Hearing Aid Appointment

Oct. 9th, 2025 12:48 am
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[personal profile] days_unfolding

Shit. The meeting with the finalists for my grand boss's position is at 8:30 AM on Friday, when I'm dropping the car off to be fixed. I guess that I'll drop it off way early, and come back.

Also shit. I forgot to order diet cola, so I submitted a new order. I'm having a rough morning.

My scales and interval class went well. I need to practice the scales.

I booked a pedicure after I drop off the electronics for the electronic recycling. Speaking of the recycling, I need to remember to drop off the messed up rechargeable mower batteries as well as the TVs. I moved my hair appointment as well.

I got my hearing tested and ordered hearing aids. They should come in next Tuesday, well in time for my meeting. Yay. I had wanted in-ear hearing aids, but he said that was for a mild hearing loss, and mine is moderate to severe. Mine will be behind the ear.

Got the recycling out. Almost forgot to bring in the rosemary and thyme. (Thank you LJ reminder. This is why I put “notes to self” in there.) I also brought in the parsley because it was looking perky. I need to order a grow lamp.

Now need to work for a while. Worked for a couple of hours. I'm going to post and feed the beasties and crash.

shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
It was supposed to rain today. It did? But barely. Then cleared off - and we have no clouds. We were supposed to be cloudy - but it is clear, and the temperature is supposed to drop - so far just to 65.

Debating on what to make myself for dinner tonight. I don't really want the tuna or hamburger in the fridge, I want pasta or beans. Basically I want vegetarian.

Had salmon last night and in salad today.

***

Shirley Jackson's the Lottery was adapted into a comic book by her grandson. (It's notable because it's authorized (I thought she was dead? She is - I guess he got it before she died?) and the art is decent - scans daily scanned most of it.) I don't know - it's been adapted a lot? It has been a 1969 movie, 2007 movie, full cast audio in 2025, television movie in 1996...

It does not lack for adaptations. Not sure why everyone adapts this one over so many others, but they do. It's a good story, scary, and apropos for any time period. It was first published in 1948 in the New Yorker, just after WWII.

***

I fell asleep at work - long after all my meetings on MS Teams. I didn't sleep well last night, so that was part of it. Also had three back to back Teams meetings - where I was explaining complicated processes to folks.

Breaking Bad was happy with my performance at the Teams Meeting this morning.
Read more... )
***

I'm allegedly getting Sketchers UNO Sneakers from FedEX tomorrow. (One never knows with FedEx - reliable - they aren't.) It requires an "indirect signature". Read more... )

***

Mememage

4. In 1957, Russia launched their Sputnik satellite. Do you receive your TV or broadband via a satellite, through cable, or via an aerial?

Cable. Also internet. I have a smart tv.

5. What’s the temperature today where you live? Is it warmer or cooler than average?

It's been in the 60s all day long, hovering between 69 and 65 degrees. It's been warmer than average, although 65 is an average high. But it was in the upper 70s and low 80s until today. It's supposed to be cooler tomorrow - and gasp drop down into the upper 40s and low 50s. (I hope they don't turn on the heat.)

6. Jenny Lind, the Swedish opera singer (the Swedish Nightingale), was born today in 1820. Operatic arias are often used in advertisements (e.g. the airline company British Airways used an adaptation of the "Flower Duet" from the opera Lakmé by Léo Delibes), do you recall any ads using opera arias?

Nope. Not an opera fan or into ads...

7. Do you often wear scarves? Draped around your neck or tied artistically?

Not really? I might wear it in the winter months, outside. I have a nice cozy muff. But I'm not a scarf person - I can't arrange, drap or tie them to save my life, and I don't really like things around my neck? I find it confining?

8. If you didn’t have access to a car, could you get around easily where you live?

I don't have access to a car, nor have had any access to one (unless you count cabs and car services) for a very long time, and get around easily with no issues. Actually it's easier to get around where I live - without a car than with one. No traffic. No need to find parking. It's crazy to own a car in NYC. And expensive.

I've not driven since I moved to NYC in 1996. I sold my car, and never looked back. There's a 24/7 subway and train system that basically covers the entire city, plus there's buses of all sorts, cabs, ubers, lyfts, car services....and ferries.

XD

Oct. 8th, 2025 09:37 am
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[personal profile] xinas_island


Wednesday

Oct. 8th, 2025 08:14 am
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[personal profile] susandennis
The 1 pm Mariner game finally started at 4. BUT because of the rain delay, after an hour, Fox switched coverage from FX1 (which the Timber Ridge TV system has) to FX2 (which, of course, we do not have) and put the BlueJay/Yankee game on FX1. It was fine for me because of my splurge on a month of Hulu Live. But, I was about 3 forks into dinner when Dick (of Dick and Jan) called me from the nursing unit where he is recovering from surgery. He couldn't find FX2. I did no research because I just wanted him to have the ballgame and me to have my dinner before it was stone cold.

So I grabbed an old Chromebook, fired up Hulu and the game and ran it over to him and then ran back. He, of course, wanted to know why he couldn't get it and what was going on and I finally just told him, I'd explain later. Turns out, I learned on my way back, they had the game on in the lounge outside his room (the group areas, apparently, have upgraded cable).

It was a fun and good game and the Mariners won. But still tense. I'm not sure I'm a fan of post season play. And either the camera people/editors are perfect or all of the Detroit fans have the most expressive faces in the history of faces. Disappointment, sadness, disgust. They just kept showing face after face. I almost felt sorry for them.

The BlueJays had the Yankees on the rail. Embarrassing them again. Those fans, I will NEVER feel sorry for. But, then, the BlueJays let them have a late game surge and they ended up winning. Curses! Foiled again!

Today the Mariners game is at noon. So after my swim, that will be my day.

I spent a lot of time yesterday researching air fryer situations. And how to use the big one I got and planned to return. And I've pretty much decided to keep it. I still have a few weeks to firm up my decision but I could not find another one that matched all my criteria and those that matched most didn't match enough for that kind of money. I could still change my mind but for now, it's staying.

I just read that one of my favorite authors - Thomas Perry - died last August. He did squeeze out, apparently, one last book that I pre-ordered this morning. I hate it when authors that I want more books from, die. It's just rude.

So now I think I'll suit up and go swim.

PXL_20251008_022543331

Driving to work

Oct. 8th, 2025 10:26 am

And here we are

Oct. 8th, 2025 09:21 am
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[personal profile] bill_schubert

So far no delays for us. We are starting to hear announcements of delays due to traffic control. We are in Nashville and our flight is still set to leave on time.

Fingers crossed.

I have a feeling Saturday will be worse. Fortunately we have no one expecting us.

Bill Schubert

(no subject)

Oct. 8th, 2025 10:01 am
maju: Clean my kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] maju
I was once again feeling very anxious and unsettled earlier this morning, as if there was something urgent that I should have done but hadn't, so I decided to do something that I've been putting off - sort through a box of old photos, many of which date from my childhood and my children's childhoods. I threw out a lot of duplicates and less interesting photos, and reduced the pile by about 75%, so I'm glad that's done. I kept the ones that had the most sentimental value to me as well as some that I think my daughters and grandchildren will be interested in. It's never easy for me to throw out old photos, but I steeled myself because nobody will want them after I'm gone.

This afternoon I'm seeing my parkrun friend P. We plan to go for a walk as long as it's not raining. When we made the plans the weather was fine and warm, but I woke up to rain this morning. However, the forecast says it will be clearing up after 10 am. We're supposed to be having a cold change, but that won't really take effect until tonight when the temperature should fall below 50°/10° for the first time since last spring.

Tuesday

Oct. 8th, 2025 04:44 am
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[personal profile] days_unfolding

I stayed up late reading old LJ entries. I wanted to look up what I wrote when my grandmother died, but then read entries for the rest of my graduate degree through getting my first full-time job. (I updated only a few times a month then.) It was interesting.

Bella ate Gracie’s dry food, but she won’t eat her own.

Woke up a little after 7 AM. After I took the dogs out, I went back to sleep and overslept until 9:30.

It's a gray day. It was raining lightly when I took the dogs out, but I don't know if we'll get more serious rain today. I hope so.

I'm subscribed to Burnalong through my health insurance (or is it through the university?) I went looking for balance exercises and found some. I need a cushion to stand on though. I also found exercises for "tech neck release," which I sorely need. I just need to find the time for them.

I was feeling kind of dizzy so I went to lie down.

The dogs were trying to get me up at 2:30 AM, but I got up at 3:30. Fed the dogs. I mixed wet food with Bella’s crunchies and she ate most of it. I had to shut Gracie in the bathroom because she wanted it. I need to feed the cats and myself. I also need to order groceries. Gracie pooped in the bedroom (I can’t blame her, I slept so long), so I need to clean it up. And I need to start laundry to have something to wear to my hearing aid appointment. Crud, it’s going to be 39F/4C tomorrow night. I need to get the rosemary and thyme in.

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[personal profile] shadowkat
So, the side-effect of listening to Landau's podcasts, and seeing her independent film is...I've developed a major gurl-crush on Juliette Landau. I tend to develop crushes on cult television/movie and theater character actors who aren't in that much? Not enough of one to pay for her podcast, I'm willing to do it for free though. She's adorable - she loves theater, is detailed on theater, film, music, and the craft. And an excellent interviewer - she's better than the guy who did Inside the Actor's Studio.

(Previous gurl-crushes include Claudia Black, Carrie Fisher, Angela Basset, Katee Sackoff...)

Oh well it's fitting, she's the other side of Spike/James Marsters - which is my other Buffy actor crush. Along with Anthony Stewart Head. I do wish I'd get crushes on people with lots of content available - and good content available. I've watched a lot of bad television and films because of actor crushes. Note to self - do not follow actors, follow directors and writers (although they aren't that reliable either, sorry to say - so just whatever looks appealing and has been rec'd by folks I trust?)

***

AHM told me to try "Telecharge" Lottery - to get discounted Broadway Theater tickets. Kyoto is on it. Just in Time isn't - so that's kind of out. Any of the Big Ticket Tourist Shows are out. Which is a shame - I really want to see Chess - I didn't know the score was ABBA and Tim Rice. (I'm a shameless ABBA fan - I had their music on 8 track in the 1970s and 80s). But alas, Big Ticket Tourist item - with rates between $440-$1K. Way outside my price range.

***

After I took my fifteen to twenty minute walk down the pier and around the tiny historic housing district, I went to Insomina Cookies to snag my Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip cookies - freshly baked, warm, with melt in your mouth chocolate. I've going there almost every weekday for a while now - the counter folks are getting to know me - in part, because I'm the only one getting gluten free cookies.

Counter guy: So, I only charged you for one cookie and gave you three.
ME: Huh? But I only ordered two -
Read more... )

Mother wants me to visit St. Patrick's Cathedral to see the new murals that the Cardinal commissioned and have been put up. I don't know. I'm more curious about the Cathedral of St. John the Divine - I've never been to it.

****

Buffy Rewatch - S4 Buffy - Beer Bad is better than I remembered. It's hilarious in places. Also, it has the added bonus of watching Kal Penn (who was later on the West Wing, and for a while interned in Obama's White House) and is a comedic actor - turn into a caveman after drinking too much beer.

Xander: How much beer does someone have to drink before they start questing for fire?
Pub owner: Oh, don't worry - it'll wear off in a day or two.
Xander: I served that beer to them - to Buffy - someone could get seriously hurt in a day or two. You are a bad bad man.

Xander is hilarious in S4. I actually like all the characters in this season, which is a first for the series. In S1-3, Xander got on my ever living nerve. Willow kind of did too, along with Cordelia at various points.

I'm liking Buffy S4 more than Angel S1, which isn't as entertaining and a bit too much like a dozen other similar series I've seen. In listening to the Landau podcasts - I learned a lot of recent Buffy fans, had watched Angel first - and then watched Buffy, they were David B fans first. But, ironically their favorite Buffy episodes are Hush and OMWF, not Angel centric episodes.

**

Regarding Buffy S1? I learned from Juliet Landau's podcasts and interviews that Mark Metcalf's makeup for the Master took six hours to put on, and he didn't take it off the whole time he played the role. Those who acted with him, never saw him without it. Julie Benze who portrayed Darla - said he was disgusting with it on, and it was hard for her to look at him. But he was easy to work with. Benze was able to create her own character - and made various suggestions, most of which the writers took. (Except for one - she wasn't going to be a Greek Fury, she wasn't that old.)
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[personal profile] fauxklore
Celebrity Death Watch - August 2025 Linda Hodes was a dancer and choreographer who was closely associated with both Martha Graham and the Batsheva Company in Israel. Loni Anderson was an actress, who was most famous for appearing in WKRP in Cincinnati. Paul Vincent Davis was a puppeteer. Jane Morgan was a pop singer, most famous for the song “Fascination.” Eddie Palmer was a pianist, composer, and bandleader. Antony Maitland wrote and illustrated children’s books. Gary Theroux was a rock historian. David Ketchum played Agent 13 on Get Smart. Bobby Whitlock was a singer and songwriter, who performed with Derek and the Dominos and with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. Cool John Ferguson was a blues guitarist. Louis Naidorf was an architect who designed several significant buildings in Los Angeles, including the Capitol Records Building. Jackie Bezos was Jeff’s mother. Greg Iles was a novelist and was part of the musical group, Rock Bottom Remainders, with several other authors such as Dave Barry, Stephen King, Amy Tan, and Matt Groening. Dan Tana was the proprietor of an Italian restaurant favored by Hollywood personalities. Joe Hickerson was the Librarian and Director of the Archive of Folk Song at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress and is credited with creating some folk songs, including some of the verses to “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” Gene Espy was the second person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. Maurice Tempelsman was a diamond magnate and the longtime companion of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Ruth Paine was a teacher who housed Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife, Marina, in her home for several months, and in whose garage Oswald stored the rifle he used for the Kennedy assassination. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro wrote historical horror novels about the Count of Saint-Germain, a vampire.

Jim Lovell commanded the Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 missions. He was one of only three men to travel to the Moon twice, but he never walked on it.

William H. Webster directed the FBI from 1978 to 1987 and the CIA from 1987 through 1991. He was the only person to have held both of those positions. He was on my ghoul pool list and earned me 14 points.

Tony Saletan was a folk singer. He is credited with the rediscovery in the 1950’s of the songs “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” and “Kumbaya.” He was also the first musical guest to appear on Sesame Street.


Celebrity Death Watch - September 2025: Graham Greene was a Canadian Oneida actor, most famous for appearing in Dances With Wolves. Darleane Hoffman was a nuclear chemist. Ken Dryden was a Hall of Fame ice hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens. Mark Volman was a founding member of The Turtles and later performed as Flo in Flo & Eddie, as well as playing with The Mothers of Invention. Rick Davies was the founder, vocalist, and keyboardist for Supertramp. Marilyn Diamond wrote books promoting a diet for longevity. Ann Granger was a prolific writer of mysteries. Philippe Goddin wrote several books of literary criticism about Tintin. Polly Holliday was an actress, best known for playing Flo in the sitcom Alice. Robert D. Maurer did not invent optical fiber but did develop it into a viable technology. Bobby Hart wrote the song “Last Train to Clarksville.” Charlie Kirk was a MAGA icon. Thomas Perry wrote thrillers. Marilyn Hagerty wrote a newspaper column for the Grand Forks Herald and became famous for her review of the food at Olive Garden. George Smoot was a Nobel Prize laureate in physics. Sonny Curtis performed with The Crickets and wrote the song “I Fought the Law.” Marian Burros was a food writer for The New York Times. Aaron Bielski (aka Aaron Bell) had been the last surviving brother of a family of partisans during World War II. Henry Jaglom wrote and directed very weird films, e.g. Eating. Claudia Cardinale was a movie actress. Danny Thompson was the bassist for Pentangle. Patricia Crowther was a British occultist. Belva Davis was the first African-American woman to become a television reporter on the U.S. West Coast. Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford. Chris Dreja played guitar for The Yardbirds. Russell M. Nelson was the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lally Weymouth was the last member of the Graham family to be affiliated with he Washington Post, which helped her get a lot of high profile interviews, e.g. with Saddam Hussein, Muammar Qaddafi, and Benazir Bhutto.

Davey Jonson was a second baseman, primarily for the Orioles, and later managed several teams, including the Mets from 1984-1990 (which includes their 1986 World Series win) and the Nationals from 2011-2013, which includes their first division title since they moved to Washington, D.C.

David Baltimore won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975 for his work on reverse transcriptase. He helped establish the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT. He later became president of Rockefeller University and of CalTech.

Robert Redford was an actor and director. He was one of the heart throbs for my generation, particularly for The Way We Were. He also co-founded the Sundance Film Festival. In high school, one of my friends had a huge crush on him. A few of us went to a John Denver concert at Madison Square Garden, but her parents wouldn’t let her go. When we told her we had seen Robert Redford at the concert, she dropped the stack of books she was holding!

Ashleigh Brilliant was an epigrammist and cartoonist. His Pot-Shots were sold primarily in head shops during my teenage years. A few of my favorites of his epigrams include “I feel much better now that I’ve given up hope,” “Appreciate me now and avoid the rush.” and “I have abandoned my search for truth and am now looking for a good fantasy.”

Celebrity Death Watch - October 2025 (so far): Edward J. Kennedy was a former mayor of Lowell ad a member of the Massachusetts Senate. Patricia Rutledge was an actress, best known for playing Hyacinth Bucket on Keeping Up Appearances. Ivan Klima was a Czech writer and playwright. Silly Cooper was a romance novelist.

Jane Goodall was a primatologist who spent more than 60 years researching the lives of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania. She wrote 32 books, including 15 for children.

So apparently I've lost some weight

Oct. 7th, 2025 03:11 pm
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[personal profile] bill_schubert
I actually have. From where I started long ago I've lost 28 pounds. Where I started with GLP1 I've lost about 9.

My clothing consists of shorts and t-shirts. I've got a couple of pairs of long pants that have small paint splatters on them, hardly noticable, that I wear when I need something long.

I NEVER dress up beyond that. But I did find a pair of nice slacks, part of a funeral suit, and paired it with a new sports coat and I'll look nice.

But I needed a couple of pairs of decent pants to wear. It is going to be cold and I think maybe a couple of days of long pants won't kill me.

Except the first four I tried are too big. I could get away with suspenders but they are really big. Two inches too big in the waist. Dangerously close to falling down like a clown suit.

I've got two pairs of pants that should work OK. Even with them I'll likely wear suspenders rather than a belt just to be sure.

But I won't be able to wear them again since I'm losing another 10 or 15 pounds.

So next stop might be Goodwill. But not today.

Fortunately I've got an always serviceable blue oxford cloth button down that is good with everything anytime, anywhere.

The hotel has a same day cleaners so we can get everything pressed tomorrow after we arrive.

I'm going to be fine in a carry on. Dana is stressing. I may be able to put her CPAP in my bag as well as mine.

We're going to take the dogs in a little bit. Maybe another hour. No fun there.

Rain out plus next to nothing

Oct. 7th, 2025 12:52 pm
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[personal profile] susandennis
Stupid Detroit with their stupid roof-less stadium.

Jim across the hall offered to sell me his Tesla "for next to nothing". It's a smaller one and comes not only with a charger installed next to my parking space, but also free (to me) electricity. I do not know what "next to nothing" means but I suspect it means way less than I could get for my car. But, even putting the Elon Musk ness aside, I just don't trust the company. It's probably fine and I'd be fine owning it. And it's only 3 years old so far less likely to have a problem than my car. But insurance and stuff. And how often do I need extra room? Once or twice every year or so.

So. I told him I would think about it but I have and no.

Also no to the new air fryer. I wanted a bigger one and I went too big. The touch screen needs pounding as opposed to touching. You need massive arm muscles to get the damn drawer out and back in. Plus, it does not cook that well. Stuff that should be crisp is not that crisp. And the settings are way off. The frozen pizza setting burnt the sucker black but the bottom was soft. So back it goes. Sadly, I tossed the giant box. Now I have to find a new giant box.

I spent too much at Costco. But, they had my coffee on sale.

Housekeeping called this morning to say my house cleaner was not at work today. They offered a sub but I said nope. It's fine I pulled out the dirt devil and did the heavy lifting. Now I am waiting for the rain delayed Mariner game to un rain delay.

Rush job

Oct. 7th, 2025 09:16 am
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[personal profile] susandennis
I'm on a timeline. Bonny and I are going to Costco. Oh, wait, we're not going til 10:30 so I've got more time than I thought. She's out of vodka... again. She never drinks before 5 but ALWAYS drinks after. I've never seen her drunk but she does go through the stuff. She buys the big bottles at Costco. Two at at time and has a special bag so no one will see her but two bottles. Then she always waits until late at night to put the empties in the trash room so no one will see her. This alcohol subterfuge cracks me up. She's 85. No one knows her at Costco. No one on this hall cares how much she drinks. But she's not convinced. So... off we go to procure her vice.

Oh the up side, she can't walk far (bad hip which she could get fixed but doesn't want to fuck with) so we get to use handicapped parking.

The Mariner game is at 1. My cleaner comes at 1:40. Happily, I can watch the game on my laptop in the elbow while she cleans.

I saw last night that my former neighbor who has been a TV reporter here for 30 years is retiring. She lived a few doors down from me in the condo for all of those 30 years. My only interaction with her, other than, 'hi!' when we passed in the hallway was during the first weeks of COVID. We passed in the hallway and she stopped me. She told me that she was going to be out and about regardless, every day, for her job and she figured I was not. "Let me give you my number. Then if there is anything you need, any day, just text me. I'll pick it up and bring it to you." That was it. So sweet and so kind. I sent her the first text last night urging her to enjoy the heck out of her retirement.

I took two giant bundles down to the clothes donation bin. One bag was that comforter. I love the look of it. I hate the sleep of it. So gone. I bought another one last spring at Goodwill, that I never tried. It's kind of weighted. I slept under it last night. Perfect. BUT butt ugly. It's gray. Just gray. So just now, I ordered a duvet cover for it.

Ok. Time to get dressed and get organized.

20251006_200412-COLLAGE

(no subject)

Oct. 7th, 2025 12:19 pm
maju: Clean my kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] maju
This morning I made what I hoped would be my final trip to Goodwill with various bags and boxes of unwanted stuff, including a lot of drinking glasses and mugs which I never have and never will use. A bit later, when I was getting lunch, I remembered that I've got another couple of shelves full of dinner plates, saucers, and bowls which I don't want, and which I would have taken to Goodwill this morning if I'd remembered. I guess I'll be making at least one more trip. At the very least, I need to get them out of the kitchen because everything left in the kitchen will be packed and moved by the removalists, and I don't want to end up with a pile of unwanted china in Connecticut.

When I was coming home I discovered I couldn't turn right onto the road which goes right past my street; about half a mile from home there were cones across the road and a truck parked across the road as well, although I couldn't see any reason for the closure. Therefore I had to continue on and take a detour of maybe three miles so I could approach my house from the other direction. By the time I was back on the through road there was a stream of traffic coming towards me, so I guess the road had been reopened while I was detouring.

Holidays and Typhoons

Oct. 7th, 2025 04:21 pm
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[personal profile] elusivek
This week was like super holiday week. 1st and 2nd October were public holidays (China National Day). First of October is actually my Mom's birthday, so I didn't do much, except for the birthday lunch and night time cake cut.

Second October was a public holiday, official name: "Day After China National Day" LOL why can the "Day after" be also a public holiday lol. Anyway, on the second, I went out to China for a karaoke session with another friend. I found this money card in keychain form (here we call these MacauPass). Works like the UK Oyster Card, but better. How better? UK Oyster card is only for transportation. This MacauPass, like the Hong Kong Octopus Card and Japan Suica, can be used for transportation and shopping as well. And the design is the design of street signage in town. And while the Portuguese says "Dragon Courtyard" which sounds very "regular China place", the Chinese name is now defunct. This street's name in Chinese has since changed (now it's like "Snake's Courtyard", snake is similar to Dragon). This old name on this key chain is like a homonym to "Fuck you" in Cantonese. Lunch in China was very nice and cheap.
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My friend made this mini plate in the shape of the Japanese "Amabie" mermaid god/fairy thing. She had some leftover special clay and asked me what I wanted. I said I wanted a small plate to place my morning supplements. She delivered. Thanks!
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Saturday I did my usual stuff of pottery thing (I'm working on something new). My Chinese doctor also wanted to see me on Saturday, so after  the pottery workshop, I went to a nearby indian restaurant (too spicy for me) and then to the doctor for more treatment.
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Night time was the typhoon and Sunday morning too, but luckily the typhoon passed and so we were able to go to our Portuguese traditional filigree workshop. It was totally free. The master's works are really great.
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Spent 2 hours to make this small heart. Apparently it's really hard. Now, knowing it's so much work and effort in eyesight, I appreciate this more.
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Today (Tuesday) is another public holiday, and in my opinion the weirdest public holiday of all. Yesterday was the mid-autumn festival right? Today, it's a holiday for "the day after mid-autumn festival". The difference from the China National day is, the day-of isn't a holiday. Because you're supposed to stay with family and admire the full moon late into the night of Mid-Autumn, so the following day is a holiday. I'm almost sick of mooncakes. I've also like, 8 tins of cookies (gifts received, but those cookies are yuck)
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Did a double yoga session this morning.
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This boy, for some reason, stuck to me this afternoon.
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Oh yeah, I got a new bed-table thing, that I can change the angle of the table, better for typing and also I can use it with my e-reader. i've got a sweet set up.
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[personal profile] days_unfolding

[personal profile] fauxklore mentioned a useful genealogy site, and I hit pay dirt. First, I found my dad on the list of people who came into a US port (Boston). Then I got the full names of my grandmother and grandfather, which they Anglicized so I didn't know their actual names. That will help me when I try to get a Lithuanian passport. And I got the name of the town in which my dad was born.

I forgot to mention that I got the title for the Kia. Eventually, I want to give the car to the Humane Society. It’s convenient having two cars, but I’m paying insurance for both of them.

Overslept 45 minutes. I’m taking my shower at lunchtime. Left a message with the hearing aid people at Costco. I have an appointment for Wednesday.

I gave Gracie and Bella dry food on the recommendation of the vet. They were looking at it like, what is this? Gracie eventually ate it. Bella is on a hunger strike.

While I go through downtown Champaign to get to my choir rehearsal, I look at possible condos for when the house gets too much for me. Though I might move. Or not. I have time to decide. I'd miss the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. And my choir.

Choir was a good rehearsal, although I need to spend more time on the music. The down side is that I get home late. I need to feed the cats and Gracie, and see if I can get Bella to eat the dry food (although I tried to hand-feed her it, and she refused). Then I need to crash quickly.

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[personal profile] shadowkat
It was a pretty day today - in the low eighties and high seventies by mid-afternoon, with a nice breeze, and in the sixties this morning. Tomorrow promises to be the same. Then it is going to rain and dip into the fifties and sixties again - just in time for my vacation next week. Kaloo Kalay.

But hey, clear, no clouds, and lovely today - I took a fifteen minute walk at lunch time through the bike path garden at Battery Park, and up and around the historic section to grab - you guessed it - gluten free chocolate chip cookies.

Most of the day, I worried that someone had stolen the bag that Amazon had allegedly delivered on Saturday. Mainly because I didn't see the package over the weekend. (Considering how hard it is to read the labels on these packages, and how they hide behind other packages - there was an off chance that I just overlooked it.) So when I got home - and looked and gasp, found the package - I was relieved. The bag wasn't necessarily that expensive? But I wanted it. Hippie Cross Body Bag for $16.99. It's perfect for non-work traveling about the city. Big enough to fit grocery bags, light, and easy to cart about.

I'm currently flirting with Wildgrains Gluten Free Products (it's also dairy free). But I have no real freezer space, let alone much refigerator space. I can't freeze that much - my freezer space is very limited (think small box at top of refrigerator). And they give you a ton of stuff. Also, it's high in carbs which in turn equals high blood sugar.
And big family size portions. So no, probably not a good idea? But if the link helps anyone else? Go for it.

And, does anyone want to explain - when it became necessary to buy non-cotton materials for hiking? Apparently after years of wearing cotton on long hikes, I can't do it anymore. At least I remember wearing cotton in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Did I? Sigh. It was too long ago - I can't remember.

At any rate - I have next week off as a staycation. I'm not going anywhere.
And I don't really want to plan ahead or buy tickets ahead? I want to be spontaneous. Go shopping one day. Maybe take a train to the Bronx Zoo or Botanical Gardens? Or tour the Met? Or just check out the Highline park.
Wander about the city, exploring. Check out some parks. Maybe take a ferry ride. Or just clean out my closets and switch clothes around, write, and paint.

***

The Juliet Landau podcasts that she's doing with her husband, Dev Weeks, (original titled "Slaying It" and now, "Revamped") are rather charming, comforting and reassuring. By far my favorite podcasts. I've become quite charmed and enamored of Landau. She's a hard working character actress, who has a ballet background. Landau's informative podcasts on the acting and entertainment profession )

I get a kind of schendfreud thrill from listening to it? Or it comforts me? Because I struggle to get my art down and out there too, but as a side hustle. And often just do it for myself. Juliette charmed me - when she states that no one should stop you from expressing yourself through art, whether it is singing, music, painting, acting, performance, what have you - you should be allowed to do it. And some will love it, and some won't. But be free to get it out there.

Also, listening to them - while working on a spreadsheet at work - helps make the time go by faster. It gives me something to look forward to.

Saying goodbye to the dogs

Oct. 6th, 2025 04:26 pm
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[personal profile] bill_schubert
Our travel is a total of four days, three nights. We have to board the dogs for a week. Not fair to us or them but we're leaving at such an early hour and coming back too late and then there's Sunday. So we have to take them tomorrow and can't pick them up until Monday.

Not at all happy about that. It will sharpen our minds about getting ready to leave but still.

Matt, number two son, is all packed up and has his stuff at the office. I think he's leaving early tomorrow morning from Des Moines to head to Providence. The bachelor party is in Providence. I am not (NOT!!!) invited. There's ax throwing and such stuff. I told him not to throw an ax at his big brother. There has to be some boundaries. He said he'd try not to.

We are hopefully on the 7AM out of Austin and will be in Hartford early afternoon. Then driving north through the back roads of Massachusetts. We have nothing on the schedule Wednesday and no one will be there yet so just downtown Northampton and us. And, yeah, it is going to be chilly.

Thursday morning we have two massages scheduled in the morning. And then late afternoon everyone arrives. The hotel is really a wedding destination kind of place so it should be good for meeting up with the others.

I've not met the bride and haven't seen my granddaughters since they were both very young. Weirdness will be the name of the day.

Rehearsal and the dinner and then next day wedding. And reception.

And the next day we leave fairly early in the morning.

I'd love to stay another day but it was going to cost in excess of $600 to do that. We're stressing a bit over the money as it is and will need to buckle down and budget for six or so months to recoup.

I just connected with the inlaws so we're going to meet them Wednesday afternoon. Train's on the track now.

SporcleCon

Oct. 6th, 2025 04:43 pm
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[personal profile] fauxklore
One of my NPL friends had mentioned SporcleCon on his Facebook page just about when I was making my travel plans for the IAJGS Conference. For those who aren’t familiar with Sporcle, it’s a web site with lots of fun trivia quizzes. SporcleCon was being held in Chicago the weekend just after the IAJGS conference. Since flights via ORD were the best option for travel between WAS and FWA, it seemed like a no brainer to just stop in Chicago for the weekend on my way home. I registered for SporcleCon, booked my hotel registration at the Hyatt attached to the McCormick Place Convention Center, and arranged my flights accordingly.

That meant leaving FWA crazy early on Friday morning, but there’s no shortage of things to do in Chicago. So I confidently shared an Uber to the airport with another conference attendee. Alas, the best laid plans of mice and Miriam once again went agley. About a half hour before the flight was scheduled to leave, I got a notification from United about a flight delay, due to a mechanical problem with the plane. The delay started at about 3 hours and increased. Several people left to rent cars and drive to Indianapolis or Detroit. Since I was staying in Chicago for the weekend and, therefore, didn’t have to worry about making a connection, I figured I could wait things out. To cut to the chase, the eventual delay was nearly 10 hours (for a 40 minute flight!) and they had to get a rescue plane to fly in from northern Michigan. (I did get compensation, by the way.)

On arrival, I took the El to the Cermak-McCormick Place station. It actually made sense to stop in McCormick Place and do the SporcleCon check-in on my way to the hotel. Then I went to the hotel, checked in, grabbed some supper, and pretty much collapsed since I’d been up since oh-dark-thirty.

Since I still can’t be in two or more places at the same time, the number of different trivia games going on at a time is both the best thing and the worst thing about SporcleCon. I had to make wild guesses about what event I would enjoy most. The way I handle situations like that is to just tell myself that it doesn’t matter. I figured that general knowledge events were a better bet than more specialized single subject events. The first event I went to on Saturday was Orange Cat Trivia, which was fun, though the room was very crowded and, hence, noisier than I’d have preferred. I particularly liked the Before and After category.

After lunch, I went to a talk by podcaster Gary Arndt about extreme travel. I could tell he was a Travelers’ Century Club member because his blurb referred to his having been to over 200 “countries and territories.” Only TCC people put in that “and territories” phrase. I wasn’t super impressed by the talk, actually. He may have me beat on sheer numbers, but I’ve been to places that he hasn’t, e.g. Paraguay and Kiribati.

A few events used the trivnow platform, which I thought worked well. The first of those I played was Triviality. It was a bit more pop culture heavy than is optimal for me, but I did still finish in the top quarter.

The biggest event of the con is the Battle of the Brains on Saturday night. I had chosen to have them assign me to a team and, for the most part, the team I was on worked reasonably well. I wasn’t completely useless, though how on earth is it possible that Austin, Texas is bigger than Atlanta, Georgia? I guess you can’t rely on traffic as a measure of how big cities are! I did at least know an answer relating to African geography. Anyway, we did respectably, finishing 15th (out of 100+ teams) overall. By the way, they also have special guests introducing some categories. I found the South Side Drill Team impressive, but Second City reminded me how much I hate improv comedy.

On Sunday, I did a few games at Sporcle’s World Fair. I won a bunch of raffle tickets, but no prizes in the drawing. I did win a banner from the Geography section. Then I played Crowdsourced Curiosities, which I was very bad at. I did much better at Liquid Kourage Trivia, mostly because I ended up with a team that had a good mix of different areas of knowledge. I did find it hard to believe that I was the only member of our team that knew what university has an annual puzzle hunt every January. (I’ve done the MIT Mystery Hunt. And that didn’t even exist until long after my time at MIT.)

Overall, I had a fun weekend. I probably won’t do next year’s SporcleCon since it is going to be: a) in November (generally a good month for international travel) and b) in Schaumburg, which is even less convenient to anything interesting in Chicago than McCormick Place. Anyway, after SporcleCon ended, I walked to the el station and headed to ORD, where I spent the night at the Airport Hilton, which is very convenient if you have an early morning flight.

Alas, the curse of ORD weather struck. I once (several years ago) had a flight from ORD that got delayed by a tornado, followed by a mechanical problem, followed by a crew timing out. In this case, there were thunderstorms, which caused all flights to the east to be shut down. We got lucky and they were able to reroute us around the worst of the weather, so we were going to be only about an hour and a half late. Except there was a fire (or, at least, a fire alarm) at DCA, which led to the control tower there being evacuated. We didn’t have enough fuel to keep circling until that was resolved, so they had us land at IAD. Normally, that would have been fine, since I live halfway between the two airports and I could have just taken the metro home from there. But I had checked a bag and they announced that: a) they weren’t taking any bags off the plane and b) they wouldn’t deliver bags to people. So I waited a bit over an hour while we refueled and we took the 15 mile / 11 minute flight to DCA. Where it turned out that my bag was waiting for me, because they had put it on the 5:21 a.m. flight.

And now I’m caught up through August!

(no subject)

Oct. 6th, 2025 01:58 pm
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[personal profile] maju
I keep rather annoyingly waking up around 4:30 am. That's only about half an hour earlier than my alarm goes off, but it means I start getting tired in the early evenings, because I get up and start doing stuff so early in the mornings.

My family is working on a photo challenge for October; one of the prompts is "boat" and boats aren't very common in this landlocked area. However, this morning while I was out I saw not just one but two small boats on trailers outside people's houses, and I've seen speed boats/cabin cruisers parked in driveways around here before.

I've been filling the car boot/trunk with yet more stuff to go to Goodwill, but I might not take it there for another few days because I'm sure I'll keep finding more things that need to go. Today I packed up a whole lot of surplus drinking glasses and mugs for donation.

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