Music Monday
Mar. 23rd, 2026 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
viridian5I only got into Death Cab for Cutie recently. I love the specificity, imagery, and storytelling of a lot of their lyrics.
"When We Drive." The sound of this is somehow so '80s and nostalgic to me. The lyrics always make me cry; I'm still looking for this kind of ride-or-die person.
"A Lack of Color," a song in which the first metaphor uses the science of sight....
"When We Drive." The sound of this is somehow so '80s and nostalgic to me. The lyrics always make me cry; I'm still looking for this kind of ride-or-die person.
"A Lack of Color," a song in which the first metaphor uses the science of sight....
Week 12 - on time for once!
Mar. 23rd, 2026 12:45 pmruricLast week was busy, this week will be too - but we have spring weather here in London, blue skies and that combination plus my current obsession is stopping me spiralling into apathy.
HOME: continuing the slow and steady deep clean and declutter - bathroom done. Next up is the bedroom. Didn't quite tick off all my targets last week but happy with progress.
HEALTH new hair cut was a hit at work - unexpected compliments left, right and centre! Opened up piercings not giving me any issues - definitely going back for helix (helices???) in May or June. Titanium jewellery the way to go. Planning new tattoos too. Sleep patterns normalising as I'm trying to put in the effort to get a solid 6-7 hours a night. Arthritic knees feeling OK. Rejoined the gym at the weekend - now just need to figure out how to fit sessions into my days. Need to find my Fitbit.
LIFE ADMIN: pretty much up to date - need to sort out green waste fees for the cottage, review council tax bills for cottage and London and apply for a postal vote. Sorting pensions on back burner until decluttering done - which should reveal where I stashed all the paperwork!
DIGITAL DECLUTTER: email still around 11,000, not managed to reduce it - in fact I looked away from it last week and by the weekend had 2000 unread. Ugh. Staying on top of transferring To Keep items from tablet to dropbox, have started reviewing and decanting images from phone because it is FULL.
GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: barrowed 30 bags of compost from delivery site fown to my plot on Friday. Community day at the plots on Saturday, which was lovely, and then Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon I started prepping my plot. I have a plan to tackle it in 1-2 hour blocks to avoid overwhelm.
COOKING/EATING: fewer takeaways last week and stocked up on healthy food at the weekend - so no excuse for bad habits. Getting back into overnight oats for breakfast (great for grab and go mornings) and giant salads for lunch. Reactivated membership of a logging site which let's me track macros and calories - suspect I'm out of whack on my carb/protein balances.
READING/LISTENING: Finished re-reading Heated Rivalry matching book chapters to rewatch episodes. May be diving back into a reread of the other books as I have time off for Easter.
WATCHING: still Heated Rivalry all the way. I think I've fully reheated 5 times but also watched various eps as standalone so ai'm at the point where I've lost count and no longer care. I'm all up in the fanvids too - I'd forgotten how much I enjoy them! Picking up some shorter fan edits too (mostly from tumblr and insta I think). May have to do a short term subscription to YouTube premium over Easter so I can legally download my faves. This fandom is also very generous - people are sharing Google doc fic links which are truly epic and so much other material. Unfortunately reading between the lines the fandom has evolved as fast as the show which means certain of the less great things are surfacing - homophobia, racism and in some places exclusion of queer audiences which WTAF way to miss the point. I want all the nice things do not piss off the show runner, creatives or actors. Luckily my lists are curated so I only tend to see this alluded to and not the actual posts. And it sounds like many of the people involved have stepped back from social media engagement - which, good for them!
CREATING/LEARNING: still have crochet projects underway - we did new things at crochet club on Friday so no progress on existing projects - spring wreath, Halloween blanket, granny square blanket, hexicardi, granny square bags x 2. Might get one or two done by the end of the month.
CATS: all good. They're both being super affectionate at the moment. Cuddles all the time.
VOLUNTEERING: community day at the plots was good with another one planned for 19 April. Our community plot - where we host parties and the plant sale - is looking good.
SOCIALISING: busier than usual last week! Post work drinks with a few colleagues on Thursday - just for an hour - which was both nice and enough. Hung around a bit on Friday afternoon with allotment people during compost distribution. Same on Saturday as we had a pizza lunch after working. And a few calls withravurian.
WORK: first round of inspections almost done - hope to finish this week. Need to do the ton of admin it generates and deal with end of year close down. Reprofiled my parts of the capital budget. Have mostly packed everything for the office move at the end of the week.
Today I'm working from home - likely in the office Tuesday through Thursday and probably Friday morning, then working Saturday 11 to 2pm. Aiming to try and add in some gym and allotment time to this week too.
HOME: continuing the slow and steady deep clean and declutter - bathroom done. Next up is the bedroom. Didn't quite tick off all my targets last week but happy with progress.
HEALTH new hair cut was a hit at work - unexpected compliments left, right and centre! Opened up piercings not giving me any issues - definitely going back for helix (helices???) in May or June. Titanium jewellery the way to go. Planning new tattoos too. Sleep patterns normalising as I'm trying to put in the effort to get a solid 6-7 hours a night. Arthritic knees feeling OK. Rejoined the gym at the weekend - now just need to figure out how to fit sessions into my days. Need to find my Fitbit.
LIFE ADMIN: pretty much up to date - need to sort out green waste fees for the cottage, review council tax bills for cottage and London and apply for a postal vote. Sorting pensions on back burner until decluttering done - which should reveal where I stashed all the paperwork!
DIGITAL DECLUTTER: email still around 11,000, not managed to reduce it - in fact I looked away from it last week and by the weekend had 2000 unread. Ugh. Staying on top of transferring To Keep items from tablet to dropbox, have started reviewing and decanting images from phone because it is FULL.
GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: barrowed 30 bags of compost from delivery site fown to my plot on Friday. Community day at the plots on Saturday, which was lovely, and then Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon I started prepping my plot. I have a plan to tackle it in 1-2 hour blocks to avoid overwhelm.
COOKING/EATING: fewer takeaways last week and stocked up on healthy food at the weekend - so no excuse for bad habits. Getting back into overnight oats for breakfast (great for grab and go mornings) and giant salads for lunch. Reactivated membership of a logging site which let's me track macros and calories - suspect I'm out of whack on my carb/protein balances.
READING/LISTENING: Finished re-reading Heated Rivalry matching book chapters to rewatch episodes. May be diving back into a reread of the other books as I have time off for Easter.
WATCHING: still Heated Rivalry all the way. I think I've fully reheated 5 times but also watched various eps as standalone so ai'm at the point where I've lost count and no longer care. I'm all up in the fanvids too - I'd forgotten how much I enjoy them! Picking up some shorter fan edits too (mostly from tumblr and insta I think). May have to do a short term subscription to YouTube premium over Easter so I can legally download my faves. This fandom is also very generous - people are sharing Google doc fic links which are truly epic and so much other material. Unfortunately reading between the lines the fandom has evolved as fast as the show which means certain of the less great things are surfacing - homophobia, racism and in some places exclusion of queer audiences which WTAF way to miss the point. I want all the nice things do not piss off the show runner, creatives or actors. Luckily my lists are curated so I only tend to see this alluded to and not the actual posts. And it sounds like many of the people involved have stepped back from social media engagement - which, good for them!
CREATING/LEARNING: still have crochet projects underway - we did new things at crochet club on Friday so no progress on existing projects - spring wreath, Halloween blanket, granny square blanket, hexicardi, granny square bags x 2. Might get one or two done by the end of the month.
CATS: all good. They're both being super affectionate at the moment. Cuddles all the time.
VOLUNTEERING: community day at the plots was good with another one planned for 19 April. Our community plot - where we host parties and the plant sale - is looking good.
SOCIALISING: busier than usual last week! Post work drinks with a few colleagues on Thursday - just for an hour - which was both nice and enough. Hung around a bit on Friday afternoon with allotment people during compost distribution. Same on Saturday as we had a pizza lunch after working. And a few calls with
ravurian.WORK: first round of inspections almost done - hope to finish this week. Need to do the ton of admin it generates and deal with end of year close down. Reprofiled my parts of the capital budget. Have mostly packed everything for the office move at the end of the week.
Today I'm working from home - likely in the office Tuesday through Thursday and probably Friday morning, then working Saturday 11 to 2pm. Aiming to try and add in some gym and allotment time to this week too.
disorganized musical flailing 35
Mar. 21st, 2026 04:15 pmnilchancetonight we have the Crooked Moon campaign, so here's a song for my skeleton boy Jabo:
Jabo lost his soul to a demon after a fiddle contest gone wrong, and now that he's died it's time for an eternity of servitude in the afterlife. he thinks he's ruthless enough to do anything to stay on that demon's good side, but unfortunately the party he found himself working with is challenging him on that already. one is a grandmother witch who gave him a cookie; another is the father of a young daughter. he doesn't want to know anything about these people, let alone like them, and it concerns him because the demon could always be listening or watching in order to keep him in line. it's a pretty bad position to have found himself in. it's only going to get more complicated from here. I'm loving the process of Jabo twisting in the wind.
Jabo lost his soul to a demon after a fiddle contest gone wrong, and now that he's died it's time for an eternity of servitude in the afterlife. he thinks he's ruthless enough to do anything to stay on that demon's good side, but unfortunately the party he found himself working with is challenging him on that already. one is a grandmother witch who gave him a cookie; another is the father of a young daughter. he doesn't want to know anything about these people, let alone like them, and it concerns him because the demon could always be listening or watching in order to keep him in line. it's a pretty bad position to have found himself in. it's only going to get more complicated from here. I'm loving the process of Jabo twisting in the wind.
also
Mar. 20th, 2026 03:57 pmthistleingreyUnbidden, my mother apologized the other day for something that wasn't hers, namely the pressure to stay in college instead of taking a medical withdrawal the term I had surgery. (I would've been allowed to return to school subsequently without penalty, but they wouldn't have pro-rated the fees, of course.) I was off for our one week of spring break, and then I resumed carrying a backpack uphill to class daily.
It wasn't hers because I didn't grant her my choice (and she didn't know enough about how US universities operate to make a good guess about my options). The responsibility is shared unevenly between a dead person and me, and I think my concerns then were valid, given that he tried truncating my undergrad studies the next year---because, he said, not for the first time, I wasn't taking it seriously enough. Dude who had left secondary school unfinished told me I was doing undergrad wrong.
Unlike Sana in Jalaluddin's Detective Aunty, I always knew my mother was good for more than cleaning, cooking, and child-minding. It still took some effort to learn to see her as a person, however.
It wasn't hers because I didn't grant her my choice (and she didn't know enough about how US universities operate to make a good guess about my options). The responsibility is shared unevenly between a dead person and me, and I think my concerns then were valid, given that he tried truncating my undergrad studies the next year---because, he said, not for the first time, I wasn't taking it seriously enough. Dude who had left secondary school unfinished told me I was doing undergrad wrong.
Unlike Sana in Jalaluddin's Detective Aunty, I always knew my mother was good for more than cleaning, cooking, and child-minding. It still took some effort to learn to see her as a person, however.
current reading
Mar. 17th, 2026 09:38 pmthistleingreyUzma Jalaluddin, Detective Aunty (2025): when the landlord of her daughter's small clothing boutique is murdered, Kausar drops everything to go. Kausar's (white) friend feels sure that Kausar will find out what really happened. But her daughter wants help with housekeeping and child-minding, not an adult peer's support.
I'm only in ch. 3, I don't care currently whether books stick the landing (though I like this one so far), and ch. 2 is great for its tender forthrightness: when a kid (even a thirtysomething adult, like Kausar's daughter) is used to seeing a parent in a certain way, that's how the two are paused, unless the child makes an effort to grow a bit more. It's not something that the parent can shift solo.
I'm only in ch. 3, I don't care currently whether books stick the landing (though I like this one so far), and ch. 2 is great for its tender forthrightness: when a kid (even a thirtysomething adult, like Kausar's daughter) is used to seeing a parent in a certain way, that's how the two are paused, unless the child makes an effort to grow a bit more. It's not something that the parent can shift solo.
Somewhere that's green
Mar. 17th, 2026 11:55 pmviridian5I wore green by accident today and didn't remember the day until I went out and saw other folks in green. My grandmother, who's no longer with us, gave this to me years ago.
How they did this is just very pleasing to me somehow. The bit of whimsy is especially appreciated by me in an area that's very paved over, with very little greenery or growing stuff. (My neighborhood has more trees and grass than this one.)
+++
Something small but rattling came to me today. I've been taking photos of the vary large and very thick statue at the Jaquillard & Strunck site in Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery for nearly 20 years. See? It towers over me and I never take close-ups of its face.
While looking at the larger version of one of my recent photos I noticed a long prominent scratch above and to the side of its mouth. ( photo )
I had no idea that was there! When I looked at other photos of it in recent years at that magnification, that mark was there. So I went back to some older and far less high-definition photos and saw what might be an indication of it in 2010 and possibly 2008, but the photos weren't close and are a bit squidgy looking at higher magnifications. This... actually bothers me! I had no idea that was there. I have no idea how or when it occurred. Just... weird.
How they did this is just very pleasing to me somehow. The bit of whimsy is especially appreciated by me in an area that's very paved over, with very little greenery or growing stuff. (My neighborhood has more trees and grass than this one.)
+++
Something small but rattling came to me today. I've been taking photos of the vary large and very thick statue at the Jaquillard & Strunck site in Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery for nearly 20 years. See? It towers over me and I never take close-ups of its face.
While looking at the larger version of one of my recent photos I noticed a long prominent scratch above and to the side of its mouth. ( photo )
I had no idea that was there! When I looked at other photos of it in recent years at that magnification, that mark was there. So I went back to some older and far less high-definition photos and saw what might be an indication of it in 2010 and possibly 2008, but the photos weren't close and are a bit squidgy looking at higher magnifications. This... actually bothers me! I had no idea that was there. I have no idea how or when it occurred. Just... weird.
HR - Oscars and parties
Mar. 17th, 2026 08:52 pmruricApparently having been supremely indifferent to men's fashion for my entire life I now have a burning interest in it?
I may have been glued to Threads for a while watching the pictures come through from the Oscars and pre- post- parties on Sunday and into the wee small hours of Monday morning.
I'm blaming these fools...
Click to embiggen.
There's also a hilarious video that goes with pic 2 on JR's instagram - last slide in that post - which makes me snort/giggle every time I watch it because of the awkwardness of it all.
I would like to flop tonight but I need to tick off some tasks from my endless "Do ALL The Things" list for sorting out my flat/life. Alas it is already 9:15pm. Wonder how much I can achieve in an hour/90 minutes?
What can I possibly bribe myself with as a reward if I'm a good girl and get shit done?
I may have been glued to Threads for a while watching the pictures come through from the Oscars and pre- post- parties on Sunday and into the wee small hours of Monday morning.
I'm blaming these fools...
Click to embiggen.
There's also a hilarious video that goes with pic 2 on JR's instagram - last slide in that post - which makes me snort/giggle every time I watch it because of the awkwardness of it all.
I would like to flop tonight but I need to tick off some tasks from my endless "Do ALL The Things" list for sorting out my flat/life. Alas it is already 9:15pm. Wonder how much I can achieve in an hour/90 minutes?
What can I possibly bribe myself with as a reward if I'm a good girl and get shit done?
(no subject)
Mar. 16th, 2026 07:13 pmboxofdelightsTilda is a Hungry Thing. She had an allergic inflammation in her ear, which led to seven days of Apoquel (wrapped in a tiny bit of cheese) twice a day, and then seven days of Apoquel once a day. Today is the first day she _didn't_ get the Apoquel after dinner. She has been following me around giving me this LOOK ever since.
( Hungry Thing )
( Hungry Thing )
Weeks 9-11 - this year is zooming by!
Mar. 16th, 2026 12:34 amruricI had a whole weekend at home - for the first time in 4 weeks! Remind me never to organise/volunteer for things that mean I have to work 3 Saturday's on the trot because that is exhausting. On the plus side I have a chunk of flexi leave to take.
So quick summary:
HOME: deep cleaned kitchen and sorted out a bunch for a recycling and tip run today. Next week it's deep cleaning the bathroom, and chipping away at the chaos and decluttering/#orjenising in the bedroom and living room. I have detailed bullet point lists and daily/weekly targets!
HEALTH still a bit FUBAR'd but improving. Finally took myself off to Toni and Guy's on Friday where a very firm hairdresser chopped off a significant amount of my hair. It had almost reached my waist and had way too many split ends. I got a free treatment (whatever product they used smelled awesome and made my hair super silky) and I now have a really simple cut - still long enough that I can put it up when gardening /at the gym, but short enough to wash and go and no danger of overnight knots. Today I got my piercings back - found a great piercer locally and I was just going to get single studs in each ear but happily we discovered 5 of my old piercings were still open! She popped new studs in those - because I have no idea where my old studs are - only the tons of dangley earrings on the board in my bedroom. She redid the middle piercing on my left ear and now I have all the shiny jewellery back. Once the current ones have settled down I'm going back to get my helix piercing redone - might get one each side.
LIFE ADMIN: still planning to move from Gmail once I've decluttered it. Applied for a postal vote as I'll be working local election day (7 May) as a poll clerk in Richmond so won't be around to vote locally. Have to make time to complete training for that and it will be a long day (5am to midnight including travel to/from) polling station.
DIGITAL DECLUTTER: have kept email at mail at 11,000 but not managed to reduce it; staying on top of transferring To Keep items from tablet to dropbox, my phone images storage is a mess.
GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: nope - too cold and/or wet and lacked motivation.
COOKING/EATING: reboarded the takeaway train over the last week - there just seemed to be no time at all, long work days!
READING/LISTENING: LOL. Thank you Rachel Reid - read Game Changers, Heated Rivalry, Tough Guy, Common Goal, Role Model and The Long Game and now re-reading Heated Rivalry matching book chapters to rewatch episodes. What do you mean obsessed?
WATCHING: Heated Rivalry - 4th rewatch. Everything else is having to fit around that!
CREATING/LEARNING: several, projects on the go/nearing completion - spring wreath, Halloween blanket, granny square blanket, hexicardi, granny square bags x 2. Might get one or two done by the end of the month.
CATS: all good.
VOLUNTEERING: one new task to complete as of meeting last week.
SOCIALISING: a 3 hour call withgingerpig consisting of two hours of Heated Rivalry squee and one of catching up. A formal "WiLlYoUCoMeToMyCotTageThisEAsTer" invitation extended to ravurian - because, thanks to Show, I'm never going to be able to invite anyone to the cottage unless I adopt concussed-and-ever-so-slightly-high Shane's rhythm of speech.
WORK: much improvement - BRAG quarterly meeting went well, the Seed Swap was a success, the three consecutive Saturday's of work are over until 28 March which is my next weekend day of work. I've started the current round of inspections which is generating a ton of admin (which is this coming week's issue), I need to carve out some time to dealing with financial year end (how is it almost the end of March?!!!) and reprofile the capital budget.
It's going to be a long work week - think I'm going to work from home tomorrow as I should be able to plough through a chunk of admin uninterrupted. Tuesday through Friday lunchtime will be office days and site visits. Then I've got 30 bags of compost to shift from a site wide delivery down to my plot on Friday afternoon - say a prayer for my knees and back! Keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine and blue skies next week.
So quick summary:
HOME: deep cleaned kitchen and sorted out a bunch for a recycling and tip run today. Next week it's deep cleaning the bathroom, and chipping away at the chaos and decluttering/#orjenising in the bedroom and living room. I have detailed bullet point lists and daily/weekly targets!
HEALTH still a bit FUBAR'd but improving. Finally took myself off to Toni and Guy's on Friday where a very firm hairdresser chopped off a significant amount of my hair. It had almost reached my waist and had way too many split ends. I got a free treatment (whatever product they used smelled awesome and made my hair super silky) and I now have a really simple cut - still long enough that I can put it up when gardening /at the gym, but short enough to wash and go and no danger of overnight knots. Today I got my piercings back - found a great piercer locally and I was just going to get single studs in each ear but happily we discovered 5 of my old piercings were still open! She popped new studs in those - because I have no idea where my old studs are - only the tons of dangley earrings on the board in my bedroom. She redid the middle piercing on my left ear and now I have all the shiny jewellery back. Once the current ones have settled down I'm going back to get my helix piercing redone - might get one each side.
LIFE ADMIN: still planning to move from Gmail once I've decluttered it. Applied for a postal vote as I'll be working local election day (7 May) as a poll clerk in Richmond so won't be around to vote locally. Have to make time to complete training for that and it will be a long day (5am to midnight including travel to/from) polling station.
DIGITAL DECLUTTER: have kept email at mail at 11,000 but not managed to reduce it; staying on top of transferring To Keep items from tablet to dropbox, my phone images storage is a mess.
GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: nope - too cold and/or wet and lacked motivation.
COOKING/EATING: reboarded the takeaway train over the last week - there just seemed to be no time at all, long work days!
READING/LISTENING: LOL. Thank you Rachel Reid - read Game Changers, Heated Rivalry, Tough Guy, Common Goal, Role Model and The Long Game and now re-reading Heated Rivalry matching book chapters to rewatch episodes. What do you mean obsessed?
WATCHING: Heated Rivalry - 4th rewatch. Everything else is having to fit around that!
CREATING/LEARNING: several, projects on the go/nearing completion - spring wreath, Halloween blanket, granny square blanket, hexicardi, granny square bags x 2. Might get one or two done by the end of the month.
CATS: all good.
VOLUNTEERING: one new task to complete as of meeting last week.
SOCIALISING: a 3 hour call with
gingerpig consisting of two hours of Heated Rivalry squee and one of catching up. A formal "WiLlYoUCoMeToMyCotTageThisEAsTer" invitation extended to ravurian - because, thanks to Show, I'm never going to be able to invite anyone to the cottage unless I adopt concussed-and-ever-so-slightly-high Shane's rhythm of speech. WORK: much improvement - BRAG quarterly meeting went well, the Seed Swap was a success, the three consecutive Saturday's of work are over until 28 March which is my next weekend day of work. I've started the current round of inspections which is generating a ton of admin (which is this coming week's issue), I need to carve out some time to dealing with financial year end (how is it almost the end of March?!!!) and reprofile the capital budget.
It's going to be a long work week - think I'm going to work from home tomorrow as I should be able to plough through a chunk of admin uninterrupted. Tuesday through Friday lunchtime will be office days and site visits. Then I've got 30 bags of compost to shift from a site wide delivery down to my plot on Friday afternoon - say a prayer for my knees and back! Keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine and blue skies next week.
Heated Rivalry update
Mar. 16th, 2026 12:33 amruricLOL I am all up in everything HR so much so that it's not even funny. :o)
So the last time I posted I was 5 days in, had watched it once, bought the books and was just about to start a second rewatch - that was last Saturday.
I read all 6 books in 2.5 days, completed a second rewatch, randomly watched eps 3-6 across 4 nights (because why not?) and then decided it would be fun to match reading the relevant chapters of HR and then watch the relevant episodes. I got as far as ep 3 and then got distracted by more cast interviews and HR insta and threads.
Yeserday I disappeared down the YouTube rabbit hole of fan vids - so now I have 193 open tabs across 2 browser windows, there's music playing, I have no idea where it's coming from and I'm in the middle of curating playlists on my YouTube. I need to remember how to DL from YouTube because I want a good chunk of those vids accessible to me at all times and never worry about them being pulled.
I may be curating playlists on Spotify for my gym workouts because HR bvidders use great music for their vids. And...um...I have a bunch of meta posts bookmarked to go back and read properly after the current rewatch.
Still noticing new things - all the subtle little whispered remarks that weren't obvious on first or second viewing. I need to see the whole series on a screen bigger than my tablet.
I'm catching up on the cast interviews which I'm finding delightful and astonishing. I mean the 3 minute social media sound bites, wild humour and meeting fans where they live was an absolute gift - but the long form interviews with their openness, vulnerability and in depth discussions are just blowing my mind.
Still steering clear of fanfic - because there are only 24 hours in a day - and I'm not sure I have time for an "Inception" level fandom event in my life - though I suspect I'm fighting a failed rearguard action there. Inception inhabited my brain for 2.5 years and with S2 of Heated Rivalry not airing until '27 and (please god) a potential further season - it's quite possible I'll be fully consumed by this until 2028.
Around all of that it's been super busy at work and I've been making a bunch of appointments/ running errands which come under the heading of "Get Your Shit Together" but for the first time in months I feel like I'm fully firing on all cylinders.
Not sure how much of that is down to the Little Canadian Hockey Romance That Could or whether it's due to the fact that we've had more than a few days of sunshine, warmth and blue skies (and not the dreary grey, wet and miserable days we've had since before Christmas) - whatever! I'm running with it.
So the last time I posted I was 5 days in, had watched it once, bought the books and was just about to start a second rewatch - that was last Saturday.
I read all 6 books in 2.5 days, completed a second rewatch, randomly watched eps 3-6 across 4 nights (because why not?) and then decided it would be fun to match reading the relevant chapters of HR and then watch the relevant episodes. I got as far as ep 3 and then got distracted by more cast interviews and HR insta and threads.
Yeserday I disappeared down the YouTube rabbit hole of fan vids - so now I have 193 open tabs across 2 browser windows, there's music playing, I have no idea where it's coming from and I'm in the middle of curating playlists on my YouTube. I need to remember how to DL from YouTube because I want a good chunk of those vids accessible to me at all times and never worry about them being pulled.
I may be curating playlists on Spotify for my gym workouts because HR bvidders use great music for their vids. And...um...I have a bunch of meta posts bookmarked to go back and read properly after the current rewatch.
Still noticing new things - all the subtle little whispered remarks that weren't obvious on first or second viewing. I need to see the whole series on a screen bigger than my tablet.
I'm catching up on the cast interviews which I'm finding delightful and astonishing. I mean the 3 minute social media sound bites, wild humour and meeting fans where they live was an absolute gift - but the long form interviews with their openness, vulnerability and in depth discussions are just blowing my mind.
Still steering clear of fanfic - because there are only 24 hours in a day - and I'm not sure I have time for an "Inception" level fandom event in my life - though I suspect I'm fighting a failed rearguard action there. Inception inhabited my brain for 2.5 years and with S2 of Heated Rivalry not airing until '27 and (please god) a potential further season - it's quite possible I'll be fully consumed by this until 2028.
Around all of that it's been super busy at work and I've been making a bunch of appointments/ running errands which come under the heading of "Get Your Shit Together" but for the first time in months I feel like I'm fully firing on all cylinders.
Not sure how much of that is down to the Little Canadian Hockey Romance That Could or whether it's due to the fact that we've had more than a few days of sunshine, warmth and blue skies (and not the dreary grey, wet and miserable days we've had since before Christmas) - whatever! I'm running with it.
Performing some traffic maintenance today
Mar. 14th, 2026 01:04 pm![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
mark posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceHappy Saturday!
I'm going to be doing a little maintenance today. It will likely cause a tiny interruption of service (specifically for www.dreamwidth.org) on the order of 2-3 minutes while some settings propagate. If you're on a journal page, that should still work throughout!
If it doesn't work, the rollback plan is pretty quick, I'm just toggling a setting on how traffic gets to the site. I'll update this post if something goes wrong, but don't anticipate any interruption to be longer than 10 minutes even in a rollback situation.
friday five
Mar. 13th, 2026 08:54 pmthistleingreyVia a friend---
1. Have you ever watched illusion magic? Close-up, or in a stage show, or on television? Did it work for you?
I've seen Penn and Teller on YouTube a few times, not recently, and a few illusionists live, because two people I've dated previously were fascinated by the whole thing and somehow unable to understand why I wasn't similarly compelled. To me, it's small-space athletic feats plus emotional manipulation, and I can pretty much always do without the latter.
2. Have you ever wished on a star, or a lucky cat, or a coin in a wishing well? Did it work in some way?
No.
3. Have you ever cast a spell, made a love charm, or tried a curse? Did it work in some way?
Not in terms of rituals. In high school I read a few books on Wicca, went "Huh, okay," and decided it's not for me, a conclusion only strengthened by meeting pagans of assorted types during my few SCA years.
4. Are there any other traditional superstitions you pay attention to? Do they work in some way?
My Oma had a ton of these, and I heed a few of hers. Don't put luggage on the bed; that's gross. Picking up random bits of cash in one's path, if it doesn't belong to someone nearby, is fair game. I guess the person I dated who gave me a set of knives may've felt that it led to bad luck, since we broke up a few months later, but we really weren't well suited. The wooden knife block is still around; I've since swapped out most of the knives, which were cheap serrated ones.
5. Would you want major magical powers like in a fantasy story? Which powers, and how would you use them?
Nope!
1. Have you ever watched illusion magic? Close-up, or in a stage show, or on television? Did it work for you?
I've seen Penn and Teller on YouTube a few times, not recently, and a few illusionists live, because two people I've dated previously were fascinated by the whole thing and somehow unable to understand why I wasn't similarly compelled. To me, it's small-space athletic feats plus emotional manipulation, and I can pretty much always do without the latter.
2. Have you ever wished on a star, or a lucky cat, or a coin in a wishing well? Did it work in some way?
No.
3. Have you ever cast a spell, made a love charm, or tried a curse? Did it work in some way?
Not in terms of rituals. In high school I read a few books on Wicca, went "Huh, okay," and decided it's not for me, a conclusion only strengthened by meeting pagans of assorted types during my few SCA years.
4. Are there any other traditional superstitions you pay attention to? Do they work in some way?
My Oma had a ton of these, and I heed a few of hers. Don't put luggage on the bed; that's gross. Picking up random bits of cash in one's path, if it doesn't belong to someone nearby, is fair game. I guess the person I dated who gave me a set of knives may've felt that it led to bad luck, since we broke up a few months later, but we really weren't well suited. The wooden knife block is still around; I've since swapped out most of the knives, which were cheap serrated ones.
5. Would you want major magical powers like in a fantasy story? Which powers, and how would you use them?
Nope!
I came to get down
Mar. 13th, 2026 10:21 pmviridian5
After barely going anywhere or shooting anything for almost two months due to snow, severe cold, and feeling crappy, I started photographing again this week. I have some morning light cemetery shots and started putting up some daytime window display shots from when I was in the city for a doctor's appointment. The ones I just posted are all warm weather clothing while it was literally snowing and sleeting on me. (With the wind, I couldn't shoot and hold an umbrella simultaneously, so it was literally snowing and sleeting on me. It took hours for the fur ruff on my hood to dry out.) That was the day when the temperature started in the 60s F and ended up feeling like the 20s by nightfall. I'm visible in the reflection in some of those window shots. You can see the 11 window display photos and 22 cemetery photos at my Flickr.
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"Lost Doctor Who episodes found in 'eclectic' collection"
The BBC has some nerve calling this guy's collection "ramshackle" when they personally deleted everything. At least he stored them, unlike you folks.
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I drove about 15 miles to grocery shop in Westbury only to have Whole Foods and Trader Joe's not have the things I came for, so I trekked a little further away to Jericho and Plainview. The Plainview Trader Joe's is so much nicer and has a better selection than the ones I usually go to. It also played Depeche Mode's "Behind the Wheel" and Howard Jones' "Life in One Day" while I was there, which gives it extra credit.
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House of Pain's "Jump Around" always gets me bouncing, but Pitbull and Lil John's "Jumpin'" takes the sample and adds a lot more party and booty shaking. Every time "Jumpin'" plays while I'm driving, I'm dancing in my seat.
Poem: "Memories of Merwin"
Mar. 12th, 2026 07:15 amjjhunterI asked a women named Sonnet
director of a poet's palm conservancy
what it was like to be in asynchronous conversation
with someone who was no longer there
the poet had risen each day to meditate in silence
and wanted silence for his mornings planting palms
now many unpublished manuscripts were being found
(as were many loving post-its from his wife Paula
working around his need for morning silence)
and his late-life handwriting was slowly, painstakingly
being decoded and transcribed
was it like finding seeds waiting like time capsules
for someday growing in the forest floor
or was it like being haunted
She spoke of the hundreds of books needing care
after decades' nurturing in that humid house
opening a book of eastern philosophy almost beyond saving
riddled with holes from book beetles' eatings
and finding on the next page a note in the margins from the poet
addressed tenderly to the beetles, saying
'you can have the binding, but please leave me the pages'
The palms he spent his life planting
and the poems he spent his life planting
and the pages of all those silent mornings seeding words
we are eager to hear now
may they continue growing in their season
may William and Paula Merwin's names stay living on our tongues
===
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
director of a poet's palm conservancy
what it was like to be in asynchronous conversation
with someone who was no longer there
the poet had risen each day to meditate in silence
and wanted silence for his mornings planting palms
now many unpublished manuscripts were being found
(as were many loving post-its from his wife Paula
working around his need for morning silence)
and his late-life handwriting was slowly, painstakingly
being decoded and transcribed
was it like finding seeds waiting like time capsules
for someday growing in the forest floor
or was it like being haunted
She spoke of the hundreds of books needing care
after decades' nurturing in that humid house
opening a book of eastern philosophy almost beyond saving
riddled with holes from book beetles' eatings
and finding on the next page a note in the margins from the poet
addressed tenderly to the beetles, saying
'you can have the binding, but please leave me the pages'
The palms he spent his life planting
and the poems he spent his life planting
and the pages of all those silent mornings seeding words
we are eager to hear now
may they continue growing in their season
may William and Paula Merwin's names stay living on our tongues
===
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.