Reading

Entry tags:

brain: mental health

I'm not even sure if pathetic is the word...

That week of ultimately unhelpful jobseeker course three weeks ago not only wrecked my energy for cleaning, any projects, and my daily stretching and exercise routines, it also left me with too little energy (focus? Even with methylphenidate!) to update my pet photos or interior design blogs on Tumblr. Or to shop for holiday presents for my parents and sister.

I have enough energy to spend that time on the computer, but just not to focus on what to post/buy. 😭 I am planning to try again today. Wish me luck.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: QI xl

Entry tags:

Don’t they have a silent mode?

Today has been a busy day but first.

As I mentioned in the last post the library stint yesterday was quiet and I mentioned to mum about getting the tree sorted. I was saying it in the sense of ‘we’ll do it Saturday’ but mum took it to mean ‘we’ll get it down yesterday’. Cue me lugging the thing down after the food shop came, opening the box and getting it out… only to find the stand for it is nowhere to be seen.

I think we’d boxed it last year, forgot to add the stand and it got put with other things but do I know where they are? Nope. So we have the tree box where it would go cause I didn’t have the energy to mess with it. (Mums genius idea? Sort it while food was cooking and obviously that went wrong)

Sigh.

Today started with sorting out an order for mum (the gingerbread Lego that’s meant to be for Xmas, but it’s on back order, but at least doing it now got a freebie) then mums friend came, ostensibly to bring Xmas stuff but of course she wanted stuff ordering too ugh.

Mail came today too, the new Stranger Things annual (which I got under half price!) which looks really good on my flick through! There was also God Is A Bullet, the blu ray with hot Garrett Wareing (which I was told to expect by Jan 22) so I hope it’s good (and works!). Then when I came back Doctor Who books were here (I got some 2 for £5 deals from zavvi, which are mostly hardbacks so oop sorry mum that you had to move them).

Today I went to town, the town part was pretty short. I looked in smiths for the new stranger things stickers but they’re not out yet, but I did get a Stranger Things thing from b and m (the box that I lost when I lost my bag the other month) but they didn’t have the snack pack or bag alas.

I went into Smyths but alas they didn’t have the stranger things funkos I was looking for (even Vecna which was listed on the site, but I guess he was on the high shelves hidden) but I did get the Lego happy plants though (look how cute!). I also got the Frankenstein art/making off book which was a real bargain from Asda (less than half off!). I had a little flick through and it looks beautiful.

None of the trailers were interesting so I will just jump right into the film talk. (Unlike the last film thoughts these will be more spoilery. So let’s get onto thoughts of Pillion and Five Nights At Freddy’s 2

( Read more... )

That might be it for cinema adventures this month. I might see The Shining on one of it’s showings though but I’m not sure yet (it depends on mood, energy and weather) and I do wanna see Anaconda but that likely won’t be till early January cause it comes out just after Xmas.

Now though I’m gonna bundle up, watch stuff and might fic some.

Next days are low energy I might watch stuff (and the game awards is tomorrow) and I might go back to home bargains to get more Star Wars doorables (they’re so cute! And this set has some of my favs) but who knows if I’ll feel up to it. I also wanna make peanut butter booped cause I found recipes.

And there was something else but it’s gone out of my brain completely.

Entry tags:

using up yarn

Sandnes skeins are definitely designed to pull from the outside and it's inconvenient!

I was just getting really annoyed thinking about how it is not hard at all to wind your own center-pull yarn cake, so why can't mass-produced yarn balls pull from the center? (They can - there are some brands that do - but most of them don't work very well.) I got annoyed enough to just try a websearch for my question and found this forum discussion:

This is a very basic question, but

"...do you prefer pulling yarn from the inside of a skein or the outside? And why? I usually pull from the inside, but the other day I decided to try the outside for a swatch. I have been used to “untwisting” yarn as I knit, but this time it was ridiculous. I ended up winding the skein into a ball from the inside before trying again. (I have a ball winder, but don’t usually use it for hand knitting projects.) [...]"

[Responder B]: "You're correct, it all has to do with the twist of your yarn. Most commercial yarns are meant to be pulled from the inside, but there are so many yarns out there, that is not a rule set in stone. You obviously added more twist when you tried using your yarn from the outside. A yarn butler would help that problem because it allow the skein to roll off the skein rather than it unrolling and slipping off the end which adds a twist. Some low twist yarns or singles yarn you have to be very careful with otherwise you will completely untwist it and it will pull apart while working. Yarn bowls can be helpful with controlling twist as well."

Oh, what. Oh, UGH, that's so annoying! That makes sense, I guess. It just annoys me.

Pulling from the center seems more convenient in every respect to me, so why would you design it deliberately the other way? Obviously this isn't self-evident and there must be a lot of people who think it makes more sense or is more convenient to pull from the outside. I hate when my strong preferences are outliers like this because everything is working against me.

what the hell is a 'yarn butler'? What an annoying term. I could google it but I didn't.

I know about yarn bowls and I always found the concept a little annoying too, because I carry my knitting around in a bag and the bowl is hard, larger than my bag usually, and also frequently breakable. I typically put the skein in my knitting bag and that usually prevents it from rolling all over the place, although obviously it doesn't have the little loop to catch the working yarn and so isn't as effective as the yarn bowl concept.

Entry tags:

brain: mental health

SAD whining

It happens every year at this season that when the sun never comes up properly all day it feels like I have never woken up properly either, but it's always just as frustrating and I'm never prepared. Sigh. Time just comes unglued, because it's overcast all the time and it's only daylight (wan gray daylight) between 9 and 4 at best. A week could be a day long or a month long. It's like I'm dreaming, but not as pleasant, because my hands or feet are usually cold during the day.

Sunlamps have never been very noticeably useful for me, which is extremely depressing, but also not bad enough for me to completely give up on them. The worst part is that regular outdoor exercise probably would help but it's completely unattainable. You might as well tell me that a hundred pushups is the cure.

(no subject)

The knife saga continues. I tried to buy Corey's knives using my debit card, but again, couldn't check out due to age restrictions. So James tried, same for him. He called Amazon and talked to someone who said it was apparently an ongoing glitch in Amazon's system, that he could try again in a few days time, or otherwise, buy the products elsewhere and whatever decision he made, Amazon would issue £30 credit for the inconvenience.

Now, credit like that would be good, that is if it happens, the guy said give up to 3 days for it to be applied to the account, which gives until tomorrow. James does have the email stating the offer, but no credit as yet. But man, all I wanted to do was buy some posh kitchen knives. Next step will be going to a kitchenware shop and buying them there.

Today we've been to our family friend's funeral. The guy's wife is a devout Catholic so it was the full service at church, followed by the crematorium, then onto the complex where the couple live. It's a semi-assisted facility for people over 50, and such a nice place, plus they put on a cracking buffet. Too delicious a buffet tbh as it's our Christmas meal with Pauline this evening and I could have done without two nice meals being on the same day.

I had to buy cat food earlier, and the shop I was in is right next door to a pretty big charity shop. So, James went in to look for wood stuff, and I was pulled towards the books. Now, I've banned myself from buying books as I have so many to read, but they had a section set up with all Christmas books, and I ask you, how is that fair? Many of you will know I love a cheesy Christmas themed book, so how could I walk out without buying ~~four~~ one?

Now, I'm going to have a quick catch up on here, then I need to change from my black outfit to my Christmas gear.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Tv

Entry tags:

Your greatest desire is happening

The past days have, once again been stressful and, once again induced by mum deciding that, yep, what I need is her being difficult. Bleh. But this post isn’t gonna be about that.

This weekend I ended up starting a game called Control. It’s by the people that made Alan Wake and I got it forever ago when it was on a sale but I just never started it. I had me heard that a console update with some fixes was coming a few months back.but eventually came in October (or early November? Time isn’t real) and so I’d added it higher on my gaming list. I decided to try it this weekend and I’ve ended up being hooked. I e gone on it about an hour or so a night and I’m currently at a furnace.

The whole thing is such a ‘me’ thing too, a shady government agency works to contain ‘paranatural’ things a secret. It feels a bit like warehouse 13 or the librarians in that regard, only instead of a small team there’s whole departments. Only now there is a mystery entity (or entities, though it’s implied to be a hive mind) and the player (Jesse) shouldn't be there but somehow is and has somehow inherited the directorship. (Cause of a weapon that chose her?) it’s really good so far and I feel I’m gonna do it more in nights and Pokémon ZA in the day (I need to finish it so many)

On Sunday there was the War Between The Land And The Sea. As I said before I was kinda worried it might be not great. Thankfully the first eps were pretty incredible so let’s (pun intended) dive in on my thoughts

( Read more... )

Yesterday was Naryu’s jab which went well enough. I went into the new M and S (the food store has moved to a bigger space). I didn’t have time to look properly but it is overwhelming. There’s a ‘sushi bar’ though that definitely feels like an overstatement as it’s just a small counter, but it is so much bigger than it was (at least 4 times, likely more).

From the sainsburys I got some strnager things stuff, a cool looking jewellery set (a hellfire/Eddie themed charm bracelet and earrings but I’m not pierced anymore), a hellfire mug and d20 keyring. But that’s all I got really. I did get copious amounts of cheese (mostly from Aldi but also there) and some of the other party food .

(Speaking of Stranger Things does anyone know places with the new funkos? People seem to be going crazy with merch and so things seem harder to find)

But they also had the Christmas radio times early! There’s at least one thing on every day which is good (ranging from Festive Pottery Throw Down, Midsummer Murders, the Christmas lectures and other Christmas specials).

When I got back I was flop but ugh had a call, but I dozed after. In the night I watched civilisation which was good and then Welcome To Derry (I’ve slipped behind a tad) and I’m shocked a theory I had was right but also where’s Taniel but also WTF? But also oh no!

Today was a library stint and, while I didn’t read any of Halloween Party like I hoped I did finally read the first two event horizon comics which… damn they’re already so brutal. I really need to find the other issues, I’m so made it wasn’t in stock when I went to town.

Weather depending I should be seeing Pillion and FNAF 2 tomorrow (though I have a last chance option on Thursday, why is Pillion just one week??) and then… I sense things will be quiet. I’m also hoping I can get fic done today/tomorrow.

Entry tags:

cats,
tv

TV, bird tv, fire tv

I intend to watch the three released episodes of Heated Rivalry so I can know what everyone (my wife) is talking about, but I haven't got to it yet. I am obviously spoiled by Tumblr posts but I haven't watched the bits between the gifsets.

I rewatched Derry Girls over the last two weeks while attempting to knit this nephew sweater (made it to first sleeve cuff again, finally!). That show is so good, and it's so frustrating, because there's nothing more that's like it! All the main adult actors are also so good, but none of them have a long back catalogue of other comedy to watch! And of course the writer, Lisa McGee, needs time to write more things.

I have a long list of things I've been intending to watch and rewatch, but it feels like I don't have enough emotional bandwidth, or attention, or something, for starting new long things that are going to be dramatic.

So I've been watching a ton of non fiction instead:

➡️very old Folding Ideas and Hbomberguy videos

➡️Mentour Pilot's back catalog of aviation disaster explainers (previously I was familiar from watching over

waxjism's shoulder)

➡️Defunctland episodes that aren't too Disney-focused (a mention on Tumblr reminded me and I've only seen a few before)

➡️KyleHatesHiking videos about true crime, accidents, and missing persons cases related to hiking and outdoor sports (recommended by my sister last week)

➡️BobbyBroccoli science scandal documentaries (there's a new movie on Nebula, but otherwise I've watched them all before)

Meanwhile Wax is filling our bird feeders (seed and tallow ball) sometimes multiple times a day and the bird traffic is constant. Sipuli will sit by the window watching them like tv. Tristana is happy to sit in a chair facing the woodstove and watch the fire like it's a tv, sometimes for hours.

(no subject)

I've been getting quite a few comments on my bandom fic lately, which is so incredibly lovely. Included in those was someone who read Tints verse and asked if they could draw Frank in his colourful outfits, and my reaction was, hell yes! My bandom friends may remember artwork for those fics was something I always asked for in wish memes, and now it may actually be happening. And yeah, it was an actual comment not a bot, I checked.

We went to see Kinky Boots at the theatre last night, and it was so good. We had brilliant seats, row H, end middle aisle and as a bonus, the lady in front of me was short so I could see perfectly. We've seen the show before, but booked tickets earlier in the year as Johannes from Strictly was supposed to be playing the role of Lola, but as it was, he wasn't eliminated from the show until last week, so he didn't do it. Not that it mattered, as the guy who did that role was amazing. The end remains ridiculously feel good and as always something that has me on my feet clapping along makes me a very happy bunny.

One drawback to going to the theatre is the lack of parking, there are a row of disabled parking spots, but they go very quickly, so we always go early and tend to go for a drink before doors open. Yesterday we got the last spot available, and as it was still 90 mins to curtain up, decided to walk to the winter village and check it out.

There wasn't that much there, some sculptures, some rides, and places to eat. But there was also a fire pit, and we decided to share a portion of crumble and that really hit the spot, sparks crackling and smoke in our eyes on a cold night. I'm glad we did share, though, as man, that crumble was sweet. Stewed fruit, buttery crumble, creamy hot custard with biscoff crumb, delicious but verging on being too much.

Entry tags:

Guardian RPF Fic: Closer

***

Title: Closer
Author:

kat_lair
Fandom: Guardian RPF
Character: Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong
Tags: Getting Together, Mutual Pining
Rating: T
Word count: 2,072

Summary: Bai Yu will not accept any of this quietly fading away and out of each other’s lives business, hard won friendship diluting into occasional messages and polite, meaningless smiles at industry events. He had fought for this friendship, goddammit, chipping at Zhu Yilong’s defences carefully like an archaeologist at a rare find, with gentle jokes and quality time and listening as his chisels.

Author notes: This was a

fandomgiftbasket story for

facethestrange

Closer on AO3

( Closer )

***

Entry tags:

misc.

1. Dreamwidth's December points bonus has started. dw_news also has an update on some of the state-level censorship legislation.

2. I found another quirky booktuber to watch: Michael K Vaughan. See Classics of Literature…or ARE they?

3. I recently watched The Green Knight and thought the scenes I could see were very pretty, but it seemed to be less gay than the poem?? I need to reread the poem.

4. 2025 reading progress: 102 books

Most recently finished: Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I had previously read this one as a teenager; the concept is interesting, but this time I couldn't help noticing that it mainly consisted of men explaining things to each other--no action, no female characters.

Most recently abandoned: Mr Collins in Love

Currently reading: Native Nations (will probably have to return this to the library before I finish); Ancillary Sword (I listened to the audiobook of Ancillary Justice, but the whole trilogy was sitting on the bookshelf in paperback, so I couldn't stop at just one); Salt Magic, Skin Magic (same author as Mr Collins in Love, but with characters who aren't the most annoying character in Jane Austen); and A Princess of Mars (I expected it to be dated and sexist, but I didn't realize the hero was a former Confederate soldier)

Entry tags:

Enola Holmes Ficlet: Courting (Un)Conventions

***

Title: Courting (Un)Conventions
Author:

kat_lair
Fandom: Enola Holmes
Pairing: Enola Holmes/Viscount "Tewky" Tewkesbury, Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Tags: Implied Relationships, Courting
Rating: G
Word count: 837

Summary: Courting is, in Enola’s opinion, mostly about other people, not the two principal players.

Author notes: Written as a

fandomgiftbasket gift for

midwinterspringwrites.

Courting (Un)Conventions on AO3

( Courting (Un)Conventions )
***

(no subject)

I actually started some Christmas shopping yesterday . Plan was to drive to a local outlet mall and get parked by 9am. The shops don't open until 10, so we'd have time to go have breakfast and a coffee, then be there for opening time, before it got mega busy. And amazingly, that's exactly what happened.

We hit Greggs for a breakfast sandwich, looked into some very overpriced homeware shops, got Corey's Christmas chocolate and James' birthday freebie from the Lindt shop, and I got my candle advent calendar from Yankee Candle. I do like an advent calendar but tend to get them when they're on sale. So this one was half price due to it being the 4th. As always they ripped the back cover, no doubt to stop reselling, but hey who cares? Half price!

Then on the afternoon the plan was to get the tree up, but yeah, that didn't happen. Instead I ended up visiting Kayleigh and Bodhi for a couple of hours while they put their decorations up. Kayleigh and Lucy are doing Elf on the Shelf, so Bodhi was telling me all about what the naughty elf had been getting up to, and then showed me another stuffed elf, saying the elf had brought it. I asked if that elf did naughty things, too. Only to be told very firmly that no, because that was a toy elf, and didn't I know toys couldn't move? So consider me told.

Monday was a day with a few minor frustrations. In class they did a move that I just couldn't master. It was the dead bug and while I could physically do the movement, my co ordination had apparently left the building, even after Rosie got on the floor twice to show me, and actually guided me a few other times.

Then later, after cashed in all my survey voucher earnings I was buying Corey's presents from Amazon. He's still upgrading his kitchen stuff and has two expensive knives on his wish list, which fine, that's what he wants, so I ordered them both along with other stuff. But then couldn't actually get through check out.

Cutting the story short, it seems you can't buy age restricted items with Amazon vouchers as they have no date of birth attached to them. Which I guess makes sense, but does mean I need to shuffle payment methods around so I can actually buy what he wants.

Today I've put up the tree and decorations at last. I've still got a load of baubles to put on the tree but have had to stop for now as I'm Bodhisitting soon. Just for a couple of hours, though. So I'll be back in my sparkly, light and sparkle deer filled house before six.

Entry tags:

using up yarn

Knitting a (Medium) Man Sweater

Medium Man is a large size. It has more fabric in it than Small Woman (the size of me). It doesn't have more fabric than a sweater for

waxjism, but she is too warm-blooded to wear sweaters really, so the last time I knitted one for her was over 10 years ago.

It's a lot of knitting. It's going. There are setbacks.

There are gauge issues. And challenges of imagination.

( Knitting Talk )

Entry tags:

family,
health

Dry eyes in the house

Yesterday Wax had to quit work early and drive into Turku to see a doctor because it felt like something was poking her in her left eye but there was nothing there! And then she had to get up early and go to Turku today to see a specialist. She got some eyedrops prescribed, but there's nothing majorly wrong with her eye. It's just that her eyes are too dry. Apparently when your eyes are too dry one of the things that can happen is that they stick to your eyelids when you're asleep and if they're too stuck, when you open your eyes a few cells from the cornea can get torn off it and stay stuck to the eyelid, which creates a little micro hole in it and feels like you're being constantly stabbed in the eyeball. Isn't that great?

When we were talking about this last night I said, "You know, for a bunch of years, like maybe five to ten years ago, I felt like my eyes were too dry all the time and I was putting saline drops in them frequently, but a few years ago instead it started being like they overcompensate and make a lot of tears and now my eyes are more likely to be running when I've been asleep or lying down..." and with her new knowledge she was able to devastatingly inform me that this is just a sign of my eyes being dry, and even though it makes them hurt less, the tears are the wrong kind of moisture or something and not actually helping the eye themselves. So apparently in addition to the drops Wax needs for the inflammation and pain, we both have to start moisturizing our eyes now.

The other quixotic thing that happened this week was that my sister forgot about Brexit. Again.

To be specific: last year my sister ordered me a holiday present from a UK etsy shop that cost more than the minimum you can import without paying import taxes now (which I think is like under 20€ - it might even be 10?). As a result I got a text informing me that a package I didn't know about previously was at Customs, and in order to free it I had to fill out an online form indicating exactly what it was (which is a hassle in itself because they're in a taxonomic tree list) and provide a receipt or proof of purchase, in this case, the email receipt from the webshop that my sister had to forward, which obviously sort of spoiled the surprise. With a small present the amount you have to pay to release it from jail is only a few euros typically, but it is a hassle and it spoils the surprise.

And then this week she FORGOT THAT THAT HAD HAPPENED and ordered me a present from another UK shop.

(My parents & sister and I have pretty much given up on mailing back and forth anything larger than a padded envelope due to the delays and the fact that postage for the regular-sized boxes we typically used to send has gone up to generally over 100€.)

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Coheed And Cambria - Blind Side Sonny

Entry tags:

We’re all stories

Tuesday was another library stint which ended up being tiring. Not cause of the library itself but mum. Last minute, after saying we’d not bring her, mum decided to bring Naryu as the ‘library dog’ which is fine, usually but Naryu got messy right before we got there so I had to take her back home (and she fought me every step cause it was me alone). So instead of walking there and resting I had to make the trip three times (and a fourth coming back) which just… ugh.

I did read the Stranger Things SFX article (just the main part, not the sections with the boys yet) which ahhh. I hadn’t intended to hold back reading it till after the season but any time I read the magazine (when travelling or at the hospital) I just read the short sections on other things. I’m so excite for the rest of the series. I also read another chapter of Halloween Party and it threw me off with the talk of computers and how they can cause bigger issues than people can. That was so surprising but so true.

Yesterday was the planned town trip, which was mostly to the cinema to see Wake Up Dead Man and Zootropolis 2. In between them (cause there was a gap) I went round town. I got the Hellfire Christmas sweater from Primark (it was on sale and I wasn’t sure if it was for Black Friday, but it’s not so yay! (here is what it looks like.) I also got the WQSK sweater, a hellfire bag (actually 2 by mistake, damnit), some nail polish and the stranger things body butter they have. I also went in bm and got two stranger things blind boxes (I am a bit annoyed pricing wasn’t on the shelves so they were more than I thought they would be) but I got Will and Vecna, and the Vecna seems to be special cause he’s clear red plastic instead of the image on the checklist.

But main thing was cinema.

I’m not gonna go over all the trailers, but there was something called the magic faraway tree which looks pretty good (though it has Andrew Garfield as a dad of children which feels wrong even though he’s probably old enough). There was also Moana and… I don’t get why making life action versions of animated stuff is so necessary but having said that it does, look really nice and I’ll probably see it.

( Read more... )

When I got home mum had, as she tends to do, messed around with stuff. I swear she does this because she’s left unattended so no one can stop her. It wouldn’t be so bad but the things she does are often things that are acknowledged to require two people and yet she does them alone (even when we agree to do things together she’ll start them when I’m doing uni stuff). And it’s just so… ugh. But I was too tired to be anything but annoyed.

(And we also had a repeat of the record player fixation, as The Mousetrap is coming to Birmingham so mum insisted on getting the tickets to it right away which just felt like a rush, especially since we’ve not got the Death On The Nile ones yet)

The new Doctor Who magazine had arrived while I was gone and I’ve not read it yet but it does have free art cards from the new show which look nice as well as an audio freebie (a download of Seas Of Titan, a ninth Doctor sea devil story I’ve wanted for awhile). A quick flick through shows it’s got a lot of Sea Devil/Silurian stuff which I’m excite to dive into. The War Between The Land And The Sea starts Sunday and my optimism about it has been pretty low (mostly cause of how the last season of Who ended up) so I feel it’ll either be awesome, will be good but then end badly or just irritate me. Which sucks, cause I love sea devils so you’d think I’d be excite to see them back in such a big way but… (I’m also not hyped by how the main one’s face is so… human. One of the whole point of the Silurians/sea devils was that they didn’t look human)

I also saw a game I’d been really interested in, called Viewfinder, had came to switch and with a huge launch discounted do I had to get it. I love perspective games like this so I’m glad I can play at some point.

Unfortunately I completely crashed. It was a mix tiredness due to the long day, depression which has been coming in waves lately and my weaker eye just aching like crazy to the point of annoyance. Ugh. The latter is still aching a bit this morning so hopefully it’s not an all day issue.

(November round up post is coming though… at some point.)

Edit: Ahh! The next Doctor Who boxset has been revelled! Season 21! So that’s the last of the fifth Doctor eps with loads of fun/cool looking special features.

(no subject)

It was James' birthday yesterday. I like to buy him t-shirts that I know will appeal to his sense of humour, and this one went down really well.

Since last, I posted.

I had to change the reservation day for our Christmas meal out with Pauline, my brother, niece, and nephew. Reason being when I went to get the deposit money off my brother to take to the restaurant, he decided to tell me that my niece was actually working on the booked day. It took a bit of organising, and a lot of luck that a table was left at this late date, but I managed to change the reservation to a day everyone was available.

I'll just skip past the fact I also realised I'd double booked myself and James with both our tickets to see Kinky Boots at the theatre and the meal being the same time/day. So, the situation with my niece got us out of a jam, too. Not that I told Pauline what I'd done...

We did a craft fair on Saturday and it was a good one. A long day and it was raining really heavily when we were leaving, so we got soaked packing the car, but it was worth going. I also liked the organisers gave tickets to all the traders to get free coffee or tea and then later on gave out little cones of sweets. It's those little touches that make all the differences.

Our table was opposite the chocolate tombola which was very popular, so we got lots of passing people. Though, sadly, I didn't win when I tried myself.

In an hour or so my brother is coming to put up a hand rail on our outside front steps. There are four pretty steep steps and while we can get up them fine, I'd feel better if some kind of rail was there, especially when things get slippy in the winter. The rail he's putting up is really solid, and in fact, I took it from mam's house when we had to give that up, so it's good it's being installed at last. And eta, it's up and installed.

On Friday I had a one to one with Rosie ( cut for talk about weight )

Entry tags:

Comment sought on fictional 1953 rural British hotel tea

An order for tea was understood by this person to include a plate piled with bacon, eggs, sausages, tomatoes, and chips, three or four kinds of jam, scones, a heavy fruit cake, a loaf of bread, a dish of stewed fruit, and one of radishes.

— Georgette Heyer, Detection Unlimited (1953)

There is some context to this scene that I understand from other reading about the period - rationing, for example. And I've often come upon fictional hotels and pubs in the country serving much more generously than more urban and sophisticated visitors are used to.

But I don't really have a sense of how unusual this is - what a normal pub or hotel would serve for tea. I would have guessed a combination of something like beans, meat, or fish with bread and then scones or cakes, perhaps, but the beginning of this sounds more to me like an English breakfast than my understanding of a tea.

Also: is a dish of radishes just washed radishes for snacking? Or is it more slices with some kind of dressing? My parents were both fond of radishes and grew them in our garden, but I've never encountered the idea of a whole dish of them (and nothing else) on the table at a meal. (Recipes that include them, yes, but would you refer even to roasted radishes as "a dish of radishes"?)

Entry tags:

Updates

1. Wax's fatigue and stress

Wax had a breakdown about a year ago after Snookums died and we lost Anubis, the same as I did. But she hasn't really rebounded, just been scraping along as if she had the flu since then. She recently told me she thought it wasn't burnout, or anxiety, but maybe something physical related to menopause or thyroid perhaps, and she finally went to a doctor and had a bunch of bloodwork done. But it looked like it wasn't anything like that, and the doctor who gave her the results said she needs to probably see a gynecologist to check if it's related to hormones next. That was a couple of weeks ago, and she hasn't done it yet - she seems to have been alarmed by some vagueness about how the referral process is gonna work. This is her work health insurance, so completely differently from how it works for me.

2. Me seeing a doctor

I got up early yesterday to call between 8:00 and 8:01 am and actually got a record-fast callback in less than 40 minutes, and this time they ACTUALLY GAVE ME AN APPOINTMENT!!! The appointment is in a week and a half, shortly after my birthday. I have a whole list of questions unrelated to this medication to ask the GP while I am there.

3. Cat training & cat divorce

The other day Tristana and Sipuli were briefly sitting calmly on opposite sites of the gate looking at each other! It only lasted for about one minute. While I was still talking to Wax about it, as we watched, Sipuli jumped down, turned in a circle, then jumped back up and tried to grab Tristana through the gate, and Tristana jumped away of course. But it's still a milestone. (I think I've seen this twice before maybe.)

Sipuli is focused enough on training now that she will keep her attention on me even if Tristana is right there staring through the gate! She only ignored me to jump on the gate once, and I ended the session immediately. Since then she has kept her attention on me in spite of gross provocation from Tristana several times.

I think I will try training them to turn in a circle next, and I've started doing this with Tristana by moving the target around to the side next to her hip so she has to twist after it a bit. (Tristana has not even realized she can touch the target with her foot instead of her nose yet. Sipuli seems to switch sort of randomly.)

4. Attempting to become less sedentary

I was doing pretty well with stretches and exercises in the last few months up until I got my driver's licence, but the week before last which I spent at that job-hunting course caused me to drop all the balls I had been juggling (balls of daily routines I mean), and I have not managed to get back to the exercise yet. Which is extra annoying because at the same time I started knitting a sweater for an 18-year-old nephew, so doing shoulder- and arm-focused stretching routines would be more useful now than it was a month ago. I spent all last week feeling exhausted and didn't get past cleaning and knitting. But at the same time, it's now pitch black by four in the afternoon and doesn't lighten until after eight. I need to dig out my sunlamp and get it set up in a good position, probably. In twenty years I've never managed to establish a lasting routine with it, but maybe I just need more practice.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Seapeekay stream

Entry tags:

film thoughts

You’re a colourful bunch

So this is the ‘everything else I wanna ramble about but didn’t fit cause the Stranger Things ramble was rambly’ post.

First off before I get into the things I wanna talk about: what the actual fuck? How is it December already? It’s honestly felt that November has just… gone.

My energy this past week has been non existent which is so annoying. It’s a mix of the stress of the hospital last week and then. Uni assessment which has been nothing but stressful. In part because, well assessments always are, but also because ugh. The laptop kept needing updates which made things slower (I lost two mornings due to that) and just.. ugh. But it’s been submitted now, I know I’ve not done one part but I just… can’t figure that out (and another requires hand drawing something and I just,,l can’t find anything to do that with)

Plus there has been another issue. About a month ago I had an email from HMV with some of the Stranger Things stuff coming, I mentioned to mum (just in passing) that there was a Stranger Things record player coming. For whatever reason that triggered something in her brain, and it became a fixation. She decided that’s the thing I had to have for Christmas, over the stuff that we’d talked about. I guess cause I got some vinyls this year she’s decided it’d be good to have something to play them on I guess?

Some of her money went in last week so it was ordered and it came Friday (late afternoon after us waiting all day). I set it to one side, assuming mum would want it took up at some point. On Saturday I came down and she’d cleared space, put the box up and then wanted me to take it down and open it. I thought she wanted the outer box opening, she wanted it set up and I just thought it baffling. It’s meant to be a Christmas thing why set it up almost a month early? (And then She started an argument and moved the box back to where it was so I just…) I dunno

(And having mentioned Stranger Things and vinyls, I’m so annoyed that places in America get exclusives that never make it over here. There’s a book in one, but there’s also a wsqk vinyl and just arghhh)

Anyway, better things. Or, well, other things.

Last week I finally watched Thanksgiving. I got the blu ray of it last year and intended to watch it then and just… didn’t. So it’s been sat there for a year. I didn’t watch it on Thanksgiving (although I finished it after midnight so I guess I technically did. It was pretty good and the killer’s fit is so unsettling it’s creepier than I expected. (And I laughed so hard when he said ‘this thanksgiving there will be no leftovers!’) and damn that oven scene was so…

Saturday was the fortnite event to end the simpsons season and it was so fun. I was Will from Stranger a things for it and the whole thing was so fun. There was the bride from Kill bill, a star destroyer, a giant Homer, hatsune miku riding atop Godzilla, the girls from k-pop demon hunters. It was wild. The new season does seem pretty fun, I already got two wins on the first day which was cool.

Yesterday I watched Sonic 3, after having the blu ray since release. I dunno why it took so long to watch cause it was so great to watch it again! Shadow is awesome and I love how he’s like… a dark mirror of sonic with his past. And I love that Stone got to do some cool stuff this time. Honestly best of the series I’m so excite for 4.

Damn Strictly was so sad, cause Alex went out (how is Belvinder surviving constantly) and I feel so bad for her. Even worse cause she was just on it takes two and said her focus was off due to an injury.

Yesterday night I watched Perfect, because I wanted to watch a thing on prime and it was between Darkest Miriam (Joshua Odjick is listed as ‘beautiful man’) and Perfect (which had Garrett Wareing). I went with Perfect cause Garrett’s the main character. But… yeah

I know it was gonna be a ‘what the fuck did I just watch movie’ from the trailer and it was very much like that. At the end I just had questions cause it was so… odd and had no answers. Some of the parts were good, especially the aesthetics and Garrett did the best he could (and was shirtless and moaned so there was that) but yeah. Oddness

This weeks plans are:
*It Welcome To Derry (tonight)
*lock in enough to finish fic
*library stint, reading stuff
*finish Pokemon Za’s main story
*Cinema trip (Zootropolis 2, Wake Up Dead Man) [and look to see what Stranger Things stuff is in town]
*Watch Five Nights At Freddy’s and It Chapter 2

I was gonna see FNAF 2 Friday but it’s being moved till next Wednesday. Not cause of FNAF itself but I wanna see Pillion and it’s got an afternoon showing then so👀

But yeah end of rambles, I’m gonna flop for a bit now.

Current Mood: nerdy
Current Music: Abba - Fernando

Entry tags:

stranger things thoughts

Can you here the drums

So the past few days have been a bit… ugh. Both due to energy and mood (not helped and partially caused by uni assessment) but there’s also been good things (thanksgiving [the film not the holiday], the fortnite event yesterday) but I’m not gonna talk about them here. Maybe there’ll be a post about those things later but…

Nee Stranger Things episodes went live! They went live here at 1am Thursday (so Wednesday night really) but that was too late for me (especially as I was finishing Thanksgiving). I had hoped to watch one ep on Thursday but couldn’t fit it in (and then energy crashed). So it ended up being the first two eps Friday and then the last two last night.

So! Ima gonna post thoughts and feelings under the cut, I will be posting stuff under ep titles (which’ll be bolded) so you can just avoid the latter ones if you’ve not seen them all. BUT obviously this willl be spoilery.

So! Let’s get into it.

( Read more... )</lj-cut! Non Stranger Things plans for the rest of the day *New Fortnite season *do more Marvel snap (and get pissed at it crashing) *Finally watch Sonic 3 *Shoto spooky stream *Work on/finish fic *Sunday night tv *Perfect or Darkest Miriam on Amazon prime (I’m leaning to Perfect)