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Friday Follies

The Weather Channel keeps telling me that there’s fog out. Thanks, I can see it.

I have an impulse to go back to sleep for a half-hour, but I got a ton of sleep last night. I won’t get the will and trust docs modified this morning though. I’ll do that tonight. Both Bella and Oliver are in here, and the combo of them is not restful. Sigh. Oliver bit my foot, which earned him a trip out of the bedroom. I did sleep.

I have a meeting at 11 and one at 1, so no nap at lunchtime or no errands.

I tripped and fell, and my Apple Watch was concerned. I'm fine. It's good to have the emergency button on my watch though.

I need to clear some space in my living room to park the air conditioner for upstairs. It's been spending time on my porch.

Target Optical is open 9 - 6 tomorrow and Country Arbors Nursery is open 9 - 5. They are opposite directions from each other. If I could get to bed early, that would be good.

Lunchtime. Bella is watching Squirrel TV.

It’s chilly downstairs, but I don’t want to put on a hoodie only to take it off again when I go upstairs to work.

Bella stuck her nose in my carrot cake.

A guy wants to come by to buy the pet ramp that I bought for Bella, but she didn't need it. So I popped in my tooth and got some stuff out of the basement stairs. No response from him yet. He's coming by at 4 (done).

We're having a Munchie Bone emergency. I need to submit a Walmart order that includes them. And order a box of them from Amazon (done).

Urgh, my head is pounding.

There is a part Poodle and part Irish Setter dog that caught my eye. However, she's a senior dog, and I wonder if she could keep up with Bella, who is 1. She's a real cutie and is supposed to be sweet too.

It occurred to me the other day that I could get back into piano by playing what I want. I should look for some "easy piano" books (done).

Fed us all. Bella was annoyingly digging in the front yard. She likes to do that when the ground is wet.

Now I'm working on the will and trust documents. Okay, I sent drafts of the documents to the executor and trust people. I should head towards bed.

365 Questions 2025

4. How will today matter in five years from now? It probably won't.

5. How have you helped someone else recently? I spent an afternoon with my friend P on a day when she needed to not be alone.

6. What is your greatest skill? I'm tempted to say procrastination. I wouldn't say I'm greatly skilled at anything in particular, but I'm quite good at knitting and sewing.

(no subject)

It's a dark and gloomy afternoon; we're supposed to be getting more rain and thunderstorms for the next couple of days, just in time for parkrun (yet again), so I don't know whether or not I'll be going tomorrow.

I keep thinking I should go through all the books in the house and decide which I'm going to keep - and what to do with the rest. (Every so often I look at the book shelves and feel too overwhelmed to do anything.) I asked S's son last time he was here whether he wanted any of the old programming books or any of the others on the shelves that date back to before my time, and he said all he wants is his high school yearbooks, so that's easy. However, on another shelf that he didn't look at is a collection of old books which came from S's parents (and some of them might have been handed down from their parents) so I need to find out whether either of S's kids is interested in having those.

Friday

Not used to the days of the week yet after changing my Tuesday/Thursday schedule so it doesn't feel much like a Friday to me. But, I did pay off the credit card and recover the trash cans so it must be.

Huge CC bill this week due to a year's worth of auto insurance and Zoe vet bill but the money was already in checking and there was more than enough. Then we got Dana's monthly SS payment so it replenished the well just in time. No accounting so far for the $460 or so SS dollars that landed last week. Eventually we'll get a paper explanation.

Today's pickleball was a bust. Again. The group I'm playing with has some people who are true beginners or play like one. So it is zero fun. Standing there waiting for someone to serve and actually get the ball in the court. Or watch and easy return just completely missed. I liken it to the old duffers in Caddy Shack who need someone to point them in the right direction before they hit the ball.

I've cancelled my participation in some of the PB that is likely to just be too much beginner. The next level of players up from my group is fine. I can play with them but the group fills up quickly and it is kind of clique-ish.

Now I'm just watching tennis and working on Prolific.

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Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next #2) by Jasper Fforde

If resourceful, fearless literary detective Thursday Next thought she could avoid the spotlight after her heroic escapades in the pages of Jane Eyre, she was sorely mistaken.

Her adventures as a renowned Special Operative in literary detection have left Thursday Next yearning for a rest. But when the love of her life is eradicated by the corrupt multinational Goliath Corporation, Thursday must bite the bullet and moonlight as a Prose Resource Operative in the secret world of Jurisfiction, the police force inside the books. There she is apprenticed to Miss Havisham, the famous man-hater from Dicken's Great Expectations, who teaches her to book-jump like a pro. If she retrieves a supposedly vanquished enemy from the pages of Poe's "The Raven," she thinks Goliath might return her lost love, Landen. But her latest mission is endlessly complicated. Not only are there side trips into the works of Kafka and Austen, and even Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Flopsy Bunnies, Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal coincidences, the authenticator of a newly discovered play by the Bard himself, and the only one who can prevent an unidentifiable pink sludge from engulfing all life on Earth.

As with the first book in the series, I felt there were perhaps a few too many plot lines to keep straight. Actually, there seemed to be even more with this book, which is probably why I didn’t enjoy it as much. I think the 400 pages would have done better at 350. Maybe even 300, because I found myself jumping ahead, skipping paragraphs, not at all concerned at what I might be missing. Turns out, usually I didn’t miss a thing.

Thursday jumps from book to book, trying to retrieve Hades from Poe’s The Raven, trying to outwit the Goliath Corporation, as well as staying one step ahead of her own people, all the while hoping to keep the Earth from ending in a covering of pink sludge. Oh, and trying to get her husband back, keep her flat, and watch out for her dodo and the bird’s egg. All while being pregnant, herself. That’s an awfully lot to keep straight. Or, unfortunately, to stay interested in. And I’m sure I’ve left out some things.

I’m pretty sure I won’t be reading the third book. Just the thought of reading another book like this one is exhausting!

( Mount TBR 2025 Book Links 1-20 )

21. We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
22. America First: Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War by H.W. Brands
23. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham
24. The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
25. A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen
26. Lost and Found by Marilyn Harris
27. Strange Weather: Four Short Novels by Joe Hill
28. Three Wild Dogs by Markus Zusak
29. Full Throttle by Joe Hill
30. Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next #2) by Jasper Fforde

Goodreads 31

JUN – Great, Wander, Child, Mine, Book, Watch, Heart, Save

Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde

Friday

The new litter box situation seems to be fine except, I got the wrong litter box. It's an inch too wide. Skinnier replacement arrives today. Biggie seemed oddly reluctant but he went in the morning and did his biz and that's all I can ask. Julio, of course, thinks it's his new play house.

The sun is blasting this morning and my new shades are all 'not so fast there Mr. Glare!'. I love my new shades. They are also giving me the gift of Amazon Prime. Amazon uses a special process that makes most of their shows very dark. On my television with the shades up, in daylight or even at night with lights on, a night scene is just black. Just black. With audio. But with the shades down and the lights off, turns out, there is actually something to see. So I'm catching up on Prime stuff.

Today is menu day. And Tuesday is the 10th. Last day to use up this month's meal money. Depending on what the menu looks like for next week, I may make another food bank donation.

I am enjoying the Trump/Musk breakup - the two best were 'It wouldn't be Pride month without two queens breaking up on social media' and 'SLOW DOWN! or we're going to run out of popcorn!'

No big plans for today. I am doing some reorganizing of my utility room now that there is some space. I need some more command hooks to and I need to mount the hand held vac. So probably I'll get all that done today. And knit more Pride monsters. I'm still photographing each one but they all look the same some no more posting anywhere until I get back to dolls.

It's supposed to be hot hot today and this weekend - 80's - which is hot hot for us. So for sure, I won't be going outside. But, that's not exactly breaking news since I rarely go outside anyway.

However, the Timber Ridge staff has been working all week on cleaning up and arranging the patio furniture and getting the outdoor cookers (that anyone can use) ready for action. There will be old people in the sun this week, I'll bet.

Poem

For some reason, the poem isn't showing up now, so here it is.

Adrift

Who knows when the rope began to fray?
With one strong tug, a strand just snapped,
Increasing the strain on its sibling strands,
Until they all failed, and he drifted off.

The shockwaves pulse from wire to wire,
Farther and farther from where he went adrift,
Until we all gather, arms entwined,
To make a whole of the fragments left.

The ocean wonders why we suffer so,
What's done is done, and done before;
We believe we failed to hold him here.
We were not strong enough, but if more--

And him--he was captain as well as ship,
How could he head where we are not?
(Forgetting how often we find ourselves
Landing far from our chosen port.)

And we disperse to our separate ports,
To anchor, hammer, tie our lives down.
We light candles for the long night's watch.
But instead of him, the sun appears,
And we blow our candles out.

Entry tags:

Thursday

I overslept. So much for getting my recycling out. So much for my shower too. Put my clothes in the dryer. Fed us all.

I’m working on plans for my funeral for my will. I'm looking for a poem that I wrote many years ago, but no luck so far. Found it on the Wayback Machine for an old Web site! Yay! I think that I'll just say in the will to follow the funeral plans in the "End of Life Ceremonies" folder in the NokBox. Then I can keep modifying it without updating the will. (Actually, planning it is kind of fun. Is that weird?)

The Champaign County Master Gardeners are sponsoring a garden walk. It's the day after I get back from my business trip, but it's from 9 to 4, so I wouldn't have to get up really early? (Though I'll have to pick up Bella and Oliver first.) It sounds nice. I could use some ideas for my garden. It's only $10, so if I decide that day that I just can't, I wouldn't lose a lot of money.

Lily thinks that my leg is a scratching post. Ow.

Scrambled to get myself together for my therapy session because I forgot about it. She thinks that I need to get back to singing as a way to deal with frustration. (I booked some lessons. I also signed up for a Scales and Intervals singing class for the fall.) She thinks that I've had too many things go wrong for too long. I also was worrying about my job because it's detail-oriented and I'm really not, and she suggested looking at other jobs within the university. I don't have to take another job if I don't think that it's a good fit.

I forgot to mention that I got all my bills on automatic payment (except for the sewer, which is manual only) a few days ago. One less thing to worry about.

My new glasses are in, so I need to pick them up on the weekend.

I think that I want a nap after dinner.

Bella is picking up dog debris from the floor and flinging it into the air. I only live here.

Ordered dog food and dog treats from Costco. I noticed that they had a tennis ball launcher for dogs, but my inner voice asked me if I was too lazy to throw a ball for my dog. So no, I didn’t get it.

Took a nap and slept until 5 AM. I think that the pup thought that I was dead because she’s making a fuss over me :)

(no subject)

I saw a great yard sign while I was out running this morning: "Alexa… Change the president".

Earlier I saw two people out walking past my house with very small children in strollers. One of them looked like a teenage babysitter, and the other looked like a grandmother. I often see people out with small children when I'm out and about during the day, and almost every time they look like babysitters/nannies rather than mothers, which I think is kind of sad but also a reality of life.

For the last few weeks I've been knitting fingerless mitts while I'm watching shows. I like making them because they're quick and not too difficult, but I find them annoying because I seem to have trouble getting them to be the same size. I carefully count the rows in each section (top and bottom ribbing and middle hand section) but still the two in a pair often don't seem to exactly match.

Another cycling day

I rode for 40 minutes which is a good amount on the second day of riding. And I did a fairly steep hill. It is not long but is pretty steep. Pumped up my heart rate to about 155. One of the problems with walking is that it does not do that. Pickleball does it and cycling hills definitely does. I feel like I need to get my heart rate up in intervals to build it up as a muscle. There is, of course, tons of research on that but it is all towards sports performance not age endurance. Cycling is good in so many ways but that may well be the most important.

Tomorrow is another shot at pickleball. This time of year the mornings tend to get rained out but tomorrow we're scheduled for noon. It will be a nice cool 85 degrees when we start. We'll see how that goes.

Before cancelling out of USAA I paid for a year of Progressive. Or put it on my credit card. Then I took Zoe to a new vet across the street. She needs some drugs to help with her arthritis pain (a household commonality). $415 later we have an anti-inflamitory and a pain pill. Of that money, $120 is the meds so that is going to suck going forward. We'll see how long they last. The vet is a stone's throw away from us and has a really nice place for dogs to stay when we go out of town in October. So I changed to them. I felt badly about changing from my old vet as I think they are not doing really well and they have always been nice. But driving into Georgetown was inceasingly hard on Zoe.

The combination of a year's auto insurance for two cars plus the Zoe appointment has sucked our account down some. Fortunately not so much that it will matter but for the short term. And it will pay back every month when I'm not laying out the monthly insurance payment.

Since USAA is a mutual and I have money in it, there is a $5k+ balance they owe me. I think I get it in three months which will be well timed for the wedding. All in all we are better off financially without USAA. There is an emotional tie but I can always rejoin Navy Federal Credit Union if I want to regenerate a military connection.

Victory!

I pulled the Litter Robot out and disassembled it and still the pieces where too big for our shoot. I found a dumpster down in the garage and a push cart so I came back up here, loaded up and unloaded down there. Done. Probably broke a dozen rules but fuck 'em. It's done. I cleaned up the area in the utility room and the rug that catches the litter spills is now in the washer.

Then I went to aqua fit. I did not want to go. It was better than those damn machines and, honestly, I knew Martha would check (which she did since her yoga class is in the gym at the same time). The water was very cold when I got in but, really, it was very lovely in less than a minute. Invigorating. I last took the class a year and a half ago. Now they have music which makes such a difference. And it was good and it was hard. And I thought it was 30 minutes but turned out to be 45! My arms are going to be very mad tomorrow but I'm going to do it again next Tuesday.

I bought a Litter Genie from Amazon and it came with a giant dent in it. So I returned it and bought the plastic one which isn't arriving until tomorrow. PetCo didn't have one but, hey, Pet Smart does AND if I order online and go get it, I save 20% - plus it's cheaper than Amazon anyway. So score score score. Cancel Amazon. Now I'm going to get dressed, take my two Amazon returns and go to PetSmart.

The utility room looks so much nicer and tidier without that gynormous Litter robot.

Thursday

Martha came over yesterday for an impromptu visit and to pick up a couple more Pride monsters. She said that there was a new guy teaching the aqua fit class and since the water was cold, attendance was low. Doh! I could/should do that instead of those stupid machines. This seemed like a much better idea yesterday than it does this morning, but, I think I'll go ahead and try it.

The class is Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:30. Our volleyball game ends at 8. I tried doing both once but 30 minutes is too long to wait in between. Also I was starving and 30 minutes was not enough time to dry off, find something to eat and get back. So I never went back.

It's just after 7 now so I think I'll use the time til class to dismantle the little robot.

I now have two Amazon returns so I think I'll quit talking about it and just do it. I did get my car license tab actually onto the car before I lost it. Go me.

Oh and last night I remembered house insurance. Of course there is no way to cancel online so hello telephone tree. The whole thing was only moderately painful. Very interesting, tho... This is Progressive and, while she did ask why I was canceling, she made zero effort to find out if I needed new insurance for my new living situation. I should probably get a renters policy but not with her, I guess. She is sending me $100 in refund which is lovely.

I was able to see that GeoffTheFinanceGuy was good at his word. When I log onto my account, I can see the correct amount for my Timber Ridge bill is set to go out today and land in my checking account where Timber Ridge will automatically come get it this weekend. Sweet. So amazingly lovely after all those months of money stress, to have it all settled now.

Guess I'll go get started on the dirty work before I head to the pool.

Entry tags:

Estate Problems Solved?

Overslept a little. A branch of my tree cracked and is in the neighbor’s yard. I need to call a tree guy. I’ll get him to take down the tree at the same time. Bella grabbed one of my strawberry plants and trashed it. Sigh. Bella tried to get my donut. She’s full of it today.

It’s supposed to storm today.

I need to figure out a way to get my tooth in for my meeting with the bank.

At least the tasks that we’re doing today at work are quick and easy. It’s raining out, and neither Bella nor I was thrilled, so I convinced her to come in early.

I read somewhere that dogs wag to the right for something they like and left if they’re nervous. Bella looks at me and wags to the right. I guess that’s good. Speaking of dogs, the one that I was interested in got adopted. The shelter asked me if there were other dogs that they had that interested me. I saw one that’s a “maybe”. He’s shy and Bella’s shy, so maybe they’d be in sync.

I gingerly got my tooth in. It just has to hold on through my meeting with the bank. Which reminds me that I need to list questions for them (done).

More weird stuff going on at work (technical stuff, not people stuff).

Talked to the vet. Zara's kidneys are stable, and they think that she'd do okay under anesthesia. We made a dental appointment for the week after I get back from my business trip. (I don't want her to be alone, even with a pet sitter, after recent surgery.) So that's settled.

I talked to a rep from Midlands State Bank about the will and trust. They can be the executor of the will and successor trustee and also can manage my money if I become incapacitated. They are a national bank and have a lot of trust and investment assets, but are small enough "to provide good customer service". I'm going to send them the drafts that I have of my will and trust documents for them to look at. Success, I think! I liked them and what they had to say.

I really want to take a nap. After I feed the critters. And myself.

The rain is coming down in sheets. Bella noped out. I stayed on the porch with her a while in case she needed to dash out and poop. It was kind of nice being on the porch in the rain. Bella went out a little later and walked around in the rain.

Took a nap. Slept until 12:30 AM. I’m gathering the recycling and my back hurts. Got the recycling in the bin. I need to get up really early to roll the bin and take the boxes to the street, but I’ll probably go back to sleep for a while afterwards. Fed us all. My tooth popped back out.

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I hate wasting time

( Yet, can’t motivate myself to do much )

(no subject)

I love using my bank's app for depositing cheques, but until today I did not know there is a monthly maximum for mobile deposits. I had received some money from a life insurance policy a few weeks ago, which came with drafts which I can use like cheques. Early in May I transferred a smallish amount to my bank account by writing one of these drafts and depositing it via the mobile app, but today I tried to transfer a much larger amount and the deposit was refused because it was more than my monthly limit. Therefore I had to go to a bank (apparently bank branches are now known as "financial centres/centers") and make the deposit in person. Later I received an email from the bank saying they had put a hold on the deposit because there might be insufficient funds to cover it (which I know is not true), so now I'm waiting for confirmation that the money has in fact been credited to my account, but I can't help feeling like I'm being treated with suspicion. Also handling this amount of money doesn't feel real to me, which is also what S said when she inherited money from her mother years ago.

Around lunch time I had an out of the blue email from someone I'd never heard of from S's employer saying the S had some equipment that he needed to retrieve (her computer), and he could let me have a shipping label so I could send it in, or if I was close enough he could come and pick it up in person. I told him my location and he said he could come and get it, and in fact he was here only about 20 minutes later. I was very happy to finally have this taken off my hands.

Coconut, Lima beans and exercise

Things I do not like. At all. Although, I do like the smell of coconut. The texture does me in, tho. I went down to the gym this morning and did 20 minutes on the elliptical. I did not enjoy it.

I know that one day, maybe after I die, they will announce that exercise wasn't all that good for you after all. OR They will have a pill you can take instead.

I watch ad supported TV only for news and baseball so my exposure is limited but I do know that the supplement game is big and growing. Young adults swearing their liver is happier with XXX or YYY are truly the thing now. My liver is unmoved, BTW. And everyone who takes drugs for heart and diabetes will be singing and dancing up a storm. Also, not new, men can't get it up but there is actually a pill for that and all you have to do is sign up for a free account and unlimited sex is yours. So don't think those ads are wasted on me!! Also this is why it is well worth it to me to pay extra for the ad free versions of streaming services.

I have decided, to deep six the Litter Robot. It's too big and too fiddly and I know it's going to quit any day now. So I'm going to just pull the plug. We've had a lovely run but it's time to go back to the old fashioned litter box. Simple. Plus this means I can go back to the light weight litter. Amazon is bringing the new box today. I'll set it up in the same little room and run both for a day or two.

I got the final bill for condo electricity today. $7.25. The Title Company collected $250 to pay this giant bill. So I am expecting a nice refund, lordknowswhen.

I got the sticker for my license plate renewal and I need to get it down and onto the licence plate before I lose it and forget about it. I will be doing that today. No baseball until 4.

First I need a shower. I hate getting sweaty so much. See paragraph 1 above.

All dressed up

No pickleball for you. I was actually just about ready to leave when I got a message saying it was raining at the courts. So I'm now tanked up with protein and carbs and watching the rain drinking my coffee.

For some reason we got a deposit from Dana's social security for $486. No idea why. I logged onto her account and nothing is mentioned and her next payment is listed correctly. Logged onto mine to be sure. Nothing. My guess is that the universe is paying me back for the $500 that USAA lost. The funny thing is that SoFI, my new bank, saw it as an ACH deposit and kicked me up to PLUS level which has benefits including 3.08% interest on savings. I put the $486 in there where it will do the most good and be ready should anyone ever decide they want it back.

I've still got two income sources to get out of USAA. Both are about oil money of Dana's. For one of them I need the SoFi checks so I can send in a voided one. My 25 free checks should be coming soon. The other oil change needs Dana and me in the same place with her phone. They use her driver's license and a live view of her on her phone to verify ID before they will make a change. It is kind of annoying but we just need to do it. Then I wait for July's pension payment and probablly through August to be sure nothing else drops in, that I've accounted for everything. So I'll likely close it end of August. My insurance will cancel with them on the 14th of June so the bank will be all that's left.

All in all it was a PIA to change but it will end up making us more money and, really, my opinion of them is colored by history, not by the current company which has sadly become an old school crappy insurance company and crappy bank.

Entry tags:

Day of Technical Difficulties

Bella heard something and woke up and barked and growled. I got up and turned on the porch light but didn’t see anyone. The car looks okay.

Woke up at 5 AM. Took Bella out and lay down for a half-hour afterward.

My Italian lesson went well. My teacher said that my brain was working well today. I need to work on pronunciation. Maybe I could read News in Slow Italian and play the audio to check my pronunciation. Am I still subscribed to News in Slow Italian? An article I read about improving foreign language pronunciation said that it’s a good idea. I think that there also was an app that taught foreign languages using songs. That should help too. I downloaded an app called LingoClip. You listen to music and fill in the missing words in the lyrics. I found another site that will play a foreign language song and give you the lyrics in the language and a translation.

I think that I might want to add a small bequest to my Italian teacher in my will. I’ll have to see if there’s an issue with sending money overseas.

They were right about it being really windy today. Something (dust?) was making me sneeze. The sunflowers have been knocked over, but I left them on the ground until the wind dies down.

Great. I overslept my nap and was late to a meeting, I'm having problems with a database, and a crown came out already. I ordered some dental glue from Walgreens because the one that I'm getting from Amazon won't get here until tomorrow.) I just want to scream. This week sucks so far. Okay, a colleague probably figured out the problems with my database. (I'm testing it. It worked.) The glue has been delivered, but I'm going to wait until post-dinner to reglue it.

I still haven’t heard from the vet about Zara. I just said that I wanted to reschedule the appointment for tomorrow, but they are closed now. It’s 7 PM, and they’ve been closed for an hour, so I don’t think that I’ll hear from them tonight.

Fed us all and watered the plants in the garden. Listened to a song in Italian. Got the garbage out. Zara is hiding in the closet. I don’t know if she’s trying to keep cool. I should turn the ceiling fan on for her. Man, I’m boiling hot. Need to sit and cool off. Listened to another (depressing) song in Italian. In English we would call that a torch song.

Got my tooth back on without glue. It then came off. Now I put it on with glue. My tooth is screaming. I turned the ceiling fan on while I sat in the kitchen (I shut Bella in the bedroom because she wouldn’t stop bothering Oliver) and Oliver took off like a bat out of hell out of here. Apparently he’s scared of it as well as Bella. The tooth came out again. I'll wait until I get the better glue from Amazon. Bella is doing well in time-out.

I need to go upstairs and do some more work, although I need to get up on time because I have a 9:00 meeting tomorrow. All's well that ends well with work. My mini-project was successful, and now I'm back on track. So I'll get to bed.

Entry tags:

Rambling post about many things...

Today, I wandered through the Urban Farm at the foot of Manhattan, in Battery Park. I also sat in the park on a chair on the grass beneath the trees, watching children play. It was a beautiful day, with a slight haze, most likely from the Canadian Wild Fires in the North.

It was a frustrating day, so I needed a break from it. As tempting as it is to regale you all with the details? I'll refrain.

Some bad news? Dochawk, you may or may not remember him from the ATPO_BTVS and ATS Fan Discussion Board? His two female cousins were victims of the flame-thrower attack in Boulder, Colorado. ( Read more... )

I'm trying to ignore the news for the most part - but keep stumbling upon it, whether I want to or not. Thank you, information age.

Been comforting myself by watching and listening to James Marsters Q&A's on youtube. I have a serious crush on that actor. I have crushes on several actors. Cillian Murphy is another one, so too is Hugh Jackman, Robert Downy Jr, David Tennant, Claudia Black, also Juliet Landau, Helen Mirren, Emma Thompson, Viola Davis, Angela Basset, Jonathon Groff....I am notorious for actor crushes.

Marsters said something interesting in regards to a question about Whedon and separating art from the artist. ( Read more... )

Been rewatching Buffy as a comfort show - and it still holds up, and rather well at that. I just saw I Only Have Eyes for You - it's an episode that airs late in S2. I'd forgotten most of it. And forgot how good it is. The first few times I'd seen it - I hadn't thought much of it, but now, it resonates in a different way? The writers are commenting on multiple things - and it subverts various tropes. It's actually surprising the network let them do it - back in the 90s.
( spoilers for those who never saw it, is there anyone? )

***

I didn't sleep well last night. Ached. And I ache now. Digestive issues, I think? Although did many things in the hopes of counter-acting them. My failing was giving in and having ice cream (Malawi Coffee and Rose Almond both Indian flavors and locally made). I did everything else right - baked salmon with zuccini and summer squash, and lots of water.

Oh well, it is what it is. Hopefully I can get the restless legs to calm down enough to sleep.

Here's a nice photo to round out this long rambling post.

365 Questions 2025

1. How do you spend the majority of your free time? Basically all of my time is free since I'm not working, so I spend my free time just living my life.

2. Who do you think of first when you think of ‘success?’ Barack Obama is one of the first people I think of.

3. What did you want to be when you grew up? A librarian.