splanky

I've been experimenting with my journal entries in the last week or two, ( Read more... )

We had a family get-together for the public holiday, ( Read more... )

The board game club had another of their long public holiday sessions ( Read more... )

I had a doctor's appointment this week: a routine thing, not because anything was wrong with me. ( The next bit involves injections )

I don't think I've mentioned in one of these posts that I've started reading Solzhenitsyn: ( Read more... )

( Movies current - Ocean - and upcoming - including ) Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. The latter had the tagline "Only monsters play god", which is staking out a position in the "'Frankenstein' is not the name of the monster" discourse that I respect.

I finished playing through The Beekeeper's Picnic. ( Read more... )

I got to Parkrun only slightly late this week: ( Read more... )

I've had several experiences this week where I was reading someone's description of their experiences with ADHD and thinking that it sounded worryingly familiar. ( Read more... )

I was yesterday years old when I learned that "Womble" is an actual real surname that actual people really have. (Apparently, it's derived from the Yorkshire town of Wombwell.) The context was somebody mentioning a law firm called Womble Bond Dickinson; the relevant founding partner was apparently called B. S. Womble, which is one of the most made-up-sounding real names I've encountered in recent memory. (His full name was "Bunyan Snipes Womble", which sounds like a law firm all by itself.)

pedanther

#17: Read a book with a title that starts with the same letter as the last name of the previous book's author.

First attempt: Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore, a collection of sword & sorcery stories that were first published in Weird Tales in the 1930s alongside the likes of Conan the Barbarian, but have the historical distinction of being written by a woman and having a female protagonist. (The first story has one of those openings where it spends a couple of pages describing a heroic armoured figure before the helmet comes off and everyone, presumably including the original readers, is surprised she's a woman.)( Read more... )

Second attempt: John Brown: Queen Victoria's Highland Servant by Raymond Lamont-Brown. ( Read more... )

Third attempt, for the sake of moving things along, was Chris Van Allsburg's Jumanji, which is a lot shorter and less complicated than the movie it inspired, but still fun. I appreciated the turn it took at the end.

#18: Read a book in the same genre as the previous book.

Taking the genre as "short, plentifully illustrated children's book featuring animals", I opted for The Animals Noah Forgot by the Australian poet Banjo Paterson, which also counts for the June prompt in the Buzzword challenge (a word in the title related to remembering or forgetting). ( Read more... )

fred_mouse

working on Eldest's 21st quilt (yes, it is very overdue). Worked out what is needed, what I have, how the colours are going to be picked for the sections that I'm adding (because the original had a large square of white in the top left corner, so I've started the pattern at the third row, and have to add two rows at the bottom).
today's goal was to identify pieces for four blocks (of the remaining 24), stretch goal to sew them, extra stretch goal to finish assembling that strip (combining rows 5/6 into a single piece). I stalled out at identifying what fabric was suitable for the current set of blocks -- there are so many pieces!
Old Shanghai for the traditional post-con Wednesday gathering. There was some lamentation at the lack of pancakes, and conclusion that the last Pancake place had closed a decade ago.

fred_mouse

With the dramatic change in how I spend my weeks upon me, I'm revisiting Habitica to see what needs doing. I did a bit of a tweak last week, working through my habits list and deciding what was good. I haven't posted that here, because it needed editing, and at this point it is unlikely that I will. However, what do I have in dailies, and how am I going to change it?

Daily journal - this is going just fine, and it is important to my daily process for getting things done; keep
progress at least one to-do - I haven't been making good use of the to-do list, so this has been an issue. Making it optional, possibly to delete.
Tuesdays: weekly update on annual goals - I miss this as often as I achieve it, but it is a useful reminder; keep
read things 'today' list - I haven't been doing this consistently, but it is useful when I do; keep
update the 100 days document with today's small tasks - useful reminder; making it optional
Minimum progress on current project; list of craft projects - delete; make a habit* for 'craft'. I want to keep it, I have a 67 day streak, but I just can't guarantee that I'll be doing it daily, and having it as an intermittent habit is better than beating myself up.
read a book (physical, ebook, doesn't matter) - another one with a good streak, although only 36 days, but can't continue to commit, so moving it to habits.
check notes files for anything I can progress - this is a valuable reminder; I don't want to move it to a habit, making it optional. This is because I have a long term goal of getting everything out of notes and into more sensible locations -- I use the notes app for whatever I need to record Right Now.
Delete anything out of DW inboxes -- useful reminder, but I now at least look at the inbox every day, so deleting
read three emails - useful reminder, does help a little. 53 day streak. Keeping for now, might make optional or delete if it is still too much
update email and safari tabs spreadsheet - the spreadsheet was working as a motivation for while, but now it isn't. I still have it open, and maybe I'll update, but this isn't important. Delete
read at least one page of a drawing book (optional) - I've kind of abandoned this at the moment. I might take the drawing journal to uni with me, and take it places on my lunch break, but I want that to be more relaxed. Delete.
blog post (optional) -- I don't think that aiming to post daily is a good idea going forward. While I wasn't working/studying, it kept me focused on what I was doing, but I'll have other things for that. Delete.

That leaves 7 daily activities, of which journal, reading the to do list and checking emails are required. My notes suggested adding a zotero related task, but I think I'm going to put that in habits instead.

* The advantage of moving things to habits is that on days that I do a lot of whatever, I can tick them off multiple times.

fred_mouse

I really haven't been putting much effort into tracking things here; my last post about it was 10th of May. At that point I had finished 2 projects of the 10 I'm hoping for, and made good progress on three. I've not finished anything else since, but I have made good progress on some

Previous good progress

towel rail - has not been progressed. I need a day a) without rain and b) that I have multiple hours available and c) (most importantly) that I remember this needs doing
door mat(s) - I've used up all the existing 'yarn' and I have half a rag rug. Every time I am surprised by how much 'yarn' it takes. I need to work out where I stashed the rest of the strips while we had a houseguest, and assemble more.
Teach myself to draw - this has stalled. I keep misplacing my drawing book or the sketch book I'm using, or the pencil. I need to get a better process.

Progressed since

pink / white / brown crochet blanket -- crochet finished, sewing in the ends. I think I'm half done on the ends?
brown / green knit -- this gets 4-6 rows roughly every second Thursday (when we game online) plus I've sat and worked on it while listening to podcasts.
T's jumper - a handful of rows. I need to make sure to do this every second day at least
blue / white virus blanket - I've finished the first of the two balls I had left, now on to the last one. It is just shy of 70cm square, and I'm on the 13th repeat of the pattern. I suspect this is the last repeat, based on available yarn. Hopefully I have enough to finish.
Eldest's quilt - I have laid it out, I have worked out what is needed to finish it. I have made and joined four blocks and worked out that I was doing something different from the book, and now those are going to be the front of a cushion, just as soon as they aren't attached to the quilt any more (basically, I'm adding 1/2" to each so the finished size is 9.5" rather than 9", but hadn't noted that down anywhere).
Knitting for Kitties - using up a couple of balls of yarn; the green one is done, and we have handed three squares over to purrdence

I'm reasonably happy with this progress. It is possible that either the knitting for kitties or the virus blanket will be finished next, because those are relatively portable. The former lives in my handbag; the latter is going to go in my uni bag (it is possible I will mostly stop carrying the handbag, because it doesn't fit a lunch or a laptop)

fred_mouse

This anonymous comment over on fandomsecrets made me laugh:

"But we didn't have cable growing up, just 4 or 5 channels on the TV and kids shows were only on at certain times, plus we just didn't watch much."

I grew up in the city. There were three channels (ABC, 7, 9), until 1986, when SBS launched here. The addition of channel 10 in 1988 brought us to 5. Cable television wasn't a thing for most of that time. I believe that the regional areas had two channels. I presume that most of the remote areas had none.

I have no idea how old that commenter was, but the idea of 4 or 5 channels still feels like luxury. Even though I've (yet again) been reminded about just how long ago 1988 actually was.

ETA: also, the part of the city I grew up in was really close to the transmitters for at least two of those stations. Because of physics, some of my school friends couldn't get at least one of those stations at home, because they lived too close to the transmitters (and sometimes because there was terrain in the way)

fred_mouse

We've had a bit of rain - nearby weather station recorded 10.2 to 9am yesterday, and 21.6 to 9am today. I haven't looked attotal for the last week, but in terms of June rain, that is good, but not unusual. It is, however, still raining.

ETA: From http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_009172.shtml mean June rainfall is 151 mm while median is 156 mm, usually 13 days of rain. It is the second wettest month.

fred_mouse

Today:

'tis wet. Very wet. be careful of water on the roads wet (not flood warnings, but the 'if you have a road that floods, it will' levels of wet)
driving tour for G attempting to hit as many items from their wishlist as possible. Beach and Bell Tower were possible; Fremantle Markets, caves, and whatever I've forgotten were not. We headed for Woodman Point, which is one place where I know that there is a car park right on the beach, so that G didn't have to walk very far (say, 10m total). Then drove what could be an interesting walking tour of Old Fremantle (markets, oval, gaol, arts centre, 2 * high schools), a drive past Heathcote, up the freeway, loop the loop around the Bell Tower, and then out to the aeroport.
relaxed afternoon, doing bugger all.

Yesterday:

Having a somewhat lazy day, after the hectic pace of SwanCon over the weekend (by which I mean that I was in bed well before midnight, and in fact did zero carousing, including failing to go to the Dead Dog). Slept in, dropped G in Innaloo, had anniversary lunch with A in Gwelup.
Other notable tasks of the day include bringing the washing in before it rained, running (and hanging up) two loads of washing, and setting the table back to 'every day' arrangement after having people to dinner on Friday. Every time I do that I think 'should do this more often' because there are so many fabulous people I don't get to catch up with nearly often enough.

fred_mouse

I have made zero progress on The Artist's Way in the last, hmm, three? weeks (maybe four, maybe more? I have stopped tracking). I do intend to keep working through it, but I've been doing the cycle of find the book, put it somewhere to progress later, forget, lose the book. My general thoughts

the morning pages are working. I'm doing them in 750words, and that makes it easier in some ways and harder in others. The later in the day I do them the more grumpy I am about doing them, because they really do work for me if I can clear my mind in the morning.
the artist's date idea doesn't work for me. I suspect if I didn't already have space carved out in my life for me to just do my thing, it would make a huge difference, but as it is there is more stress in trying to Do The Thing.
I hate the principles, I stopped reading them daily because I kept wanting to argue with them. Too culturally Christian, and too USian alien mind set (I have the same reaction to a lot of self-help type books out of the USA).
I understand the point of the affirmations, and I have a document of them I can read whenever (I just keep it open, but I should do something more accessible with it), but I find doing that daily beyond tedious. I had it in my daily to do list; I'm taking it out as part of my going-back-to-study paring down (post pending, still making the choices on that)
In the bits I've read, I've felt quite othered, because I don't have a strong feel of myself as a blocked creative.

Long term, I intend to at least read the rest of it. I don't think I want to try and do as many of the exercises. I did a decent job of the week 1, and I might have of the week 2, and I have a log document that I'll leave open. But I think that reading the book and ignoring the exercises might be the best way for me to get anything out of it now. Possibly stopping at the end of each chapter, looking at each question, and allowing max 5 minutes on each writing task (if I feel like writing at all) and then not trying to do a bit every day.

the tl;dr: I didn't like this enough to try and work on it daily.

fred_mouse

Backdated entry

Three of us got our annual flu vax today; this was slightly less organised than it might have been, and if I'd realised that the web page wasn't going to send the bookings through correctly (we got our confirmation SMSes after we got home) then I might have just tried walk-in (which the sign out the front says they are doing). Very much appreciate that for this month and next flu vax is free for everyone so we don't have to do the 'who is covered' thing. Reminder for Aussies -- flu vax! Get one if you haven't!

addendum Youngest attempted the walk in option, it was even less organised, which I didn't realise was possible.

leecetheartist

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pedanther

I haven't been watching the just-finished season of Doctor Who, ( and I was rather put out this morning to be told, by someone who assumed I'd already seen it, how the season finale ends )

In more cheerful TV news, the current season of Taskmaster is very, very good.

At board game club, ( we played Risk Legacy and Century: Golem Edition )

( Computer games: Battletech, The Beekeeper's Picnic, Mark of the Ninja )

( Reading challenges )

( Podcast: The Hidden Almanac )

( I overslept and missed Parkrun )

I've discovered a new word for the list of Words I'd Only Ever Seen Written Down And Was Pronouncing Wrong All This Time. This one is a character name: Methos, a recurring character from the 1990s TV series Highlander. I've been reading about him sporadically for decades, but I've never actually seen an episode with him in, and when I went looking for Youtube clips of Peter Wingfield performances a few days ago I discovered that I've been mentally pronouncing the E wrong: I always figured the first syllable of his name rhymed with "death", but it turns out it rhymes with "teeth".

pedanther

Fiction books
Andrei Baltakmens. A Hangman for Ghosts (e)
Eugene Byrne. Things Unborn
Diana Wynne Jones. House of Many Ways (re-read)
Diana Wynne Jones. Howl's Moving Castle (re-read)

In progress
Helen Simonson. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (e)
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, tr. Michael Guybon. The First Circle

Abandoned
CL Moore. Jirel of Joiry (e)

Non-fiction books
Xavier Duff. Noose: True Stories of Australians Who Died at the Gallows

In progress
Isaac Asimov. A Choice of Catastrophes

Abandoned
Raymond Lamont-Brown. John Brown: Queen Victoria's Highland Servant

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Ursula K Le Guin. Always Coming Home (e)

leecetheartist

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pedanther

Last night I dreamed that I came here to update my blog, only to find that the site had been shut down without notice and all Dreamwidth addresses now redirected to an ecommerce site flogging garden supplies.

At the bottom of the site, in tiny print, was a link to an announcement unapologetically stating that the shareholders had deemed Dreamwidth uneconomical and talking around the fact that - as my dream-self recalled - there'd been another statement back when Dreamwidth was bought out where they promised that it would stay the same old Dreamwidth and there would be no big changes without community consultation.

(At least I can be confident that, in the waking world, the actual owners of Dreamwidth wouldn't pull anything like that on us.)

(Now, Tumblr, on the other hand...)

fred_mouse

I've not been posting, because life has been exhausting. Some paperwork, some attempting to get the house under control with a different deadline than previous, some house-guest G, visiting from Canberra. They arrived Tuesday. Wednesday they had sorted to go out with a friend, and I spent much of the afternoon scanning SwanCon history stuff. Thursday we went to the Shipwrecks Museum and talked about what I know of Fremantle history; had a very mediocre lunch at a cafe that wasn't as good as I remembered from a couple of years ago; failed to go to the library; and went and watched Thunderbolts (I have opinions, but I haven't attempted to articulate them much). Today, we did a potted tour of the hills, going up Crystal Brook Road, stopping at the lookout at the junction of that and Welshpool Road; lunch at the Kalamunda Dome; G learning that gum nut babies (of May Gibbs fame) are actually based on real gum nuts and that May Gibbs is claimed as a local; a detour to the car park at Lesmurdie Falls and discovering that the path is short but too many stairs for G to see the Falls; wandering out to Mundaring Weir; taking a random set of roads that seem like home to me and meant that we could see the cut of the ZigZag down the hill; not doing a stack of things that would have been good due to limited time and energy. And then a small dinner party where we half arsed a range of things, but the food was tasty and the friends were fabulous.

and having written that out, I don't have the oomph to edit into more coherent and less run on sentences.

leecetheartist

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leecetheartist

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Current Mood: calm

gemfyre

1979
I am born in October.
Mum's water didn't break so the doctor broke it with a hammer thingy and scratched my head in the process. They didn't tell mum, just handed her a baby with a massive lump on its head. For years I claimed I could still feel the lump.
The family GP gives mum a copy of "Custard The Cowardly Dragon" which features a heroine named Belinda.

1980

I turn 1.
I don't remember it.

1981

I turn 2.
I don't remember it, but we fly to Melbourne to visit my aunt and newborn cousin. (this might have been in 1982)

1982

I turn 3.
I don't remember anything else.

1983

I turn 4.
For my birthday I get a book about how I'm all grown up now I'm 4 years old.

1984

The family drives to Melbourne to visit my aunt, uncle and cousin. I have vague memories of this trip.
I turn 5.
Either 1984 or 85 we travel to Dongara. Dad plays Ravel's Bolero (made famous by ice dancers Torvil and Dean) as we drive through the sand dunes. Bolero is forever more "sandhill music".
My brother catches blowfish, I keep some in a bucket for a day or two, then my brother "pops" them and disposes of them. I swear they came in blue and green colours, but now I know my local fish, the Weeping Toadfish comes in one colour - a creamy, greenish/brown.

My pre-school teachers are Mrs King and Mrs Hedland.
I have a ladybug cake for my birthday at school.
All us kids dig a complex series of channels and bridges in the sandpit.

1985

The family road trip is to Busselton and Augusta.
Our cabin in Busselton smells of the kerosene heater.
My brother catches a flounder.
We visit Jewel, Lake and Yallingup (Nigilgi) caves. A water drop falls on mum and the tour guide tells everyone, "okay everyone on three. One. Two. Three." *everyone goes "awwwww"*
Oddly I can't remember where we stayed in Augusta.
I turn 6. My mum invites my "friends from school". Most of those girls I didn't regard as my friends.

I start primary school
My teacher is Mrs O'Mara.
My best friend is Lisa Willmot, a girl the rest of the students have collectively decided is the lowest rung on the pecking order. This puts me on the second lowest rung.

For Christmas I get a trampoline (probably a joint gift to me and my siblings). And I get an orange pony toy with apples on her butt. Applejack is my first My Little Pony.

1986

We travel to Cervantes to stay with mum's cousin.
There are sea hares all over the beach.
I am in grade 2. My teacher is Mrs Robinson.
We have two class goldfish named Fergie and Andrew. Eventually they die and some of the kids blame me because I accidentally dropped this craft thingy made of a toilet roll into the bowl briefly.

This year and all through pre-primary school I am bullied, pins are put on my chair, I am accosted for my lunch money and sometimes walk home the long way to avoid this.
Because I have few/no friends I often eat lunch in the toilets, which feels safer.
One time I retreat to the toilets when chased by bullies and make "wooooo" noises like a ghost in hopes of scaring them off. A teacher comes in and tells me off for making the noise and makes me stand in a corner of a building for the rest of lunch. I cry while I'm there. It's also not a safe place to be outside like that.
I see dog faces in the terrazzo walls of the toilet cubicles.
I hate the large gap at the bottom of the doors and walls - some kids peek underneath them.
Thursday is fishburger day. I still remember the taste. I buy fruit balls with my canteen change, that way the bullies can't get money out of me.
If I can, I sit in the library most of lunch. No wonder I became a bookworm. For a few years I pretty much refuse to read fiction, only reading "fact books".

1987

Family road trip to Broome. Nanna Forbes comes with us.
I need to find my diary from this trip. Written in soft lead, smudging, pencil and a child's messy handwriting.
In Minilya we end up camped "next to a cesspit".
We stay at Wittenoom overnight and visit Wittenoom gorge where we have a close call with a kangaroo and collect rocks, some containing asbestos.
In Sandfire a friendly black cat sleeps in Nanna Forbes' feet and cows wander through the campground at night.
I fall in love with Broome.

I am in 3rd grade.
My teacher is Mrs Rennick.
We have a class bunny called Nibbles, who pees in Mrs Rennick's lap one time.

Saturdays are shopping day. I sometimes throw tantrums when I want something. Sometimes I get what I want. Specifically the My Little Pony Pretty Parlour and a beautiful big book called The Atlas Of World Wildlife. I love both things, and I still have them to this day. The book is probably one of the foundations of my lasting love of nature.

1988

Road trip to Monkey Mia. We stay in an onsite van on the beach. The woman next to us has a black cat.
I feed and pet the dolphins. None of these things are possible these days.
We meet a woman with hands attached straight to her shoulders - no arms. She is a thalidomide baby.

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leecetheartist

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splanky

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Reading

Week in review: Week to 7 June

Book Chain, weeks 12 & 13

[backdated] daily notes

Habitica

[100 days] Craft project update

Perspectives

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Daily notes

update: The Artist's Way

Daily notes

Swancon news

Week in review: Week to 31 May

Fiction log - May 2025

Ruler

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Rainbow Mermaid

Doing my stretches

In case I ever want to write my memoirs

Cosmic wiggle

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June 2025

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