(no subject)
Jan. 30th, 2024 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI gave up on "I Will Repay" by Baroness Orczy. (I was bored. I didn't know it was possible to make yearning and pining even more unreadable, but she managed it. Chapters are devoted to this. "Oh dear, should I seek vengence? No, yes, no, yes - I promised my father, but he's dead? No, yes. I feel guilty. No, I love him. No, my father made me swear an oath on his death bed. I must!" or "She can't love me, I killed her brother in duel. Oh dear. Oh dear. And oh, I must rescue Marie Antoinette from the quillotene, I know I'll tell my love - whose brother I killed in a duel all about it. She'd never use it against me. She's an angel. Oh, if only we could be together." With brief breaks - to include Sir Percy Blackeny, who looks on with bemusement, mild concern, sympathy - and tries to intervene and eventually gives up. Even after, the hero's ward begs him to. But alas no, the man is in love. And all of this is written in 19th/early 20th Century prose - so it kind of circumnavigates the point. It's just painful. My attention kept wandering and I was skipping whole pages.)
Now, I'm trying The City We Became by N K Jemisin, who is a four time winner of the Hugo, apparently. This is a fantasy novel. What is it about?
Well so far a young grafitti artist trying to save a city, by panting holes all over it. In between eating lunch in various places, while being stared at, either because he hasn't washed his clothes in ages and can't afford new ones, or he is Black. He doesn't know which. (I think he's eating in the work establishments.) However, I like the writing and the author's voice - also it's not putting me to sleep. My attention is wondering - but that has more to do with me than the book.
"Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five.
But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all."
I went to some trouble to get it to come up on my Kindle this morning. I'd found it on the HD Fire last night, but it's heavy, so prefer the Kindle.
**
My Commuter Pass is damaged. (And no, I can't just buy a new one - this is special, it's a free unlimited subway pass provided by Crazy Org per my Union. Expires in 2025. Although now that it is damaged - it has a dent in the magnetic strip - I'll have to replace it, and it may not expire until 2026.)
On the way to work this morning - I went to use my pass - and alas, no. I tried numerous times, it did not work. They tried to help me. It did not work. I showed the pass to them. They let me through.
On the way home, same problem, and that's when we figured out it was damaged. They also let me through. I'm going to try and get it fixed tomorrow at work. Union told me to go the Pass Office to fix it.
Worst case scenario - I'll have to purchase a metro card or use the OMNY for a bit. Still a bother on many levels.
***
Right now, the best television series that I'm watching is Slow Horses on Apple TV. It's engrossing. I start, and I keep going. Very bingeable.
Highly recommend, if you have Apple TV.
***
Mother discovered that the insurance policy that my father had through his former company didn't lasp as she thought, and she may be owed some money, after all. She has no idea what to do about it. And has been fretting over the thing for the last three days. She's afraid to fill out the application - because what if it is fraud.
I don't see how it would be fraud, but one never knows. She's also been procrastinating taken my father's name off various accounts.
**
Barbara Streisand in her memoir and the Assistant Minister at my church both felt the need to preach about connecting with people this week. And how important our connections are with others.
Hey, look, I am trying. Lay off.
***
I am now lusting after an ice cream maker at Walmart. It's not surprisingly cheaper via Walmart than Amazon, or the maker's website.
I need this like I need a hole in the head.
Now, I'm trying The City We Became by N K Jemisin, who is a four time winner of the Hugo, apparently. This is a fantasy novel. What is it about?
Well so far a young grafitti artist trying to save a city, by panting holes all over it. In between eating lunch in various places, while being stared at, either because he hasn't washed his clothes in ages and can't afford new ones, or he is Black. He doesn't know which. (I think he's eating in the work establishments.) However, I like the writing and the author's voice - also it's not putting me to sleep. My attention is wondering - but that has more to do with me than the book.
"Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five.
But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all."
I went to some trouble to get it to come up on my Kindle this morning. I'd found it on the HD Fire last night, but it's heavy, so prefer the Kindle.
**
My Commuter Pass is damaged. (And no, I can't just buy a new one - this is special, it's a free unlimited subway pass provided by Crazy Org per my Union. Expires in 2025. Although now that it is damaged - it has a dent in the magnetic strip - I'll have to replace it, and it may not expire until 2026.)
On the way to work this morning - I went to use my pass - and alas, no. I tried numerous times, it did not work. They tried to help me. It did not work. I showed the pass to them. They let me through.
On the way home, same problem, and that's when we figured out it was damaged. They also let me through. I'm going to try and get it fixed tomorrow at work. Union told me to go the Pass Office to fix it.
Worst case scenario - I'll have to purchase a metro card or use the OMNY for a bit. Still a bother on many levels.
***
Right now, the best television series that I'm watching is Slow Horses on Apple TV. It's engrossing. I start, and I keep going. Very bingeable.
Highly recommend, if you have Apple TV.
***
Mother discovered that the insurance policy that my father had through his former company didn't lasp as she thought, and she may be owed some money, after all. She has no idea what to do about it. And has been fretting over the thing for the last three days. She's afraid to fill out the application - because what if it is fraud.
I don't see how it would be fraud, but one never knows. She's also been procrastinating taken my father's name off various accounts.
**
Barbara Streisand in her memoir and the Assistant Minister at my church both felt the need to preach about connecting with people this week. And how important our connections are with others.
Hey, look, I am trying. Lay off.
***
I am now lusting after an ice cream maker at Walmart. It's not surprisingly cheaper via Walmart than Amazon, or the maker's website.
I need this like I need a hole in the head.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-31 03:30 am (UTC)There was a run on these creami machines - prices were nuts! $169 is about the best price that I've seen.
The only thing I would say is - avoid the "breeze" - I don't think they are available anymore - they were breaking and ninja was replacing them with the standard model. And the "deluxe" has a bigger container - and extra containers have been hard to get.
For the standard model there are varieties - mine is the basic model with like, 5 different "programs" but there is one with 11 different programs, I think? I dunno, I have only used "lite ice cream" and "sorbet" so I don't think I'm missing much :D
no subject
Date: 2024-01-31 05:34 pm (UTC)Also, I just need the standard model and maybe two containers. I don't need a bigger one. It's just me.
Is it user friendly? The more complicated a gadget? The less likely I'll use it. I still haven't taken the Instapot out of the box (for example).
no subject
Date: 2024-01-31 06:05 pm (UTC)I was intimidated by the instapot - I bought one off FB marketplace, and it sat in the kitchen for a year and finally I just sold it on FB :D
I found it pretty straightforward - if your mix has "full fat" dairy in it, use the "ice cream" button. If you are using low fat dairy or dairy alternatives, use the "lite ice cream" button. If your mix is just fruit, use the "sorbet" button.
If it doesn't come out creamy the first time, use the "respin" button until it does. Once it's ice cream, if you want to add "mix ins" - like broken up cookies or fruit that you want to keep chunky, throw those in, and use the "mix-in" button.
There are rules - it's not a blender and it can't process just ice - so you can't just pour in orange juice, freeze it and turn it into ice cream? It has to have sugar and fat. And you can't pour in like whole strawberries and freeze them by themselves.
but I haven't had any issues with either milk+chocolate milk powder or yoghurt+mashed up fruit, sometimes I add a bit of milk to fill the pint to the line.
You can get fancy and use stuff like a tablespoon of jello pudding powder or glycerin or other stuff to make it creamier and/or keep it from freezing rock solid after it's processed. Or you can process the pint, eat what you want, smooth down the top to make it flat again, and then throw it back in the freezer and the next time you want it, run it through the machine again.
I would join up on a FB group - every day there are new people who ask tons of questions and people who are more patient than I, who answer them :D Or you can read the pinned posts and get all your answers without asking, LOL
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3434109293501531
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ninjacreamicommunity
are two of the many groups out there!
no subject
Date: 2024-02-01 01:02 am (UTC)My instapot has sat in the kitchen cabinet for four years now. LOL! And the crock pot is above the stove, also unused.
I think I'm afraid of them, yet also afraid to get rid of them?
no subject
Date: 2024-02-01 03:29 am (UTC)The crockpot is similar - but I do have meals that I make in the crockpot and find it the easiest way to make those things, vs using the stove or oven - so that's one of my most used appliances! But I can see - if you don't have any particular thing that you want to make in the crockpot, that it isn't the first thing you think to use.