigger, Flakey, Willow, Millie, Gracie, Mao, Samwise, Koty, Kyan, Tucker down to our current pair, Boodle and Yoda. All those memories. So many good things are bound up in those four walls.
But lately, there's been more bad things than good. Watching my grandmother die, my mother's death, Dad's slow deterioration. The flood in the basement, the heat being turned off for three long painful winters. The constant fear that if something happened, we wouldn't be able to afford it. The fear every rain or snow that this would be the time the roof leaked. It was a constant stressor. And with Dad taking up most of our time and energy, cleaning wasn't even a vague possibility. We spent our lives in constant filth, and no one had the spoons left to do anything about it.
Since we moved, so many physical symptoms have eased up. my asthma has improved, my anxiety, though still there, has gotten better.
Still, I feel wistful for what was and for now, what will never be again. I hope the new owners do an amazing job of refurbishing it. I hope it holds another family soon, and I hope they have good years in it. I'm just going to miss the good things that we had.
Tomorrow, I get off work early, and go to the hair dresser to see if she can make my hair look cool. It's way too long at the moment, but I haven't been able to afford to get it cut. I'm also getting it colored, because a vacation from gray sounds lovely. I will post a picture tomorrow, once it's done.
Then, we go to pick up Jess' new computer, and have dinner, and then come home. We're trying out Rodizigo Grill, which is an all you can eat Brazillian steakhouse. I'm looking at it as a possibility for the get together in August. It's a little cheaper than Fogo, so I want to see how the food stacks up.
Okay, time for me to get myself together. Everyone have an amazing Thursday!
This anonymous comment over on fandomsecrets made me laugh:
"But we didn't have cable growing up, just 4 or 5 channels on the TV and kids shows were only on at certain times, plus we just didn't watch much."
I grew up in the city. There were three channels (ABC, 7, 9), until 1986, when SBS launched here. The addition of channel 10 in 1988 brought us to 5. Cable television wasn't a thing for most of that time. I believe that the regional areas had two channels. I presume that most of the remote areas had none.
I have no idea how old that commenter was, but the idea of 4 or 5 channels still feels like luxury. Even though I've (yet again) been reminded about just how long ago 1988 actually was.
ETA: also, the part of the city I grew up in was really close to the transmitters for at least two of those stations. Because of physics, some of my school friends couldn't get at least one of those stations at home, because they lived too close to the transmitters (and sometimes because there was terrain in the way)
Tags:
( books (Palmer, Davis, Liu, Trungpa, Trungpa, Adams) )
dirt
Yay, the ginger root I planted has FINALLY sent up a shoot! Boo: Thursday I found the evidence of chomped leaves in the terrarium, meaning the snail is an omnivore and had to go, so I scooped it up with a spoon and put it outside...where the lemon tree has a whole actual branch now! The leaves are still tiny, but I'm so glad to see it come back to life. Meanwhile, the arugula died, which was sort of expected. I have more seed so I can just plant more. But I probably need to sterilize the soil, given the whole thrips situation. Also, I harvested a double handful of rattlesnake beans and am waiting on the rest to be of size to pick. I put more seed to soak yesterday and planted them today.
yarning
I went to yarn group on Sunday and finished the bodies of two kickbunnies and worked on a head. My shoulder ached but didn't scream, so that's a relative win. Then I voted in the municipal runoff. It remains hard to get motivated to crochet during the week. This is frustrating.
#resist
June 3 to 9: Target Boycott
June 14: Flag Day & No King's Day (Trump's Birthday) Protest
June 19: Juneteenth Protest
June 27: Stonewall Anniversary Protest
June 24 to 30: McDonald’s Boycott
July 4: Independence Day Boycott and Protest
I hope all of you are doing well! <333
dirt
Yay, the ginger root I planted has FINALLY sent up a shoot! Boo: Thursday I found the evidence of chomped leaves in the terrarium, meaning the snail is an omnivore and had to go, so I scooped it up with a spoon and put it outside...where the lemon tree has a whole actual branch now! The leaves are still tiny, but I'm so glad to see it come back to life. Meanwhile, the arugula died, which was sort of expected. I have more seed so I can just plant more. But I probably need to sterilize the soil, given the whole thrips situation. Also, I harvested a double handful of rattlesnake beans and am waiting on the rest to be of size to pick. I put more seed to soak yesterday and planted them today.
yarning
I went to yarn group on Sunday and finished the bodies of two kickbunnies and worked on a head. My shoulder ached but didn't scream, so that's a relative win. Then I voted in the municipal runoff. It remains hard to get motivated to crochet during the week. This is frustrating.
#resist
June 3 to 9: Target Boycott
June 14: Flag Day & No King's Day (Trump's Birthday) Protest
June 19: Juneteenth Protest
June 27: Stonewall Anniversary Protest
June 24 to 30: McDonald’s Boycott
July 4: Independence Day Boycott and Protest
I hope all of you are doing well! <333
2025 Reading Log | 35/200 yearly goal (+2 from last update)I've gotten sucked into a fanfic-reading frenzy (Naruto, of all things) so my book-reading has been sparse these past few weeks. However, I did read two books since my last Reading Wednesday post!
First, I decided to read the Oz books (including the post-Baum books by Ruth Plumly Thompson) as a kind of reading project thing, and I of course started with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I've read it before, but the last time was (I'm pretty sure) back in 2007 when I got my first ereader and put a bunch of public domain books on it.
It's a charming book, and I especially liked the intro from Baum in the beginning that spells out the aim of the book: to be a modern fairy tale for kids that isn't focused on morality lessons. And it does that!
( Chatter about Wonderful Wizard of Oz, including spoilers )
Besides that, I also read a novella by KL Noone called The Pooka's Share. It's a m/m urban fantasy romance between a paranormal police officer and a pookah (Celtic shape-changing spirit) with surprise (to me, because I hadn't read the summary) BDSM elements. A cute story! Perhaps spent a bit too much time on the worldbuilding when this is just a one-off and short to boot, but overall good.
I am mulling ideas for a client's cover in my backbrain and poking at my elevator pitch generator, which I updated with some more elements last night.
Okaaaay...:
An uncanny, rollicking novelette, this eldritch horror post-apocalyptic fable is what you'd get if you mashed up The Vampire Diaries with Schindler's List.
This timely media tie-in, a transcendant contemporary fantasy narrative, is the result of mashing up Conan and Mutiny on the Bounty.
This rambunctious trilogy, a rollicking romantasy narrative, is the result of mashing up Murderbot and Titanic.
Recommended for fans of big swords and true love.
Reminiscent of James Patterson and Lord Dunsany, this debut biopunk book is a fast-moving novel.
If Evan Winters mixed Slaughterhouse-Five with a touch of Casablanca, the result would be this numinous tour-de-force.
Fans of Rebecca and Fury Road will resonate with this suspense story that seriously examines loss.
If Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Man in the High Castle, this striking saga is what you'd get.
What would happen if Nicholas Sparks wrote The Expanse?
I would read these:
Full of delicious food, love transcending all, and bears.
Takes readers into a haunting and haunted world of mutants and Faustian bargains.
An extraordinary Murderbot meets Fallout and tackles issues of determinism in this darkly comic novel.
A breathtaking, contemporary novelette, this folktale is what you'd get if Umberto Eco wrote The Planet of the Apes.
I would read the ebook sample of these:
The Maltese Falcon meets Ninefox Gambit in this wonderful neo-classic book. Recommended for readers who want medieval settings and circuses.
A surprising, endearing series, this cozy mystery series successfully mixes YA fantasy and legal thriller with layered characters.
A transcendant paranormal romance, this Stabby Award-winning trilogy is like Friday the 13th, but with extra bears.
Okaaaay...:
An uncanny, rollicking novelette, this eldritch horror post-apocalyptic fable is what you'd get if you mashed up The Vampire Diaries with Schindler's List.
This timely media tie-in, a transcendant contemporary fantasy narrative, is the result of mashing up Conan and Mutiny on the Bounty.
This rambunctious trilogy, a rollicking romantasy narrative, is the result of mashing up Murderbot and Titanic.
Recommended for fans of big swords and true love.
Reminiscent of James Patterson and Lord Dunsany, this debut biopunk book is a fast-moving novel.
If Evan Winters mixed Slaughterhouse-Five with a touch of Casablanca, the result would be this numinous tour-de-force.
Fans of Rebecca and Fury Road will resonate with this suspense story that seriously examines loss.
If Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Man in the High Castle, this striking saga is what you'd get.
What would happen if Nicholas Sparks wrote The Expanse?
I would read these:
Full of delicious food, love transcending all, and bears.
Takes readers into a haunting and haunted world of mutants and Faustian bargains.
An extraordinary Murderbot meets Fallout and tackles issues of determinism in this darkly comic novel.
A breathtaking, contemporary novelette, this folktale is what you'd get if Umberto Eco wrote The Planet of the Apes.
I would read the ebook sample of these:
The Maltese Falcon meets Ninefox Gambit in this wonderful neo-classic book. Recommended for readers who want medieval settings and circuses.
A surprising, endearing series, this cozy mystery series successfully mixes YA fantasy and legal thriller with layered characters.
A transcendant paranormal romance, this Stabby Award-winning trilogy is like Friday the 13th, but with extra bears.
Tags:
What I Just Finished Reading
Marie Javins, Iron Man: Extremis Prose Novel: Extremis is an Iron Man arc I have read a lot, and I read this prose adaptation because I was interested in comparing the two; novelizations often flesh out the stories with additional details and I wanted to see what additional material was in here and what it was like.
(Also I promised myself I'd read one book a month and I finished this on the 31st in, like, an hour. I had a lot of migraines last month.)
The answer is that it's... weird. There is a lot of MCUification -- Tony has an arc reactor, a public superhero identity, and an AI named JARVIS, as well as a massive crush on Pepper -- but then it's also very comics -- Tony is sober, is clearly a working superhero and has been one for many many years, has a human butler named Jarvis who still works for the Avengers (who are clearly Tony's longtime friends), and has undergone at least a few of his bigger comics storylines, like being drunk and losing his company to Stane and being broke and living on the streets. You know. That one.
So I'm not really sure who this is for, because it's gonna annoy die-hard comics fans. I guess it's for fans who want to read some Iron Man and don't care much about continuity. Also, if you want a whole bunch of body-horror details about how Extremis works that are even more body-horrific than canon (like, Tony is conscious, mostly lucid, and blind and paralyzed and in pain the entire time he's in the cocoon and he is aware that Maya is talking to him) then I guess this is for you?
Also, weirdly, one of the ongoing themes is basically that it's Sexual Humiliation Hour for Tony? The first page of this book wants to tell us that there are tabloid stories about how Tony can't get it up, and the big Extremis reveal features Maya making fun of Tony because his dick's not bigger. I, uh. Okay? Yeah? Wasn't expecting any of that.
What I'm Reading Now
Comics Wednesday!
( Doctor Strange of Asgard #4, Imperial #1, Ultimate Spider-Man Incursion #1, Ultimate Wolverine #1 )
What I'm Reading Next
IDK. All my Not Having Migraines time is going to finishing this exchange fic and not reading.
Marie Javins, Iron Man: Extremis Prose Novel: Extremis is an Iron Man arc I have read a lot, and I read this prose adaptation because I was interested in comparing the two; novelizations often flesh out the stories with additional details and I wanted to see what additional material was in here and what it was like.
(Also I promised myself I'd read one book a month and I finished this on the 31st in, like, an hour. I had a lot of migraines last month.)
The answer is that it's... weird. There is a lot of MCUification -- Tony has an arc reactor, a public superhero identity, and an AI named JARVIS, as well as a massive crush on Pepper -- but then it's also very comics -- Tony is sober, is clearly a working superhero and has been one for many many years, has a human butler named Jarvis who still works for the Avengers (who are clearly Tony's longtime friends), and has undergone at least a few of his bigger comics storylines, like being drunk and losing his company to Stane and being broke and living on the streets. You know. That one.
So I'm not really sure who this is for, because it's gonna annoy die-hard comics fans. I guess it's for fans who want to read some Iron Man and don't care much about continuity. Also, if you want a whole bunch of body-horror details about how Extremis works that are even more body-horrific than canon (like, Tony is conscious, mostly lucid, and blind and paralyzed and in pain the entire time he's in the cocoon and he is aware that Maya is talking to him) then I guess this is for you?
Also, weirdly, one of the ongoing themes is basically that it's Sexual Humiliation Hour for Tony? The first page of this book wants to tell us that there are tabloid stories about how Tony can't get it up, and the big Extremis reveal features Maya making fun of Tony because his dick's not bigger. I, uh. Okay? Yeah? Wasn't expecting any of that.
What I'm Reading Now
Comics Wednesday!
( Doctor Strange of Asgard #4, Imperial #1, Ultimate Spider-Man Incursion #1, Ultimate Wolverine #1 )
What I'm Reading Next
IDK. All my Not Having Migraines time is going to finishing this exchange fic and not reading.
justmarried exchange is currently in the nomination phase, and I have been having trouble because they allow you to sign up with ten fandoms but you only can nominate seven. And my favorite marriage trope is the sedoretu, which is a specific type of poly marriage invented by Ursula K. LeGuin, and requires four people. Which means that I need to have foursomes nominated! (Although I can just go with a pairing and say "I love sedoretus, if you want to write this pairing as a sedoretu you can choose who to have be the other pair in the sedoretu.")Anyway, the reason I have not nominated is that I am waiting to see what else got nominated to help me whittle down what I want to nominate, and I just checked the nominations and I think that
tielan has nominated! (Thank you!) Because the BSG foursome I was going to nominate (Lee/Kara/Sam/Dee) has been nominated, and so has the Steve/Maria/Bucky/Natasha foursome in MCU fandom, and both are foursomes I have written as sedoretus for tielan before. Which means that not only is there someone interested in the same characters, there's someone who's probably going to sign up who is interested in sedoretus, specifically. That is really exciting to me! And it does free up some nomination slots.Here are some nominations I am planning:
TGE: Maia/Csethiro/Csevet/Vedero (there are a bunch of TGE ships already nominated but they are all suuuuuuuper rare)
DS9: Sisko ships, Worf/Jadzia, Miles/Keiko/Kira/Bashir
TOS: Spock/Uhura and some foursomes (although someone on the Yuletide discord may be nominating sedoretus in this fandom, which would mean I don't have to nominate them and could free up a slot)
B5: John/Delenn, John/Delenn/Lennier, Delenn/Neroon, John/Delenn/Lennier/? (I don't know who I'd put with those three to complete the sedoretu--Anna, maybe? a Minbari OC?)
Peter Wimsey, sedoretu with Parker and Mary? Or Bunter? (Although I can't think of who would be the fourth in a sedoretu with Bunter, so I may just leave that as a poly threesome.
Rivers of London--I think just Peter/Beverly here, because I can't think of any sedoretus and ever since we learned that Nightingale was ace (in the novella Masquerades of Spring) that has completely killed any desire to ship him, for me. RoL is the only one on the list that's iffy, because much as I love it I'm not sure how much I'm into RoL + marriage tropes.
That's six, and with BSG taken care of I can look at some of my other fandoms for the seventh slot. Here are some options:
SW Legends, Han/Leia/Luke/Mara, Han/Leia/Lando, Lando/Luke/Mara. Han/Leia/Lando most properly belongs in SW OT, but that would mean using a second Star Wars nomination slot.
TNG: nobody's nominated this yet, and I can't think of any sedoretus, but I would probably do something like Picard/Guinan (my TNG rare pair OTP), Picard/Ro, Riker/Ro, Troi/Worf, and Data/Geordi
Random Harvest. Look, this movie is just so tropey and melodramatic it would be amazing to pile even more tropes into it.
Tags:
1) Just returned from a road trip from Portland to L.A. Almost had a hitch at the very start when it turned out my partner couldn't take me to pick up the car until 12:30 and the pickup had been scheduled for noon. I figured, not a big deal, right, to move it to 1 PM? Tried doing so with the 800 number since I couldn't seem to alter the reservation (and the local office usually can't be reached). I was told that if the car wasn't picked up by soon after 12 it would no longer be available. That sounded ridiculous, so I went to the office in person. Yup, no problem at all to move it to 1 PM. They told me I couldn't prepay for the pickup since it had to be tied to a specific vehicle.
I then asked if I could add the pre-paid fuel and tolls since the Chicago dropoff meant it wouldn't even cost me much more than if I did it myself. No but I could do that online. In fact, I couldn't. I was never offered the option.
Despite all this had no trouble with the pickup on the day, nor the drive up other than rain all the way. And I did rather like the light that would flash if someone was coming up on my left or right side to alert me to possible blind spots. The other thing was that as soon as I'd sat in the rental the service agent let me know to ignore the constantly signaling "maintenance warning" light. They had just gotten it back from the dealership and nothing could be found wrong with the car. ( Read more... )
The flight was definitely unfun. I had a middle seat and was very tired from a poor night's sleep followed by a 3 hour drive. I tried resting for an hour but gave up and watched Wicked on the in flight panels. I thought it was fine, certainly big budget, some nice dance routines and performances. I was surprised to realize it was only Pt. 1 of the story. I guess it was a good spot to end it to get the audience back in for the sequel. ( Read more... )
2) It took me a while but I did catch up on Pillowfort posts. Here at Dreamwidth though one can't scroll back longer than 2 weeks, which was skip=350. So there may be posts from from the 21st I can't see.
That said I'm having to skim through a lot because it's a ton of posts and I have things to catch up on now that I'm home again. More on that later.
3) Yesterday was unpacking, laundry, and refrigerator triage before today's weekly shop. I thought I was shockingly tired yesterday given that Monday night I had the most sleep since before the trip and the general stress was over. I even wondered if I was coming down with something but I feel ok today too, just...tired.
4) One nice bit post-trip is that I still had some of K's curry pretzels which she gifted M and me with. People love them so much she was urged to make it a side hustle but she said she didn't have the time for that, and preferred getting to relax rather than have a second job when she came home. She made some to order for Christmas sales a few years ago and said she didn't want to go through that twice.
5) Usually my partner complains that he never has time to watch his TV stuff because he has so little viewing time, and when he does have it we watch things together. My being away is clearly helpful on this front as he's looking forward to some of our joint viewing again 😉
I then asked if I could add the pre-paid fuel and tolls since the Chicago dropoff meant it wouldn't even cost me much more than if I did it myself. No but I could do that online. In fact, I couldn't. I was never offered the option.
Despite all this had no trouble with the pickup on the day, nor the drive up other than rain all the way. And I did rather like the light that would flash if someone was coming up on my left or right side to alert me to possible blind spots. The other thing was that as soon as I'd sat in the rental the service agent let me know to ignore the constantly signaling "maintenance warning" light. They had just gotten it back from the dealership and nothing could be found wrong with the car. ( Read more... )
The flight was definitely unfun. I had a middle seat and was very tired from a poor night's sleep followed by a 3 hour drive. I tried resting for an hour but gave up and watched Wicked on the in flight panels. I thought it was fine, certainly big budget, some nice dance routines and performances. I was surprised to realize it was only Pt. 1 of the story. I guess it was a good spot to end it to get the audience back in for the sequel. ( Read more... )
2) It took me a while but I did catch up on Pillowfort posts. Here at Dreamwidth though one can't scroll back longer than 2 weeks, which was skip=350. So there may be posts from from the 21st I can't see.
That said I'm having to skim through a lot because it's a ton of posts and I have things to catch up on now that I'm home again. More on that later.
3) Yesterday was unpacking, laundry, and refrigerator triage before today's weekly shop. I thought I was shockingly tired yesterday given that Monday night I had the most sleep since before the trip and the general stress was over. I even wondered if I was coming down with something but I feel ok today too, just...tired.
4) One nice bit post-trip is that I still had some of K's curry pretzels which she gifted M and me with. People love them so much she was urged to make it a side hustle but she said she didn't have the time for that, and preferred getting to relax rather than have a second job when she came home. She made some to order for Christmas sales a few years ago and said she didn't want to go through that twice.
5) Usually my partner complains that he never has time to watch his TV stuff because he has so little viewing time, and when he does have it we watch things together. My being away is clearly helpful on this front as he's looking forward to some of our joint viewing again 😉
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