The Cantina Staring Back At You From The Abyss

[E.F.B.]

Boo for ouchie elbows and rainy Mondays! As someone who has dealt with an ouchie elbow to the point of needing PT in 2017, I highly recommend alternating heat and ice, massaging the sore muscle, stretching the arm, and probably most importantly, using hand weights to strengthen the muscles that support that muscle so it stops getting strained. Doing these things has kept me ouchie elbow free for going on 6 years. (A brace did absolutely nothing for it to be totally honest.)

So, dad was getting miffed about the lack of satellite box and was calling our provider to find out where it was, but they said it was coming by FedEx and should arrive today, but couldn't give us a tracking number. Dad called FedEx and spoiler alert: They couldn't tell him where it was without a tracking number. Exactly ten minutes after he hangs up on everyone and is going on about writing letters to executives, the satellite box arrives... by UPS. Could explain the lack of a FedEx tracking number.

Me being the resident tech support, I got to set the thing up. You're supposed to be able to type in the url the instructions give you and do the set up online, but guess what??? All that does is take you to your customer profile on the provider's website. Yes, even if you use the site's search function and click the set up link from there. So I absolutely had no choice but to call their tech support number and have a human walk me through it. Good human was very helpful and now everything is working. *collapses in tired heap*

 

[Brightdreamer]

Hooray for functional satellite boxes!

Boo for hassles!

Yeah, I need to look up some elbow exercises online. I have 2-pound weights to help strengthen things, but I don't want to mess things up doing the wrong exercises with them.

Back (at last) from the excursion. Got some reading time in waiting for Mom at PT. Also got her to the local credit union branch so she got some stuff done there she'd been putting off. And we hit a grocery store on the way home. Now I'm waiting for my tomato soup to cool for a latish lunch. (Would've done a sandwich, but I'm making sandwich for work lunch tomorrow and don't want to burn myself out on sandwich.)

 

[MaeZe]

Hooray for getting stuff done.

I, on the other hand, haven't done shit yet today even though I have a very long list of things I need to do.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I realise only now that I haven't even tried to make New Year resolutions this year. Like, didn't cross my mind at all. For some reason I find it strange, but at least that's one less expectation to fail at anyway. So probably for the best.

Delivered five boxes of unwanted stuff at goodwill. I just wish you could see it gone at the house. Ah well. They're gone!

Sorted half of the family's library. Yesterday I got the kids' books are all sorted by author and theme for when the nephews come around again. Moved the scarier books up away and the funny, younger books down so they can help themselves. We'll see if it makes a difference.

Did the SFF shelves today.

Found two spots where my previous cat used to spray. I guess he got in one last time before we moved the sofa in his way. Heh. I guess no one read those bottom shelves books in those thirteen years since he passed. Good thing they were all stiff-boarded books so they clean up nicely. Still thinking of you, my grumpy lil' Jinx...

That leaves the biggest half of the library for last, my mom's detective novels. That's going to take me quite a bit longer, I fear. Still, I'm doing things. And that makes me happy. [EDIT: aw crap, didn't see your post up there before, Maeze, now I feel like a jerk for harping on getting things done. Sorry! )

And for meanness they made threats to dox me, said they were Googling my name and would find out where I worked. This is a forum that one is required not to be anonymous. These people live in the same or nearby cities. Many of them know my last name because I didn't realize I could have just my first name and last initial showing for much too long.

Wut?

Some people...

But yeah, the exact reason I ain't joining the neighbourhood's online network just yet.

Is the Terry Pratchett stuff anything from Discworld perchance? I only recently read Going Postal and the next few books in that series and I absolutely adore them.

Not just Discworld, but everything I've got from him apart from the Long Earth series as I keep those specifically for the sumer holiday.

But mostly it was so I could read his last Discworld novel. I had been putting it off because well, it is the last. So I figured if I reread everything in one long comforting re-read, the synergy will pull me through the last one in one swoop and it did. It shows he was still working on it when he died but I'm glad I've read it. GNU Terry Pratchett.

Going Postal is a good'un! But really, considering I'm a fan, chances are low you'll find me saying there's a bad one. But the upside is, really, you can pick up pretty much any Discworld book without having read any other. It's quite an achievement in itself when you think of it. (Although, if you do read all the others, there are interestings things to pick up on when read in succession.) That said, I enjoyed Unseen Academicals least because I dislike football.

So when we have any snow more than a few inches (a frequent occurrence at high elevation in the MOUNTAINS), I've learned to just expect that I will get no mail for days, and must then deal with the torment of the Line at the Post Office. Most days I feel it's a miracle if we ever get anything delivered. SO much fun.

So much for 'neither snow nor rain', eh?

Still haven't worked my way through the entire X-files the first time around.

 

[MaeZe]

[EDIT: aw crap, didn't see your post up there before, Maeze, now I feel like a jerk for harping on getting things done. Sorry! )

Don't be silly. Yay for more productive days.

I'm about to get up and make lunch.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Hooray for late lunches!

As for X-Files... some great stuff, though a definite quality drop off by the end of the original run. (As for the revivals... oddly enough, the first six-parter was a perfect condensation of my entire X-Phile experience, up to and including why I stopped caring, to the point where I didn't even bother watching the second limited series.) Still an iconic show, though, and paved the way for many later series. (And, like I said, I made some great friends at the time, so I'll always associate it with that.)

And it's Tuesday evening, windy and rainy, as another "atmospheric river" wends through the region. Sibling seems to actually be sleeping, which is good. Needs to adapt her sleep schedule on work days/nights, at least until she's off graveyard (which I'm really hoping she is eventually, though for now it's perfect for getting her back into the swing of working life.)

As for me, I'm getting stuff ready for early start work tomorrow: setting my alarm, loading my phone with my audiobooks (and hopefully synching it up to where I left off - for some reason it doesn't always want to synch with progress on other devices, even though it sometimes randomly decided, on titles I have never downloaded before, that I was somehow further ahead on another device and would I like to synch up with that? No, you idiot Overdrive, I would not like to synch up with my other, phantom self. I've read enough SF to know that's a risk to my entire timestream, meddling with alternate universe versions of me...). Will make my sandwich later. Whee.

Oh, yeah - saw in a work e-mail that someone at work last week tested positive for COVID. Current policy is to "monitor for symptoms", otherwise show up and keep doing what we're doing, namely masking and distancing and test if we think we have it. Like anyone in this area could get a COVID test if our lives depended on it right now...

 

[E.F.B.]

Morning, Cantina. Dad's happy now that he's got the satellite back and can watch his sports and such again. I'm happy that we can record the things we don't have time to watch, or are on at the same time as other things we want to watch, but sad that we lost allll the recordings on the previous box. Guess I'll have to try to write down from memory the things we liked enough to want on DVD and finally get them that way.

ION: I kept thinking last night that I smelled something yucky in the house, but no one else was commenting on it so I didn't say anything thinking it might be the kitchen trash. But then I kept smelling it and was smelling it nearly everywhere in the house. Spoke up, and mom says she's already taken the kitchen trash out, so it wasn't that. And she didn't smell it because her chronic stuffy nose issues from the Bell's Palsy make it hard for her to smell anything half the time. Dad didn't smell it because Dad is the living embodiment of "nose blind" and doesn't notice smells whether the smell is good or bad. (Seriously, he *thinks* scented candles bother him, but I can burn one all day and as long as he never *sees* it, he doesn't smell them and no, they don't actually bother him allergy-wise as I've paid close attention and there is zero connection between the days I've burned a candle while he was napping and the days he has his allergy symptoms going on. Honestly, some of his worst allergy stuff has been when I haven't burned any candle for a week or more, which makes one wonder...)

Aaaaanyway, I put up with the smell all night, but after continuing to smell it half the morning , I determined there HAD to be something rotting in the kitchen because there was no other explanation and I couldn't put up with it anymore. Got mom to dig through the potato and onion bags since she was sitting right there and YUP, there was a potato so rotten it was breaking down into liquid. It's now out of the house, but will take a bit for that smell to clear out. Oh the joys of being the only person in the house with a good sense of smell. Speaking of scented candles... *lights the orange and clove one*

 

[MaeZe]

At least it wasn't a dead thing (mouse/rat) in the walls or under the house. I've had to cut holes in the drywall before and climb under the house. It's either that or wait months for the smell to dissipate.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Boo for stenches!

Wednesday afternoon, and am lazing for a bit before I have to start dinner. Long work day was long. Shopping also occurred, which made it longer. And, in addition to dealing with Dad's morning INR appointment before work, I may have to pick up prescriptions after work tomorrow.

Give me a frellin' break, universe. Overtime's enough of a pain in the tail. I get why the sibling will be unable to do Dad's AM appointment, but is she seriously going to be incapable of picking up a prescription, too?

Mergh...

I don't wanna cook dinner. Why can't someone else cook dinner?

*throws apron on smibble and chucks it at the kitchen*

*smibble misses kitchen and sails out the window, escaping into the yard*

Dang it...

 

[RunForPresentense]

Who is smibble and how are they fairing in the yard post fling!? Inquiring minds have to know!

Also i so felt the same about cooking dinner tonight. But I do -usually- like the things i cook and I’m happy i did it afterward. I borrow from future happy face to balance diner making ornery face. Is chucking smibble out the window the way you usually get through?

 

[Brightdreamer]

Smibbles are little furry critters that populate the Cantina when nobody is around. They're usually harmless...

And the window smibble has embarked upon an epic quest of some sort, and was last seen in the company of a wizard, and elf, and and anthropomorphic rabbit... and, yes, it was still wearing the apron.

Wednesday evening. Dinner was made (by me, not the lazy smibble: turkey taco night), dishes were washed, and I took a quick shower so I don't have to do that tomorrow, because it's going to be hard enough dragging my lazy tail out of bed in time for Dad's ridiculously early appointment, and literally as soon as he's back home I'll have to head out to work.

They're talking long hours at work next week, too. (Existing backlog will be compounded by MLK Day closure.) Hopefully without the added complication of INR appointments.

I am so, so wishing vacations were an option in the time of COVID it ain't even funny...

--

Thursday morning, up way too early for my tastes, and it's raining.

Because of course it frellin' well has to be rainy, the morning I have to drive someone up to Swedish, then back home, then drive myself out to work to show up late anyway...

At least I got some sleep.

(And I still haven't gotten an idea for Sisyphus, dang it...)

 

[Friendly Frog]

The library is ordered! Whoo!

Also we managed to cull 72 books that have been at the back of a shelf unread for maybe thirty years or so. And this for my mom who can't get rid of books easily. Well, neither of us can, really. It runs in the family.

Took us two days for the last bookcase, though. I'm knackered. I won't be doing this again in a hurry, but the beauty of it is I normally shouldn't have to now, for at least a few years. We made space enough so new books can go immediately where they should and can be found fairly easy.

Found a few books that I didn't know we had, so my immediate reading list is already quite taken care for.

Don't be silly. Yay for more productive days.

I'm about to get up and make lunch.

Heh, sorry. This far gone in the pandemic I feel like I can barely talk to people without saying something stupid.

Oh the joys of being the only person in the house with a good sense of smell. Speaking of scented candles... *lights the orange and clove one*

*sends EFB ALL the scented candles she can find*

 

[Gatteau]

So much for 'neither snow nor rain', eh?

Nor sleet nor ice nor wind nor cats nor dogs nor zebras… Think we need a new slogan here, guys. “Sometimes you’ll get mail, enjoy the suspense!”

Speaking of which, that box of wine finally says it’s actually on a truck out for delivery today. And of course, being wine, they require an adult signature at time of drop off. So I’m going to have to either sit here and wait all day or risk missing them and incurring additional delays. What to do, what to do…?

And I enjoyed Shadow & Bone. (Did not care as much for the book, but am trying Six of Crows and so far it's off to a better start; the thief characters were my favorite part of the show, anyway, so it figures.)

I read Six of Crows last year, really liked it! I was surprised but excited to see those characters appear in the show (Jesper has been my favorite from the beginning ) especially because I was under the impression that the Shadow and Bone books were not contemporary chronologically. I haven’t read those books yet, but from the small excerpt, I got the feeling that it was geared to a slightly younger audience. Six of Crows felt a bit more mature and was easier for me to get into.

 

[Brightdreamer]

The events of Six of Crows are actually supposed to take place some time after the Shadow & Bone trilogy, but the characters were spliced into the Netflix show to beef up the storyline (a wise move, IMHO, given the thinness of the source trilogy); IIRC it was envisioned as a sort of prequel/origin, though if you ask me it's because the characters were inherently more interesting, for being better written. Could've carried a show on their own, TBH. And Bardugo definitely honed her writing chops between the two series; you can tell that much just from the first few pages of each. I still feel a vague urge to finish off the Shadow & Bone trilogy, as I hear even within those three books she improves, but I'm far more interested in the thieves. (As for the Netflix adaptation, they literally steal the show, there...)

And hooray for ordered libraries!

Well, it's Thursday afternoon, on a day that started way, way, way too frellin' early. Dad's INR number's still high, but not nearly as high as it was, so he has to go back in two weeks. The next appointment's on a Monday or a Tuesday, though, so no work interference. (As it was, I was only half an hour late. Which is better than I thought I'd manage.)

Tonight, I hope to be able to watch the series finale of The Expanse. But it's a longer episode, and I expect family to be loud and annoying and generally not giving a frell that this is something I really, really, really have been looking forward to...

Mergh...

--

Friday morning, and early start at work looms soonish. At least it doesn't seem to be raining. Yet.

Got to watch the series finale of Expanse the other day. Intense, and a fitting conclusion (with "sequel potential"). That really was one heck of a ride... though I still say the Strange Dogs novelette should've gotten its own mini-show to do it justice.

 

[MaeZe]

Well crap! It happened again. I wasn't paying attention to my feet and I tripped again. Not all that bad except my muscle strength wasn't enough to get back up. This is just terrible.

Three kind people came to help, the benefit and embarrassment of falling in a public area during the day.

Nothing broken, just a new slew of bruises on my knees and other misc places like one both boobs.

I really need to lose weight and exercise my arms and legs if I'm going to deal with this new disability.

Edited to add places bruises are showing up that didn't show up at first.

Sigh...

 

[Brightdreamer]

Boo for gravity and boob bruises!

And it's Friday night, about to head bedward.

Work was a thing that existed. We're apparently now going to be down three people on our shift at work. If anyone knows someone east of Seattle interested in a part-time light warehouse gig, point 'em our way... (We're also working long hours next week, because backlog. Hey, extra money. And extra audiobook listening time.)

Shopping existed after work (just a quick Target run, because almost out of Mocha Mix and sick of Target and Freddy's).

As did bringing the full garbage can up the road, because apparently garbage collector strikes also decided to exist. (Ironically, I almost forgot to bring the thing down in the morning; would've saved me the hassle if I had.)

Mergh...

On the plus side, I get to sleep in tomorrow. That's something.

--

Saturday morning, and dense fog has rolled in. (Mom actually got a "dense fog" alert on her computer before it arrived.)

Managed to snooze in. Also managed to lose both duster things, so my plans to dust as part of the room tidying today are suspended pending location of a duster thing. Later today, I hope to take yet another crack at rear defroster repair with my new rear defroster kit (and my hair dryer, as evidently temperature does matter, unlike what the anemic instructions on the previous kit mentioned.)

And my favorite pair of wireless headphones, the Avantree Auditions with the comfy ear cushions and super long battery life, may be dying, as I can't seem to keep them synched with the Bluetooth transmitter. Fortunately, I got a backup pair, which I'm charging up now. And I have a little pair I normally use with my phone at work that are doing the job in the meantime. (If the new pair work, I'll have to get another backup pair.)

Okay, lazy twerp. You may not be able to dust, but you can still sweep and get the bed sheets changed. Get moving...

--

And it's Saturday afternoon. Fog eventually dissipated, leaving a much brighter (if not clear) day.

I did, indeed, get the room swept. So that much happened. Also attempted the third swipe at fixing the rear defroster in my car (if you count the fuse pulling as a swipe). Will have to test it tomorrow, though. It has to be run a while, then felt on the outside of the glass, and if it gets hot you need to seal around the metal tab some more. Since I just had the hair dryer on the thing for over half an hour on high (an attempt to heat set the silver epoxy stuff; no idea if I got it hot enough, as I don't have a thermometer on me), the glass is rather warm as it is, so I figure I'll wait until tomorrow when it's nice and cold again to do that.

Mergh.

May try to exercise before starting dinner (tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich night). Sinuses are trying to sinus again, though, so this could be Fun.

(And I killed off my second pair of headphones today while doing car stuff; my scuzzy workshed earbuds, which have Apoxie and paint all over them but which I used when out in my workshed so I didn't get Apoxie all over anything good, finally conked out because the little wires in wired earbuds always conk out sooner or later. May demote my old Avantrees to workshed status as wired headphones if I can't resolve their bluetooth issues.)

 

[MaeZe]

Do you get Monday off BD?

Well, day two and the aches and pains have now set in. My shoulders are informing me they prefer not to move.

There are more bruises showing up, some in places like the back of one knee that I can't figure out how I hit anything there.

And neither Tylenol nor ibuprofen are doing shit. Or at least I'm not sure it would be worse without them. Fortunately, I don't mind another excuse to be lazy on the couch, though I did go up and down the stairs twice (pretty pitiful) for exercise.

Oddly, I was horribly out of breath doing it but my pulse oximeter said my O2 sats were just fine. My heart rate was up but that's all. It's a good sign I don't really have lung disease that is rapidly progressing.

Until it happens, it's hard to imagine one's muscles are too weak for one to get up off the ground. It's a bizarre cluster of symptoms for sure.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Mondays and Tuesdays (and weekends) off on my shift/the shift that's hiring, though I usually end up running family errands on days off, especially now that the sibling has a job (which is still weird to type). Let me know if you want the job page link (or if they need a name for referral purposes)...

I wonder if bruises sometimes show up in different areas than the ones directly hit due to fluids being weird, sort of like how leaks sometimes show up in a different place from where the water actually originates...

Fingers crossed you get better soon, and start getting a little stamina back (or at least get a useful diagnosis, here).

'Tis Saturday evening, and got rooked out of both exercise time and transcription time by family being family. (Mom decided that bills needed to be paid Right Then, which she needs help with, and then her glasses broke and she needed help replacing the screw - which turned out to be some weird proprietary screw because the ones in my repair kit thing that have worked for just about every other glasses repair job I've attempted simply would not thread through the irregularly-sized temple holes. Of course... so we rigged up some wire to hold the temple in place and she's just going to have to get new glasses, which she's about due for anyway. But that all took way, way too long to fool with, because glasses screws suck and it takes about five hands to hold everything and I eventually had to track down one of those little craft clamp stand things to help, which is when I discovered the proprietary screw Issue... gah.)

So I might just say to heck with the evening, do some spitballing (still coming up snake-eyes on Sisyphus ideas aside from a few vague notions around which anything resembling an actual story refuses to coalesce). and crawl into bed to try to finish off my Kindle read (which has started to irritate me, TBH, especially if it goes where I think it's going to go).

 

[MaeZe]

For sure blood drains in odd places as a bruise resolves. Generally gravity directs the flow. That huge hematoma on my shin from the fall before this one drained all the way to the tips of my toes. But it took many days.

The bruise on the back of my knee showed up a tad too fast to be gravity assisted draining from the front of the knee. But I do get some out-of-proportion bruises because of the prednisone I take. Who knows.

I am glad I didn't land directly on my shins because that could have made the almost healed hematoma come back. And I had a routine mammogram last month so I'm glad this didn't happen just before that. I can imagine trying to explain how my boobs got so bruised up.

Too bad you don't live closer. I have dozens of reading glasses around here, don't ask me why because I don't know.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Sunday, late morning, and already had to go out (even though I have to go out tomorrow, too, and Tuesday) to mail some bills because Mom wanted them mailed ASAP. On the plus side, got to field test the rear defroster repair. It seems to be working insofar as conducting electricity, but it's getting warm to the touch which means I need to patch up the contacts with more silver epoxy stuff, which means another round of heat setting with the hair dryer. There goes the afternoon...

And I have a book review to write up, too.

--

Afternoon. Lunch accomplished. Exercise accomplished. Review accomplished.

Now I suppose I'm out of reasons not to accomplish defroster repairs. Lazy is an insufficient excuse, dang it...

 

[MaeZe]

I dunno, I use lazy as an excuse all the time.

 

[Gatteau]

So I've been kinda grumpy this evening, I came here and was going to do a bit of healthy griping... then a song called "I Won't Complain" came on my playlist... ok fine.

It's not like I had a bad day anyway. Got outside for our forest walk with the dog, sun was shining, slight bite of chill in the air but not too bad, doggo didn't even run off on us this time. I did slip and fall on a stupid patch of ice I've managed to avoid the last few walks, but not banged up at all (hope you're healing MaeZe!). Then got home to pop some ravioli in a pot and heat up leftover bolognese sauce for easy dinner (also a slick maneuver to avoid the dishes piling in and around the sink), and finally play around with my limited skills on InDesign to mock up book cover ideas. The doggo hasn't even been bothering me, went to go lie down on his own somewhere.

So why grumpy? I dunno. Things are fine. Gotta try and remember that.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Moods don't necessarily have a logical correlation to circumstance.

And it's Sunday night. Running out of things to do with my day, so I might crawl into bed a bit early and read until sleep occurs. Got to shop again tomorrow (whee). And I expect Mom to tag along again to "get out of the house", even though she "got out of the house" by tagging along today, and will "get out of the house" again on Tuesday for her physical therapy.

And she wonders why I never go anywhere for myself... "myself" doesn't work when someone's always "tagging along"...

 

[E.F.B.]

Yesterday, we had another winter weather event. It started at 10am with a couple inches of dry snow, followed up with some brief sleet, a little more snow, and then the rest of the evening until 10pm with freezing rain. We were SUPER nervous that the power would go out again (30 hours without power so you have to sleep in an increasingly cold house is a smidgen traumatizing.) but thank goodness, it never did. Today it's sunny and the stuff is already starting to melt off. Yay!

 

[Brightdreamer]

Hooray for power!

Boo for freezing rain!

Monday, just past noon, and it feels like early spring out there. The Anna's humms are even getting extra-riled up and doing their whistle-dive displays.

Just got back from shopping. Yippy skippy. Now I need to nuke something for lunch if I can ever get kitchen access. (If not, that's why I keep a stash of trail mix in the room...)

--

And it's Monday night. Managed exercise and a little site stuff, plus some reading while exercising (advantage of foot pedal days is free hands). Dinner omelet existed. Sibling seems to actually be getting some sleep before graveyard, so I didn't dare wake her up. I hope they get her on a different shift at the end of the month; this is really hard on her as a natural morning person, to be working all night, but it is the ideal learning time with the store so much less busy. (Ironically, she was peeved about another coworker having a meltdown and being late to work, meaning she had to stay an extra half hour or so until they got it together to take over. Maybe seeing meltdowns in other people will help her learn to control her own...)

And for all nobody who was curious: the rear defroster is still getting warm after use, on both sides, not just the side I fixed. So either it's something I just haven't noticed about rear defrosters or it's something I'm just going to have to live with because there's no possible way I can get more silver epoxy smeared around the repaired contact. It does seem to defrost, at least, so that's a lot better than it was.

I think I'll see if there's anything to transcribe... (Narrator: But there was nothing to transcribe.)

--

Tuesday morning, another driving day (Mom's PT, followed by shopping; at least I get some reading time in while waiting for the PT to be over). Still beating my head against the wall over Sisyphus ideas, dang it... need something to go on by the end of the month.

--

And back from PT and shopping. Got lunch out the deal, at least. With a chocolate cookie. Still a hole knocked through the day... Now I need to do something useful between now and dinner starting time.

The lighting looks weird today. Sun burned through briefly, but everything was low and dark and cloudy-streamery on the hills. And it still feels like early spring, not midwinter... I feel like we're being set up for something Not Fun in the weather department before actual spring.