shadowkat | Entries tagged with personal

Around 4pm, I took a walk, and checked out the paper mache masks placed on various trees along one block in the neighborhood, among other things. It was about a 20 block walk around the neighborhood block? I didn't take any photos because somehow I managed to forget my smartphone. My problematic for the interruption of the blood glucose sensor than the inability to take photos.

Good news? The storm took my sinus headache from hell with it. As the storm clouds cleared off by noon, so did my vibrating vestibular migraine. It is now blissfully gone, and I was able to remove my wrist bands for the first time in five days. Yes, it started on Thursday and continued until 1:30pm on Monday.

I did get laundry done. Robo vacuumed. Straightened some things. Folded and put away clothes - I always do it immediately after doing laundry. I can't imagine not doing it that way. It's probably a side effect of not owning a washer and dryer. The only time I owned one was when I was a kid and adolescent, living with my parents. I've not owned a washer/dryer or dishwasher since I was 28 years of age. ~~Dishwashers~~ Garbage Disposals are for the most part illegal in NYC, although there are areas in NY State that permit them apparently.

Television

1. Found the Dresden Files television series streaming on Peacock. Watched two episodes, which honestly felt stolen from Buffy and Angel and various other supernatural mystery series.( Read more... )

It's a shame. The guy they picked to play Dresden was spot on. (He's unfortunately the only casting choice that is spot on.) Also the source material is perfect for a series. They could have used the source material, and instead of changing it - kept it.

This the loosest and worst adaptation I've ever seen. ( Read more... )

This is begging for a reboot. But, do they reboot this? Nooo. Instead they reboot ( the things they've rebooted instead that do not require rebooting at all ) You'd think there weren't any other novels out there they can adapt? Stop doing the same ones over and over again. We do not need to see Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Dracula, Frankenstein, Haunting of Hill House, Wuthering Heights, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, or Hamlet for the upteenth time?

Dear Television Writers/Producers/Executives - Reboot Television Series that were not done correctly, failed their source material, have plenty of good source material and world building, are best sellers, and can take advantage of technological improvements. Also don't have highly problematic authors?

Sigh. The entertainment world can be frustratingly repetitive at times. If you feel like you've seen this before? It's because you have. Multiple times.

2. East of Eden - this is the newest version directed by Zoe Kalzan. Starring Florence Pugh, Mike Faist, Ciarian Hinds, Christopher Abbott...and is grainer a film, and far darker in color and undertones than the 1981 version. Also despite what people may think? Jane Seymour's version of Cathy was far more chilling and hateful than Florence Pugh's? I actually feel sorry for Cathy in this version and I found Cathy to be hateful in the previous one. Also Seymour was more attractive - she has different colored eyes - and they used that trait to make Cathy recognizable. Seymour's performance is memorable. It's hard to forget. I honestly think it's among the best things she's done.

Pugh plays a far more sympathetic version, but not quite as strikingly beautiful. And as such some of the sexism and misogyny is underlined and seen - far more than in the previous version.( Read more... )

Did we need another version? Yes, most people didn't see the 1981 take, and it was limiting in cast and scope - only three episodes. Also the movie only adapted the last quarter of the book. This is an example of a book that demanded another adaptation.

Tale of Two Cities may as well.

Les Miserables really doesn't.

3. New CBS Series that I recorded, watched and thought eh, not worth breaking my boycott of CBS/Paramount ( why I'm boycotting CBS/Paramount and possibly HBO/WB - even if it is just me that is doing it )

* Eternally Yours - it has an interesting concept? But I feel like I've seen it before (possibly in animated form or via the Addams Family, which is better and less, offensive?). It was mildly amusing in places? The set-up? A vampire couple accidentally kills their vampire daughter's boyfriend when he discovers they are vampires. Freaks out. Turns him into a vampire. Much chaos ensues. And there are other family members involved.

It's an American Suburban Situation Comedy set in Seattle with Yuppie Millenial Vampires. Not for me. Neither the cast or the writing worked for me. Felt very paint by numbers.

* CIA stars Tom Ellis, and a bunch of other people. Basically Ellis is playing a British Rogue CIA agent paired with an FBI agent who has infilterated his task force to find a leak. (That doesn't happen, by the way? The CIA and the FBI do not work together or trust each other. US government is very...parochial and into fiefdoms. ) I caught about the third episode of the second season. But could figure it out. Even if I had problems following or caring about the mystery/case/puzzle of the week. I couldn't get into it. It has a deservedly low rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The cast is good. The writing might as well be by AI.

* >Cupertino - sigh this is by the Kings. I've only like The Good Wife. Everything else feels a bit too - wink wink satire. I can literally feel the writers winking at me. Also, the main leads aren't working for me or pulling me in. It's the same actor who played Luke Cage and stared in Evil, good looking guy, but his acting style is very restrained to the point of being wooden. I'm bored by him. And whenever he's on screen, my mind checks out.

So also not for me. I think towards the end of the Good Wife - the Kings committed to satire, and are kind of preachy about it at times. American Satire can get really preachy and hit you over the head. Subtle it's not.
I preferred the Good Wife, which was more subtle, more believable, and much funnier as a result. I also liked the actors better. And the cinematography. The Good Wife had a biting sly wit, that is missing in the King's later efforts such as The Good Fight, Evil, and Cupertino.

Not worth breaking my boycott over.

4. In Line of Fire - new NBC series, also streams on Peacock (free with advertisements and unlike CBS, the advertisements aren't as annoying).
This was among the better procedurals I've seen. It does require quite a bit of suspension of disbelief. (But honestly, I think they all do?) It's also relatively innovative in its approach.

It manages to blend the family drama with the criminal/espionage procedural. How? Each family member is involved in a different government organization: US Marshal Service, FBI, DOJ, and Secret Service. It's case of the week, and over-arching mystery. Has a nice twist on the multiple murders mystery. Also dysfunctional family drama.

( spoilers for the first episode )
And I got intrigued, because I like convoluted plots that are impossible to explain in one sentence.

I'm sticking with NBC and ABC. CBS and Fox are still on my shit list.

5.Great British Baking Show or Bake Off (depending on where you live) (Note it's not called Bake Off in the US due to trademark issues. Pillsbury Bake Off owns the trademark for "Bake Off" in the United States. Pesky thing Copyright and Trademark Law, isn't it?)

I'm enjoying this season more than expected? It's certainly a touch different from previous seasons. Nigella isn't quite as comfortable in the hosting role as Prue and Mary Berry were, but she's coming along. I like the challenges. The audience inspired challenge was actually interesting.

I like it when they bake things I don't want to eat - like the wearable apparels.

It's a cool rain soaked day and I'm fending off my monthly vestibular headache, with a combination of meds, and anti-nausea bracelets. The bracelets are doing a stellar job of keeping both the nausea and the vertigo that accompanies these migraines at bay. Despite what the medical establishment believes - they are clearly sinus related, since they abate once my sinuses start to clear - also weather related. I have one now, it's thudding along in the background despite everything I've done to counter-act it, accompanied by an occasional hot flash, and a hollow fullness in the ears. But with the bracelets on - no vertigo or nausea. I do get sore wrists after a bit, but that's a minor side-effect.

The rain is also pitter-pattering away on the a/c. And I can see it now outside my winder. Vertical streaks against the leaves.

Yesterday, I took advantage of the lovely day, and receding headache, to take a walk around my neighborhood. I walked up to the small pocket garden near Fort Hamilton Parkway, and just behind Hamilton's Restaurant. They were having a Bluegrass Jam Session between 1-3pm, and it was approximately 2:15 pm when I reached the sign. No, I didn't know aobut it before hand. So this was a pleasant surprise - or something I accidentally stumbled upon.
NYC is kind of like that? You accidentally stumble upon cool cultural things daily and often without warning.

It was a small little gathering of folks who played various string instruments from banjos to a cello. Along with a harmonica. And the songs were folk blue grass country songs, passed down over time. The music native to the US, and as comforting as the smell of BBQ on the grill and corn bread in the oven, with an apple pie cooling nearby. (None of which were literally in evidence.)

( more photos of the musicians )

I had to take three photos to get them all. It was a small grassy space, yet spacious enough to fit at least twenty to thirty people. Plus a large vegetable and flower garden behind, and a little sitting space next to a small pound and fountain. It's quiet, and shaded, and peaceful. I sat for a bit, and after a bit a woman around my age joined me on the other side of my bench. Then, a blind man and his two friends strolled by, and I got up to ensure they got a seat.

It was the first time in well over a week that I was sitting near and around folks that were my age and older. And no one was scrolling on their cell phones, or talking on them. They were just listening to the music. And only two of us used our cells to take photos. Me, and an older woman with her main of white hair dyed purple.

After a bit I toured the garden. And took a picture of a flower.

( flower )

Then meandered towards Fort Hamilton Parkway, pausing to take a photo of the much larger than life Jack Skeleton...

( Jack Skeleton Halloween Decoration )

Then continued onwards towards Fort Hamilton Parkway Pedestrian Bride. A bridge, I'd not walked over before, pausing briefly to take a photo of a bunch of carrier pigeons doing an impression of the crows from The Birds...prior to walking over it.

( Carrier Pigeons )

I think they are carrier pigeons, they may not be? [I'm certain somebody out there will pop up to correct me if they aren't? There's a lot of fact checkers on Dreamwidth? And Google isn't as reliable in finding info on this sort of thing as it used to be? Well unless you think citing Reddit and Quora posts is reliable?]

I wandered and crossed yet another bridge over yet another highway. I'd prefer rivers, but sigh, cars. The US invested more in its highway infrastructure than in its waterways and trains over the years - which it is paying for in spades now. That said, NYC as you can see is very pedestrian friendly. This area of Brooklyn has multiple pedestrian bridges over highways. Altogether, I ended up crossing three, with no steps, just ramps, before getting back to my side of the highway or my neighborhood.

On the way home, I passed a Little Free Library (and pantry).

They are all over the place in Kensington and Ditmas, Brooklyn.

This one is in Ditmas, about a thirty minute walk in the opposite direction.

( another prettier little library )

I don't know why I continue to buy books? It's not as if I can't get them for free at multiple locations? I've two libraries within walking distance. Twenty free little libraries. And a basement full of free books. I don't feel guilty for buying them. I never have. Clothing, yes. Food, yes. Books and music, no.

Halloween directions were also out. Earlier than expected. Not everyone. Just a few houses here and there - had decided to get ahead of everyone else. I live in a culturally diverse area? And it goes overboard on Halloween decorations - possibly because the holiday isn't as linked to a specific religion as Christmas is. Although there are sections that go overboard with Christmas as well. It also starts early - or as quickly as it can get away with. During the pandemic - Halloween decorations went up in September. Christmas, the week of Thanksgiving. They've scaled back a bit now.

I thought this one was rather innovative...

( day of the dead Halloween yard decorations )

All in all it was a nice walk. Not necessarily fruitful nor what I planned for the weekend. But it got the job done. I felt relaxed afterwards.

Ran into Monica - the Super - and she informed me that the rude neighbor across the hall from me (about five steps from my doorway, yet thankfully not directly next door) had finally been evicted. ( Read more... )

I told Monica about toilet issues. I'll take a photo to remind her. And thanked her for only putting up only pleasant and pretty Halloween decorations. She told me she didn't like scary decorations and leans towards seasonal Fall Decorations only. And she's afraid of spiders. So only pumpkins no spiders. Thankful for that. Last apartment I lived in the downstairs neighbors put up huge spiders as Halloween decorations. I had to talk them out of the one they put up in the entrance way - because I was having PTSD anxiety attacks every time I entered the building. ( why my spider phobia is PTSD related )

Also, she confirmed that Optimum fixed our cable and internet, so I don't have to cancel them and switch back to Verizon (who I hate with the force of a thousand suns).

So all in all a pair of restful days. I read portions of a really good and satisfying book that I've been savoring. Watched television, and found a new show to get invested in. Only down-side? Pesky digestive issues. Although I think I've cornered the culprit? The GF rice flour bagel from Merediths. I'm better today. Had broth, carrot and flax muffin, and bean salad for lunch. No horrible heart burn or angina attack. Just the pesky migraine, which is receding as I complete this lengthy post. I even slept better last night and got to bed at a reasonable hour. So maybe, I'm on the mend, health wise, and maybe getting the rain out of the way is helping?

I need to make dinner - probably bean salad and the rest of the cucumber soup. The doctor got back to me on my blood work - the only issue is the folate - and she told me to start taking 400 mg of folate daily. (I already started doing that - moment I discovered it - I bought folate. And had white corn grits this morning which is high in folate and iron.). The rest is fine - the high B12 either means I'm eating very healthy, or to reduce B12 intake. (I wasn't taking that much of it to begin with - I kept forgetting to take it, and have three full bottles of it.) B12 is supposed to become deficient with Menopause? But I've not experienced this? Maybe I just eat healthier than most women with menopause? IDK. (Shrugs) And she said the hemoglobin was normal - so obviously she wasn't concerned about that one blood count being slightly off (and she's the expert not me).

One of the things I've learned in life is to be skeptical of whatever I see on the internet.

Rainy Day, so I just stayed in and loafed. Slept in until 9, since I had issues getting to sleep last night. Ended up taking a shower around midnight to calm my nervous energy. I'm sensitive to shifts in weather. And it went from being over 80 on Friday to the low 60s and 50s today. Thankfully, I got to be outside most of the day on Saturday and on Wednesday, which were both beautiful days. And took long walks both days.
Made me feel less guilty for loafing today.

Watched three things:

1. Lanterns Episode 7 - yup, DC has a character and tone problem. While I'm enjoying Lanterns, it's a dark and gritty sci-fi noir mystery series, with horror components, not exactly superhero fare? Also, the most likable and engaging character remains Hal Jordan. John Stewart is not portrayed well in this series. ( Read more... )

I'm curious to see what survives post WB/Paramount merger - even though I'll unfortunately have to cancel my subscription come January (for reasons below the cut - mainly political). It is unfortunately a good fit? Both studios have gotten in the habit of producing increasingly dark and gritty adult fare, some of which verges on the violently sadistic. Star Trek is among the few light properties produced by either, and that's about to change in a big way. I fear the Ellison's and Skydance don't have the sensibility to continue with Star Trek as Gene Roddenberry envisioned it? ( Read more... )

2. Toy Story 5 - on Disney was enjoyable. And not quite as preachy as feared. ( Read more... )

After it - I watched the Taylor Swift music video associated with it (which is okay?) and "Lamp Story" - a twenty minute, if that, short on Little Bo Peep's journey from Baby Lamp to toy in the play ground. In some respects I liked it better than Toy Story 5 and Swift's romantic music video? Although both were enjoyable.

The world definitely is built well enough for multiple movies, and the later films are much lighter and in some respects more enjoyable than the first film - which was rather dark and had elements of horror in the narrative. Women write the later films, while the first was written by Joss Whedon et company.

3. Hoppers - a bit too much on the preachy side. And I kind of lost track of what it was trying to say somewhere in the middle of the film - partly because it does ask a bit of the audience? ( Read more... )
In short? Toy Story was much better on multiple levels. Although animation was fairly good for the most part. It does have an all star cast - which I find annoying, because I know there's a lot of under-employed talented voice actors out there, and really no need to cast employed actors such as Jon Hamm and Meryl Streep in roles. I didn't notice. So why bother?

****

Making my way through book 5 of Dungeon Crawler Carl series. At least I think it is book 5? I'm doing it on audible, so not quite as easy to keep track of which book is which. At any rate this one is "The Butchers Masquerade". A couple of notable points about this series? ( Read more... )

1. End of two aggravating weeks. I think the Universe was working against me most of this week, today included? Although as Breaking Bad and one of the cheerful engineers who works near me stated, "Every day that I can get up and pee unassisted is a good day."

On the plus side, the digestive system appears to be back on track. Unfortunately I've got a bout of the sneezes - which I blame on the weather and hay fever. It was 82 F (26 C) degrees today (unseasonably warm to say the least), and had a bit of a breeze. I started sneezing when I got out of the subway at Church Avenue, my nose wouldn't stop running, up to and until now? It's been on and off pretty much since 4:30 pm. Now it's dissipating a bit. But it was touch and go for a while there. Hopefully, I won't get a vestibular migraine.

I wanted a gluten free muffin this morning - so went to the place that has them, Cafe Rosario. I walked about ten minutes to the cafe, only to find it vacant, and under construction. ( Read more... )

There was no work. (I'm basically too efficient for my own good. I didn't want to hold the rest of the team up - so finished my portion of the work Monday and Tuesday, before my day off. Now, sigh, crickets.) So to pass the time, I distracted myself by spending the entire morning researching the history of American Libraries and US Copyright Law for a response to a comment on a prior post. (Thank oursin for providing me with the distraction.) ( Read more... )

Waiting for the subway at Whitehall Street, which is a very narrow platform by the way, I was listening to the song I am not okay by jelly roll - and promptly burst into tears. Okay, that's an exaggeration. My eyes welled up with tears, and I kept wiping at them, and stepping back a bit next to the painted column. Didn't matter, no one was looking at me. That song can sideswipe me at certain times - and totally fit my mood and what I'm feeling and down come the tears. It's the ultimate in tear jerker songs.

On the way to work? The song that was playing was Hold on by Wilson Phillips. (Someone on Threads recently stated they felt they've been holding on for one more day per the Wilson Phillip's song for about five years now, and are wondering if it will get better soon. I can relate.)

The Health Insurance Nurse Practitioner, employed by the Health Insurance Company, called. She called around 5:10pm. I discovered her time window was between 4:30 - 5:30 pm. It was a short call.
( Read more... )
So in sum? The good news? It's fully paid for and doesn't cost me a dime. It's a free resource provided by the insurance company. Bad news? It's not as useful as I'd hoped? I don't need to be educated on diabetes or ceiliac disease or heart disease. Maybe five years ago - on diabetes. Now, I know a lot. And I've been celiac since 2005. I know more than she does about it.

I'm disappointed but not surprised? People keep disappointing me? This is not a healthy pattern.

2. On a cheerier note? I have a hair appointment at 11 am tomorrow with a new stylist and at a new hair salon, that is closer, on street level, and between $50-$90 dollars, so not exorbitantly expensive. (The other place was fancy, but up five flights of steps, bathroom up a big step, and cost between $200-$300 now for a hair cut. (I get it you are dying your hair and getting a hair cut, but seriously - for a hair cut?)

3. Learned something today. I was trying to figure out why the UK and Europe, Hong Kong, and Eastern Europe have Public Lending Rights (basically the library pays authors a royalty each time someone checks out a book), and why this upset me so much but the Europeans/Canadians and Brits thought it was a good idea. Why was this remotely a good idea?

And while researching what the US does in regards to author's rights, libraries and copyright law and finding out from oursin what the UK does in regards to libraries and authors...I discovered the reason.

( Read more... )

What I learned? It's a cultural difference. We live in a time of culture wars. Where we fight over differences in culture. Instead of striving to understand them. I learned that I need to work harder on understanding?
( Read more... )

I can do better. Emotion doesn't help. And being aggravated doesn't either and I've been extremely aggravated these past two weeks for reasons that have nothing to do with this.

So I apologize if I upset anyone by my ramblings on this issue and my somewhat clumsy attempts to understand it. It's hard to wrap my mind around something that is foreign to my way of thinking - it's akin to learning a new language, it doesn't quite click, and I fumble around with it.

I realized that so much of our misunderstandings online are due to assumptions - we assume that our cultural perspectives are the same, they aren't. That our world view is the same, it's not. And that we are among like-minded individuals, this isn't always the case. And so, in assuming, we clumsily step on landmines. We don't think the same. Our perceptions aren't the same. And that is okay, I think? It makes life more interesting, and at the same time challenging. It forces me to listen, to learn, and to be mindful of views that vary greatly from my own, and to attempt to not judge them for varying.

1. So, I got annoyed by a comment by Joyce Carol Oats on Twitter aka X, and ended up having a very bizarre conversation or a pseudo passive aggressive debate with the arrogant author? (Apologies to anyone out there who fan worships Joyce Carol Oates.) I wouldn't consider it a conversation so much as Joyce taking a comment I made about post out of context, and writing numerous posts on it?

Just when I was beginning to think that maybe she wasn't all that bad, she managed to remind me of why I don't like Joyce Carol Oates?

Mother: I thought you disliked the author?
ME: I do.
Mother: then why?
Me: she annoyed me?
( Read more... )

Joyce Carol Oates: This is why AI-generated romance novels make perfect sense. Formulaic fiction doesn’t need to be written by hand, so to speak; what difference does it make if a machine “writes” it? There are machine-made clothes & there are custom-made clothes. They appeal to different consumers

I took exception to her snotty take on the romance genre.

So responded by quoting her post (see post above) and providing the following comment proceeding it.

ME: Says someone who hasn’t read romance novels. They’re not all paint by numbers. There’s good romance novels and bad ones, just like all other fiction.

[I have a small character count on X because I refuse to pay for it. It's X, I'd pay for DW first - and I'm opposed to paying for social media platforms. It's admittedly very 20th Century of me, but there you go.]

She surprised me by deciding to respond to my comment, by quoting my post (apparently I struck a nerve?):
( my odd conversation with Oats...about the romance genre and AI )

She was apparently initially responding to a blurb by the New York Magazine advertising this article: Romance Novel's Divisive Chili Pepper Scale Decoded

But she didn't really post the article - just reposted a blurb/ad about it.
(Also after having read the article - or rather skimmed, I don't think she did either?)

( excerpt from article )

My critique of Oates holds true - she's obviously not read any or a wide. range of romance novels.

Also she ironically missed the point of the article? She thinks spice is formulaic - it's not. She also thinks Wuthering Heights is a romance - it's not. Nor is it spicy.

The pitfalls of social media platforms. ;-)

And alas the pitfalls of AI, and by the way - I can tell the difference between AI and non-AI now in regards to writing, art and film expression. AI makes weird mistakes?

RESIST AI LIST

2. I took the day off for a physical, or the annual physical.

Nurse: Take your top off and put on the gown.
Me: Why? There's no reason for an ECG since my cardiologist will do one in November. Do I need to do two?
Nurse:No, okay .....well, you can opt out of taking off your shirt if you want to? I'll tell her.

Nurse: Did you fast?
ME: yes (I lie - I had a poached egg over greens. I've learned my lesson, also I don't need to - since had the fasting blood work done two weeks ago.) But I had blood work done two weeks ago.

Doctor: Did you fast?
Me: I already had the blood work done two weeks ago. What I need is the Magnesium, B-12, and other stuff. So I had a poached egg over greens.
Doctor: You're right. Good thing you ate something.
( Read more... )

3. After the doctor's appointment - took a walk and went grocery shopping (basically buying stuff I can't get in my own neighborhood). (It was a lovely morning for a walk. The doctor's appointment was at 8:20 am, and I got out around 9:30 am. So not that long, considering I also did blood work. But still a lovely morning - sun was out, it was in the 60s, nice breeze, nice sun...perfect.)

( walk or rather looking for gluten free items and grocery shopping )

4. Got home. Unpacked it all. Did laundry. I ended up doing the equivalent of two small loads, and one big load. But the laundry room was for the most part vacant, and I beat the family to the punch. (The father usually does it - he's a young lanky attractive guy - who I swear is the spitting image of my brother about 30 years ago. I'm always a little jarred by the resemblance. I knew a guy in college who also looked and acted a lot like my brother - we were fast friends. People didn't understand why I wasn't dating him or into him? Simple, he resembled my brother. I'm not attracted to people who resemble my brother.) ( Read more... )

Felt somewhat accomplished after all of that.

5. My poor mother is still having issues with her bank fraud. They don't know how it happened, but her residential community concierge informed her that she's the third resident that this happened to within the last few months.
( Read more... )

I'll getting confused. The days are blending together.

Tomorrow - I have to fast in the afternoon for blood work. (I'm wondering if this blood work can work for two doctor's appointments? My physical and the endo? The endo ordered it. I was able to swing it for both back in Feb. Would certainly save money.) I'm getting it done up by Trinity Church or the NYU Langone located next door to it. It's open until 6pm, easy to schedule, and rarely full. I'm doing X-rays there - too - from now on. Appointment is at 4:15 pm.

Scheduler: Yes, you're appointment is at 4:15 Am
Me: Don't you mean pm?
Scheduler: oh, yes pm.
Me: Are you even open at 4:15 am?
Scheduler (laughing): No.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who is confused. Just wait until Daylight Savings Time ends. Assuming it does end. I'm not entirely sure if they passed a bill not to end it or not? NY State didn't. The voters voted against it. Our government is in such a mess? I've no clue whether it was passed on a Federal level or not. Does anyone know? Do I want to know? I'm sure they'll tell me in November anyhow.

***

Does anyone know a good recliner company? Or good brand for recliners? I'm looking for one for back and knee issues. I look on the internet and get Target and Amazon, and I don't want to get it from Target and Amazon.

***

Sent my Will docs to myself, now, I'll try to get them signed/notarized and upload them to the site - and send a copy to my mother, so she'll stop pestering me.

***

Can you post pictures to Flickr for free and download them to DW, or do you need to pay?

***

Brave Space vs. Safe Space

Of the social media platforms (and there are too many to list or count at this point) - Dreamwidth is by far my favorite. Substack - I'm leery of. I'm also leery of Patreon. I'm leery of anything that has a lot of folks selling/promoting/marketing themselves.

This comes up, because Former Sr. Minister of the Unitarian Church (that I am no longer attending*) is on substack now - and posted a link via FB.
Escaping the Imaginary Cage.

The gist is basically that up until now, she worried too much about what other people thought of her.

"During my entire two-decade detour as a Unitarian minister (long story) I stood before the congregation week after week, offering my excruciatingly cautiously crafted sermons. To be clear, they never sounded cautious. People would tell me they were daring, authentic, real. I knew how to find the edge where a sermon could sound bold without ruffling anyone."

Except? That's not what happened? Her sermons actually did ruffle feathers. Some of her sermons pissed me off. I mean it is impossible not to ruffle feathers. And it is equally impossible not to care at various points.
We all hate rejection. I was about to say I don't care what people think?
But that's not entirely true? I've been known to delete posts. And rejection always stings.

Substack was supposed to be my space of freedom.

On Substack it doesn’t matter what people think of me. If people like what I do they can subscribe. If not, they can unsubscribe. My new congregation can self-select from all over the world. It’s a self-pruning topiary. And there is quite literally nothing at stake.

Well, the loss of subscribers? People disagreeing with you in the comments? ( Read more... )

Personally, I don't believe there is such a thing as a safe space. The new interim Minister, who is transmale and Chinese-American, has a better word for it "brave space", mainly because they haven't experienced one. They don't have the same level of privilege as the previous Minister had, they knew safety was an illusion early on.

It took me a while longer.

Someone on threads was talking about fandom and Ao3 being a safe space for people to read fanfic, and there should be trigger warnings. (They were arguing about whether a Heated Rivalry WIP Fanfic should have stated it didn't have an HEA, and the "romance" was not really a romance but a love story. And apply romance genre guidelines. And if not doing so created an unsafe space for the readers.) Sigh. (Anyone else remember when the trigger warnings were things like "porn with no plot"? Or kinky?)

Since when was the internet ever safe? ( Read more... )

I'm living by the Brave Spaces rule, at the moment. Safe is an illusion.

I decided to respond to her post on Facebook, not to the one in Substack, because I don't really want to join substack or subscribe to it? I'm leery of the platform (for reasons I won't go into here).

( my response )

This Dreamwidth Journal and Word Press are my Brave Spaces. It's where I bravely share my views and attempt to build a correspondence with others like minded but not always.

Overslept, mainly due to staying up way too late last night writing and editing the previous post. I also realized that I can't seem to talk about 9/11 without crying. It's the firefighters that get me every time. Also a main take away - was how discombobulated I felt? It was as if the world had suddenly decided out of the blue to go bat-shit crazy on me, and I had no idea why? My Aunts were calling me on the landline at work - out of nowhere. (They never called. And the two Aunts that did - California and Texas, of all places. I have no idea how they tracked down my work number at the time. We didn't have FB back then?) It was bizarre? It is odd the people who reach out during times of crisis, isn't it? It's never who you think its going to be?

***

Pretty day today. I took a long enough walk to grab groceries. A recipe for chickpea cookie dough called for brown sugar, but I couldn't find anything small? I don't tend to keep granulated or any sugar in my cabinets. The only sugar I have is raw honey and maple syrup. So, maybe use that? Or just the Betty Crocker GF (Gluten Free) Cookie Mix I bought (which makes the best GF cookies or the closest to actual cookies).

Caught up on Lanterns - which is really good. It's very character driven, and the mystery is twisty. Someone on threads or twitter stated that Lanterns was what Marvel's Secret Invasion should have been. They aren't wrong? But to be fair to Marvel - the invasion storyline works better with the DC Green Lantern and Manhunter mythos, than Marvels Scrull and Kree mythos. Comics (specifically superhero comics) do a lot of science fiction. More science fiction than much else actually?

It's on HBO Max - if you want to give it try. It may eventually pop elsewhere overseas. It's dark and gritty. The women look alike to me - but it has some really strong female roles within it. And some nice gender flips or twists. I was actually surprised in by the twists in the last two episodes.

Next up, is Supergirl which is finally streaming on HBO. (I'm in a superhero film mood, in case you haven't noticed.)

I'm still following the casting rumors on the X-men reboot with interest, which are entertaining. Many are rumors. ( Read more... )

After dinner and a shower, I watched the new Supergirl film. I figured out if I take a brief cold shower - with cold water on my chest, and back of the neck - I can reset my vagus nerve. It's why people do cold plunges. This is easier and cheaper - considering I don't live near an ocean or river or lake that I can take a cold plunge in, nor do I want to pay someone for it at a spa. (They have cold plunge spas in NYC. God, they have everything in NYC? Also, apparently there is an app now for literally everything? You can keep track of what you are reading/books you've bought on an app, writing prompts, learning to sing, learning a language, recipes, diet, etc.)

Supergirl requires a much lengthier review? But, I'll give a preview? It's okay. I like it a lot better than the series and the previous films, but those set such a low bar, that it's not really a compliment?
Milly Alcock is excellent in the role - and the best Supergirl that I've seen to date. (Again it is admittedly a very low bar?) The main plot is basically the science fiction version of True Grit, except in the role of Rooster Cogburn is...wait for it...( Read more... )

Like I said, it deserves a longer review? But I can see why it flopped at the box office. And I'm glad I didn't pay $20 for it. But if you subscribe to HBO MAX? It's a fun watch, particularly if you've ever seen True Grit (but only have a vague memory of it like I did). Drags a bit in the middle though. And the supporting characters are really annoying. Kara and Krypto are by far the best things in the movie. The dog is clearly CGI, so no animals were injured in the film.

I thought it was Monday all day long. When I was entering the building, I looked across and saw the farmer's market (it's two stalls? So a very tiny farmer's market), and thought why is the farmer's market out on Monday. Then, oh right, it's Tuesday.

***

It was a pretty day until now? Now it is overcast and humid. But I did take a walk to the tip of Manhattan, aka Battery Park piers, and sat and watched the sea lapping against the pier, with the Statue of Liberty in the distance. I was thinking about this at lunch today - this is most likely the best location that I've worked in since moving to NYC in 1996. ( rambling on about being grateful for green space to walk around in now )

It's a very pretty city - considering it has over 12 million people on it at any given time. Also they get along a lot better than one might expect?
I didn't take pictures. Mainly because without a telescopic lens - I can't really do the Harbor justice.

***

Aggravated most of the day. I wanted to go back to being a hermit? People can be so annoying?

I knew the day wasn't getting off to a good start - when I had to fight a twenty-something woman for a seat on the subway. I won. They weren't happy.

Taking public transportation can lead to some..interesting interactions? I can still see her in my head. I could most likely draw an impression of her or do a watercolor. But probably best to let the image go.

The good news is if the interaction turns sour (like this one did), the likely hood that I will ever see them again is about 1000 to 1. Sometimes I do. But it's unlikely. Train schedules vary. And most people don't take the same trains habitually.

***

Instagram categorized Dungeon Crawler Carl series as Fantasy for it's book to screen adaptations ad. And I thought - sorry, no, this is sci-fi satire.
( Read more... )

***

Someone on one of the social media threads stated they read the X-men Reboot Script and it was amazing. It was as "If Thunderbolts*, X-Men: First Class, Batman v Superman, and The Breakfast Club had a baby, it would be this."

Here's the link to it (I actually found an article not just a social media link): X-men Reboot Script Praised by Insider

( thoughts )
The X-men news is making me happy. Still waiting to see who else they cast in the film.

It's the little things in life that keep me going.

***

The late great Lou Reed seems to keep talking to me through his song "The Beginning of a Great Adventure" where he appears to name me - by name, and tell me to stop isolating and go out and frolic. ( Read more... )

***

Breaking Bad and I discussed authoritarianism and the rise of the totalitarian state. I told him that someone that I'd read online, from Germany, was discussing how one of the German States had become Nazi. Now, granted it's not that many people. It's a small state. And unlikely to affect Berlin. But as Breaking Bad pointed out - Hitler started small too.

So we wondered much like the individual discussing this online, how people get attracted to authoritarianism. ( Read more... )

***

Then I got yanked into a pre-negotiation meeting without warning.
( Read more... )

It's a good thing that I've done so many of these things now - that I can do it in my sleep and don't require much if any prep time any longer.

**

Off to make something for dinner. Been having issues with blood sugar spiking lately, so...

Continues to be mild - although my chest feels congested now. The scratchy throat is gone at least. I just feel tired, like someone is sitting on my chest, and the brain fog is back (sigh). Mother keeps checking up on me.
Also I'm irritable - so now is possibly not the best time to disagree with me on well anything. I informed mother of this - after she did her mini-rant about me - not having a signed and notarized will in place yet. (It's not as easy as it looks.)

I finally saw Hamnet by Chloe Zhao, which Jesse Buckley won the academy award for. (Well deserved.) She's riveting in it. ( vague spoilers )

Afterwards, started watching Heartstopper on Netflix, which is a British series about various kids coming out as gay, focusing on a male homesexual relationship between two prep school boys, one a nerdy sort, the other a popular jock on the rugby team. Kit Connor plays the Jock, Nick Nelson, and he's the Heartstopper. Dear god, does that kid have on-screen charisma. I fell in love with him after one episode. The actor is brilliant at emoting. He's athletic, vulnerable, brooding, and charming all at the same time - and not too pretty. He has reddish brown hair, freckles, and brown eyes, and a winning smile.

Pitch perfect casting for Scott Summers, Cyclops, Leader of the X-men. ( Read more... )

Anyhow, Heartstopper is charming. And kind of a positive show - about being different. I found the first two episodes to be incredibly comforting. So will continue with it. [ETA: It is a teen show, the adult barely factor into it - and shown through teen eyes - which is the reason I was initially put off. But I'm finding the teen perspective innovative here - in some respects.]

***

I went grocery shopping today, mask in tow (so no one would get infected - although people were irritating me - so I was sorely tempted). Also took the trash downstairs. ( Read more... )

In the lobby, saw a sign on the window and discovered I have to hunt down a label to put my name on - and transfix to the bottom of my mail box to aid the idiotic postal delivery folks in delivering my junk mail to me. I'm in no hurry? It's mainly junk mail. No one sends anything important by USPS any longer. My mother refuses to send checks by mail - after a disgruntled postal worker stole the birthday cards she sent to us, and threw away the checks.

Got more broth, more celery, more carrots, more fruit, more chocolate (which I don't need), more gluten free bread (don't need), more kleenex, more dishwashing liquid, and more plastic freezer food baggies. I keep flirting with the meal delivery services - but I'm hesitant. I have dietary restrictions galore. And want to know what is in my food?

***

Making headway through a lot of books that I'm reading at the moment.
I've no idea what is happening in Borrower of The Night - which I'm listening at night as a sleep story. Dungeon Crawler Carl doesn't work well as a sleep story. Carl's Anarchist Cookbook - (which is book 3 of the series and not a cookbook) is actually better than the previous two books.
And I'm beginning to wonder if we have an unreliable narrator situation going on here? I can kind of see why a lot of folks find the books to be misogynistic? They aren't - not really? ( ponders whether satire can be misogynistic and whether this is... )

Short answer? I don't know. It's not bothering me at any rate. So it can't be that misogynistic? Supernatural and pretty much anything by Bret Easten Ellis bothered me more in that respect - and both fall heavily in the satire categories.

I love reading. I love listening to audio books. I love all books. Comic books. Digital comic books (which are actually easier to read and save on space). Audio books. Hardcover. Paperback. E-books. I don't discriminate.
If it's a story - I'm there.

1. Day Off

Went to Grand Central and Midtown for Doctor's Appointment and shopping.

Slept in - as in slept to 7 am as opposed to 5:55 am.

Hot and muggy, mostly just muggy. Akin to walking in a lukewarm sauna or steam room. Same yesterday. I was hot and sticky by the time I got home from my doctor's appointment this morning. It's about 86 F/ 30 C degrees, with 56% humidity. Yesterday was about the same. ( doctor's appointment ) My knee was bothering me by the time I got home.
Icing it now.

Of course I did walk for a bit (I was in a hurry and almost got turned around in the wrong direction hunting the doctor's office (very easy to do in Midtown - which has insanely long avenues, and horrific signage) ). It's about a fifteen to twenty minute walk to the doctor's office from Grand Central. I also decided to hunt for gluten free treats in Grand Central - apparently it has a few. The difficulty with Gluten Free in NYC - is that it is hard to get to most of the ideal spots? ( Read more... )

So after a lot of aimless wandering about (honestly Grand Central is a maze and their signage is abysmal (they go for style over substance - when it comes to signage - go for substance). ( Transit and I are going to have words). I went to Donut Planet (after someone gave me directions) - which I was told online - would have a broad selection of Gluten Free donuts. (No, just one type of donut, the almond coconut.) I think they confused it with vegan? They have a broad selection of "vegan" donuts, just as Insominac Cookies has a broad selection of vegan cookies.

And Eli Zanzabar in the Grand Central Market, which has noglu baked goods ( Read more... )

I was going to walk to the F, but my knee was beginning to throb, and I got kind of confused. ( NYC has a signage problem and an accessibility problem )

2. Yesterday at the Movies

As noted in a previous post, after work, I ventured to the movies with cjlasky in tow. We were hoping for a 4:15 pm show - with dinner after, but alas, NYCT had other plans. cjlasky's train was delayed by someone pulling the emergency break on a train at his station, and signal issues at another station. At least we can find out now what the issue is - in the past, we never knew.

So we moved our tickets to the 6:30 pm slot, and after exploring McNally's bookstore, and walking about aimlessly hunting a restaurant open at 5pm on a Monday night - we landed on a Sushi place. It was nice, but unfortunately did not have any A/C, and had the windows/doors open for the outside dining. We were sitting inside, next to the outdoor deck - when it decided to have a pop-up thunderstorm and the sky unleashed its fury. We didn't get wet, and it did make the air a little less heavy with humidity.

Then we went to the movie theater - The Cinemas, which bought out IPIC. Other than closing the restaurant and not letting folks order during the film, it had not changed at all. ( Read more... )

Spider Man : Brand New Day

I was already spoiled on who Sadie Sink was playing going in. But it didn't matter. By the way, she's excellent in the role. The casting in this, I thought, was mainly pitch perfect. The only role I had issues with or felt that the actor was a tad wooden? Trammel Tillman who played William Metzger. I wish he was better. He barely registered on screen. Actually, that was my main quibble with the film - I wish they'd directed that actor better - or found a better actor for that role. (And I'm not completely certain if that's a direction or an acting issue? I think the later, since everyone else was good in the film.)

( vague spoiler if you don't know who Sadie Sink is playing in the film )

I found the movie highly entertaining. It handled a large cast of characters far better than expected. Each character was given space to do its thing, and the director/writers found a way to show who each character was - visually and through action/dialogue in quick space of time. Examples? ( vague spoilier )

It's also a rather tightly written plot, with a few clever twists and turns here and there. Which is saying something for a superhero film, usually they aren't that tightly written. It's far from perfect, but for the most part the plot tracks and expands both thematically and develops all of the characters. There's a nice switcheroo or flip regarding the villains, that also changes Spiderman's perception of things, and his perception of his own powers. I wouldn't say it was necessarily innovative, but it works.

And the parallels between Spiderman, the misunderstood villain, and the Hulk are well done, better than I've seen previously. The misunderstood villain makes a good point - does hiding or suppressing ones power to appease others help? Or does it only provide others with control and power over you? Should we change ourselves for others? Should we give them that much power over us. ( Read more... )

They've kind of ret-conned the general overarching theme of Spiderman. ( spoilers No Way Home and Brand New Day )

I think it was fresne who once compared superhero stories to the Greek myths of old. I think that's an apt comparison. We've always told stories like these to entertain ourselves, and inspire. In dark times, or even not so dark ones, they can bring joy, wisdom, and inspiration. Is Spiderman any different than say Hercules or Odysseus or Telechamus or any number of Greek and Roman gods and heroes? And is it really any different to see Spiderman or the Odyssey? Both are stories about heroes grappling with monsters, and fellow heroes on their way home to loved ones. My niece saw the Odyssey recently and was on the edge of her seat, loving every minute, while I saw Spiderman Brand New Day - and felt the same. Pick the story that works for you - and ride it to its completion.

My fellow arachnid-phobics need not fear - outside of a bunch of web spinning and black eyes, we don't get the body horror of a man turning into a spider. ( Read more... )

Overall? I give it 9/10. I enjoyed the heck out of it. And will most likely watch it again when it comes out on television, partly because I had to go pee in the middle of it - and missed about ten minutes of it as result. ( vague spoilers ).

It really helps to see movies with folks who appreciate the same movies I do? I've learned over time - to see superhero films with fans of superhero films (bonus? the comics!). Do not see superhero films with people who don't like superhero films and think comics are silly. So, having seen films over the years with folks who don't fully appreciate the genre? I'm thankful to be able to see them with someone who does. It's more fun.

***

3. The X-men

This film does aid in setting up the Mutant Saga nicely. More so than any film prior and surprisingly so. ( spoilers for end of Spiderman and X-men film )

The next phase after Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars is the Mutant Saga - which features Black Panther III, X-men, Fantastic Four 2, Ghost Rider, etc. These are the films that I've been waiting for - these are the cool distinctive Marvel characters - these are the ones that put the character in comics.

Some days, not often, I miss the big screened in porch that I had as a child. In the bygone days of the 1970s, in Chester County, Pennsylvania. We lived in a rural suburban area, where houses had green back yards filled with woods. The highway lay on the other side. Across from the house, a two story colonial style, typical of the 1970s, and most likely built during the late 1960s, early 70s - we were by no means the first family to live there nor the last - lay more woods, a creek, and beyond that more houses. We'd pick wild raspberries and blackberries in the summer - enough for my mother to make pie with them. And would have the occasional errant horse, cow, or rabid raccoon terrorize the neighborhood. On summer knights - we'd see the fruit bats flying high over head. And catch fireflies in jars with holes poked in the lids.

I was small enough to climb trees and the street sign at the front of my driveway. Also to fit into many a tunnel that run beneath many a roadway connecting creeks. That is until I grew fearful of spiders, and got lost in a network of tunnels. Now? I can't bear the thought of them, but as a small child - I was far too curious for my own good - yet at the same time had a healthy enough sense of caution to keep myself out of deadly danger. My brother wasn't quite as bright - and got in trouble for almost setting the creek on fire with his friends, and throwing rocks (again with friends) at an old shed.

Ah, but those summer days, way back when were the stuff of dreams and magic. We didn't have the gadetry that we do now, nor the technological distractions. The most - we had were radios, record players, stereos, and box television sets with maybe six channels (often in black and white, with unreliable reception and that went blank at midnight). So we played outdoors, exploring the woods, having picnics across four backyards, with games and prizes, sleep overs in tents or tree houses, until our scary stories thrust us back inside. I remember the musky smell of my father's pipe and his booming laughter, as a ballgame played on the radio, while he sat on the porch. Or the huge white Bunny Rabbit we kept out there, on the table - in a cage, scaring our Siamese Cat, yet at the same time attracting the big tom abbey cat that had run away ages ago and only liked me, and would only allow me to pick him up. (I get along well with animals.)

We didn't need air conditioning back then. And once or twice, when it rained - the creek would over flow, leaving us stranded, and often flooding our basement. We had neighborhood dogs that patrolled the block and chased the trucks, and drove my mother crazy by jumping about in her flower beds.
I remember making mud pies, and raising frogs from tadpols in the little pounds between our driveway and the neighbor's driveway. One year, when I was six - I lost a brilliant ruby red sandal in a creek bed, trying to cross a tree - dared by other larger kids to do so. We'd just gotten the sandals, and my feet being larger than most children my age - it had taken forever to find them. I don't remember my mother's reaction? But it couldn't have been good - she doesn't appear to remember either.

**

The sky outside my window is slowly dimming to a dark shadowy blue between the trees, with a pale orange gray light beyond the rooftops, evidence of sun sinking below the horizon. I've heard rumors that the Federal government is passing a bill to make daylight savings time permanent in the US, although only the House has gotten around to getting it passed. And not all the states are on board. NY's State Legislature did not pass it last year, for example.

Having slept late this morning, the day feels far from over. I let myself sleep until almost 9am. My normal weekday wake up being 5:55 am. I like sleeping late on weekends. But not too late - or the day slips away from me, as it has today. It is almost 9pm now or well on its way. Accomplishments are few - all things considered? I ate. I read Dungeon Crawler Carl. I listened to and completed Trojan Gold on audio books. I got new shoes (from HIKE) in the mail and broke them in (rather successfully) on walk around my neighborhood. I watched a movie (Masters of the Universe) - I didn't say it was a good movie? I watched more episodes of X-men '97 (the Wolverine episode is basically Wolverine, Sabertooth, and Yukio run into Alien:Earth). And I talked to mother (twice).

It's dark now in my apartment, with just the light of the computer and the blue lights of various gadgets in the room, plus the light of the moon and nearby houses streaming through the window. I have no blinds or curtains on my living room windows (I don't need them since I have the trees in the summer, and no direct sunlight - just indirect.)

Question a Day Meme

23. Were your grandparents all still around when you were growing up? Did you learn anything special from any of them?

Yes. My grandfather's died when I was in college, my grandmothers after I moved to NYC and in my late 20s/early 30s.

I learned a great deal from them. ( Read more... )

24. Today is International Self-Care Day, which was first celebrated in 2011. It was established by the UK-based organisation, International Self-Care Foundation (ISF). With the important theme of encouraging everyone to be attentive to taking care of themselves. What could you do (or did you do) today to care for yourself?

( what I do )

25. It was in 1993 that the Romantic comedy film "Sleepless in Seattle," starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and co-written and directed by Nora Ephron, was released. Have you ever seen it?

Yes. I know I'm in the minority? But I didn't like it. But, I also didn't like the old movie it referenced, which I also saw. (aka An Affair to Remember). Found both movies to be insanely frustrating. Also I preferred An Affair to Remember.

Nora Ephron - I found to be a bit overrated as a screen writer? ( Read more... )

I've been incredibly lazy over this five day weekend. I took Friday and Tuesday off, and I get Monday off for the holiday. (Yes, I know everybody else including most of crazy org got Friday off, but the Railroad got Monday, because we always get the following business day whenever a holiday falls on a relief day or weekend, regardless of the day.)

I did clean part of my bathroom today, swept a bit with a dustbin and brush, and did laundry. In the laundry room - I met a guy who was about 34 years of age, in commercial real estate (independent with a buddy), who was about to move with his fiancee (they are getting married in April of 2027). ( Read more... )

***

My cousin has discovered a new writing program: Living Writer, which is supposed to be more user friendly than Scrivener, but she's struggling with it. And the Youtube videos aren't helping. She's doing a two week trial. I tried Scrivener and ended up back in word. I've also tried Obsidian - but that's geared more towards organizing research notes, than it is a writing or journal program. I was hunting for something to back up this journal, and ...well, can't find it? So gave up. (No, I won't do LJ again, been there done that have the battle scars - that's why I'm here.)

She spent the weekend outlining her novel. I don't outline. I outline in the same way that I keep lists. I do it then forget about it. Also I get lost in the outline. I learned how in grade school. It made no logical sense to me.
( why I don't outline - kind of a mini-rant? )

***

Now that I've finished The Bear, Vox Machina and Mighty Neine - I'm trying to move on and not rewatch all three multiple times, until I've memorized them. I fell in love with all three. Hard. Well done, character driven television series are a rare breed. Particularly series in which I like 90% of the characters and they all have interesting arcs, and are flawed.

I'm watching X-Men '97 - finally got to S2, and have seen the first three episodes that dropped. I'll give it this? The second season of X-men '97, or the first three episodes at any rate, is possibly the best season to date of the X-men series. ( Read more... )

Celebrated by staying home and watching the "Tall Ships Parade", and then thought, okay, I'm bored now - the ships all look alike, and the commentators keep repeating themselves - off to finish binging the final season of The Bear, which was excellent. [It was a hot day, I didn't want to drag my sorry ass outdoors again. I'll do it when it cools down, thank you very much.]

Interesting song Happy Birthday, America - written years ago by Toby Keith, who died at the age of 62 from stomach cancer in 2024. He was a Vet, I think. It contains some of the mixed feelings many of us, who were born and have always lived in America, are feeling at the moment.

Highlights of the Tall Ships?

French Air Show over NYC Harbor

Sail4th

***

Last night had funky thunderstorms, which slightly broke the heat, in that it is in the 90s today and not the 100s. We had tropical storm forces winds, heavy rain, and an orange sunset all at the same time. Watching a thunderstorm with the sky an red orange, is a freaky sight, to say the least. And I was watching The Bear at the same time - which had a down pour and incessant rain.

NYC was having itself a day on July 3rd. ( Tall ships, heat wave, tropical storm and a shark attack - apparently NYC moved to Florida without informing us? )

No worries, we appear to be moved back to New York today in time for the festivities. But I do find it amusing that the hottest temperature in the US right now is in Washington, DC. It's 100 degrees there. It's hotter than most places around the globe.

Today appears to be somewhat better? I don't really know, I've only been watching the parade off and on. Interesting side-bar on the parade on NBC? ( Read more... )

***

On Television and Book front:

1. In Television: I finished The Bear Final Season - damn, it was good. ( Read more... )

Back to The Mighty Neine, X-men '97, and possibly Dark Winds S4 which is moving to Netflix soon from AMC. (I want to watch the Vampire Lestate - but will wait for it to pop up on Netflix.) I find it ironic that X-men '97 and Vampire Lestate are on TV now - considering back in the 1990s - I'd have been in fannish glee over both, and all over that. Now? I'm ambivalent. I am no longer fannish about either. Sigh. But nostalgic curiosity will - persuade me to check both out eventually. Right now in a fantasy mood.

2. In Books: I finished Withered Hill (an e-book) - it's a British folk horror novel, by a novelist who usually writes rom-com. ( Read more... )

Now, I'm between e-books or subway reads. I don't know what I'll pick next.
I have a lot of e-books - and this is a mistake, because it's hard to find books in a collection of e-books. Which is why I've gone back to buying non-ebooks. I can at least see them.

Flirting with Dungeon Crawler Carl, Quicksilver, Windblast, The Thief (Queen's Thief Book 1) and T. KingFisher Where Moves the Dead or Nettle and Bone. I want something that holds my interest. But I'm no longer in a horror mood. Probably going to pick up "The Thief" again.

In film? Just saw a trailer for "The Odyssey" and I may have to see that after all in IMAX or the theaters. It looks good. Fantasy is having its moment. Netflix is sending The Magician's Nephew to theaters in the fall for 7 weeks only, then to video.

***

In other news? Tom Holland is set to play Fred Astair in untitled Fred Astair biopic. Tom Holland got his start as a dancer for Billy Elliot. ( Read more... )

***

I watched The Macy's Fireworks on NBC - it was the only station covering it. It also had the biggest crowd, the crowd at the nation's capital was notably sparse, Queen Latifa was singing to a half full stadium (everyone is in NYC - because Taylor Swift's wedding and the World Cup were full, as was the Parade route. Nashville didn't have as big a turnout either. NYC is having a moment, apparently - everyone is coming here. I keep seeing tweets from 20 somethings on social media bragging about moving here all by their lonesome and asking to be supported and applauded for it. I think, eh, I moved her at the age of 28 by my lonesome in 1996, without a job, sleeping on a college buddy's floor in Brooklyn, and social media didn't exist. And I managed to make it work somehow - considering I'm still here 30 years later.

The Fireworks was unfortunately yet predictably disappointing. I've seen better displays. I did get it in surround sound, with booms outside my window and some lights in the sky. (Their mistake is they went for the big stuff. And got a lot of duds.)

I wanted them to play This Song - but instead they focused on songs like Halo and Smells Like Teen Spirit and alot of country pop songs. Oh well, at least they sang Carry On, Wayward Son.

Behind me the neighborhood nitwits are setting off some major league fire works, which is highly dangerous - there are lots of trees and roof tops. People are inconsiderate selfish idiots. I want a thunderstorm and lightening strikes. Nature needs to spank them. If you want to set off fireworks? Do it safely - in an empty store parking lot - they exist in Brooklyn, or an empty school parking lot or playground. That's how we did it in the Midwest. Or over the water or on a beach. Although the parking lot is safer for everybody, including the wildlife and the fish. Not as pretty, maybe, but safer.

Oh this is kind of cool, if you can see it? If not? It's the declaration of independence written in Jefferson's handwriting illuminated on the facade of the New York Public Library. It's up through next week, I think.

It's hot today, hotter than it was yesterday. Reached 100 degrees F (39-40 something C) in the city. Not a lot of breeze. Worry not - I was in air conditioned buildings all day long. And I'm able to keep the apartment between 78/77F in the living room, and the bedroom between 69/71 with one window AC and a fan. I was at work on the hottest day of the year so far. Tomorrow is not expected to be quite as hot as today, although that's debatable.

I should be doing exercises, but my knee was bothering me - so I iced it instead. I'll do exercises after its rested a bit. I also should take a shower, but I may wait until tomorrow morning or after dinner.

Almost finished with Withered Hill - and I don't like the book. It has a twist, which I didn't see coming, but also found annoying and think Jordan Peel handled better in the horror film "US" and Tyrone handled the folk horror aspects better in Harvest Home. Also the narrative structure is confusing, and makes it difficult to connect to or like any of the characters. Add to that? It's preachy and judgemental. And a little offensive and sexist. I may do a full review when I finish it - but I don't recommend. I'm slightly put off by it and disappointed. I've read and seen better - folk horror. [Good folk horror? Wydling Hall, Harvest Home, The Secret History, Waking the Moon, The Twisted Ones. In film? The Wicker Man (1956), Dark Secret of Harvest Home, Skeleton Key. It's admittedly hard to do well. Supernatural and the X-Files actually handled it well, as does to a degree Jordan Peele. I think it is Jordan Peele.]

I've finished the first episode of Critical Role's RPG Campaign of Vox Machina (which the series is adapted from) - on youtube. I'm finding it oddly comforting and entertaining, but it's not for everyone. Also inspiring me to hunt down an RPG group for older adults and beginners - if such a thing exists. It might. I am now on the second episode.

And considering watching The Mighty Nein on Amazon. The Fantasy Genre is having itself a moment. (Finally! I love the fantasy genre, and was beginning to give up hope. I can thank the romance fans and the video gamers for this.) Netflix acquired the rights to Magic the Gathering apparently, and is developing an animated series from it. Animation works better for fantasy - because you can technically do more. Netflix is also adapting all the Narnia books to the screen - starting with The Magician's Nephew.

There's a lot of things I want to watch all of a sudden? Dark Winds S4 is coming to Netflix this month, Bear S5 (final season) has dropped on Hulu (finally), The Drama - the Zendaya/Robert Pattinson controversial flick is at HBO...and there are other things I can't remember off the top of my head, not to mention the Ship Parade on Saturday and the Fireworks.

And listening to The Street of the 5 Moons - which is good, but doesn't age quite as well as I thought? I remember liking it better the first time I read it.

Mother updated me on my niece - apparently she was asked to read a paper she wrote for a NPR style campus radio station in Missoula. Her professor thought she was an excellent writer, and it would be informative. My brother said it went well. Niece is busy researching the effects of a popular type of fire retardant on trees. She's grew 500 trees from seeds to saplings in varying degrees of infected soil, and is now studying their root systems for fungus and other effects from the retardant. It's a controversial study - since this is a VERY popular fire retardant and used a great deal across the US. I think she has a future as an investigative environmental journalist.

***

Question a Day Meme, July:

1. What salad vegetables do you enjoy, and what’s your favourite salad dressing?

Power greens and protein greens (spinach, baby kale, baby chard, pea shoots), cucumber, celery, radishes, red onion.

Lemon juice is my salad dressing. Sometimes I'll add olive oil and an apple cider vinegar or balasmic, but rarely.

Being ceiliac, I went off salad dressing ages ago (most dressings have gluten in them). Did briefly enjoy a Cesar Salad dressing kick, but it didn't last long.

2. If you had driving lessons, did you learn in an automatic car, or in a car with gears (stick shift)? What type of car do you drive these days (auto/stick shift/electric)?

I learned automatic. Someone in college tried to teach manual or stick, and it did not go well. I have coordination issues? I had enough difficulty getting the pedals straight. It was my difficulty with piano lessons and instruments - the coordination issues.

While I'm a better driver than Buffy? I'm similar to Buffy and cars, unmixy things.

I don't drive any longer. Haven't driven since the 1990s/early 00s. I think the last time I drove may have been in 2002. It was an automatic and in Hilton Head. (No, I've never driven in NYC, even though I have a NY driver's license - which is actually one of the reasons I don't drive in NYC and avoid getting in cars with folk here as much as possible.)

I kind of fell down the rabbit hole of Tony Head tributes and clips last night so forgot about doing various memes. Also, we lost two Star Wars alums: Marsha Lucas (George Lucas's wife and his film editor - at 80) and Tom Kane (the voice of Yoda in Star Wars, among others) in May.

( personal health update )

This morning - I woke up with painful right knee. Felt like someone stuck a hot poker into the left side of the right knee. After hobbling about, making the bed, taking a shower, putting cream on it, and taking an aleve, felt better. Also sorted out the rest of the winter-spring attire to make room for the spring-summer attire. (There's a lot of clothing that I need to get rid of. I foresee lugging clothing to the basement in the foreseeable future. I take it down there - it magically disappears on its own. ) Actually standing on it for a bit - helped. I think I moved it the wrong way in my sleep. Oh well, I'm getting the first injection into it - this coming week - so that should help tremendously.

I felt accomplished and slightly better. (Back is just bugging me. Will do exercises shortly. Doing the heating pad first.) After that - it was around 11:30 am and I'd not eaten anything or taken my pills, so that had to be seen to.

But. Just as I was about to make brunch - I saw a wasp crawling along the inside of the apartment window. I stared at it in shock. First wasp I've seen in ...I can't remember how long? And it was a big one too. Cursed. And hunted for something to catch it in. ( Read more... )

After that I tried to make brunch - only to have the two freshly cracked eggs slide down between the stove and the counter top, because they got knocked out of the container I'd put them in when the coconut oil fell from the shelf into the container. I didn't give up. I still made fried eggs, grits and power greens (argula, spinach, and protein pea shoots with lemon juice on the greens).

So a productive morning?

Friday Five swiped from solenne.

1. Do you enjoy reading?

Oh I adore it. Which is kind of strange considering how long it took me to figure out how to do it. It didn't come easily. I'm the sort of person who appears to appreciate the things that don't come easily for me? Once I figured out how to read? I read everything in sight. I devoured books.

2. What is the first book you remember reading?

It was probably the Robin Hood picture book based on the Disney Cartoon. I also read Benji. Most books were read to me - such as the EB White Books, which I adored. The Little House on the Prairie novels that were read to me and I'd read. Ronald Dahl's Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and James and the Giant Peach. A lot of ghost stories.

But the first I loved was probably Watership Down, followed by Misty of Chinaook Island, Lisa Bright and Dark, Witches of Worm by Zelphia Keatley Snyder, The Westing Game, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien...

3. Who is your favourite author?

At the moment? It's probably Illona Andrews - who I've read just about everything they've written. They write urban fantasy, sci-fantasy, science fiction romance, and epic fantasy romance. But romance is slow burn and not the main focus of most of their books.

But it shifts a lot, and technically, I don't really have a favorite? My spellcheck doesn't like how folks are spelling favourite - it wants favorite. It's an American English Spell Check.

4. What is your favourite book?

There's too many, and it constantly changes? I mean it would be like picking a favorite pet or child? I've books I've loved and re-read multiple times - such as the Vicky Bliss mysteries, the Kate Daniels series, the Dresden Files, the Hobbit, Dune, Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Rider series, Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion, The Secret History....the Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge, Storm of Swords by GRR Martin, The Great Gatbsy...

5. What is the last book you read and the first you'll read next?

The Inheritance by Illona Andrews and a reread via audio book of Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher, currently reading This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Illona Andrews (hardcover and audio book), and Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand (e-book).

I really love books. I love reading. I love discussing books. I love analyzing them, I love writing them. As long as books exist, life is good. What I love about NYC is it such a book city. There are books everywhere. And people reading them everywhere. It's a city that loves to read, talk about books, sell books, and write books. It's my type of city.

My Aunt (mother's younger sister) advised Mother that Mackinack Island was rather touristy and crowded with tourists, reiterating what I'd learned from my attempt to get recommendations via dreamwidth. So, she's decided that maybe I should just come down to visit her in Hilton Head after all.
The logistics of traveling together seems to be an issue - well that and we can't find a place that makes sense to travel to. Before you suggest she just visit me in NYC? Been there done that multiple times over the years, and it won't work now - I don't have a fold out couch.

Work. Sigh. It's slow and kind of boring again (my work depends on other people and they aren't as efficient as I am.) But, the nice thing about advances in technology - is I have toys to keep me occupied at work now unlike the dark ages - aka the 1980s and 1990s, where I had nada. People don't realize how good they have it right now. In early 1990s, I bought magazines and read them at work to keep myself occupied. Now? I can play with my smartphone. Also the internet. And write my book, and/or play with my book on the computer. Also brought a little sketch book and colored pens. I'm all set. Usually I just drift off to sleep while meditating or reading about horror films on MicroSoft Edge (workplace browser).

I did accomplish a few things this week. Surprisingly enough. I wish I'd done the jury duty - it's been a slow week. But I couldn't risk it interfering with the knee injections, which start next week. And I'd have been anxious and irritated the whole time - worrying over it. With any luck they'll call me in August. But, I have no control over these things. I don't know why they need to put me in their pool at all. I live in a city with over 8 million people in it. It's not like they have a shortage of people. In Kansas - they never called me - because I went to law school and was automatically disqualified. Here? They don't have that rule. Which seems odd - considering NYC has more people than the whole state of Kansas does. So why could Kansas afford to be picky but not New York? (Yeah, I know Kansas has less court cases, but honestly, NY can't possibly have enough to include over 5 million qualified people.)

**

Making my way through the X-Men Animated Series (currently streaming on Disney +) - which I haven't seen since it aired on Fox (before Rupert Murdoch bought Fox and made a travesty of it, until Disney bought it from Murdoch somewhere around 2020) in the mid-1990s. And I only watched it intermittently back then. It aired between 1994-1996, right after law school and right before I moved to NYC. Hence the reason the sequel is entitled X-men '97 (it takes place one year after the original concluded).
Is it any good? Eh. It depends on what you like or what floats your boat? X-men is a superhero soap opera with insanely convoluted plots that appear to be written by folks on an acid trip. No one reads or watches the X-men comics for the plotting. They do it for the characters - it's a superhero relationship drama with a heavy thematic emphasis on human rights, and being an outsider or ostracized for being different. Mainstream comics, it's not - that's Batman and Superman and the Justice League, X-men is kind of counter-culture comics. They'd been around about thirty years before they took off briefly in the 1990s. Then disappeared again from the public eye, to resurface in a slew of movies and animated series, then went underground again.

So, is it any good? It's uneven. ( spoilers )
So a mixed bag, but that's true of the comics too. I kind of look at the X-men comics like published fanfic? With art? It varies by writer and artist, some are really good, some...make me wonder how they ever got hired and if the person who hired them was stoned at the time? But I feel like that in my own work place.

It is a good comfort watch though. Also, it dates well. Most things that aired in the mid-to-late 1990s do, though? The cultural vibe started to change around that time, and became a little kinder and more diverse. (Thank you NAACP and the LGBTA and Women's Rights movements - it didn't do it in a vacuum, it had help.) Also to be fair? The X-men and Marvel were always a bit on the liberal progressive side of the house. (DC not quite as much?) Stan Lee was very liberal. And the X-men had a pro-outsider or ostracized minority vibe. It's why I loved them, it's also why they were very counter-culture and kind of underground or cult.

The doctor wants to insert a gell into my knee which will act as lubricant or an oil job for the knee - or a cushion. Evaluation is in two weeks.
Then three weeks of injections, if insurance goes for it. Mother informs me this is standard practice - apparently she's had it done multiple times.
Also the stiff leg is normal. Plus, I appear to be walking more than most people do. (I average anywhere between 4,000- 10,000 steps a day depending on the day of the week.) They said walking and being mobile was a good thing, and to make sure I stand periodically.

This spiel motivated me to walk from the Doctor's office on Atlantic and Henry Street to the subway station on Smith and 2nd street. Which is approximately a 15-20 block hike or a little over a mile. I stopped along the way - in the B&N book store to pick up a few books (mainly the latest book by Illona Andrews - which is the first I've actually found in hardcover in a book store along with B&N's tote - bag of books). I spent way too much at B&N, they talked me into their premium membership card.
(Which I will most likely live to regret - already regretting it.) Note to self - stop going to book stores after doctor's appointments.

The books, I grabbed were for the most part across genres.

1. This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Illona Andrews

It's a portal fantasy, and a kind of satire of portal fantasy novels. The protagonist, Maggie, finds herself naked and muddy and alone in the world of the fantasy novels she knows by heart. But these aren't princess riding unicorns style fantasy novels, they are more along the lines of Game of Thrones fantasy novels. She has no powers, no friends, just her knowledge of the novels and the world depicted to an extent within them, and the fact that for some reason or other she can't die.

Sample?
( Read more... )

Pets book. Book and I are going to get along famously. Only one problem - I read it better with contacts and reading glasses. Bi-focals not so much.
But it does mean I can read it on subways - if I desire - even if it is a hard back book that takes up space in the backpack. Also has a very pretty cover. It's love at first sight. (I fall in love with books all the time. Books, music, movie and television shows. People - I've increasingly become leery of.)

2. Also picked up "A Walk in the Park - the true story of a spectacular misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarku" - per the back cover:

" Shortly after quitting his job to pursue the ill-advised ambition of becoming a white-water guide on the Colorado River, Kevin Fedarko was approached by his best friend, National Geographic photographer Pete McBride, with a vision as bold as it was harebrained. Together, they would embark on an end-to-end traverse of the Grand Canyon, a journey that McBride promised would be a walk in the park. Against his better judgement, Fedarko agreed - despite being dimly aware that there is no trail spanning the entire canyon and that the tiny cluster of experts who had actually completed the crossing billed it as the " toughest hike in the world"." [ It has pictures. And was Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Non-Fiction...] It's in large paperback.

3. The others are also large paperbacks, with bigger print than average paperback novels. "The Lies of Locke LaMora by Scott Lynch" a fantasy novel about a con gone famously wrong, with lots of twists. "The God of the Woods by Liz Moore" - in Large Print paperback - it's a mystery novel. When a teenager goes missing from her Adirondack summer camp - two worlds collide.

And some tea - Honey Lavender Black Tea from the Republic of Tea.

After that - I went grocery shopping at Union, picked up various gluten free items, and to Planted for a gluten free jelly donut (it was okay) and a chocolate chip cookie (gluten-free) - also okay. Not really worth the price of admission, so to speak.

**

4. Today was pretty. But I spent it inside sorting through clothing and yanking out spring clothes for 50s-80s weather. It's supposed to warm up next week.

Been in a grumpy irritable mood of late (hence the book buying) - so I'm glad the doctor's appointment on Friday went quickly and well. Part of it is due to physical issues. ( Read more... )

* Insominac Cookies Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies are by far - the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookies I've had from any establishment in my life.

* The only other good gluten-free chocolate chip cookies are from Bakery Island Foods - Chocolate Chunk Gluten Free Cookie Dough. It's excellent - I got it from Union. (I couldn't remember where I got it - so was happy to see it at Union again and grabbed two packages of it.)

I spend more on groceries - because of my diet restrictions. Gluten Free + Carb Free + Sugar Free + Fresh vegetables/Fruits and Fish and Eggs. Cheap groceries = pain and suffering.

***

5. Fandom Entertainment News

* The International Buffy Fandom is plotting a major protest and various activities in connection with it on April 14, Buffy's Birthday - aka International Buffy Day - with the first celebration happening on April 14.

"International Buffy Day is both a celebration and a protest, a global show of solidarity from Scoobies everywhere.

How to get involved:
( Read more... )

***

* "X-men Film Reboot News" - X-men reboot director has hired the show-runners of BEEF and The Bear to write the script
( Read more... )

* Spiderman: Brand New Day

* Super Girl - Woman of Tomorrow - about Super Girl saving her dog and getting revenge in space. Actually this flick looks really good. I think they finally found someone who understands the DC Universe to show run these flicks?

* Avengers: Doomsday - all the official trailers so far

* Star Wars Films currently in the works

***

6. Television

Watched this week's The Pitt, and Robby really resonated with me. ( spoilers )

I realized recently when people say - I just want to go home (my father and grandmother said it all the time prior to their deaths, almost on an hourly basis) - they aren't talking about a place on earth, a house, or even family - but home, the source, where their "energy" originated from. To go back home to their source. Because being energy beings in degenerating meat sacks on a swiftly turning planet in the vast vacuum of space with oh such creatures on it - can be wondrous at times, but also deeply painful and often at the same time.

I've been struggling not to lash out. Suppressing the impulse to verbally smack folks upside the head for being idiots - has grown wearisome. Off to watch Daredevil kick some asses.

1. Came home, did the exercises. ( general state of health )

2. Oh as an aside on PT and knee/hip/leg issues? The ballerina in the Sinner's number at the Oscars - who did a split with one leg up in the air and other bent beneath her? She had hip replacement surgery about three months prior.

"Just weeks before the Oscars, Copeland had undergone hip replacement surgery to address various injuries from her decorated ballet career, including bone spurs and cartilage loss. Despite this, she was determined to be a part of the Sinners performance, which allowed her to step back on pointe and join the celebration of the film's success, including Michael B. Jordan's Oscar win for Best Actor."

In December 2025, Copeland underwent hip replacement surgery.
On March 16, 2026, Copeland appeared on stage during the Oscars performance of "I Lied To You" from Sinners."

https://nationaltoday.com/us/ca/los-angeles/news/2026/03/17/misty-copeland-joins-sinners-oscars-performance-after-hip-surgery/

3. Commute is irritating me - ( Read more... )

4. Work is also irritating me. ( Read more... )

5. Is this journaling or venting, I can't tell? Well at least it's mostly under a cut?

6. Stumbled upon the Florence + The Machine Song that references Buffy S6, finally. [Take that Christopher Golden (who told Charisma Carpenter in her podcast that he disliked S6 and thought the characters were Out of Character or OTT (?) - which probably explains why I found his Buffy novels unreadable and never bothered with them (I tried them in the book stores and gave up)) and all the other naysayers. (What can I say? Except that the Buffy fandom is a contentious and fractious one. Most are, actually. People rarely agree on anything - even the things they love - so this is hardly surprising? ) ]

The song is entitled "This Old Religion" - and I'd not really listened to it before today. I actually love it - it's a good song.
( This Old Religion )

Here's the lyric:
( Read more... )

6. Regarding Buffy - apparently they not only filmed the pilot, they even reworked the script when Hulu wasn't satisfied with it, and made the show more adult and more centered on the character of Buffy.

I'm fascinated with this - because it shows how impossible it is to get good television shows on the air. Crap is easy. But a good television show is really hard to put out there - you have to get around the network. And sci-fantasy is really hard because it is so expensive to produce. Why? They are looking for a sure-thing, so go by market analysis and logarithms and statistical data. Demographics. They used to do focus groups - and select a group to view something.

The way Hulu handled the Buffy revival and dealt with the creators involved - reminds me of my own experiences with the publishing industry ( Read more... )

And Gellar's comment about the executive at Hulu who disliked Buffy and bragged about never watching it - makes me want to drop my Hulu subscription. (I won't - I watch too much on it at the moment.)( Read more... ) The problem with our society is too many of the wrong people have all the power. That said? I like the New Mayor of NYC so far - he's coming across as a genuinely kind human being and proactive in his efforts to help all New Yorkers.

Chloe Zhao is less angry than Gellar - but Zhao has had different experiences having her hopes dashed and struggling with the corporate animal. (Zhao has had more luck than Gellar overall.) ( Read more... )

I know most of the folks who stumble across this - couldn't care less about the Buffy revival or Buffy. Depressing that. I miss the Buffy fandom. But alas, it scampered elsewhere. Mostly on Tumblr, Ticktock, Bluesky, Twitter, and Facebook. And that's not the fandom that I miss. I miss the one that analyzed the show, discussed things to death, and on occasion, not often, wrote fanfic.

7. I've joined then left a private group site on FB. "What to Do in NY" - I finally jumped out of. I decided its a tourist group site that exists solely to annoy the heck out of New Yorker's. (It's painful at times living in a highly frequented Tourist destination.) People would post, and all of the NY Residents on the site, myself included, would be compelled to state - no, no, you idiot, don't do that. Or yes, that's fine, stop worrying. Or for heaven's sake - if you are that concerned, just stay home, NY will eat you alive.

( examples of what not to ask - well if you don't want to annoy New Yorkers )
So, I finally gave up and left.

Current Mood: annoyed

Hello, it's been a nice and quiet Saturday. Temperatures in the mid to high forties and low fifties. Jacket and sweatshirt weather. Wore sweats for most of the day. Niece sent me a University of Montana sweatshirt for my birthday. I had bought myself the HOKA training/walking shoes (although not from the link provided) rec'd by the PT. Which I wore yesterday and took a twenty minute walk around the block and to MetFresh today. (I know I should probably order groceries? But I find I buy less and I'm more frugal if I go to the grocery store - plus exercise, since I don't own or drive a car and walk everywhere, well outside of using the subway.)

Also clear blue sky with a scant trace of cloud cover. But alas no flowers or greenery anywhere, unlike I'd found, albeit briefly, in Battery Park earlier in the week. (Green grass, and one bush. Spring! I thought. But alas, no, still winter.) So, aching for flowers and greenery - I purchased more cut flowers from the grocery store. Red Roses, and a bunch of purple and reddish purple flowers that I do not know the names of - one's a purple globe, the others look like various versions of purple and red baby's breath. I'd buy an actual plant - but I have a dreadful black thumb and kill them. The green thumb skipped me and landed on my brother. I have a black thumb. I can kill a cactus. And fake plants - I associate with dust.

**

I did a few walks earlier in the week - when it was still warm outside, before we slid kicking and screaming back into winter. The first was up the pier to check out the cherry blossom festival (or the fake cherry blossom festival) on Pier 15. (It only it actually looked like that? It doesn't. Ah, the wonders of photo-shop and AI.) The second was around Battery City Park - the grass was actually green with flowers, purple flowers sprouting from a patch in the middle of it - helped no doubt by the fact that it was sealed off from people and dogs - and only geese, birds, insects and squirrels could frolic in the enclosure. People and dogs can do a lot of damage. Want to grow grass? Keep dogs and people away from it.

I also saw a green bush. And I thought - ah spring. Then it was in the thirties and forties the next day, and felt like 29 degrees, and I thought, no, still winter. Dang it.

The bush has green buds on it - but you have to enlarge the picture to see it. Also we now have an open pier that you can walk along to see the Statue of Liberty. When the Tall Boats Conference happens in July - that entire walkway should be open - so people can walk along and look at boats in the New York harbor.

The second walk was admittedly more productive than the first. I got stopped along the way by a Statue of Liberty Ticket Ferry scammer who was attempting to tell me that I was going the wrong way to the Statue of Liberty Ferry. I ignored him.

**

Mother interrupted this entry with a phone call - to regale me with news from my brother. I rarely talk to him myself - and honestly, don't need to, she tells me everything he's doing, his daughter is doing, and his wife doing - his friends are doing - and various and sundry family members whether I want this information or not. (Well in snatches, she doesn't remember half of it - and it's the stuff that I'm usually curious about that she doesn't remember, while the stuff I was happier not knowing - she does).
( discussions with mother )

***

Television

* Scarpetta This is the series starring Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Simon Baker, and Bobbie Carnvale (along with his son) adapted from the Patricia Cornwall - Kay Scarpetta mysteries - which I read in the 1990s and early 00s, and now have only vague memories of. I honestly don't remember them at all, just the characters names, and vaguely their relationships with each other? I don't remember the FBI agent, or the sister, just the cop Marino and Kay. That means, I can be fairly open-minded about the series, and won't be comparing it to the books at all. And I didn't. I honestly can't remember much if anything at all about the books - and I read most of them.

Patricia Cornwall served as a consultant on the series, and it has a woman showrunner and director.

I want to like it? But there's something off about it? It's really kind of busy and noisy? I think I want to calm it down a little or cut some of it out? ( Read more... )

It's gotten mixed reviews? The professional critics seem to like it, but the audience really doesn't.

* Grantchester - this is on Netflix and PBS Passport. I like it better than Scarpetta. It's a historical mystery series featuring a young jazz loving Vicar who solves murder mysteries in his parish with a local homicide detective during the 1950s. The Vicar is a former solider who served in the WWII and is struggling to get past it.

* The Pitt - still enjoying this, although it seems a bit subdued from last year, not sure why. I think the characters are a little less on edge - or the characters that are on edge, aren't the principal characters so it's less apparent? Not sure. It's not a bad thing, just a tonal shift.

* Count of Monte Cristo - almost done. It's subdued as well, and very understated. I'm hesistant to rec too heavily? I'm enjoying it - because I kind of want understated and restrained and subdued at the moment. I'm appreciating it. I don't why. Maybe I'm tired of the noise that seems to surround me constantly? All the ads, all the marketing, all the noise...I want subdued?

This may explain why Scarpetta isn't working for me, but the Pitt, Grantchester, and Monte Cristo are? I'm apparently in the mood for a more realistic touch and a less frenetic high gloss one?

Off to bed.

Work and my commute are attempting to take bites out of my good mood, along with a potential rainy weather pattern coming into NYC for tomorrow. But I persevere and the cheeriness continues for the most part.

So too are various areas of the internet at work and at home, but not DW (so no worries).

1. MSN's browser at work throws stories at me - one was the headline: Woman's Hike Through Texas' Big Bend National Park Turns into a Nightmare. Thinking for a quick getaway from people and in nature, in the rarely visited park, a woman suddenly finds herself surrounded by hundreds of tiny animals and stumbles into a nightmare.

Trying to figure out what "tiny animals" would surround you and terrify you, I of course took a peek?

Sigh. I really wish I hadn't.

I'm arachnophobic - so no, I didn't read any more of the article (not because I can't read about spiders) - it had pictures. I can't look at pictures of spiders. They couldn't have written the article without the pictures? No, of course not. It's the internet. I hate the internet. It is doing a really good job of biting into my good mood. Fuck you, internet.

2. I apparently liked a few Buffy posts on FB, so FB keeps throwing all things Buffy related at me. Today it threw an Instagram Post by the guy who played Parker Abrhams on Buffy in S4, and who was also on Dawson's Creek shortly thereafter - he was posting a tribute to the lead of Dawson's who died recently from cancer. The gist? ( Read more... )

3. And MSN keeps throwing the following at me at work:

* how to prepare for retirement with $1M in 401 K or IRA and $2,465 Social Security. (Sigh, if I had $1M in 401K - I'd have retired already.)

* The best small towns or places to retire in every state. (They all have one thing in common? You need a car. I don't drive.)

* If you travel you shouldn't use a hard suitcase with wheels since it is banned in certain European countries, (Apparently for noise pollution and wear and tear on cobblestone streets? Too many tourists wandering about with baggage at all times at night.)

* No, it is better to have one since a back pack or duffel is hard on your back and you can't pack as much. (I wish people would make up their minds.)

* If you travel to these 20 countries - you will need an electronic visa or electronic authorization ahead of time - and provide before you get on the plane. (So what happens if your phone dies en route? Oh, brings up a story mother told me the other day - a man was denied passage on a cruise because he brought the wrong passport. He accidentally packed the expired passport as opposed to the new one. This is after traveling by bus all the way down to Miami, with people from the retirement center. Mother didn't seem to know what happened next, except that he turned down the offer to catch up with the cruise in New Orleans. He needed it for Mexico.)

* TSA has changed its rules and you need to ensure you do these 12 things, and not bring these things...

Sigh. Now I'm afraid to retire and travel. The stupid internet is stressful. I miss the days in which I didn't know all this crap.

***

It's also throwing television shows at me. Netflix has apparently added more shows. And the internet wants me to watch Sharp Objects on HBO, which it has decided is the best and most twisty thriller ever. ( Read more... )

Me and the Internet are at cross-purposes at the moment? I think AI has made the internet worse?

***

What else should I complain about?

I don't know what to read next. That's not a complaint. Right now I'm reading or trying out Illona Andrews latest novel - Inheritance, which they'd initially wrote as a lark or a serialized novella, no more than 12,000 words for their blog. But alas, it's become a two-book series. And they had to add a lot of world building. It reads a bit like a post-apocalyptic survival video game, actually, with banter. I can tell the writers played a lot of video games during the pandemic. Survival video games have become a thing - now. The internet was flinging those at me as well. And I'm admittedly tempted but afraid to put that on my phone or computer. Maybe the ipad? (No, Inheritance is not a video game - I switched tracks in mid-paragraph.)

The book, Inheritance, is about ( Read more... )

I'm hoping I don't regret grabbing Ministry of Time - I didn't know it was about the same thing the Terror television series is about when I purchased it. It doesn't tell you that. Hmm. Oh well, maybe it won't be an issue?

***

Took some long walks yesterday and today - first in a long time - at work location. First was up to the cherry blossoms on Pier 15, turns out they are fake cherry blossoms - so not worth the trip or tickets. (Why fake? I don't know, it's NY? It is odd though - I mean it's not like we don't have actual cherry blossoms in several botanical gardens, parks, and a cemetery in late March/early April? Maybe they got desperate and wanted to do it now?) The green houses are tiny, and claustrophobic, and you couldn't pay me to sit in one of them for dinner.

I have a picture of it - see below and assuming you can see it - let me know what you think?

The other walk will have to wait until tomorrow. Since long past bedtime for me. Good night all.

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shadowkat

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Page Summary

Monday is a holiday...so did laundry and vacuumed.
Saturday was lovely, today is rainy...and not worth mentioning
Reviews and other stuff...
Friday is contemplative...it's been an aggravating two weeks
Wednesday is running errands, fighting with annoying authors on Twitter, and taking a breather...
It's Thursday Right?
Saturday - I did nothing of consequence
Tuesday feels aggravatingly like a Monday...
This that and the other thingamagig
Spiderman Brand New Day Review among other things..
Saturdays takes a breather....
A hodgepodge of things? Television, Animation, Writing, and Laundry
Happy Birthday America...
Whatever you want to call this entry is okay with me..
My psuedo-productive morning and a book meme
This that and the 1990s X-men animated series...
Saturday blues...of varying degrees...
Pondering Life's Little Annoyances...
(no subject)
This. that and fake cherry blossom festival (it's NY)

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Style: Sea and Salt for Nouveau Oleanders by branchandroot
Resources: OpenClipart and Oceanside Twilight

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Page generated Oct. 26th, 2026 05:28 am

Spontaneous Musings

from a curious soul

Entries tagged with personal

Monday is a holiday...so did laundry and vacuumed.

Saturday was lovely, today is rainy...and not worth mentioning

Reviews and other stuff...

Friday is contemplative...it's been an aggravating two weeks

Wednesday is running errands, fighting with annoying authors on Twitter, and taking a breather...

It's Thursday Right?

Saturday - I did nothing of consequence

Tuesday feels aggravatingly like a Monday...

This that and the other thingamagig

Spiderman Brand New Day Review among other things..

Saturdays takes a breather....

A hodgepodge of things? Television, Animation, Writing, and Laundry

Happy Birthday America...

Whatever you want to call this entry is okay with me..

My psuedo-productive morning and a book meme

This that and the 1990s X-men animated series...

Saturday blues...of varying degrees...

Pondering Life's Little Annoyances...

(no subject)

This. that and fake cherry blossom festival (it's NY)

Profile

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags