vital functions

[kaberett]

Reading. Two things finished, various things picked up and put down again.

Ouch!, Kerr & McRobbie: the subtitle is Why pain hurts, and why it doesn't have to; it's indicative of my current preoccupations that I was actively surprised that it is not, in fact, about chronic pain, except in passing, in that it's mentioned in the introduction in the context of pains the authors have experienced, and then it just sort of... vanishes again. What it actually is is more-or-less a tour of the sociology of acute pain, from a variety of perspectives and contexts, and an invitation to reshape your relationship with pain, optionally via the medium of sports.

It's very much aimed at a general audience (by which I mean both "not people with any particular pre-existing knowledge about pain" and also "not chronic pain patients"), with the infuriating-to-me feature of having not an actual bibliography but instead a "selected references" section, i.e. any claims I wanted to actually check required digging and then guessing (and in one case working out that they were actively wrong about which year the thing was published in, at least for referencing purposes). I did nonetheless get some useful information and vocabulary out of it (I'm especially here for the pointer to the 3P approach to pain management), and it prompted another couple of articulations.

Overall: not a disrecommendation; plausibly a light read if you have, you know, a recreational interest in pain; verify any specifics you want to rely on.

The Old Guard: Opening Fire, Rucka et al. A's conclusion was Well It Was Better Than The Second Film; mine was that I appreciated the backstory about Nile's interest in art history and would be very happy to see that show up in an extended cut of the first film. The library doesn't have the second volume and I think we're unlikely to seek it out.

DW catch-up: halfway through September!

Playing. Inkulinati, mostly watching A play and occasionally making Suggestions. Does not work as well as a Shared Activity as I'd hoped (annoyingly I think I'd need to play basically all of it hands-on myself in order to internalise mechanics and strategy, rather than being able to e.g. swap who's driving for every level) but I am enjoying it happening in my vicinity. Today we also read the PDF of the art book together, which I am not counting as Reading because it was mostly looking at the pictures in another context.

And after six months I GOT UNSTUCK ON I Love Hue! The Ascension/Air/1, extremely gratified that searching for it revealed someone who'd managed to complete everything but that, and bolstered by this knowledge I turned brightness all the way up and the phone upside down and FINALLY managed to sort out the yellows, on my nth attempt... in way fewer than the average number of moves. VICTORY.

Cooking. It has been a continuation of SQUASH WEEK, feat.:

• an autumn panzanella from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (I am a big fan, but it's not A's preferred form factor)
• smitten kitchen's roasted squash with tofu and ginger (now added to the list for Regular Rotation)
• a Disappointing spaghetti squash and broccoli gratin (freely adapted from the Vegetarian Times; I remain distinctly unconvinced by spaghetti squash).

I have also made the last two Welsh cake recipes I'm going to from the Welsh cake book: double chocolate chip (actually single chocolate chip, compromise 50% cocoa solids "dark") and leek & Caerphilly (served with Soup). Both edible, neither Welsh cakes, neither to be made again. So that's that project finished!

Aaaaaand I attempted a Raymond Blanc baked crab apples with ginger and lime caramel, and fucked up the caramel, so didn't offer any to A. Might have another go at; principle clearly sound, but execution decidedly flawed.

Comments

[aldabra]

I have been vaguely meaning to ask: how do you actually access a DW backlog spanning months? I think, though may be conflating it with LJ, that my Friends page only goes back twenty screens and that it gets confused if I go six screens back and then leave it for a weekend and refresh. Has technology moved on?

[kaberett]

The magic of paid (well, seed in my case) accounts! The reading page only goes back 1000 entries or 14 days, whichever is fewer, but one of the paid account features is browsing one's reading page by arbitrary date via URL modifiers :)

[aldabra]

Ah, yes, that was my hypothesis! Thanks.

[ewt]

Spaghetti squashed are highly variable in my experience. I've grown some really good ones and some that are decidedly meh.

I think I like them best when they're enormous. I can make thick cross-section slices, scoop out seeds, put spaghetti sauce in the hole, and roast them until done, then put some cheese on top.

[kaberett]

Alas I have yet to eat one that convinces me they're worth growing...

Me neither

[jesse_the_k]

...and I've been trying for years. Abandon hope and turn to rice noodles, was my choice.

Why does turning the screen upside down help?

Re: Me neither

[kaberett]

The change in perspective! Makes it a little easier to spot jumps in shade.