january

1 - 7: decluttering tuesday

listening

reading
  • so I am in the middle of a two week visit home in which I am staying in my childhood bedroom. and I went. man. there sure is a lot of stuff in here that I simply have not thought about or missed since moving out. so I reread Marie Kondo's "Tidying Up" book and went to town. it's been really nice to do! found a few things that I forgot I had and actually am excited to keep and use! mostly got rid of things! her goofy little "thank inanimate objects" thing is unfortunately the exact flavor of personification of objects that my sentimental ass needs, so. yippee. her book has some . interesting. comments on people's weight and etc things which is very weird but also probably of its time and her specific cultural background baggage. I did some poking about her and found this article ("Marie Kondo’s life is messier now — and she’s fine with it" by Jura Koncius, web archive version linked to bypass paywall) which definitely tracks. I can't imagine having kids and following her [gestures] Whole Thing to a tee.
  • I also rented and started reading "The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering", which opens with a bible quote so I am already a little wary. anyways.
  • I haven't followed the prescribed konmari order exactly - I left books til towards the end because they are already pretty contained, for example - so I have a few loose ends to finish up with that but we're basically there. sorry Stephen King but I really don't care to hang on to your work Just Because, except for maybe "on writing" because I could see myself rereading that. I have a shitload of old scifi paperbacks that likely do Not spark joy necessarily so if anyone wants a random paperback mailed to them just let me know :b
  • related to that: I'm reading "Earthlight" by Arthur C. Clark. it's good! slim volume so I'm hoping to finish it before next Tuesdaypost/when I leave town. the setup feels very common - Earth people vs federation of solar system settlers politicking - but there's some fun tidbits that have made me go HUH??? like the moon having an atmosphere (technically true, I guess, but definitely not in the way it's described here), for some reason the sun sets in the east on the moon (???), and MOON PLANTS???? cool moon cacti that are specially adapted to absorb as many gas/water molecules as possible? they have a little window in them??? and at first I was like damn is this meant to be an alternate universe? when I realized that this was written in 1955. so. maybe he did sincerely think there could be moon cacti. some really delicious descriptions in here that I'm enjoying:
  • "They were moving along a ridge that the sun had already left, but the track of the monorail, scarcely a meter above it, still caught the last rays. It seemed as if they were rushing along an unsupported ribbon of light, a filament of flame built by sorcery rather than human engineering."
  • caught up on Witch Hat Atelier! it's good! I'm very excited for the next volume to come out next week!

watching
  • a handful of Leah's Fieldnotes videos as background while I did some cleaning, re-stuffing a pillow, etc. we're the same age which is interesting to me. I have thoughts on her style of content and general vibes that are still cooking in my brain so maybe next time I will elaborate. more Caroline Winkler. some Sorry Girls (there is a theme here clearly). some Kurtis Connor/Danny Gonzalez/Drew Gooden-verse. nothing super notable. oh LegalEagle suing honey! that whips ass definitely. I'm going to avoid linking specific videos each week unless I have Something to say about them.

playing
  • mostly fallow BUT I am leaving this section in this year out of optimism! my boyfriend commented, and I agreed, that I am definitely missing out on some rich Media Experiences by neglecting the Gamez. this year I really want to play Nier: Automata (which he got me as a gift a while ago), Disco Elysium, and Hades 2. I own the first two already so that's def where I'll start. I'd also like to read umineko but that can go 50/50 as to playing or reading lol
  • however I DID look at Do you PASS MUSTER?, a solo rpg by @spikekat! it's a vibe!

making
  • finished One of my mom's fingerless gloves! onto the second! I'm trying to decide if I want to block it or not...probably, just because I did the cabling with a needle half a size too small by accident so there are a few gaps, although maybe using a smaller needle minimized gaps? who knows.

eating
  • some good New York staples while I'm home but I haven't done much cooking.

moving
  • new section!! it is mostly empty this week beyond walking the dogs with my mom every day. I am hoping to populate this section with general notes on what worked/didn't work for me each week in the gym, outdoors activities, and so on.

misc
  • decluttering feels good but I also feel the albatross of the Dead Dad Bins in the basement looming over me. I'm thinking that's a summer activity where I can take breaks to be outside, lol. the goal is basically to have everything such that when I move after my PhD to wherever I'm going next, I can take what's left in my childhood room (books, some of the quality furniture that we scavenged from my dad's apartment, etc) without it being a big deal or strain. I'm definitely approaching that point with my own belongings! I have a few things that should be sold rather than donated but overall I've really pared it down pretty well so I'm pretty pleased about that. I'll probably do a pass over my apartment when I get back too - definitely some clothes come to mind that can be let go without any regret, and I definitely want to pare down some of my craft supplies that are getting a little out of hand. yayyy fresh start to a new year :)

1 - 14: a late tuesday

listening
  • TRANS DAY OF REVENGE (G.L.O.S.S.) - would be good gym music. haven't decided if I want to buy the album yet.
  • The Pines of My Past (Gabriel Coia) - hazy, cozy, hiking in the woods with a warm thermos. favorite track: Batsto Village
  • Thank God That's Over (Opal Vessel) - industrial and ambient. heartbeat of a dying city. favorite track: 血の雹 (Have a Nice Life) (track 2)

reading
  • finished "Earthlight" by Arthur C. Clark! really enjoyable! interesting narrative choice to periodically switch to an omnicient narrator, or at least one that was viewing the events of the story from the future. I was briefly really excited because I thought Clark had predicted the usage of many smaller hexagonal mirrors for telescopes but apparently the first telescope to use those was a 1.8m diameter in 1952 and this book came out in '55, which does mean that Clark was at the very least staying on top of cutting-edge astronomical advancement! which is cool! the telescope at the observatory is noted as being the largest one ever created at 1000cm (aka 10m) across, which we have FAR surpassed at this point so that's really neat. hello Extremely Large Telescope in Chile, still under construction but still. yes it's actually called that. astronomers are very funny.
  • Turning Off the TV in Your Mind by Lincoln Michel. some interesting ideas about visual vs written media Vibes.
  • Happy Public Domain Day 2025 to all who celebrate by Cory Doctorow. yayyyy public tomain
  • Bimbo’s Initiation and the weird history of fraternal orders by Jonathan Lyons. knew a little of this already! I like the old Demoulin Brothers catalogue images. the 'lifting and spanking machine' is especially funny.
  • The Vulture article on Neil Gaiman, available on 12ft.io to get around the paywall. oof. it's quite bad. I'd been planning on buying a sandman anthology as a graduation gift to myself next year but that feels very icky now.
  • read more "The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering". good supplement to Marie Kondo's whole shtick.

watching
  • caroline winkler & her collab with paige wassel on interior design stuff/tour of her apartment...the new years resolution vids from caroline winkler and morgan evelyn cook...
  • Why I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger (Simone Giertz) - she's so cool. 'coat hinger' is a really funny and good name.
  • nothing specific yet beyond some Anthony Bourdain but I remembered that tubi exists and is good.

playing
  • was hanging out with beloved friend celestialtourguide where she told me about "A Little to the Left" and "Belatro"; I played a little of the former on her steamdeck and watched her do a demo round of the latter. I do NOT need to buy MORE GAMES at this point but I will be filing those away for later.

making
  • neocities webbed site :-) the website will get updated throughout the week as I have things to add to it and then the final post will get crossposted to dreamwidth and tumblr as normal!
  • went to my mom's drawing class with her! I'm very rusty but charcoal is very forgiving

eating
  • made homemade beef n pork dumplings with my boyfriend and his sister! I brought home leftovers and my brother DID eat 6 of them raw without realizing somehow. love wins

  • a lot of eating out, catching up with local friends at home!

moving
  • went to the gym for an hour with my mom as her guest pass! it was crowded but I got a good lift in! lat pulley thing (30lb, 3x8); seated row (60lb, 3x8); lat pulldown (60lb, 3x6); upper chest pulley (20lb 10 on each side, 30lb 5 on each side); bench press (bar, 3x8 2x5); prone leg curl (38lb, 7 5 7).

misc
  • got back to my apartment this tuesday :-) I love my cat
  • doing more decluttering, good way to start the year imo. I'm excited to be back in my space. crafts......

1 - 21: another wednesday tuesday

listening

had this one finished on neocities on tuesday but didn't have time to post on tumblr or dreamwidth! oops!

  • Quimbara (Live at Gran Teatro Nacional) (Tony Succar, Mimy Succar, Nora Suzuki, & Bartola: yummy yummy salsa
  • Solitude (Felsmann + Tiley Reinterpretation) (M83): does someone know if this was in a movie or TV show. I cannot figure it out. it's possible it's just on a lot of tiktoks or whatever?? I'm not really on tiktok so idk
  • Inage Nidayulenvi (It Started in the Woods) (Agalisiga): country album in Cherokee! extremely good vibes album. coming-of-age movie about a road trip through the mountains. favorite track: this was a tough choice but the yodel moments in Ahyvdawalohi (Thunder) and Gatlohiha (I'm Crying) are fun, Inagei Otsehi (We Live in the Woods) has a really good rhythm, and Ginliyosv (Together) feels like a mug of hot tea on a cold day, of which I have had many recently.

reading
  • The Anti-Social Century (Derek Thompson): hmm. hmmmm. I broadly agree but feel like this is completely missing the capitalism of it all
  • finished "The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering" by Claire Middleton. it was fine. a lot of it didn't apply to met - stuff about children's baby clothes, etc - but offered some good advice otherwise.
  • Meet the man keeping hope, and 70-year-old pinball machines, alive (Tim Stevens), which lead me to Pinball Resource Dot Com. good website, definitely Poughkeepsie in a way I can't articulate. literally guy of all fucking time. as my boyfriend said, "autism at its finest".
  • also read "fucked by my best friend" by yupopo orishima. this is fully a BL yaoi moment, but with genderbending. it was charming enough that I did read the whole thing today, though I did find myself scrolling through the sex scenes to get to other stuff happening in the story lol. the cliffhangers were annoying but not vital because it's all finished, so ...
  • Lessons From a Lifetime of Animal Voyages (Sam Anderson): found this linked on tumblr somewhere I think? specifically with pictures of darling walnut the dachshund. I liked the article but couldn't get it to load on anywhere to bypass the paywall that didn't also nuke all the images.
  • This Christmas Party Was So Fun That Now I’m a Communist (Brennan Lee Mulligan): this one was a re-read! I couldn't actually tell you when this was published because it's undated. his prose is just very tasty.

watching

playing
  • ough. SO much dnd. two different campaigns this week which I had to make new character sheets for. one of them is a fully new character who I am now getting attached to whose vibes are vaguely Dyre Ode from Sangfielle-based in that they wear a bauta mask and robes and a hat. their name is also FATT excerpt-y ("caught as a vesper bell upon the brow, twinkling", or Vesper for short) but other than that they are a standard dnd character lol. I was doing a lot of heavy lifting that session because we were told the one-shot would be espionage and social-intrigue based, and then from a combo of planned absenses and also people not showing up it was just me and one other player, and that one other player is like .. not super good at character work .... so we kept going "what does your person do?" and he would say "loitering and tuning my instrument" and then we went . ok. and I kept doing things like asking questions and investigating. lol. so that's fine. other dnd campaign is much more fighting and light plot vibes so I brought out my shitty little pelican man again, I had to level him up to 12 which took some doing but thankfully wasn't too bad. I am really good at saying No to things that I don't want to or can't do except...ttrpgs. I am joining a 1x/month blades campaign too slkfjlsdfjfd
  • I have rediscovered video games!! thanks to my boyfriend! played some nier: automata and then hades as a palette cleanser because I am bad at video games so nier is a bit stressful skfdjlsjfd.
  • Vesper's vibe images:

making
  • some more knitting of my fingerless gloves
  • made a scrapbook for 2024! I've been collecting one plastic binder sheet for each month and finally went and made signatures and pasted/taped stuff in...I have more decorating to do but I'd like to coptic bind it all together first. unfortunately I do not have cardboard thick enough in the right size for covers so I have to do something about that first. probably won't post pictures of my entries because they will doxx me immediately but will probably post photos of the completed object at some later date :-)

eating
  • boyfriend is visiting so I am being FED. he made harissa chicken thighs with shallots, a known banger, and also freeballed a Japanese chicken-and-egg bowl type thing that was also very tasty.
  • robiola bosina cheese stilly yummy
  • made one pan chicken and squash dinner before leaving home last week. it was fine, very very simple, kinda didn't need a recipe for this one imo.
  • had a double date moment with my old roommate whomst I love! her and my boyfriend cooked a DELICIOUS meal, homemade pozole and shrimp ceviche with cornbread, plus an insanely good milk-washed marg (!!!) and horchata creme brulee dessert....I die it was SO delicious

moving
  • Fri Jan 17, ~90 min: leg extension (60lb 3x8 3x5), outer thigh (70lb 3x8, 80lb 3x8), inner thigh (75lb 3x8), split squats (no weight 2x10), glute trainer (no weight 2x8), elliptical 15
  • Sat Jan 18, ~60 min: shoulders behind neck barbell presses (20lb 3x8), forward delt shoulder presses (elbows forward 5lb 3x8), sideways on bench rear delt (5lb 2x8), incline bicep curls (10lb 1x8, 1 set to failure after, 5lb to failure again immediately after) (start with 15 next time), single arm cable tricep pulldown (7.5lb 2x8, one straight and one at 45°), bench press (bar 3x5), guillotine press to stretch as well (ouch!)

misc
  • working on two grant applications, one big and one weenie...weenie one is due the 24th and the big one is due Feb 6....scary
  • an angel lost a wing this weekend

1 - 28

listening
  • TWO new Jim Gordon Must Die episodes in the past few weeks !!!!! I am eating well.
  • gym music was Painted Paradise (Fleshbore) and their other album Embers Gathering which I don't think is on bandcamp. not my standard fare and I definitely can't pick out a song to be my favorite but it's good yelly gym music.
  • Redd & The Paper Flowers will be playing live near me at a nebulous date but I unforch won't be able to go. they're good! all singles so far, no full albums. reminds me of laufey so I found myself going to listen to her instead. favorite tracks: ljams, dipsomania. (dipsomania reminds me of the beatle's song "my guitar gently weeps", something about the chord progression maybe?)

reading
  • The Playlist Power Broker Who Makes or Breaks New Artists (Anne Steele): on one hand, I'm surprised her job hasn't been algorithm-ified yet. on the other, I feel like this kind of recommendation system works best when it's a close friend going "yo, check out this album, it's great". especially with the drama from last year with spotify's genre categories or lack thereof because they fired that one guy this feels a little like trying to come back from that? also lol didn't I just see a post about how spotify did something at the Trump inaugeration ...
  • Her dad, the 10,000 records he left behind and a viral lesson in grief (Janay Kingsberry): lots of articles about dead dads across my radar lately. this is a really sweet story.

watching
  • I'm watching Serial Experiments Lain again with my beloved boyfriend! my charlie day pepe sylvia moment was trying to explain the parallels to gnosticism I was seeing in the show to two different friends who had seen Lain and having them both go "??!" so I'm very excited to have that conversation with someone who DOES kind of know what gnosticism is already so I can be told whether or not I'm insane for seeing it
  • got my friends into Comrade Detective. gotta finish rewatching that with the boyf as well, and he suggested Death of Stalin after we watched the first ep together.
  • I've Been Keeping a Secret From You (Florian Gadsby): he is sooo meticulous.
  • Creating a Classical Tanto (Crossed Heart Forge): this dude is fucking insane. months of work to just lacquer the handle...
  • Making the Banana Knife (Bobby Duke Arts): I forgot about this guy! good to see that he's still making things though I do still find him slightly annoying! his setup also seems to have been significantly upgraded since I last watched so good for him

playing
  • more hades game, more dnd, doing session 0 for a blades in the dark game this weekend!

making
  • working on the fingerless gloves still! I have about a week to finish less than a dozen rows so I'm feeling good about that. early birthday present for my mom, gotta get a card for my grandma as well...

eating
  • Creamy Miso + Coconut Butter Beans from beloved mutal girlfriendsofthegalaxy - REALLY fucking good. maybe the coconut is a little too rich for me but it's sooo tasty. I added more liquid to make it more soupy but I do still have about half a can of coconut that I gotta figure out what to do with asap.
  • boyfriend made keema matar that I am just finishing tonight. really yummy over rice. this plus the bean soup thing has had me in Slop Food mode (appreciative) lol

moving
  • only one gym visit this past week! 11am-noon: leg extension (60lb, 3x8 then 2x5 slowly), inner thigh (70 lb, 3x8 then 2x5 slowly), outer thigh (70lb, 3x8 and 80lb, 2x5 slowly), hip thrust machine (no weight, 2x5 and 10lb, 2x6), leg press (80lb, 3x8), and inclined bicep curls (15lb 5 4 2, 10lb 3x8) for fun on this leg day
  • I still really want to integrate more yoga and stretching...goal for next week.

misc
  • [looks at the state of scientific grants and funding in the USA right now] Uh Oh Sisters! tune in next week to see if I still have a job!

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