some things make a post

• today I took a deep breath and dove back into the electronic annex I'm providing with the manuscript I'm about to resubmit. the data table's 180 or so lines long and 100 across, all in, compiling data from 28 papers, the oldest of which was published in 1915. I was aiming to do spot-checks to convince myself that I hadn't, at any point over the last six years, made any egregious transcription errors... and instead discovered that, in point of fact, I have. sufficient that I really do need to double-check every last value, cross-referenced against the shitty PDFs of shitty scans of papers dating back over a century, and I spent... some... time staring hollow-eyed into space over this.
  
• I have empirically determined how to tell when jostaberries are properly ripe: the stems start changing colour, just a little, right up against the fruit: they gradually flush purple. this is great.
  
• sorted another box of Photographic Equipment. one more to go.
  
• success with the hair stick: I've worked out how to apply it such that when the hair it's stuck through tries to unravel it actually holds it in place rather than gently drooping to point down past my shoulders. this is An Improvement. I am A Fan. definitely much more comfortable for me than hair pins, and it continues to survive the rigours of allotmenting.
  
• sitting underneath a redcurrant bush covered in ripe fruit on a sunny day remains one of my favourite places to be.