eris_discordia_novel

It's been a good weekend. Boardgames and gettaburger yesterday with friends and new people.
Today was crafting and housework.

I was able to unplug and have some proper down time.

Tomorrow is another games day with just friends ahead of a full week.
I don't have much on in the evenings. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Good to unwind or too much time in my head.

I've also put aside a few masks that are getting thin so that I can remake them or use them as a template because I've lost or binned my card-stock one.
Plans. I have them.

there was a lockdown and towards the end of it my Nan died. it was and wasn't a shock. she had not long ago reached 100.

i have a real need to go to the ocean when i want to sort my head out, but lockdown and responsible travel restrictions that we (as a household) have put on ourselves means that i probably won't be getting to a proper beach with waves for a while yet.
the closest place to my heart is a hotspot, yet again.

it's so hard. it's just so fucking hard.

it's hard to describe the deep need that i have, it's hard to make other people understand.

there's a particular texture to the sand on the other side of the country and it's there that i fell in love with swimming at the beach in the huge waves...the long hot run across the beach.
we don't have that kind of place here, though there is a quiet place that is close to my heart and i know it would help.

i'm incredibly fortunate. i have a job that is secure, princessdiscordia has a job that is secure, potateen is safe and well with their dad.

my princess and i have snagged our first round of pfizer and my back is pretty much good again.

i saw a different physio to my usual and i think he tried the "your back is sore because you're fat", but i'm not sure if i mis-heard his comment or he didn't say his full thought.
i had made another appointment with him, but i think i'll try to get back to my usual person.

i don't want calm blue sea.
i want rough ocean waves to battle.

Having trouble holding and articulating coherent ideas, concepts, thoughts.
Focus is a lot little beyond my grasp.

Autocarrot is definitely my friend right now.

Princess discordia showed me the charismatic voice on YouTube. I like her reacts and how she describes how the vocal portion of the songs are put together.
Some of the explanations could benefit from looking at what was going on at the time, not just reading the lyrics or guessing at the intention.

In one way, it's frustrating and the video feels incomplete. In another way, who am I to criticise because I'm not making content to look into the history or politics or technology.

It was an excellent excuse to play 10000 days for Princess discordia because they'd not heard it in full.
And I'd not heard it in a long time.

I retreat and return to music when I can't order my thoughts and there's definitely certain albums and songs that have been a constant. Sometimes it's how I mark or note time and significant events.

ETA: react videos are a whole thing. Also, Freddie Mercury is definitely a siren (triton?).
He was so compelling as a performer.

snap lockdown in our area for 3 days.

it finished at midday today with a direct nod to people wanting to go away for the easter weekend and to attend religious services.
mask orders are in place for the next 2 weeks, so that's something.

i very much hope not to see a spike.

Sunday is the day we play boardgames.

None of us are really the outdoors type and so this is our together activity.

I have memories of playing as a kid and hope that potateen will have positive memories going into adulthood.

We're a social bunch.
Not usually closely social with our physical/immediate neighbours, we used to have a choice.

Before the internet was reliable or in everyone's pocket, there were meetup groups.
One group I knew would be at every Friday evening and I went more often than not. Sadly that group wound up around the same time that I started working from home.
Another meets on a Tuesday and we've been limping along online through the pandemic. This group is trying for in person meetups, though the interest isn't high and our online hangouts are getting more sparce.

It's sad to see these groups melt away.

Particularly in light of what FB is doing.
Like it or not, FB is the way people connect to each other and is where they get their news.
FB is a hard habit to break, or should I say that it's such a (relatively) easy platform to use. The way that groups/pages/events are set up is fairly intuitive.

There have been forays off FB to other platforms over time. These kinds of actions don't work if the majority of people stay put.

I'm kind of wondering what people will do this time

so...uh...
4k is a little bit further than i'm supposed to walk right now. 1k is such a short distance and i'm not sure my fitbit is picking up all of the steps that i'm doing.

that was my yesterday.
i have learned that i go well over my limit when i go into the office 1.2k just to get to my desk. doubling gets me to my desk and then home. not to mention making lunch or getting drinks or using the facilities (on the other side of the building, because of course) just one more office day this week and then physio on monday.

i think 1 to 2k is an overly optomistic limit by my physio or he decided that limit based on my waistline/shape/weight.

the funny thing is, i kind of want to go to my local beach. i'll only be able to go have a sit.
this will put me to close to 1k.
tonight i'm supposed to go for dinner with friends, it's been cancelled and i just want to be out.

i will see what princess discordia is up to and go from there.

My cat jumped into the shower with me this morning. Right under the water.

So Princess discordia and I shampooed and rinsed her. Isn't that what you do on a Sunday morning?
Wash the hair and the body?

She yelled a bit, but she wasn't unhappy to be wet or being paid a lot of attention.
The only bit that she seemed most upset by was getting towel dried. We don't have a hair dryer at the moment, there's a certain amount of compromise.

I've now also filled her water fountain and put some crunchies in the feeder. Both of which she's partaken.

today is tuesday. i'm at my pc ready for my local stitch n bitch crew to log in.

when i first started going to stitch, it was at a nice enough and relatively central cafe.
i would usually get a slice of cake and a bowl of chai or hot chocolate. and it was wonderful.

time went on.
orders were missed, had to be asked after, were incorrect, the lighting was bad and got worse when asked about, the nice enough cafe was no longer nice enough. still relatively central though.

we moved on.
next stop was a pub that was virtually empty on a tuesday evening. the menu was fairly varied and there were enough things at different price points (and wine) that we were all able to find something to eat.
and then orders were missed, had to be asked after, were incorrect, the lighting started out good and was turned down, the music was turned up.
it was time to move on.

we travelled around a bit, including back to the cafe. another venue was found.
aside from the incredibly steep stairs and the uncomfortable seating, it was ok. for a while.
see above? rinse, repeat.

this process was interupted by the pandemic.
we could get together and eat/drink what we wanted. at home! the lighting was just how we were used to it in our computer rooms, bedrooms or other spaces that we used.
not all of us could use the chosen chat program, but it was used by enough of us that we perservered.

i started forgetting about my knit nights though. i love being able to actually see and hear my friends, i miss the hugging and touching the projects.
knitting, crafting of any kind is so tactile. i miss that kind of interaction.

i raise a glass to everyone. please stay safe and well, stay home if you're feeling ill.
large drop in/out group get togethers like stich n bitch may be a thing of the Before Times. i hope not.