someone is learning the colours of all of your moods//ten good things

[kaberett]

0. PHILAE. xkcd on the topic is fantastic. As we approached landing o'clock, the rest of the kids in my pod gathered around the person with the most monitors (three goodness knows why) and we watched the live coverage en masse, on the grounds that anyone who didn't want to know about SPACE ROBOT LANDING should probably not be on an open-plan floor full of geology PhD students. I have done some small cries - my feelings about space robots are v similar to my feelings about life boats. Quoth my supervisor, on the topic of the live coverage, "This is like some messed-up space version of Eurovision - there's that lady who came on stage and was all 'and now, Germany...'". :D

1. We have changed ISP; the switchover will happen on the 24th, at which point I might have a more reliable internet connection at home (as of this morning still no connectivity, nor has there been for a week).

2. I am listening to Hymn of Acxiom on loop, partly because of something recessional said and partly Just Because; I am currently comparing-and-contrasting with Collecting You by the Indigo Girls.

3. Last night I made mattar paneer for the first time; some things I would change, but fundamentally a plausible thing (I was genuinely baffled by the oddly specific quantities in many recipes I found - 6-7 cashew nuts? really???) that I can make again in future.

4. Also pear-and-cinnamon-and-hazelnut brownie! Much as previously discussed, only this time I stuck in a good teaspoon of ground cinnamon, coarsely diced two slightly underripe pears to have small lumps, didn't add any extra sugar, and replaced 100g of the flour with roasted hazelnut meal. Friend-whose-face-I-get-to-put-my-face-on approved.

5. ... friend-whose-face-I-get-to-put-my-face-on. During yesterday's conversation I realised to my horror that in much the same sense that vocal conversations can suffer from miscommunications arising from ambiguous or incorrect bracketing, the ways I communicate involve meaningful whitespace. (This is clearly not unique to me, but I was briefly very distressed that spoken interactions involve meaningful whitespace, because it was the thing that scared me off python for years. :-p)

6. FWFIGTPMFO fixed the lights in the kitchen -- I had replacement bulbs, but I'd had about five people (including myself) look at the wretched light fittings and be completely baffled as to how to extricate them; this is something we have been trying and failing to fix since we moved in at the beginning of January.

7. sebastienne enthusiastically livetexting me reactions to Orphan Black and Elementary because I can't do my normal watch-along wossname over IM given hometernot <3

8. ahhhhhhhhhhh part one of pre-Ancillary-Justice short story available!!!

9. Some science progress today in lab! And uh mostly lab-progress because I've spent the rest of the day going AAAAAAAAAAAAH SPACE ROBOTS and grinning ridiculously (rather than making algebra bend to my will) BUT more of that will occur tomorrow... and in fact this evening if I want to hit milestone goals from supervisor >_>

10. Osteopath yesterday morning positive. She was competent at going "... you want to be seeing an NHS hypermobility clinic, not me" and is telling the GP who referred to me so; she agrees that I obviously have hypermobility syndrome; and is impressed by my feet + ankles being basically fine given what my knees and elbows and hips are like. Have been given some hypermobility-focussed physio (practising balancing on one leg; do for both sides, 3x45s per leg per day, shut eyes if I can manage it, one finger only on supportive surface for balance; if doesn't cause problems, move up to balancing on ball of foot instead of foot flat to ground).


Tomorrow I have follow-up on the depression-related bloods, and tomorrow evening I have counselling...

Comments

[alexseanchai]

ooh xkcd.

brownie sounds noms.

yay fixed lights!

(if you have a minute, could you poke at this post? I am curious your opinion. also I emailed you a storybit. these are not as urgent as my impatientbrain thinks they are, I swear.)

[sfred]

I hope hypermobility clinic is useful when you get referred to it. I found it so, partly because of confirmation of diagnosis; partly because the hypermobility people at UCLH refer to the hospital's own physiotherapists, who can then treat one indefinitely rather than silly six-sessions-only thing.

[davidgillon]

I realised to my horror that ... the ways I communicate involve meaningful whitespace.

Aiieeee! Anathema! Get thee behind me meaningful whitespace! Okay, not Kab-comms, obviously, but I spent my career writing Pascal and Jovial and Ada, and meaningful whitespace was unambiguously a-bad-thing (okay, there may have been those one or two occasions when people realised I knew Fortran and dragged me back to its evil ways, but I repented afterwards and underwent the ritual cleansing in modular language). Seriously, it makes sense in the spoken word, but I remain to be convinced in programming.

you want to be seeing an NHS hypermobility clinic, not me

She does know they're rarer than hen's teeth? Was somewhat impressed by another bendy friend FBing yesterday that RNOH Stanmore are trying her out with "dynamic movement orthoses" (aka lycra socks) to try and stabilise her ankles.

[swaldman]

"my feelings about space robots are v similar to my feelings about life boats"

...... OK, I can't not ask...

Also, mmm, Vienna Teng. As you probably know I have so much admiration for the woman, and love for her music.

[fyreharper]

alsksjd Hymn of Acxiom is gorgeous and sweetly creepy (and I was then sad to find that the rest of the album is quite dissimilar to this one track, musically, but still!)

[vass]

Semantic whitespace: SCARY.

And yet hard to avoid.

Space robot Eurovision would be the BEST EUROVISION. One day all Eurovision will be held in space and performed by robots.

Actually, Pacific Rim should involve Jaeger Eurovision.

Good luck with bendy person physio exercises. (I was meant to see my bendiness-aware physio yesterday, but scheduling fuckup happened and now I don't see her until December.)

[calissa]

Gah, instant earworm! Well, since it is Vienna Teng I can't say I mind all that much.

That brownie sounds pretty awesome. My sweetheart and I are having a rare date night tonight and are off to our favourite Indian restaurant. Food is good.

It's wonderful to hear you have a supportive osteopath. In fact, it is wonderful to hear all these wonderful things <3