Spontaneous Musings

And repost it here.

Lack of sleep due to being woken up in the middle of the night with severe gas pains/IBS, and pain radiating down the leg to the toes. I did everything to relieve it. ( Read more... )

Mother called to let me know that niece has taken a job in Whiskeytown National Park in California, that specializes in wildfire recovery efforts. Niece is interested in working in the recovery of wildfires or aiding in wildfire efforts.

Anyhow? Some good news from The American Resistance & It's Global Allies.

1. Costco has seen a net gain of 7M additional shoppers as Target loses 5M shoppers after adhering to Trump’s anti-DEI policies.

2. The cost to insure a Tesla has skyrocketed versus its peers, and some high-end insurers will no longer write policies on new Teslas.

3.The First Cougar Cubs Seen in the Michigan Wild in 100 Years: To see a cougar in the wild is rare, but to see a cougar cub is another level.( Read more... )

4. At their show in Boston, the Dropkick Murphys spoke against Trump and Elon and it appears in retaliation, Elon suspended their Twitter account, because free speech. Except they insist - that they deactivated it first on their own.

Dropkick Murphys is a Punk Rock Band (in case you aren't really into punk (like me) and never heard of them).

5.Arizona has permanently blocked a 15-week abortion ban in a major victory loop under the Arizona Abortion Access Act.

6. Elon Musk's trans daughter outs him for sex-selective IVF. For someone obsessed with gender Musk seemingly has no clue how it works.

7. David Gottfried won his Special Election to the Minnesota House restoring a 67-67 power split in the lower chamber. 1,967 of you mailed 32,179 postcards to help make sure MN Republicans couldn't take majority control.

8.Marlene Shaw will serve as Gulfport’s Ward II council member after winning 59.8% of the vote. Her victory flips the council to Democratic majority. 302 writers reminded 4,440 voters to help secure this outcome.

9. About 1 billion people are deficient in selenium, but genetic engineering could change that. In the right amount, selenium provides essential health protections, so scientists are developing crops that suck up the mineral from soil.

10. No, it's not a circus. Acrobatics and tumbling, a mashup of gymnastics and cheer, is booming
( the rest of the 37 items listed )

My big accomplishment today was putting together the new piece of home exercise equipment that was delivered at 1pm. I was pleased with Amazon - they actually delivered it to my apartment door - and didn't leave it in the lobby. Because there is no way on earth I could have lugged it up the elevator and into my apartment without assistance. Lugging it from the door of my apartment and through the foyer and into the living room was difficult enough.

Between interruptions from Mother (phone - she lives on an island off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, I live in NYC - about the distance of Greece to Britain or Denver to Tucson, Arizona), I managed to assembly the base of it. I only had to screw on the base and the pedals, not the wheels, etc.
( picture of new exercise equipment below )

It's a peddler - low impact, helps with balance, stamina, and overall cardio workout, without being disruptive to the neighbors. Also fits in small spaces.

***

Finished Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan which has been adapted into a film by Cillian Murphy, starring Murphy. I'll check it out tomorrow, I think.

The book is brilliant. Best thing I've read in a long time. (Granted my reading material hasn't exactly been stellar of late. But this is a beautifully written book that packs a punch.) It's a character study, and not all that long - 116 pages, in a small little hard back book that can fit in a purse. About the size of a Kindle.

Here's the review I wrote on Good Reads:
( Good reads review )

Also finally got around to renting Conclave on AppleTV for $5.99 (far cheaper than seeing it in a movie theater - in NYC, movies cost between $15-20 possibly more depending on where, and not nearly as comfortable. Plus I have a big screen tv and this movie doesn't require a huge screen.)

It's brilliant. I highly recommend everybody see it. The set-up? ( Read more... )

Ralph Fiennes is excellent in it, as is the supporting cast, in particular Isabella Rosellini, and the actor who portrays Benitiz. John Lithgow is almost unrecognizable in his role - took me a minute to realize it was him.
Beautifully filmed, and scored film, that is quietly moving and poignant.

Having had COVID legitimately twice now? (Positive test confirming it). I'd say the flu and sinus infections, not to mention bronchitis are far worse. So too is Shingles for that matter, and it lasts longer.

Proof, in case you needed any, that these viruses affect folks differently?
We really need to stop generalizing about them.

Making my way through the Magicians, which has multiple dark plot twists. Also two people from General Hospital portraying charming villains on it.

I'm on S2, they've made it to Fillory and are none too happy about it. ( eh spoilers )

Mother: I've nothing to say.
Me (in my snarky tone of voice): Well, I've things to say, whether you find any of them interesting or not...

Mother cackles with laughter.

***
Thoughts on Writing

I've managed to slice away over 200 pages from the novel that I'm revising. It was 890 pages, it is now 670 pages. It's actually not as hard as I expected.

Meanwhile, I've decided to write a prelude novel to the science-fiction novel that I was working on prior to the pandemic. The hardest bit about writing science fiction and fantasy (for me, your mileage may vary on this) is the world-building. Too much, you turn folks off, too little, you turn folks off, don't get it right, you turn folks off. Science fiction and fantasy fans are unfortunately insanely detail oriented, so that's the other problem.

Some people love world-building. They actually prefer it to developing character, story, plot, or anything else. Which is a problem with a lot of sci-fantasy novels - there's no real plot or character development, and you kind of get bogged down in the world building.

Anyhow, we'll see where it goes. Since I'm writing it in first person - I may be able to handwave a few things.

***

Thoughts on Dungeons and Dragons and role playing games.

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game that was originally created by American game designers Ernest Gary Gygax and David Arneson and published by by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR) in 1974. Before D&D was the game as we know it, it grew out of a medieval war game called Chainmail.

Book Riot - when was dungeons and dragons invented

Interesting, I thought it was much later than that? I didn't see it until the 1980s. But I was also only eight in 1974, and we weren't really playing board games like that back then. We did play adventure and role playing games - but not with costumes as such, and usually made them up ourselves. There was no book. No rules. It was spontaneous. ( Read more... )

I doubt I'd have enjoyed D&D that much:
( Read more... )

I do like solo games - like Redecor and Wordl. I also loved Tetris. Dominoes. Anything with matching of patterns or matching colors, words, pictures, tiles. I'd probably be good at Mai-john. I also like strategy games, such as chess or backgammon or Clue.

But anything with an embarrassment or humiliation quotient - no.

***
Shen Yun

They've been advertising the heck out of Shen Yun. I considered going once, but a friend explained to me that it was cult. Stepping into the Uncanny Unsettling World of Shen-Yun.

But you do get inundated with the advertising in New York City around January through April. It's on subways, shopkeepers doors, and on television ads. They certainly know how to market themselves - which alone gives me pause.

***

Thoughts on Books

I'm reading "Magic Tides" by Ilona Andrews - which is told in two points of view for a change, Curran's and Kate's. It's a sequel to the previous series.

The good news? It sparked my own imagination and story - the post-apocalyptic science fiction I was writing pre-pandemic. So I may continue.
Anything that sparks the creative juices.

The Magic Series by Andrews isn't for everyone. If militaristic post-apocalyptic fiction doesn't work for you - best to skip. I like the world-building, and how the writer does it without going into too much detail, but enough to make it feel real and interesting. Also how she manages to skirt around issues like linguistics, and utilizes lesser known mythologies like the Babylonian, Asian, Egyptian and Russian. Too many fantasy novels fall into Judeo-Christian mythos or Grecian, this goes in a different direction. But the protagonist is snarky, and married to a lion shape-shifter. There's no yearning. No angst. They are married - so no, oh, I want him but can I? I like the exploration of a marriage for a change. It's a nice change of pace and kind of innovative. No will they or won't they, and less emphasis on sex. I like their banter, but both are super-powerful, so? Not for everyone. Then again, is anything?

Bride by Alix Harrow - isn't working for me. ( Read more... )

Yellowface by RF. Kuang - I'm kind of bored? ( Read more... )

X-men by Gerry Dugan - I think the difficulty I have with this writer's take on the series and the other current ones is a lack of focus? In some respects, I like it. But in others - a twenty page comic is not a lot of space for multiple stories and action. It feels a bit scattered. Also far too many characters.

Thoughts on the boat-load of articles on Narcissism via Internet Web Browsers

There a lot of articles on narcissism online. Microsoft Edge, my workplace internet browser, keeps throwing them at me. I must be doing something that is making it pull those? That and lists of horror films. There are at least three films coming out that focus on spiders. ( Unrelated sub-tangent on spider films - note no pictures of spiders, I'm terrified of them, you won't see any photos of spiders in this journal ever, just in case you were worried about that for any reason. )

But the "narcissism" (I struggle spelling that word. Can one be a narcissist if they can't spell narcissism? It's the number of s's that throws me off. I either want to add another s or subtract one) articles are annoying (note they aren't journal studies or the medical articles, but cheap journalistic ones thrown at me by a work web browser). ( rant about narcissist articles )

Snow storm was a bit underwhelming in my neck of the woods. I don't think we got an inch - regardless of what the news states. It's pretty out now. Sun-streaked sky, with a hit of orange or pink across robin's egg blue. The rooftops just creasted with melting snow. As the branches are feathered against it.

I like the view outside my living room windows. It's calming. Watching the snow-storm today was equally calming.

Sleep Apnea and the CPAP Device

Community Surgical Supply called to arrange for my CPAP mask to be delivered and fitted this Saturday. I'm dreading it. ( Read more... )

Ugee Digital Art Device

So, I found out from Gabe awhile back that the digital art device I got for my birthday works with specific software - it's the hardware for the software. The software it works best with appears to be Adobe Photoshop. So I bought a $25 a month subscription to Adobe Photoshop. ( Read more... )

Diet & Exercise

Speaking of diet. ( Read more... )

Did exercises - several arm lifts with ten pound weights, they may be five pound weights, not certain. Squats. Plank. Wall pushups. Counter lifts. Shoulder rolls. Stretches. About thirty to forty minutes worth. I get bored quickly.

I'm looking for boxing and rock climbing courses in the area - considering trying that. Or something fun? Not finding anything. But who knows?

Writing

I'm thinking of giving up on my romance novel and starting something else.
Maybe a book about my grandmother, who wanted to become a nun and became a mother of eleven kids instead?

I keep second-guessing myself. There's this pseudo-psychology out there, which Streisand keeps talking about in her book - but I've heard it a lot before. Actually one my therapists (the reflexologist/actress/shaman) was really into it. Actors tend to be. All the actor bios go off on this. Actually it's the focus of Julie Cameron's The Artist's Way, and a lot of the lectures at my church. The theory is - "if you fully commit to your dream or what you wish to do - then everything will open up for you, and all of these opportunities will come your way." I feel like I haven't?
That maybe if I just did my writing full time and did nothing but send off query letters, and do art, and writing groups - this would happen?

OTOH - I'd starve, be homeless, have no healthcare, and...well...be unable to write. Also, I might just not be good enough?

At any rate - it's shutting me down creatively. This second-guessing and introspection. Maybe I should just stop thinking or worrying about it and write?

Work

I'm kind of glad I didn't go to work today. I didn't want to deal with people. I think I'm burned out? I feel like it doesn't matter what I do - my workplace won't care. I'm basically irrelevant. Or been rendered irrelevant, and because I'm in a union - they want to push me out. And there's nothing I can do. And I don't dare leave the union - or I will be pushed out.

It's depressing. My workplace is depressing me. So too is February.

International Politics

* It's not Taylor Swift's fault that the media is obsessed with her. I think the media just wants to focus on something pretty and positive for a change?

* The Seemingly Endless Israel/Palestine War. (If there was an area of the globe begging for a massive earthquake or natural disaster to get these nitwits heads in the right place - it was this one.) This thing has been going on forever. It was the main topic in the book "The People of Forever Are Not Afraid" - which I read somewhere between 2005-2012. And the book took place in the early 00s.

Per this Timeline this goes back to the 1800s.

( abbreviated timeline of events - depicting the Israel/Palestine conflict dating back to 1948. Yes, 1948 )

This is why I don't care any longer. That part of the world is just begging for a natural disaster - although nature may have given up on it too.

Also, in case you think this is the ONLY place in the world that this is happening or happened? Think again.

List of Genocides

Depressed? So am I.

Didn't feel well today or most of the weekend. No clue why. Possibly a combination of things - allergies, barometric pressure changes in the weather, blood sugar/diet, IBS...and not getting enough sleep.

At any rate, I'm relieved that I have tomorrow off. It would be hard to take it as a sick day - since I've a three day holiday.

Trying to figure out what to watch tonight - and got overwhelmed with content choices. Dear god there's a lot of content available on television now. It's kind of like getting lost in a multi-tiered blockbusters video store and you can rent anything for free (well not exactly free - I do pay for some of the services).

In attempt to find the first episode of "Gotham Knights" (it's currently airing on the CW and I've got everything but the first episode) on HBO Max (it's not there - which is odd. The Winchesters is there, so is well a lot of other things on CW but not Gotham Knights - maybe Netflix will get it?) - I ended up flirting with Designing Woman (Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall - which threw me, I didn't know they made a movie together - appears to be the 1960s (?) since both look older and its in color and directed by Vincent Minelli - so 1960s. It's leaving by April 20th - probably going to the MGM streaming service. I don't think I'll watch it before then - it's kind of annoying.). The Music Man - which made me hunt down the Hugh Jackman version on Youtube (it's available - people filmed various sections (long sections) in the audience - not great, but watchable), which sent me down the Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster Broadway performances rabbit hole on Youtube. (By the way, almost the entire show - Boy from Oz is available on Youtube - this is the bio-musical of Peter Allen's life, so is a recording of Hugh Jackman and Russel Crow singing the confrontation scene from Les Miz - which I still think the How I Met Your Mother castmates do a better job of, but watching those two go at it in a pub - is fun. )

Remember when it was hard to find content?

So far today..

1. I've watched:

New Amsterdam - I like the characters even if the plots are kind of fantastical at times. US medical shows aren't that realistic. This one, actually, is more realistic than most. The most fantastical is Grey's Anatomy and it's lasted the longest - hence the reason they are fantastical.

* Superman and Lois - darker than most of the Superman series, gritty, filmed like a film series. Also surprising - I thought they'd spend more time on the kids and parent/child relationship - but instead the focus is more on Superman and Lois's relationship and issues. It does like to deal with tragedy though and torture it's leads. Lois is kind of put through the ringer. But it does, by far, have among the best versions of Lana Lang. I also like this version of Superman, he manages to get the dorkiness of Clark Kent across - which not everyone can. ( Read more... ) (I'm on the third season? HBO Max should have the other two?)

* a lot of Youtube videos - mainly Spike videos from Angel and Buffy, which I stumbled upon looking up something else. I can't remember what it was. I'm tempted to try a re-watch, but I'd have to hunt them down, since I no longer own a DVD player.

**

* Completed a painting (which I've mixed feelings about) - I was struggling with perspective, and I think the woman's physical body is kind of off in places that is noticeable. Not from a distance, but definitely close up. There's not enough space between waist and legs, also her legs are almost too short? The guy is more or less fine, just his face is slightly off.

* Started a new one (also mixed feelings about) - I screwed up the hands on the kid. Hands can be hard to draw and paint well. I can draw them, but drawing and painting them ...not always. Actually I do better with just a hand, it's when it is attached to a human and actually doing stuff that I struggle with it.

* Worked on revising my novel - which is slow going. I keep debating whether certain sections need to be deleted. Particularly ones that deal with supporting characters that kind of eventually drop out of the novel. My general rule is - do they further the plot and lead character's arcs at all. If they do, I keep the scene.

* Read more of the Diabetes book (it's overwhelming and depressing - which is an accomplishment actually, if you think about it - so kudos),

* Watched Church service on Zoom (Unitarian Universalists have interesting Easter services - the sermon today was on "the rock" blocking Christ's tomb. ( Read more... )

* Took a walk - meant to go to Greenwood Cemetery. Instead walked by Scean Casey Animal Shelter - which apparently has always been opposite the school on the way to the Cemetery, I just never noticed it. ( depressing )

The animal shelter depressed me. But it was a lovely day. Blue skies. Flowering trees. Crisp wind that went right through me.

I came home and felt a bit woozy. So drank tea. Had a little chocolate. And watched television, painted, and tried working on my book.

I suppose I accomplished something today - just not what I'd planned - which was cleaning out a closet, going to church, and going to the Artist's Way. Oh well both will be there next week.

Well, today's accomplishments included getting my two robot vacuums to work. So, I now have a black and white robot vacuum - I got the white I-Life one - because I was having issues with the black one. But once it arrived the black one was working again. Then today, couldn't get either to work.

One apparently needed the bin to be cleaned and re-inserted. The other? I just needed to turn on. I went to youtube and discovered it had an on/off switch.

I've named Spike and Buffy. They get along pretty well considering.

Other accomplishments?

As I've been promising for the last two months, I finally set up my little art space/studio in my apartment. Basically, I converted my remote from home work station to an art/painting station, since I can't work remotely any longer. I'd actually bought the desk for artwork - so I'm happy about that. And now I have an easel set up, which can store my paints.

See picture below:



Even started on the sunflower. It's not great. But if you consider that the last time I painted or drew anything at all was approximately eight years ago? It was sometime in 2014 or 2015? I can't remember. In short, I'm a tad rusty. Drawing and painting are like any skill - practice makes perfect.
Although it is in some results a trained mental muscle.

I've always been good at art or so I've been told by various art teachers (I've taken a lot of courses on art throughout school and post school, also outside school). One in college told me that she wished she'd gotten me earlier. (I waited until my senior year to take an art course, while my freshman roommate majored in art - she became a financial advisor and has self-published three books now, one on finances, and two that are a series of historical novellas.) I'm an intuitive artist. Not a commercial artist. Freshman roommate was more of a commercial artist.

I don't like commercial art - never have. Also don't like commercial writing - tends to bore me. I don't do paint or write on demand or by numbers well. Never could color within the lines. It's not how I think. Nothing wrong with it - just not how I think is all.

The rusty bit - also a result of the fact that I couldn't get my hands to stop shaking today. I don't know why. Tremor was just worse today than usual.

The other accomplishment?

I made a low-carb/low-sugar gluten-free chocolate mousse pie. The only sweetner is a teaspoon of maple syrup, and fruit. Maybe a little sugar in the semi-sweet chocolate chips that I melted and the gluten free graham craker crust.

Ingredients:
( Read more... )
See picture below:



The difficulty is that blood sugar is still higher than I'd like it to be. ( health crap )

***

Still watching Peaky Blinders - which evolves as the seasons progress. The characters change, as does the setting, attire, and problems.
It does a good job of getting across the time period from 1919 to 1930 in Britain. Also, focuses on the lesser known Birmingham, and Northern England. Along with the issues with Ireland, Belfast, and the IRA conflict during that period.

It is an anti-hero series. And it's violent, albeit not as violent as Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, or House of Dragon. More in lines with The Sopranoes and The Godfather. People get shot, people get beaten up.
Sexual violence is implied not shown, and there's not much of it.

I like the fact that it doesn't romanticize the anti-heroes. You know they are anti-heroes. There's no question about that.

It's well-written. I find myself re-winding a lot for the dialogue. I got the close-captioning on. Also, the acting is top notch. Not a weak link in the bunch.

I'm on S5, which is a bit bleaker than the previous seasons, possibly because it starts with the stock market crash. S4 is possibly the least bleak or the most satisfying.

***

Stumbled across an announcement that James Marsters attended the premier of Sarah Michelle Gellar's Wolf Pack in support of the actress, and walked the red carpet with her, along with her husband and co-stars.

The announcement also mentioned the toxic work environment on Buffy. I'm fascinated by stories of toxic work environments, because I've been in so many myself and am in one now. Misery loves company and all that.

From what I've been able to piece together from Gellar's interviews which all reference it now - is that Gellar doesn't much like talking about it. And kind of talks around it. Understandable - it's difficult to prove that sort of thing even when its going on. People are terrified to speak up, and the bullies have a tendency to be kind and nice to people who either aren't working directly for them, or that they like. So there's also quite a bit of gaslighting. And enabling. Go into any hostile work environment, and I guarantee you'll find folks defending the bullies, and telling you that the employee is to blame. Or it's in their head. They are also very good at finding scapegoats. Fighting these assholes is close to impossible in our society. Like it or not - we live in a society that enables and rewards bullies.

But when pressed does mention it - kind of vaguely. She's tough, and has been accused of bad behavior herself - so, that's part of the reason. What she has said is that - she felt it was important to put 100 percent of herself into it, and didn't understand why others didn't feel the same way. And discovered later that may have been a mistake - since she got burned out, early on. Also that, she got into trouble for standing up for the cast and crew - and shutting things down after 15 hours. "We promised 13, it's been 15 hours, we're done for the day. I'm going home." Having watched the out-takes, I believe that. They went way beyond what other series do in regards to takes. Most do five takes per scene, maybe ten. Buffy did thirty. I got bored watching it. I mean they literally redid each line about fifteen to twenty times. Until everything was perfect lighting, camera, etc. That's brutal. I'm surprised they got away with it. Fox, WB and UPN clearly was letting Whedon do whatever he damn well pleased.

According to the Hollywood Reporter - Gellar's husband is less vague, as is Seth Green, and others.
( Read more... )

This does clarify a few misrepresentations in the press at the time the show was airing. During 1997-2003, Gellar was portrayed as the Diva on Buffy, and the main problem. Whedon loosely stated that he was used to it - he had to deal with Roseanne. And Hannigan had alluded to it. As had others. She was blamed for Buffy ending in S7. Whedon was praised in the fandom, and Gellar got a lot of backlash. Typical bully behavior - as a friend told me recently, when I describing bullying behavior at work - they want to control the narrative. Whedon worked hard to control the narrative.
And people tend to see and believe what they want to see and believe.

But there were always signs. There always are. If you look closely enough.

However, I like how Gellar chose to deal with it now. Which is to state, "this happened in the past. I learned from it. Dwelling on it - gains me nothing. Talking about it - solves nothing. I'm proud of the work I did, the work the cast did, and the show we created. We can be proud of that, without condoning the toxic work environment that produced it. And I've moved on, incorporating the lessons I learned from that time period and ensuring it doesn't happen again on my watch."

What's interesting, albeit not surprising, is that both Gellar and Marsters have stated separately that they can't re-watch most of S6 and S7. ( Read more... )

I give her a lot of credit for all of that. (And I wouldn't call myself a fan of Gellar's by any stretch of the imagination.) But what she's doing isn't easy in that business. It means turning down certain jobs, and not getting others. Also, it's easier said than done. I will state, I'm doing the same thing - I'm incorporating the lessons learned from previous experiences. And not staying silent when bullied. And supporting others who are bullied in the work force.

***

Anyhow, off to bed. Hope your Saturday or what's left of it was uneventful and peaceful.

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
( Read more... )
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.

Covid-19 Antibody test came back..( Read more... )

Oh, I told my mother that the doctor thinks my high cholesterol might be genetic. My mother begs to differ.

Mother: Except your father and I didn't have it until recently.
Me: Nor did I.
Mother: We were older than you.
Me: By what ten years??

Mother suggested that instead of giving away all my Easter candy, I just throw it in the freezer like my grandmother used to do with her candy. (She'd get free candy in Vegas or at Christmas or make it, then throw it in the freezer and eat it sparingly.) Except, mother pointed out - this doesn't necessarily stop her from eating it. It stopped my grandmother, it did not stop mother.

I'm wondering if the combo keto and paeolo diets over the years caused my cholesterol to spike - due to the increase in cheese substitutes and meat fats? Although I have kind of gone off of red meat for the foreseeable future on account of it just not being digestible. (I know keto has resulted in a lot of folks getting their gall bladder's removed or in high cholesterol due to the fact that most people can't process fat that well.)
(As an aside cholesterol is a difficult word to spell.)

***

I may re-watch Bridgerton - I'm in the mood for fluffy romance, and I like the characters. It's not for everyone. But nothing is. There are things other people like that I can't watch. It's like food. I don't like brussle sprouts, my brother loves them. I don't know which family he sprouted out of - but it wasn't ours, no one in my family likes it but him.

***

Oh, Biden appointed the first female to an Admiral Position via Kamala Harris on Twitter.

President Biden has nominated Adm. Linda Fagan to serve as the next commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, the administration announced Tuesday.

If confirmed, Fagan would be the first woman ever to lead a branch of the U.S. military, lawmakers said.

YAY! And about bloody time. I feel like going into a chorus of anything you can do, I can do better...or something.

Although, this does mean that women can be drafted, although I think we could be as early as the 1990s, so never mind.

**

Been feeling a tad depressed of late, combination of the weather (gloomy and we're getting a late Spring), work, and my frustration with my body at the moment.

Reading another romance novel - It's one of Julie Anne Long's books about the Palace of Rogues. ( Read more... )

I found this quote on Twitter just now...

Writing: sometimes the words flow like the sweetest of streams and other times they stay locked in your brain bashing it with broken glass covered fists of fury.

Yup.

Work is mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting at the moment. Co-workers have, however, been exceedingly nice to me this week. One even came by to check on me. So has management. I think they are afraid I might quit?
I definitely threatened to do so...repeatedly. Empty threats. For now.

The commute also is exhausting. I worry every time I catch the train about getting a seat, being safe, and getting to and from work on time. Plus there's an awful lot of stairs. Accessible, they aren't. I want ramps, not steps. Whomever thought steps was a good idea was an idiot. I may ask someone on the current project that I'm on - why they didn't go with ramps as opposed to stairs, escalators and elevators (I'm working on a project to make nine stations on long island accessible to folks with crutches, wheel chairs, disabilities...actually that's the project that's been taking up 90% of my time.) It's probably due to logistics, and icing conditions.

Hollywood is still whining about the slap on social media. Hollywood? It was just a slap, get over your entitled rich asses and move on. Sheesh.

My brother is annoyed with me for telling my mother that he stated she was very chatty.
( Read more... )
Mother also threatened me with her arthritis. Each month she reminds me that I too will suffer this fate. Just so I don't feel alone - my brother was also threatened with it.

**

At work - to break up the day a bit and while I was dozing off analyzing firm responsibility checks - I listened to one of Maurice Bernard's State of Mind youtube podcasts - this one featured an actor who became an alcoholic at the age of 9. ( Read more... )

***

There's an awful lot of bingeable television series premiering on streaming now:

1. Bridgerton S2 - Netflix (scheduled for this weekend)
2. Moon Knight (on Disney +)
3. Julia - on HBO Max about the making of Julia Child's television cooking show.

( excerpt from the vulture review )

4. Animals - that a coworker rec'd which is on Netflix
5. rest of The Gilded Age
6. Sandition
7. Killing Eve S4

And I may have forgotten a few. I keep meaning to watch Picard, finish Discovery, start 1883, and now we have The Offer (about the making of The Godfather) all on Paramount Plus. Plus, I've canceled my subscription to The National Theater Live Platform - but should at least finish watching various programs on it.

Ugh. A wealth of television shows, after a brief drought of nothing grabbing my interest (it was brief as in two weeks, let's face it this is the Golden Age of Television - we'll never run out of content).

People were demoaning the death of the novel again - somewhere. (It's the usual suspects - bored English Lit Professors, frustrated literary novelists, and bored book critics...one can't take them seriously any longer.) Barack Obama's response amused me - "we aren't in any danger of the novel dying, we're a story-telling species, it will always exist." He's right. It will.

[I know there's serious news stuff going on, I just don't want to talk about it or focus on it at the moment. It's not going anywhere, and me focusing on it - isn't going to change anything. I can safely ignore it.]