Spontaneous Musings

Well, this variant either is a mild version or the vaccines work? Because so far it's just a head cold, with an occasional cough, headache, fatigue and brain fog. Also low grade fever of 99.9, which was over by about 10 am.
Tynenol pretty much took care of it.

Either caffeine or tynenol sever sinus headache/congestion took care of the headache, possibly both.

Steady diet of unsweetend quick cook steel grain oatmeal, with milk (breakfast) (today added berries), homemade chicken and veggie soup (recipe below), cheese, proscuttio, apples (running out of them - damn it), and water.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
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I may have to escape my self-imposed quarantine on Monday or Tuesday and make a quick run to the pharmacy and Carnival store for supplies - such as apples, kind energy bars, and other things. But I also might use Fresh Direct Express.

I don't think I'll have the viral load on Monday. But who knows? Workplace has set five days, which I'm pleased by actually with a possibility to extend. The HR department at new organization that I've been thrown into, seemingly randomly, is actually pretty efficient in this regard.

***

Facebook.

ME: I've this weird aversion to meat
College buddy: Could be medication related. Something similar happened with metroformin for me - I found the smell of cooking chicken disgusting all of a sudden.
ME: Ah, that's it. This started roughly after I upgraded the amount of metroformin I was taking.
Aunt: You probably got bitten by a tick and have an allergy.
Me: No, this is an aversion not an allergy. It isn't life threatening. The allergy has severe side effects. I just find meat disgusting right now.
Former massage therapist (who ironically told me to eat meat ten years ago, specifically lamb and beef): You are upgrading.

Sigh. No. It's the metroformin.

***

I've taken up knitting again. See below my first and second attempts at a scarf.
( two attempts at a scarf, guess which is which )
Goal is to complete one decent scarf. Then move on to a hat. Then maybe socks, and maybe a sweater? Although that may be impossible since I suck at counting and measuring.

But it gives me something to do with my hands while watching television. And it's oddly calming and meditative.

***

Overall, I think I'm doing okay. And I'm grateful to be working for an organization that provides me with plenty of time to get over a virus. Not everyone does - if everyone did, we probably wouldn't be in a pandemic. Our priorities - as you've no doubt realized by now - aren't exactly in the right place.

***

Television? I don't know what too watch. Decisions decisions. Also I have brain fog. ( what I managed to watch )

The fatigue and the brain fog are the worst. It's like this type of malaise, in which I just want to sit and do nothing or sleep. Also certain things give me a headache, like wordl. I'm not bothering to revise my book at the moment - while writing blog posts isn't a problem. Also no energy.
From what I've read - that's the worst part of this particular variant, and the hardest to overcome. But at least there's no pressure on the chest, or a feeling of chest congestion - like at Christmas or in the Fall of 2019.

All in all - I think being vaccinated for the flu, and Covid three times, boosted my immune system enough to make this fairly mild. Plus having something around Christmas, also helped. Because I had built up about 8,500 antibodies. This means my body could fight it off without too much problem, and it is manageable.

If you've not gotten vaxxed, do so. It will make the virus more manageable when and if you get it.

I made flatbread.



It was from Simple Mills Almond Flour Flatbread mix. I'm not clever enough to do it completely from scratch - also gluten-free breads are really hard to do from scratch - you need more space in your kitchen than I currently have. Put Tumeric and red pepper in it, sprinkled rosemary and Parmesene on top, we'll see if it's any good. Plan on having it with the left over filet mignon and green beans tonight. Also for breakfast tomorrow morning.

I was going to make a quiche, but I decided too much cholestrol and too rich. Also they give me heartburn. Plus, I think I can put wild main jam on the flatbread with butter.

Me: Today the Minister got on my nerves again. She was going on and on about the apathy and languishing we were all feeling wasn't psychological but spiritual -
Mother: Not everyone defines spiritual the same way.
ME: Yep, she defines it as seeing something outside of us, and connecting to nature, etc. And she went on about finding the awe in the world around us.
The woman has a nice home, two kids, a lovely husband, a job, and is able to get away - also got a paid sabbatical.
Mother: She was telling everyone what to do.
ME: Kind of the whole nature of sermonizing, I guess. I just miss the music. Last year they had more music, less talking. Music is more universally relatable, talking not so much. Talking tends to be about oneself.
Mother: But you are finding the awe in things...I mean you are finding it in flowers, and small moments - that's a rare gift. And you share it. You've found it in a tulip you see in the yard of a neighboring building - in the middle of a city.
Me: True. My granny taught me that - to see the miracles in the smallest things, and the wonder in them. At church they were all talking about the big moments..
Mother: Its a gift to see that. A true gift. Not everyone does. You stop and look at the little flowers - not only that you take pictures of them for yourself. Whether it be flowers on a branch or a lone bud in a yard. Many people never notice them.



I find flowers awe-inspiring, so delicate and beautiful. And each one is unique. Different from the rest. They also have such a short life-span. Here today, gone tomorrow - lifting their little heads to the sun. Smiling or shyly looking up at me in wonder. (I don't, however, have any difficulty with cut flowers - they can survive in water for up to a week - about as long as they survived outside. It's fine. The Minister has issues with cut flowers.)



It was raining and overcast most of today, now, however it is bright and sunny making me kind of wish for a balcony, but I don't like heights and balcony's are work. So just as well I don't have one. My windows have a nice view all on their own.

Saw a movie, Monday starring Sebastan Stan and some female actress who I've never heard of, but have seen before. She had no boobs. My mother commented on another actress in the Baker and the Beauty who also had no chest. I mean she was boyish looking. It's so odd to see - when my chest is well ..definitely present. I wear a D cup, and my breasts are huge. I've never had tiny boobs. My neice does - but she also barely eats. I envy people who have no boobs. My back would hurt a lot less without the additional weight. Anyhow it was hard not to notice this - since she spent a good portion of the film naked. The actress did not have a gorgeous body.

It's a hyper-realism style film, neither of the actors were filmed to look attractive, although I think Stan has to really work at it. They did it with clothing, and cinematography.

Definitely an indie film, the sound or voice dubbing was off in places and I had to re-wind to get it back on track. Also it's very choppy. Is it good? Eh. I got bored, and I didn't like either character that much, and there were a lot of cringe-inducing scenes. But, on the other hand, if you are single or want to watch an anti-romance flick - this one is rather comforting. It made me happy I was single. And not falling for some hot guy on a Greek Island. It also made me glad that I didn't live in Greece.
So kind of a weird satire/character study of the cliche romantic Grecian romance trope. I recommend watching this back-to-back with Mamma Mia.

The Oscars are tonight. I've seen five of the films, I tried to watch seven of them - but two did not hold my interest. Also, I can't find Minbari for anything less than $19.99, and I'm not willing to spend $19.99 on a movie at the moment.

What did I see?

* Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
*Sound of Metal
*Promising Young Woman
* Nomadland
* Trial of the Chicago

of the five? Toss up on which I'd hand awards to. They are all vastly different films with different intents. It's hard to care about the Oscars, I honestly find awards shows to be a waste of time. We're not comparing apples, we're comparing grapes, oranges, bananas, apples, and raspberries. It's too subjective for words. Also you've no idea what will stand the test of time or be popular ten years from now. I mean the person who loves The Trial of the Chicago 7 probably will hate Sound of Metal. Or vice versa.

Also, all you have to do is look at past winners. There's some odd ones. Why Gandhi and Out of Africa won is beyond me. Or Rocky for that matter.

Anyhow, it's been a quiet Sunday. I should take a walk, but I'll most likely make dinner, and watch the last episode of the fourth season of The Great Pottery Throwdown instead.

HAVE YOU EVER: AMERICANA COOKING EDITION

[US or American language and cooking terminology, specifically Midwestern and Southern, working class/middle class American, in that biscuits mean well the American version of a scone, which if you've ever had them - you'd never in a million years call a scone. They aren't like them at all. Biscuits are more puffy, and Also, since I'm gluten intolerant - most of stuff hasn't been done recently.]
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Bitterly cold today, apparently. I can tell because my apartment is currently at 69 degrees. It would be in the 70's if it were warmer. My landlord's had a baby this past year, so they are keeping the heat a bit more regulated than in previous years. The baby is a little boy, named, Mighty. I kid you not. I wonder sometimes when people name their kids if they've forgotten what it was like in school. OR maybe they figure they'll get all the teasing out of the way early on - sort of like that old Johnny Cash song - entitled a Boy Named Sue? Toughen the kid up?

Because it was cold, I decided it would be a good idea to make blueberry/raspberry muffins this morning, but I forgot the egg. No idea why I spaced putting the egg in, but I did. Oddly enough, the muffins are fine. A little on the gooey side, but otherwise quite tasty. I used 1/3 cup of locally bought organic honey instead of sugar. I'm thinking the egg would have made them more cakey and less spongey. At any rate salvageable, and an interesting alternative in case I have to make them for folks who can't have eggs.

I gave up on Cookie Cutter - after only reading approximately 200 pages of it. Handed it to Wales last night - we'll see how far she gets. She may get further than I did. Somewhere along the way, not quite sure when, I got picky about my reading material. The days in which I will read anything that crosses my path are apparently long-gone. This may be due to the huge amount of dry and technical material I read at work, as well as write. When I read on my own time - the words have to have a sort of resonance. They have to sing. Not like poetry exactly, not overly fond of poetry any more to be honest, sort of like prose poetry.

Anywho, for whatever the reason, I've started the book I picked up on a whim from Barnes and Noble two weeks back. Wales jots the names of books that look interesting in book stores into her cell phone, then goes to the library to look them up, order them, and check them out. Me? I impulse buy them at the book store. What can I say, I don't like library books - I'm allergic to the mold and dust inside them. So instead I buy the things - so they can gather mold and dust in my own apartment. Apparently I don't mind my own mold and dust, it's others dust and mold that makes me cranky. Am currently reading The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. We'll see how far I get. I've only started and dropped about five books in the last three months. I'm told this is a phase. I'm hoping it's a short phase. I miss falling into a good story and forgetting the passage of time.

Speaking of reading material - The Twilight craze continues. Overheard a woman talking about her love of the Twilight books on the train ride home one evening. She was a student, getting a degree in elementary education. (To be fair to the woman, she stated that she adored reading and had always loved to read. That is not something I take lightly, I love to read too - it's why I love New York City, most of the people in it are bookaphiles, like myself.)

I think there may be a woman in my building who is obsessed with Twilight - since the only two issues of Entertainment Weekly that I have not received - featured Twilight. I eventually got the issue with sparkly Edward on the cover. But never received the one dedicated to the film, with interviews and photos. That never came. Which leads me to suspect that Twilight lead someone in my vicinty to magazine theft. [It was either the landlord's wife, an actress studying to be a Protestant Minister who just had a baby (???) or the girlfriend of the guy who lives below me (I'm guessing the girlfriend - because he just doesn't seem the type - big hulking ex-solider from Iraq, who went to Harvard Business School??). Or maybe they swiped for their neice or a friend's teenage daughter? Or it was the old Italian neighbor's who live next door??? Got to say this about NY - every time I attempt to generalize about things, I look incredibly stupid - when some exception comes along and blows the generalization out of the water.] Don't mind the theft that much, the only bit of the magazine I missed was a Quantum of Solace review and a bit on Grey's Anatomy - which I read in a store.

Very hard not to be critical/judgmental of fans of the Twilight novels. Or make fun of them. Or make broad generalizations.

I shouldn't be. I know that. It's sort of hypocritical, for one thing. I went through my Nancy Drew/Harlequin/Barbara Cartlandt/Ann Rice/Ann McCaffrey stage after all. Not to mention my Spike craze (even if I like to think that was more complicated). Granted those books and characters were better written and more complex, if only slightly.

As far as I can tell the film Twilight, unlike Harry Potter, Buffy, or even Titantic and Dark Knight -is appealing mainly to one specific demographic or nitch audience -10-25 year old women who religiously read Harlequin romance novels, with a few minor exceptions. Men aren't into them at all, at least not seriously - the one who liked the film, a reviewer in AM, did purely as a campy entertainment. It made him laugh.

The woman speaking on the train couldn't have been much older than 22. I remember being similarily crazed over Kyle McLachlan doing Dune, when I was 14 or 15. Also was a bit nutty at one stage over Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones (that was also at age 15 or 16). And of course, my passions for all things Star Wars and BattleStar Galatica (12-16)- hey, what can I say, I adored Space Operas. There was also, my very brief, Ike Eiseman stage - associated with the novels and films Escape to Witch Mountain and Return to Witch Mountain - both of which I drug my poor dear parents to - at the ripe old age of 10. Heck, I fell in love with cartoons as a wee child, such as Kimba, Robin Hood (the fox in the Diseny Film - was a bit obsessed with that film at age 6 or 7), and Battle of the Planets (I adored Mark from Battle of the Planets and Princess (a female fighter pilot).) That said? I still don't think I'd have been into Twilight as a kid. Too damsely-in-distress for my taste. Was never much of a fan of the Princess fairy-tale motif. Like I said, my favorite Disney film was Robin Hood not Cinderella or Snow White. The film as my mother put it, looks like a bore.
It does. I considered renting it, but now not so much. The films that I am looking forward to seeing over Thanksgiving Holidays are: "Australia", Quantum of Solace, and the family Thanksgiving film with John Leguizamo and Debra Messing which I can't remember the name of. After months of crappy films, some interesting fair is finally coming out.

Sigh. Too long again. And need to make lunch. No clue what I'm doing today. Planned on going shopping at L&T, but it's bitterly cold and I don't want to spend the money and my body has been off all week. Considered Yoga at 1:30, but not overly fond of yoga for a whole host of reasons that I will be tactful of the yoga enthusiasts on my flist and not go into. Maybe I'll just relax, read, watch tv, bake, work on my novel...it's been a really hard work week and I haven't felt that great during most of it...so a wee bit of relaxation is okay.

Also need to clean refrigerator and sort through my closet...so might do that as well.
Don't know. The day appears to be planning itself...which has been the case oddly enough most of this week for good or ill.