vital functions
Sep. 8th, 2019 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberettReading. League of Dragons, Naomi Novik. Finished the thing! Continued bemused! Glad to have read it! Nice and absorbing!
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik. It is not quite perfect, but oh dear I love it a lot. I'm a little frustrated that I didn't feel there was much difference in voice between the various female POV characters, and in that sense found myself comparing it somewhat unfavourably to Americanah, where the way Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie there managed to write the identifiably the same person at identifiably different life stages with distinct voices. So: I wanted it to be better, but also! It's Rumpelstilzchen! And Persephone! With more Jews! And familial loyalties and clan loyalties and farming and kindness and growing up and I love it probably enough to buy a copy (much as I love the magic of library ebooks).
Uprooted, Naomi Novik. I think I really love this as well? I'm very much enjoying the tropes, I'm very much enjoying the world-building, I'm about halfway through and luxuriating in inhaling it.
Watching. Orphan Black 5x02. I thought we had got further than this but APPARENTLY NOT. We... said "HI FERDINAND" a lot.
Cooking. Oh thank goodness I am feeling at all inclined toward this again. Notable this week: a good loaf of sourdough, subsequent to Oven Repair that mostly involved someone sticking a thermocouple in it & telling me I just needed to rearrange the shelves (though I might also look into the grill guard); a plum cobbler, with plums from the allotment and buttermilk from the fridge (this batch has gone particularly well) and ground almonds and the last of the cardamom sugar from the latest batch of Kardemummebullar. A great big vat of tagine, which I got into the fridge successfully (and freezer!).
Exploring. Does IKEA count? Because on Sunday we went to IKEA and acquired (1) the thing we'd first been thinking of (being a cabinet to put on the patio to hold the bird feed and tidy the worst of my bits into), (2) an additional wee clock for me (to take into lab, because the one in my current lab is suboptimally positioned and I don't wanna feel guilty about using it when there's anyone else in and they've started making them in Even Better Alex colours), and (3) A BUNCH of stuff from the Bargain Corner. The thing we were actually after: a wee shelf (with lip) in white, to put up in the hallway and put the various bits of technology on in the interests of Reducing The Amount Of Stuff On The Hall Floor. The thing we got ridiculously lucky over: shortly before we got to the bargain corner,sebastienne sent us a link to an armchair they were interested in knowing if it was possible to sit cross-legged in. But Don't Detour Back For Photos If You've Already Gone Past It, they said. And therefore BY MY MAGIC there was one, in the right colour, already cut-price, in the bargain corner; and by A's magic he got its cost reduced by half again due to some minor issues we are pretty sure we can straightforwardly fix, so between that and the IKEA Family discount we went from a ticket price of £229 to... £72, because by our magics combined. And finally: a wee lantern with integrated solar panel that I intend to use At The Allotment.
The other Actual Adventure of the week was going to an event for members at the Natural History Museum. I think in future I will plan to eat separately from the food available at the event, and for this specific event I think I was not really the target audience (the theme was Exploring Space; they had a bunch of stands with various scientific curators willing to Explain Science To You; this is probably a great draw for most people but certainly the terrestrial geology stand I... knew more about what was going on than the person behind the table, whoops), but I got to see Museum of the Moon less its soundtrack, and various animals at a Zoolab stall, and that was pretty great. Things learned: apparently we can now synthesise the protein that makes up spider silk, but spinning it is a work in progress; leopard geckos have POINTY LITTLE CLAWS (I was allowed to touch its feet!); scorpions glow under UV light (well, at least some of them), and Nobody Knows Why; part of the reason for snails having stalky eyes is so that they can see over their shells; and APPARENTLY (as far as we can tell) snakes have forked tongues so that they can do directional scenting, i.e. 3d scent maps, in much the same way that Humans Have Two Ears.
Growing. We ate a fig off the patio tree for breakfast! It's the only one we'll be getting this year, but STILL.
I have been Having Ongoing Difficulty with... Life, but: the first of the bird-feeder errant sunflowers has fully opened up its face and several more are working on it, my string-of-pearls is cautiously putting out exploratory further growth, the burro's tail grew enough roots that I've potted it up, my bay tree wants to be t o l, and my second attempt at holy basil (I... let the first dessicate) is hatching enthusiastically.
And I did make it down to the allotment, the once, where A picked a lot of plums and I fed the bin and got the waterbutt on its stand and dropped off the sun-lounger. I really do need to sort myself out with A Cordless Drill at least for long enough to finish the infrastructure that's currently stalling me, and then maybe I can settle back in to enjoying it instead of finding everything a source of mild dread.
Observing. The coal tits have rediscovered the bird feeders on the patio! A... should top them up, but that might be easier and more pleasant now we have a PATIO CABINET (which I spent some of this afternoon putting together).
We met animals at the NHM! It was pretty great.
Nesting. Other bits of DIY done: shelf up in the hallway. Cork board up in the even hallier hallway. Brackets for blind #1 up... and then we gave up in disgust having slightly squooshed a blind, so the rest of the Power Toolsing can happen in The Future. Lots of various tidy; there is more to go but UGH it is impoved.
Poking. Wild-caught: shiny Cyndaquil. Raided: SHINY RAIKOU. Traded: two lucky 98% Chansey (!!!), one of which is now a Blissey.
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik. It is not quite perfect, but oh dear I love it a lot. I'm a little frustrated that I didn't feel there was much difference in voice between the various female POV characters, and in that sense found myself comparing it somewhat unfavourably to Americanah, where the way Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie there managed to write the identifiably the same person at identifiably different life stages with distinct voices. So: I wanted it to be better, but also! It's Rumpelstilzchen! And Persephone! With more Jews! And familial loyalties and clan loyalties and farming and kindness and growing up and I love it probably enough to buy a copy (much as I love the magic of library ebooks).
Uprooted, Naomi Novik. I think I really love this as well? I'm very much enjoying the tropes, I'm very much enjoying the world-building, I'm about halfway through and luxuriating in inhaling it.
Watching. Orphan Black 5x02. I thought we had got further than this but APPARENTLY NOT. We... said "HI FERDINAND" a lot.
Cooking. Oh thank goodness I am feeling at all inclined toward this again. Notable this week: a good loaf of sourdough, subsequent to Oven Repair that mostly involved someone sticking a thermocouple in it & telling me I just needed to rearrange the shelves (though I might also look into the grill guard); a plum cobbler, with plums from the allotment and buttermilk from the fridge (this batch has gone particularly well) and ground almonds and the last of the cardamom sugar from the latest batch of Kardemummebullar. A great big vat of tagine, which I got into the fridge successfully (and freezer!).
Exploring. Does IKEA count? Because on Sunday we went to IKEA and acquired (1) the thing we'd first been thinking of (being a cabinet to put on the patio to hold the bird feed and tidy the worst of my bits into), (2) an additional wee clock for me (to take into lab, because the one in my current lab is suboptimally positioned and I don't wanna feel guilty about using it when there's anyone else in and they've started making them in Even Better Alex colours), and (3) A BUNCH of stuff from the Bargain Corner. The thing we were actually after: a wee shelf (with lip) in white, to put up in the hallway and put the various bits of technology on in the interests of Reducing The Amount Of Stuff On The Hall Floor. The thing we got ridiculously lucky over: shortly before we got to the bargain corner,
sebastienne sent us a link to an armchair they were interested in knowing if it was possible to sit cross-legged in. But Don't Detour Back For Photos If You've Already Gone Past It, they said. And therefore BY MY MAGIC there was one, in the right colour, already cut-price, in the bargain corner; and by A's magic he got its cost reduced by half again due to some minor issues we are pretty sure we can straightforwardly fix, so between that and the IKEA Family discount we went from a ticket price of £229 to... £72, because by our magics combined. And finally: a wee lantern with integrated solar panel that I intend to use At The Allotment.The other Actual Adventure of the week was going to an event for members at the Natural History Museum. I think in future I will plan to eat separately from the food available at the event, and for this specific event I think I was not really the target audience (the theme was Exploring Space; they had a bunch of stands with various scientific curators willing to Explain Science To You; this is probably a great draw for most people but certainly the terrestrial geology stand I... knew more about what was going on than the person behind the table, whoops), but I got to see Museum of the Moon less its soundtrack, and various animals at a Zoolab stall, and that was pretty great. Things learned: apparently we can now synthesise the protein that makes up spider silk, but spinning it is a work in progress; leopard geckos have POINTY LITTLE CLAWS (I was allowed to touch its feet!); scorpions glow under UV light (well, at least some of them), and Nobody Knows Why; part of the reason for snails having stalky eyes is so that they can see over their shells; and APPARENTLY (as far as we can tell) snakes have forked tongues so that they can do directional scenting, i.e. 3d scent maps, in much the same way that Humans Have Two Ears.
Growing. We ate a fig off the patio tree for breakfast! It's the only one we'll be getting this year, but STILL.
I have been Having Ongoing Difficulty with... Life, but: the first of the bird-feeder errant sunflowers has fully opened up its face and several more are working on it, my string-of-pearls is cautiously putting out exploratory further growth, the burro's tail grew enough roots that I've potted it up, my bay tree wants to be t o l, and my second attempt at holy basil (I... let the first dessicate) is hatching enthusiastically.
And I did make it down to the allotment, the once, where A picked a lot of plums and I fed the bin and got the waterbutt on its stand and dropped off the sun-lounger. I really do need to sort myself out with A Cordless Drill at least for long enough to finish the infrastructure that's currently stalling me, and then maybe I can settle back in to enjoying it instead of finding everything a source of mild dread.
Observing. The coal tits have rediscovered the bird feeders on the patio! A... should top them up, but that might be easier and more pleasant now we have a PATIO CABINET (which I spent some of this afternoon putting together).
We met animals at the NHM! It was pretty great.
Nesting. Other bits of DIY done: shelf up in the hallway. Cork board up in the even hallier hallway. Brackets for blind #1 up... and then we gave up in disgust having slightly squooshed a blind, so the rest of the Power Toolsing can happen in The Future. Lots of various tidy; there is more to go but UGH it is impoved.
Poking. Wild-caught: shiny Cyndaquil. Raided: SHINY RAIKOU. Traded: two lucky 98% Chansey (!!!), one of which is now a Blissey.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-08 08:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-08 08:45 pm (UTC)Hooray for fig and plums!
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-11 08:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-09 12:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-11 08:48 pm (UTC)(Re similar arcs: having just finished Uprooted and very much enjoyed it, I am a BIT "... well SOMEONE has a kink and also A Type")
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-12 03:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-09 12:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-11 08:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-09 04:21 am (UTC)That is so cool!
Also very cool.
You mentioned that you were having ongoing difficulty with life, but I'm glad there have been some wonderful highlights. Reading this post has brought me a great deal of joy.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-11 08:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-09 04:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-11 08:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-09 08:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-09 12:17 pm (UTC)Leopard geckos: there's one on Tumblr named Lemonade. There are gifs of her being a fierce predator of grubs. I learned about her because her keeper also has a bearded dragon named Zeiat. (And an iguana named Figaro, but it was Zeiat who caught my attention.)
scorpions glow under UV light (well, at least some of them)
Oh yeah, I've seen pictures of that on Tumblr too. They look SO PRETTY that way.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-11 08:53 pm (UTC)thank for links. :D