Reading

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Karl stream

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Ut Supra Sic Infra

Spooky season day 2: Curse Of Frankenstein, Pokémon Stream - Chills And Thrills

So in the last post I covered Curse Of Frankenstein so I’m not gonna do that again. But after the post I watched the Pokémon stream. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they stream Pokémon the series and lately Thursdays have been Johto (aka Gold and Silver) and I’ve been enjoying that cause that’s roughly as far as I saw in the original run.

However instead last night they posted a theme night, ‘Chills and Thrills’. In reality that just meant a bunch of episodes with ghost Pokémon. Only a handful were genuinely spooky, with a bunch of them about Ash’s battle with a ghost gym leader. As such it felt a bit odd, especially since some of them had ghost Pokémon just for one or two scenes.

Today has been a lazy day really. We’d heard a we were gonna get some of a storm and, sure enough, that happened today. So it’s been mostly bundled up, getting Midna cuddles and doing Fortnite, since there’s a bunch of new quests.

Though of course Leia decided to go out in the storm and so we had to chase her around the house to dry her which was… a lot.

I also went down a rabbit hole and now I wanna hunt down a film called Wildhood. I’m gonna track the blu ray down once money goes in cause I wanna see the hot guy from The Long Walk make out with a guy (and maybe more).

But then tonight was also the new VHS, VHS Halloween. Thoughts are under the cut (along with triggers at the start.)

( Read more... )</>

Now it’s almost 4 oop. Tomorrow I’m gonna be watching Murder She Wrote, Strictly and Nine Bodies In Th Mexican Morgue. I’m not sure what tomorrow’s spooky thing might be. Maybe it’ll be something lighter, or just reading the Fantastic Four comic.

(no subject)

I had my first manual lymph drainage massage on Wednesday( cut for details )

Today we were swimming in the morning, then we drove to Durham for a brief walk and then on to the Odeon to watch The Long Walk, which was good, but pretty bleak. I'd read it was different to the original Stephen King novel, so I looked up the changes, and they're quite big. So while I enjoyed it, I'm not sure what the book lovers will be thinking.

The uni freshers have been arriving at Durham lately, so there was a nice vibe and market going on in the square when we went for our walk. There was a DJ set going on from the back of a Red Bull wagon and lots of giveaways. James nabbed himself a notebook and pen, and is now apparently an honorary fresher *g*

Houghton Feast starts tonight. The fair is in town, there's the official opening show and ceremony, but storm Amy has also arrived with driving rain and strong winds, so I'm assuming some things will be cancelled. Which is such a shame, as it's been such lovely autumn weather this last week until now.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Taskmaster

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It’s time!

It’s time!

Spooky month is here! Rejoice! (Along with dozens of -tober month things, why is October the month for those?)

This spooky season I’ll be posting what I do spooky season.

Day 1: Welcome To Night Vale - Date Night, Fall Guys done Fall-o-ween Frights, ESO

First there was the new Welcome To Night Vale which, despite the name was spooky via the presence of the citizen eating town founder crashing the date night. As usually it was a fun ep (I giggled at the ai comments) and it was funny that though they did puzzle the founder so much was happening they didn’t know what it was. Also the restaurant was a mix of cute (awww bee petting!) and horrific.

Fall Guys had two Halloween events start and I completely the first one, which had rewards including a costume that looked like a robot jack o lantern. Elder Scrolls Online was more obviously spooky, with a quest to pet daedric princes causing trouble. (I’m also way behind on ESO cause this was an Apocrypha quest and there’s since been two story areas since then).

I did consider watching a treehouse of horror ep, but Disney+ didn’t have the Halloween section up and I didn’t have focus.

At the end of the last post I mentioned there not being Frankenstein dates, well today I checked the cinema site and there is some! Strangely Netflix said it would be one day only, on the 17th. However my cinema has at least a week of showings! So from the 24th-30th(at least!) and what’s more there’s not one but three showings per day! I was so worried I’d miss it on the 17th so that’s much better. My thought is to see it on the Wednesday, cause that’s when the Halloween art event at the art gallery is.

Speaking of cinema today was a cinema day. I had hoped to go see two things (my plan was to see The Roses) but my stomach had felt funny last night and so I didn’t feel like seeing it. Thankfully my stomach was ok today so I did go.

Before I did I had a delivery of t-shirts from qwertee, a silksong and an alien earth one. (And yesterday my tubbo cargo pants came!) And mum did some messing today in her room and found loads of things I’d been missing, including the Ranboo tee I won, the Hellfire Club tee I got and the Sorry Boys Book Club tee which I never wore before it was squirrelled away.

In town I picked up the new fantastic 4 comic, then some Halloween bunting and hello kitty Halloween tattoo things then went to the cinema. The Black Phone 2 display was set up and looked cool, plus I had a compliment from the guy that scanned my ticket for my Silksong tee which was nice.

The trailers were a strange mix. There was Corpse Bride and Paranorman, which are both getting seasonal re-releases. Then there was one for Battleship Potemkin (cause they’re getting silent film re-releases, this one with a musical score) and lastly was I Swear. This was the strangest choice to me. Cause the film was rated 12A the trailer was cut to hell to remove the swearing which just made it play out so oddly.

Curse Of Frankenstein was in one of the back screens, it might even have been the same one as Jaws, so it was one of the smaller screening rooms. There was a quite a few people there though which was nice.

I had been wanting to watch more Hammer Horror films since seeing a documentary on sky arts about it awhile back so I’m glad that the cinema had this one since it was so well done. It did surprise me a bit that most of it was focussed on Victor’s experiments, including reviving a dog (where did it go?) and then getting body parts. (Which, again, surprised me that it was 12A) And the creature only appearing in the last third (ish) of the film.

(It also makes me wonder if this is the film that put in the public imagination that the creature is a mindless lumbering monster. Hopefully the new film dispels that a bit)

I was surprised that Frankenstein’s mentor survived honestly. A few times it felt like Frankenstein would kill him but he didn’t. It did feel a little strange that Frankenstein went from reviving the dog to… make a man, like it felt he was making a leap there between the two instead of just taking the win. But like I said it was all well done and the vibes were pretty great. It probably wasn’t a faithful adaption but what it was still done well. (Apparently it had a limited budget which meant it was filmed largely in one location and they did use it so well despite that)

(It does feel a bit that words have failed me alas)

Next cinema trip is Monday which is gonna be Him and the mystery film. I’m 70% sure it’s Black Phone 2, 30% sure it’s Good Boy. Either is a good option, as it would be an earlier showing than the other Good Boy ones and I am wanting to see Black Phone 2.

Now though I’m gonna snuggle with Midna and watch the Pokémon stream jn a bit.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Elder Scrolls Online

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monthly round up

Monthly Round Up - September 2025

September

Fics wrote: -
Books read: -
Games done: Donkey Kong Bananza
Podcast: Welcome To Night Vale - Horror Recs, The Magnus Protocol - Deep Trouble, Unlicensed - Bought To You By Frendi, Welcome To Night Vale - The HOA, Unlicensed - Castles In The Air, $780000, The Hands Of The Farmer, Mother Hawk, Coach’s Orders, What To Bring Into A Fire Zone, Dig Your Own Well
Who audios: Jago And Litefoot - The Spirit Trap, The Similarity Engine, Demons Of Red Lodge - The Demons Of Red Lodge, The Entropy Composition, Doing Time, Special Features
Other Big Finish stuff:-
Comics read: Fantastic Four 3
Graphic novels read: -

Things watched
Amazon Prime: Buzzfeed Unsolved - The Mysterious Death Of The Somerton Man/the Horrifying Unsiolved Slaughter At Hinterkaifeck farm
Blu Ray: The Savages
DVD: -
Disney+: Alien Earth - In Space No One…, Futurama - Destroy Tall Monsters, The World Is Hot Enough, High Potential - Pawns, Futurama - Fifty Shades Of Green, Rebuild The Galaxy Pieces Of The Past - Part 1, Part 2, part 3, part 4, Futurama - The Numberland Gap, Alien Earth - The Fly, Emergence, Futurama - Scared Screenless, High Potential - Checkmate, Alien Earth - The Real Monsters
Netflix: Wednesday - If You Don’t Woe Me By Now, A Murder Of Woes, The Conjuring, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, Wednesday - Here We Woe Again, The Devil You Woe
Shudder: Hell Motel - Cat And Mouse, Grand Guignol, House On Eden
YouTube: Mystery Files - The Strange Case Of The Blue Family In Kentucky, Is Bigfoot real?, Honey Don’t trailer, Pokémon - My Friend Malamar, Mystery Files - The Outrageous Plot To Steal The Millenium Star Diamond, Nintendo Direct, Ghost Files - We Go Ghost Hunting With A Psychic, The Mandalorian and Grogu Trailer, Mystery Files -The Disturbing Disappearance Of The Princes In The Tower, Ghost Files Debrief - Shane Argues With A Ghost
Cinema: Honey Don’t, Jaws, The Bad Guys 2, Thunderbirds

I had hoped to do some ficcing and had started things, but again, completely stalled. And my focus has been too off to read anything either.

On the plus side watching stuff has gone better. I largely enjoyed Alien Earth and what I’ve seen of Futurama and Wednesday so far. Plus, yay! Finishing Hell Motel!

The cinema only had two trips, but I did love Honey Don’t so much (as well as Bad Guys2/Thunderbirds).

Also in audios I finished some pretty good stuff (I loved Demons Of Red Lodges mix of one episode stuff, which were all pretty good) and I finished Unlicensed. It’s by the guys that do Night Vale, but it is very different, being much more grounded and about two private detectives, but it was really great.

***

As you can see I didn’t watch Stranger Things as planned Monday, cause mum decided to wake me up by being bitchy (which, of course, she denies), then I spent yesterday in bed with a bad head/achy eyes. So neither was ideal and it’s kinda stalled my week and plans for today.

Tomorrow is a coin flip. It largely depends how I feel when I wake up. If I feel too headachey/woozy I’ll stay home. If not I’ll go to the cinema to see Curse Of Frankenstein. (And speaking of the new Frankenstein trailer looks so good I hope the cinema gets it!)

Entry tags:

health

I had restless leg syndrome as a symptom during Covid

I had covid once, in April 2022 I think, and I had restless leg syndrome for the first time in my life during that infection. It was EXTREMELY uncomfortable - I couldn't sleep properly, and I mostly couldn't feel comfortable at all sitting up, but I also could not stop moving my legs almost constantly. I think I settled on weakly bicycling them. But since the rest of my symptoms approximated a severe flu, it also sort of blended into the background nightmare and I don't remember it very clearly.

That was the first time I ever had RLS, and I only know the name because I was googling the symptom at the time. Apparently it was a known symptom of that variant, or that's what the net told me at the time.

Well, I just had it for the SECOND time ever last night!

I fell asleep at midnight, and I guess I was awake with physical discomfort, verging on actual pain, from about 2 am to 7 am when I got up to give the cats their breakfast. It was a bit like the discomfort of a limb that's going to cramp or go to sleep in a bad position, but moving only eased it for a moment, so I was tossing and turning and only managed to sleep fitfully once during that, dreaming that I had RLS. After I fed the cats at 7 I microwaved a wheat pillow and when I went back to bed I put it on my thighs, which enabled me to fall asleep finally. Then, of course, I overslept.

Wax says that she gets RLS sometimes, but a mild version that doesn't bother her as much, and that it's apparently a known symptom of menopause?! Wow, I hate that.

And like so many problems, unfortunately, the most effective recommendations for managing it are all stuff like regular good sleep hygiene and good exercise habits, and it's like yeah I know, I'm TRYING! That, and maybe iron might help.

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misc.

1. In a spirit of optimism I've been checking books out of the library with titles like Two Lives of Charlemagne or Culture and Imperialism. I did finish Frankenstein, though it was a struggle. Spoiler alert: Everyone dies except the ship captain! Real bummer of a novel. I know it was assigned reading at some point in my life, but I had forgotten some major plot points, like cousin marriage. (Just found: a website comparing the two major editions of Frankenstein.)

2. AO3 added tags to collections, so I updated my cdrama podfic bookmark collection. Previously you could sort of filter by fandom on the collection browse page, but it was based on work tags in the collection, so it didn't work at all for bookmark collections.

3. I found this book-related Youtuber soothing to watch: The Cozy Creative.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Koji stream

Entry tags:

(no subject)

This is one of those posts mostly rambling about various things.

We finished Hell Motel! Yay! Overall the series was pretty good, though there were a few times it felt like people died too close together. But I did like the first episode twist and it was a bold choice to finish on an ep so disconnected from the rest of the series.

It has made me curious about Slasher, so I might start it over spooky season and make it a weekly thing (with an ep or two) though we’ll see.

Yesterday was a lazy kinda day. It was mostly spent watching Murder She Wrote, then half watching Strictly while watching Seapeekay compete in twitch rivals. That was ok though early strictly is immensely long, though I did enjoy a few of the dances.

Then I watched Nine Bodies In A Mexican Morgue, which was pretty good. It’s about a plane that’s crashed in the Mexican jungle (or forest?) however among the survivors is a killer. And clearly a successful one as, when the plane is found 8 days later there’s 9 bodies of the 10 people on the plane. Who it is and why is gonna be the central mystery. It is funny though, it has the presenter of pottery throw down only she’s doing an American accent and it throws me off so hard.

I’m curious to see how it plays out and it seems mum is too.

On Friday a new film came to shudder, House On Eden. I didn’t watch it release day but did watch it last night. Thoughts under the cut.

( Read more... )

Today I watched the next episode of Wednesday and yesss YESSSS it had Tyler shirtless and collared and chained. Thank you whoever decided to have him like that that was hot. A+ work I hope you get a raise.

The ep is mostly a great one not just cause of that. Christopher Lloyd’s cameo role is nice and it addresses one issue I had with season 1 the lack of other teachers. I really hate the new principle. Like wanting Bianca to use her powers and threatening her if she says no? That’s such dickish behaviour.

I do feel another issue from season 1 is gonna raise its head. It’s clear from this ep that Morticia is gonna be around a lot more this season as she’s moved into a cottage on campus. Already I feel unconvinced this will sell us on Catherine Zeta Jones’ performance of her. (However I do love Pugsley’s vibes)

There is also Wednesday’s stalker which uses Saw Like ‘do you want to play a game’type messages. And her chemistry with Enid is unmatched. If only they weren’t cowards and made them a couple. (And I love Enid’s friendship with Thing)

Finally I watched The Savages, after having the blu ray sitting there since it came out and that was…. *checks* March 27th. Damn.

I think I held off cause of the last season plus this is a first Doctor one . Thankfully it is a four parter which is good, because the longer ones are such a slog. Unfortunately the essence of the ep, two groups of people on a planet one exploiting the other, has been done better. The how is an interesting take though, with the essence of the ‘savages’ being used to enrich the elite.

It is just a bit of a talky one, though the animation does make things look nice. Also it is the last ep for Steven and his ending is such an odd one. He essentially get volunteered to stay and it felt he had no real say in it.

Overall it was better than I expected but I as I wasn’t expecting much…

Though it was funny the doctor had a device and he called it a ‘reacting vibrator’.

Tomorrow I’ve got a call which… ugh. I hate the calls they’re needlessly stressful. Since I’m not going to the mystery film I might watch the Stranger Things season 4 finale, but knowing me I won’t.

Then it’s the start of spooky season, deciding if I’ll try kinktober and a cinema trip I’ve still not settled on.

(no subject)

Sadly Bluey has had her first bump.

Driving down a road in town that's terrible for people illegally parking on both sides so they can easily get to the nearby Greggs, we were driving behind a lady, who stopped, and then reversed, when a car going up didn't stop, taking up all the available space in the middle of the road. How she didn't see our car behind hers I don't know, but apparently she didn't.

Thankfully, the damage is cosmetic only with a few scratches, and if it wasn't a mobility car we'd probably just leave it or try and get some matching car paint. But, that's not an option, so an insurance job it is.

Pauline's 80th birthday party went really well yesterday. We picked Corey up at 2, and were at the venue for 2:30, Pauline wanted a late afternoon/early evening party so she'd get home in good time, and it worked out nicely. All her family was there, and my aunt and uncle came too, the first time I'd seen them for over a year.

The catering wasn't the best as the chef at the pub we were at had walked out a few weeks ago, and they'd had to arrange outside catering, and instead of the big buffet that was paid for, there were only platters of sandwiches, crisps and cut up cheese. So, Pauline had to buy extras herself, arranging for people to bring 5 large cakes, sausage rolls, cheese rolls and quiches. But, at least the hot beef sandwiches were provided as ordered, and while there wasn't a huge variety the cobbled together buffet was tasty. Plus, we got to bring leftovers home, and is it even a family party buffet if you can't do that and eat slightly stale leftovers on the night/next morning?

If you're interested I posted a couple of photos of us and the kidlet on my instagram here

Unsurprisingly, my brother didn't turn up. He did send a beautiful bouquet but I wish he'd realise Pauline would always appreciate seeing him more than an actual gift.

It was great spending time with Corey, and he was telling me he and his girlfriend have managed to get MCR tickets which made me so happy for them. If I can't go, at least I know they are and will have a great time.

By the time we'd taken him back to Gateshead and got home it was getting toward eight, and it took me about five seconds to get in my pjs, get under the heated blanket with the cats and watch Strictly. After all, it's what Saturday evenings are made for.

Entry tags:

cats

I've started clicker training Sipuli

Sipuli has had three days of short sessions, 5-10 minutes, of clicker training, and it's adorable. She's possibly the cleverest cat we've ever met, and she's very food-motivated.

Our rewards are the little cubes of freeze dried chicken, which are much more expensive than most cat treats but also healthier because, unlike most cat treats, they don't contain anything but meat; and they were the only kind Snookums could have because he was diabetic, and as a result Tristana is used to getting them at bedtime and after Procedures like claw trimming and ear cleaning.

Sipuli has not fully mastered "touch the target", but she's so engaged, and you can see her thinking.

The idea behind this suggestion from the cat behaviorist was, I think, being able to ultimately train them simultaneously in parallel, and maybe get them to act differently at the gate. This seems possible, but we haven't started training Tristana or introduced Wax making the requests yet, so it's early.

On the minus side, yesterday Sipuli got out and chased Tristana across the room for about thirty seconds. You'd have thought they were both dying, but actually it seems like they did not in fact touch each other at all - Tristana was screaming under the chair while Sipuli was yelling back. That's good, that nobody was hurt and they didn't physically fight. But obviously still a setback. Tristana had to go hide in the turtle bed on the heated upstairs bathroom floor for a few hours.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Ranboo stream

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Bite the apple

Past days have been uneventul mostly. I have started organising dungeons and dragons adventurer. I’ve got the first 46 issues in the folders (yes I should have done them as they came shush) and I’m annoyed that two sets of four of them are awol. I dunno if I should continue organising or just hunt them first.

Yesterday mum sprung on me she wanted to go to Home Bargains so off we went. Thankfully there was a lot of Halloween stuff there! It had a full aisle plus stuff by the door and a few end of aisle stuff too. I got soft sweet, banners and crafting stuff, plus two cute ghosts. There was one I didn’t get that was holding a pumpkin basket but the way the handle was painted I just made it look like it had a comically sad face. (Which you don’t really want, it’s their time!) I also looked in game, got a cheap Thrawn Funko and saw they had dective Pikachu for £20. I didn’t get it but may go back for it.

When I got back Awsten’s book was waiting for me. I was too tired to look through it but I checked what his doodle was (a face with starry eyes)

Also yesterday was also a new 5 Seconds Of Summer song called Not Okay! I really love it, the best is really catchy but it’s not what I expected at all. It sounds so different (and I assumed from the title it might be sad but it’s not). Also ahh the uk store for the album says there’s gonna be a uk tour next year?? I missed out when they last did one so I’m definitely going this time.

Gaming wise, been on Silksong and I feel I’ve made progress (after feeling a bit directionless). I just unlocked the drifter cloak which I feel is gonna be so incredibly useful.

Also Hades II came out today! After debating getting it on release I did decide to. I’ve done 4 runs so far and ahhh I love that there’s a pettable frog and dog! It’s gonna take some getting used to with all the new currencies (and remembering what is for what) but hopefully I’ll figure it out. Also when I died I met Moros he looks so hot👀

Last night was the Alien Earth finale and, despite tiredness, ended up watching. I’m glad I did though it did feel a bit unsatisfying. Mostly that’s because it was a season finale but none of the main things got resolved. Thankfully the characters I like lived and we finally got to see the plant pod thing do something, which I’d been waiting for since I saw it. But ugh this one really made me hate Wendy/Marcy. Like I can tell were supposed to sympathise with her and to an extent I do, but she’s too happy to let people die.

Overall it was a good ep but it didn’t feel like a season finale. Considering how bad streaming things are with cancelling shows after 1 season it felt bad to leave so much unresolved. Hopefully a season 2 is coming cause I do wanna know but…

And also streaming annoyance I was looking the other day on Netflix to watch Star Trek Prodigy and season 1 is just… gone. Bah. And then I saw a preview for Dead Boy Detectives so I’m now intruiged about that but I also know it got screwed so do I wanna get invested?

***

And now for the cinema plans portion of the post.

I had intended on going on Monday, at least to the mystery film but that plans changed. The mystery film is now labelled as a general one, not horror like the others so the only label it has is that it’s 15. Trouble is there’s a bunch of 15 rated things coming that I’ve seen trailers for and wouldn’t want to see which wouldn’t be so bad if I could see another one before it, but because I have an annoying call after 2 that makes things tricky. So I might just not do it. (Especially as the odeon secret showing was for one of those films and the light seems to follow them)

I’m still planning on going next Thursday for Curse Of Frankenstein. It’s had an additional showing added so now there’s a morning and late afternoon one. I should be able to see something else for either one but the trouble is jigsawing what to see. The morning showing is 10:20 (so it’s the second film of the day) and the afternoon one is 5:30.

The trouble is that the morning one feels too early and the afternoon one clashes with some other options. There’s two early afternoon options The Roses and The Conjuring Last Rites, but I’ve still not seen Conjuring 2 and Conjuring 3 isn’t on streaming. (Other possibilities are Demon Slayer [which I’ve never seen and so would be lost], The Lost Bus [which I know nothing about] and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey [which I feel could be good or sad]) annoyingly I did considering giving The Long Walk a try before the listings went live but it has one time: just before the afternoon showing starts.

I should also still be going to the mystery film on the 6th which IS labelled as a horror. I should be able to see Him before it too, which I am curious about though it does seem to have a mixed reception.

It is odd the cinema doesn’t even have Black Phone 2 on its coming soon page despite them clearly getting it. (Plus no sign of Frankenstein either and I keep checking.)

Anyways, gonna watch Taskmaster now, then Hell Motel and hopefully poke my brain.

(no subject)

The gym was offering free Personal Trainer taster sessions this month, so I did one yesterday. ( cut for exercise and weight talk )

I've an ongoing situation atm where someone is fly tipping bags of rubbish near my house. The way things are set up, you walk out of my garden gate onto the public path, on the other side of the path there's a metal fence, then a steep bank with mature trees that goes down to the dual carriageway. For ages now someone has been coming and dumping rubbish at that spot, probably because between the trees on one side and the thick ivy on my fence, it's a place that's relatively hidden from view.

At first, it wasn't much, but lately it's been multiple big black bags full of rubbish, and pee'ed on puppy pads. I've had to add signs on the gate, and my neighbours has too, saying no flying tipping, CCTV in operation, and if it doesn't stop I'm seriously considering actually getting another ring doorbell for the back of the house.

I've talked to many neighbours about it, and we're all pretty sure who's doing it, it's just getting proof. The rubbish gets reported every time, and last time the council said they'd check through it to see if there's anything identifying. Hopefully, there is, as it's just scummy behaviour.

We went to see A Big Bold Beautiful Journey at the cinema a few days ago. Coming out the cinema guy asked people if we'd liked it, I said, it was okay, another woman said, that it was interesting and yeah, that sums it up.

James is back at work today, just a four-hour shift today, then two four-hour shifts next week, then gradually increasing time as the weeks go on. I'm walking to meet him at Home Bargains at lunchtime as we need cat litter, and I'm not about to carry a sack of that home by myself. But first, a catch-up on here.

Entry tags:

The good news is all I have to do is calm down

I failed the driving test in apparently one of the most common ways to do it: no major errors except that the engine died at an intersection and I got flustered and failed to restart it so many times that the test administrator had to gently coach me through even though we both knew I knew what to do. I was fully aware that I was releasing the clutch too fast, but I just could not slow down no matter how I tried. Until she gently and calmly told me when in her coaching voice, of course, and that worked right away.

We sat there three light cycles. It was like something out of a sitcom. The test administrator was very nice about it; and apart from the embarrassment, I don't feel that bad about it, and I think I'll be okay when I retake it in three weeks.

§§§

However.

It's very frustrating to be told that you just need to calm down or relax, as a person with anxiety disorders. I don't mean it's insensitive or anything, just that it's frustrating because I already knew that and have been trying very hard to, but it's not working very well, because there's nothing that does work very reliably that I can do.

I can't take a tranquilizer. I can't magically make myself extremely familiar with the entire context/place/situation/people. I can't exercise vigorously right before because it takes longer to travel to Turku than it does for endorphins to fade (and I'd have to have time to go home and shower and dress even before the hour commute). I can tell myself everything's going well and it's not an emergency and I should chill; I can tense up all my muscles and then release and do those breath patterns that help lower your heartbeat; and I can listen to music that I find comforting. That's really it. It's got limited effectiveness.

But importantly, the bus ride is already stressful enough for me to need to do those things much of the time because I have a severe perfume allergy and am hypersensitive to perfumes, and typically there is at least one (physically) irritating perfume experience in over 90% of bus rides that I take. It's not often possible to come out of one centered and relaxed and refreshed, even if I logically know that the risk of anaphylaxis was low!

Probably it would still be hard to relax without the bus trip, though.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Tv

Entry tags:

At the bottom of the sea

Yesterday I started watching season 2 of Wednesday with the first ep. It’s obviously a lot of setup, with Wednesday’s first day back at Never ore, dealing with hero worship and, of course, being annoyed by it. There’s also two mysteries already: an investigator that got pecked to death by ravens and Wednesday has a stalker. Are they connected? I guess we’ll see.

Xavier has been put on a bus which is a shame but at least had an in universe explanation that makes sense. Pugley is also joining Nevermore this year and already he has what might be a sub plot of his own. I already don’t like or trust the new head and it feels I’m right not too. Also it looks like Morticia is gonna have a bigger roll to play this year (which explains the Lego set!). It remains to be seen if that’s good or not. (Personally I wasn’t sold on Catherine Zeta Jones as her in season 1.)

Then there was dnd which went well, though I had to be muted at the start cause Leia was jumping everywhere and I was worried she’d knock things over. But it was also a mix of sad, sweet and ominous.

I started Borderlands 4 and did the opening quest though ran into trouble cause of a glitch. Thankfully exiting and restarting solved it though I am so pissed how it ended. (Why'd the hot guy have to die😭)

Then last night there was a nature documentary. I love nature stuff, even though Naryu tends to bark at the animals and get worked up, but I especially love stuff to do with the sea. This one was about a deep sea expedition to find coelacanth.

Now the coelacanth is famously known as a living fossil. It was around when the dinosaurs were and was believed extinct long ago… until one was found fished up. (Though if I remember right indigenous people already were aware of them.) Ones have been found fished up and washed ashore since but until now they weren’t seen. Luckily the expedition was successful! It found one hiding between rocks and they watched her for 30+ hours to see what she’d do.

And she spent that time just staying in the same spot, which is relatable. Eventually she went for a swim and joined a bunch of other coelacanth just chilling out in a lil cave. It was honestly so incredible to see them and you can even tell them apart by their markings. There really is something so strangely endearing about them too.

In the night I watched Alien Earth. I’m an ep behind so this one was The Fly. There was A Lot of poor communication going on throughout the whole thing (as well as bad decisions!), though I can’t help but wonder if at least some was intentional. Also Boy Kavalier shown off his feet again(If the alien universe has a wiki feet his must go crazy) and he proved that, while he appears dismissive he isn’t an idiot. (Though it does seem his head of security might be undermining him as well as Yutani plotting)

Today’s been an ok day, though tiring cause of taking Naryu for a longer walk. But! There’s finally a trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu! There’s also a description, but it’s so vague it could mean anything. It’s so cool seeing a u-wing and lil Grogu being cute and Sigourney Weaver.

There’s also more MCR dates been announced, though there’s not one in Birmingham (there’s more for London, plus Liverpool and Glasgow). I’m kinda glad for that though, it’ll be a feeding frenzy and I’m not prepared for that at all. But good luck if you’re gonna try!

Entry tags:

brain: adhd

ADHD roadblocks

I have been thinking about the ADHD struggle, and I decided I should buy the Barkley book on adult ADHD and also a copy of How To Keep House While Drowning; I added them to my cart at the online bookstore, then didn't order them because I didn't have the executive function to do that yet. I found some potential replacements for the charger of my laptop that just broke as well, but didn't manage to finish comparing them and decide.

Other stuff I need to do and have been unable to start includes:( Read more... )

I think a lot of what's blocking me from several of these things in the last month, anyway, is that they feel like projects that require planning and stamina, but so much of my bandwidth has been going to anxiety about the driving test (two days from now) that there wasn't space. This is extremely normal for me and obviously a fallacy, but I guess I've been feeling like the time until the test was mostly short enough that I should just try to minimize anxiety and worry about all the other stuff after. And I didn't want to take my adhd meds in between.

(no subject)

It was a day yesterday.

To start with there had been really heavy, non-stop rain from the early hours. It was also our first craft fair in our town, one we'd been trying to get a spot at for ages. Then Murphy started showing signs of having cystitis again, and not being able to pee, which of course would be an emergency if he had a blockage.

With it being Saturday, our own vet was closed, so we had to get him an appointment at the out of hours vet, which would mean an expensive bill. He's got excellent insurance, but what happens at the out of hours is we'd have to pay, and the insurance would eventually reimburse, as opposed to our vet where they bill the insurance company directly. ( cut for length tldr, Murphy is on the mend )

Friday was nearly a day, too. We've said we'll take my MiL out at least once a fortnight, so picked her up on Friday and had a drive to Barnard Castle to get eggs from the honesty stall at the farm and get delicious bread from a bakery we like. All was going well until we stopped for a coffee, and my SiL phoned saying her electric had gone off so my MiL would have to stay at our house that night.

Obviously, she would have been welcome, but none of the furniture had been moved, she had none of her meds or oxygen generator, and it just seemed to make more sense to wait for a bit to see if things could be fixed before taking her to our house.

To cut a long and frustrating story short, they managed to get the meter sorted and the electricity was back on within an hour, but not before a lot of stress from everyone.

Thursday we'd gone to see Caught Stealing. It's a bit more violent than my usual tastes, but I can say, Austin Butler is a very beautiful man.

One good thing about yesterday, Strictly was back, let the Nikita admiring begin for another year.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Miss Marple

Entry tags:

Like a mango with teeth

Yesterday was the release of the new Rebuild The Galaxy series so I ended up watching it and it was really fun. The Lego Star Wars shows are always really great and fun, and this was no exception. It was really cool to see Pirate Queen Amidala and to have the Skywalker family altogether which you really couldn’t have anywhere else. I watched all four eps (the first 3 in one go, the last one at night) and I’m glad I did.

At times though it did feel a little… product placements. Like there were the big K-2SO, droideka and most prominently Chewie. Plus there was the new Death Star set shown off. Having said that it did make me wish there was more than one set down specifically based on it. Not that I’d know what but it would be nice to have Jaxxon and pirate Queen Amidala.

I also did some more Silksong and the bell beast battle was so much harder than the first boss fight. I died so many times damnit but at least I beat it and now he’s my friend.

In the night, after debating what to do, I watched the new Ghost Files which was fun, though so funny to have Ryan say daddy so often. (And even as he said it he knew it would be clipped like crazy)

This morning I had a delivery, which ended up being the last issue of Dungeons And Dragons Adventurer. Now I’ll have to sort them out (along with the many MANY dice sets). I wish I was able to use the stuff in them though.

Today was the trip out so off I went to town. I made a few stops, including getting a pumpkin kit and bat bag from the works, some cute pins from a Pokémon card shop (that I didn’t know was even there??) and picking up a copy of SFX. I did go in B and M and it’s infuriating that it has two whole aisles of Christmas stuff and only half of one for Halloween. What the fuck is the world coming to?? I did see they had void series stranger things figures, but just Hopper and Eleven. (Does anyone know if there’s a list of the figures? I can’t seem to find one and wanna know if there’s one of my boys to hunt down?) The bm site said they have other Stranger Things stuff but I didn’t see them alas.

It’s sad that town only has one place that has new dvds and blu rays, Asda, which is utterly useless. I didn’t expect there to have Clown In A Cornfield but it’s still sad they didn’t.

I did manage to go in the art gallery which was nice. I didn’t know there were two more floors and one is impressively high ceilinged with an exhibit called shelter which was mostly nice. There’s even tours of it so might look into them. There was also the exhibit mentioned in the fest which was so random, it included metal sculptures and even prosthetic wound make up.

And ahh I looked to see about the tours and they’re doing some Halloween crafts! To make lil bats and pumpkin art.

(Also there’s a scare maze coming to town too which I didn’t know would be a thing there?)

The trailers for today’s stuff were mostly kids stuff (bar the last two) but most did look pretty good.
The Cat In The Hat: This looks like it’ll be really fun, it’s bright and colourful and I feel I’ll definitely see this.
SpongeBob: I had heard there was a SpongeBob film coming. I’ve not seen any SpongeBob stuff in ages but this feels like I remember it.
Zootopia 2: looks like it could be fun, I do really enjoy the first one. I have been guilty of not watching Disney stuff in cinemas cause it comes to Disney + but with the pass I might see it.
Pets On A Train: I’d not heard of this one but it did look pretty good, with a train being hijacked and the titular pets trying to stop it.
Night Of The Zoopocalypse: I’d seen a poster of this and was curious. It does look pretty good though, with something turning zoo animals into zombie like things.
Hamilton: Yeah that surprised me to be there too. Apparently it’s getting a cinema release, with a reunion of the cast too? I’ve never seen it personally but if there’s any Hamilton enjoyers look out for it
The Golden Spurtle: this is a documentary about the world porridge making contest. Yeah I didn’t know this was a thing either

Bad Guys 2 was a lot of fun so I’m glad I got to see it cause I didn’t expect to. I saw the first film on tv earlier in the year and that was fun and this one was too. (Ok I mostly went for Mr Wolf, but have you seen him?) It’s mostly a fun caper film though the last part is set in space cause of a wild plan (using mcguffinite to make a magnet for gold and attaching it to a strangely empty space station to steal all the worlds gold). The last scene did feel like set up for a sequel (as did the mid credits scene) so I do hope it gets one.

Also the art style is so great, it’s bright and pretty and the effects look so great. Plus everyone just bounced off each other so well, you can tell they had a fun time.

After that was Thunderbirds which ahh! Thunderbirds was a show I grew up with as a kid (which, of course was a rerun since it originally came out in 1965). I dunno if non-uk people know of it, but it’s about a group called International Rescue who save people from various disasters. And it’s all done with puppets and model work. The models are absolutely incredible and still hold up even all these years later.

This was a 4K re-release of two episodes, Trapped In The Sky and Terror In New York City. The first makes sense cause it’s the first ep of the show, the second is the 4th ep.

Trapped In The Sky is about a plane (the very cool looking Fireflash) that has a bomb in its landing gear which means it can’t land. The rescue here really shows off how awesome the model work is, from the Fireflash itself to all the airport rescue vehicles to the radio controlled things used to help it land.

It is funny though that the Fireflash is able to fly for 6 months because of its atomic reactor… but that same reactor means the people on board would get hit by a fatal dose of radiation in a matter of hours if not serviced, which seems like a pretty big design flaw!

The second ep has the navy shoot down one of the Thunderbirds (cause it didn’t even bother to give the unidentified craft a chance to identify itself!) which means it’s unable to be used for the main rescue. Said rescue is certainly a crazy one. There’s redevelopment in New York and they have decided to move the Empire State Building. (Yep move the whole thing in one go) naturally it goes badly due to underground streams causing subsidence, trapping two news crew as the whole building collapses, rending the whole thing moot.

I do wonder if this was chosen cause it gave thunderbird 4 a chance to shine (which didn’t happen too often!) though it could be that it was done because it had a lot of awesome model work again. As bizarre a concept as it is, it was all incredible well done and you have to admit it’s an original idea.

It has made ime wanna get the fancy boxset of the series that’s coming later in the year, and to find something with cutaways if the ships/locations. I feel I had one as a kid but who knows where it might be.

As I was leaving they were setting up a new promo thing for the Black Phone 2, which looked like the phone booth from the trailer, which is pretty cool. I’ll have to get a pic when I next go. Alas I missed the train by 2 minutes, but cause everything was shut (and it was starting to rain) I just stayed at the station and read some of the SFX reviews.