all made up with nowhere to go

Some things, making a post:

# I had a migraine the other day with nausea so bad that it persisted not only into the following day, but it also lasted all day. Luckily(?), I was in work, so I didn't really have time to think about how gross I felt but blerghhhh, please can we not???

# Talking of which, I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I am on a waiting list to get an appointment at the doctor's to, in part, get help with the migraines. They were mostly bearable (in so far as such a thing can be), but the nausea is just. NOPE. NO THANK YOU.

# Yesterday, as I walked into work, I heard People Ruin Paintings on the radio playlist, which is one of the released singles from Critical Thinking and a) I almost sort of enjoyed it (and it was a nice surprise to hear a Manics song at work!) and b) it reminded me that I should listen to the album again, as I have not given it a fair chance yet because I wasn't initially impressed.

(Our store has a pre-built playlist that isn't like a "$Store Radio station" - it's just a giant, varied playlist that has occasional ads for offers or whatever. And, unlike my previous (paid) job, it is actual licensed music, rather than not).

# I ended up talking to two customers about reading, on two separate days!

The first one I hijacked a conversation he was having with a colleague, because I heard him say he has a lot trouble concentrating on reading, and I was like, "OMG SAME!!" Anyway, we chatted a bit, turns out he plays a lot of Vidya Gaems (also same). I told him maybe he's getting his narrative fix from that, as I think to some degree I am, and I said he shouldn't feel guilty about not reading books. I try not to, even though younger me is still mad that I can't concentrate on them like I used to.

And then the other one was an older customer, who's recently become a regular. He was asking about the playlist on the work radio, so I told him a bit about that, and then through some loops in conversation, we ended up talking about science-fiction books. He said he'd read 2001, and I had forgotten until he said it, but I have also read it (I remember nothing), and I talked a bit about Philip K Dick to him (he hasn't read a lot of him, and has seen more films based on his work instead. I am the opposite way around - I've seen Blade Runner and Total Recall and that's IT).

I also complimented a customer's phone case, as it had Hokusai's Wave on it, and that is my favourite Japanese print (I have it on a bunch of things, including multiple postcards, and the t-shirt I am currently wearing).

# I had to walk home from work, and then to work the following day because the bus timetable has changed - buses are now once hourly, and don't run when you need them to. Everything hurts, so I bought myself some pens to make up for it.

# Work is...not great at the moment, but I'm not going into it as to why (way too much explaining, and it's not remotely interesting; also unlocked post). Suffice to say I am very tired, and all I would like to do is sleep.

# that's all I've got for now. I'm going to have my dinner and maybe nap a bit afterwards.

I got the cat a new scratching board, because she needs one, and she hasn't used it because it's curvy instead of flat. She is such a fussy madam, I swear, and I don't know why, because this isn't how I raised her.

~

Anyway, besides that, last night I went out with a bunch of people that I work with for team bonding a meal out. I didn't want to go, because it was in one of the local pubs that does cheap food, and I hate pubs*. I thought I was going to have to cry off because I felt mildly unwell during the day, but then I felt okay, so I didn't. And also I would have felt guilty about it because I didn't go to the last one because of the buses being stupid (and it ended up getting cancelled). This time one of the ladies I work with gave me a lift there and back, so I didn't have to worry about buses.

It was mostly okay. I mean, it's not like I didn't know anyone there, just. People. You know?

There were a bunch of young 'ins came in and sat near us, and they were there for around an hour or so. They were loud and shouty and I STG they were deliberately louder because they saw me visibly flinch a couple of times. But I can't say for sure, and it's not like I'm going to hunt them down and interrogate them about it.

But other than that, yeah, it was mostly okay, except I am tired because people and I didn't sleep well last night.

~

Finally, replying to a comment from honigfrosch about the music rec posts reminded me that I can't remember if I posted links to the older ones here or not, so here they are anyway:

Massive Video Game Music rec list
Ten Songs by the Manics That I Don't Think Are Obvious Recs (DISCLAIMER: I now disagree with my past self for some of them but, at the time I wrote this, I was all like NEW! SHINY! VERY EXCITED! etc)
My Current Top Ten Fifteen Twenty Songs by the Manics

So yeah, enjoy!

~

*This is to do with them being too noisy and full of drunk people, generally. I am a curmudgeon, what can I say.

Small things of note?

# Found a Paul Robeson CD in Oxfam in Halifax the other day, so I bought it. I also saw some other CDs I ummed and ahhed about buying but in the end did not (Odelay! by Beck - but I only know one song off it, same with the KT Tunstall one I saw).

# I was also amused to see that someone had got rid of what must have been all or most of their Stereophonics CDs in one of the charity shops. I did not buy any of them - I think I have the album that contains the one song I like by them (Local Boy in the Photograph), and I don't like anything else they did.

# Got to hang out on bus rides home for the last couple of days with Chris, which was delightful, because I've been having some amazing conversations with him lately. I also gave him a book I thought he might like, about writing stories for kids, and he seemed really pleased with it, which in turn makes me very happy.

~

In other news, I don't know if you remember me making the start of a quilt around Xmas time, but the other day I decided to dismantle it, so that's what I've done. I don't know what I will do with the pieces, but I'm sure I'll think of something. Turns out I didn't really want to make a massive quilt, who knew!

I have also finished off the squares for the scrap quilt, and that took forever, because I decided to do thirty squares for some reason when I should have just stuck to four, to try it out. But I am not good at good decisions, so. Here I am. I am in the process of sewing them to a backing piece of cotton. Don't know what I will use for the final final backing, though. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

And then I am also also making a wrap to go around one of my sketchbooks, inspired by this lovely lady called Tori on youtube (Wrap how to video part 1 here). It has taken me forever so far, partly because I should've started with something smaller, perhaps, but also the fabric I chose for the front piece is actually very sturdy (it would make a good book cover!) and possibly not the best choice. But I'll know that for the future!

~

I don't have anything else to say, so I'm going to end this here!

So, remember how I said the wheels on my shopping trolley weren't replaceable? Turns out they are.

When do I find this out? After I have spent money on a new trolley, whose wheels need to be affixed before use.

How do I find this out? Because the instructions on the new trolley tell you how to remove the wheels if you need to. The wheels on the old trolley detach in the same way.

GRR.

ARGH.

Although, to be fair, the compartment on the old trolley wasn't doing so well. It's supposed to keep stuff cool/frozen, and during the summer (silly heat aside), I'd noticed the lining was starting to degrade, so I was probably due a replacement anyway.

The new one is bigger, and sturdier, and if it lasts me at least as long as the old one (three months shy of four years), I'm not going to complain.

BUT.

Talking of complaining, I found out what happened to my cat litter!

The bloody courier lost it! (Or, given I know there's been some delivery scams around here, "lost" it, possibly).

I spoke to a lovely lady via live chat, who has reordered the stuff (there was dry food as well) to come tomorrow, at no extra charge, AND she refunded my original delivery fee! Which was very nice! And she had it all sorted in under five minutes, which was delightful.

So hopefully that will turn up when it's meant to, because honestly I'm really quite annoyed at the moment. This sort of thing (thankfully) doesn't happen often, so it's kind of a PITA when it does.

~

P.S. A nice thing, however, is that this morning, I posted the list of Video Game Music That I Like, over on my ko-fi, and it's free to read for anyone!

I may do other music recs lists in the future, but absolutely no promises!

(Also if you want to rec me stuff in the comments, please feel free to do so!)

So I watched this video last night, about lazy bullet journalling, and I thought both lassarina and althea_valara might be interested to watch it, since I know they both do BuJo (I don't know if any others among y'all do, but you might like it?)

I found it interesting, because Ying calls her style lazy, and yet from what I can see, it's very much like how it was intended to be when Ryder Carroll designed it. Also it makes way more sense to me. AND it made me realise that what I call my planner is essentially a BuJo, but I don't really think of it in that way.

Anyway, I thought y'all might find this interesting, so I thought I'd link to it.

~

I am almost at the end of my Now... journey :(

But it's been really good, though! As I said in a comment on my previous entry, the enjoyment of the music as well as the nostalgia has been SUCH a serotonin boost!

Also it's been interesting.

Obviously, the mid-nineties, which was also my mid-teens, was the height of the whole Britpop thing. And the whole Oasis versus Blur thing.

Now. I liked both Oasis and Blur. Emphasis on the past tense because, while I still like Blur, I can't bloody stand Oasis for a variety of reasons.

I've thought recently it would be nice to get hold of their first two albums again, because I loved them as a teenager, and listened to them a lot. Except that for every single Oasis track that's come up on these compilations, I've not been able to listen to more than thirty or so seconds.

And that's because I'm more familiar with The Beatles' back catalogue and it's now SO CLEAR to me how much of a rip off of them Oasis were in the beginning. It's not like Noel Gallagher didn't state they were an influence, because he did, repeatedly. In fact, Oasis were probably my Beatles gateway* (although I came out the other side not that bothered, and I've certainly gone off them a lot more in recent years).

But, like, you can pick almost any Oasis song from their first two albums, and you can bet it will remind you of a specific Beatles song.

Anyway, that alone was enough to make me skip songs I'd once enjoyed listening to. I honestly thought I'd be like, "oh yes, here comes a massive nostalgia hit!" and while that's happened with a lot of stuff, it just didn't with Oasis. I'm not really sad about it, though. Like I said, I went off them a long time ago and literally the only enjoyment I get from them these days is that Wonderwall's become a meme (I don't know how, but it amuses the heck out of me).

(Also this is where I link you to the Mike Flowers Pops version of it because it's hilarious and amazing).

I don't have a logical conclusion to this bit, except that I found that interesting to experience.

~

Meanwhile, in FFXIII, I beat the boss on the Palamecia, on my first go, without even grinding for CP, and using the default team as recommended by the strategy guide, which is arguably a kind of hard mode, since you don't have Haste.

I did it just before Doom ran out (yes, I am terrible; yes, it took me 22 minutes).

But the point is that I did it, and I don't think I ever have before! \o/

I think I must be getting better at video games? I know I've said this in the past, but I think it's true. I only looked at the strategy guide to see what it said, I wasn't intending to follow its guidance - I thought I'd try it, but I'd probably have to have another go with a different set up (i.e. using Sazh for Haste) - but I didn't because ??? somehow I managed it anyway.

And now I am on the Fifth Ark, getting my arse kicked by slugs, because it's always the smaller enemies with drain attacks that I have problems with - see also: the frogs at Sulyya Springs. I can't remember if there is a boss in this area, but I know which area is coming next, and I'm looking forward to it (mostly).

~

*I mean obviously, I'd grown up hearing Beatles songs, because it could be argued that they are/were Britain's most well-known band. But there was a lot I wasn't familiar with, because neither of my parents had any of their albums, so I only heard select handfuls of stuff on the radio.

Weaving on youtube: boring, all white or neutral colours, roving weight yarn if you're lucky.

Weaving on pinterest: SO MANY BRIGHT COLOURS! DIFFERENT WEIGHTS OF YARN! Not boring at all!

I realise these are GROSS over-simplifications, but it's a bit how I feel sometimes. Also it didn't help that the people whose weaving videos I watched were - I don't want to say "generic crafters", because it feels very mean, and yet that's what they do. They rarely spend more than one or two videos on whatever craft they're trying, and their channel contains multitudes. So of course they weren't really going to branch out and try weirder stuff. Also the one channel I watched a lot of is more a lifestyle channel, and her focus is mostly on decorating, so she's going to go with what's fashionable in that, and that is, of course, whites and neutrals.

Not that there is anything wrong with liking whites and neutrals, because there isn't. I just like colours, y'all.

Anyway, after months of not doing any, I am back on a weaving thing in part because my friend Sarah bought herself a loom so she could weave yarn she can no longer knit with. Obviously, I am mildly jealous, as I don't really have room for a loom at the moment. I don't really think I want one, at least not at the moment, since I'm not that into it anyway. (Though looms are not as expensive as I thought! I can get one similar to Sarah's for around £120 which seems cheap to me! I thought I'd be looking at at least £500, but I guess it depends what you want it to do as to how much it will cost).

I particularly like weaving where there's a mixture of thicker warp and thinner weft (or, yanno, a whole bunch of what they call art yarn, of which I have some), or really slubby yarn has been used. There are examples in my weaving folder on my pinterest, if you want to see what I'm talking about.

So I'm going to have a go at that, along with everything else I am messing with at the moment - which is dyeing fabric with food items (I just dyed some fabric with coffee and it smells disgusting. I'm not sure how it smells worse than tea dyed stuff, AND YET), and also making weird sewn on doodles with fabric scraps to see how it turns out, and some other bits and bobs as well.

And, not for the first time, I have spent most of this week wishing I'd gone to the textiles lessons at college when I was doing art. I think I didn't because they clashed with something else, and I deemed that thing more important, and also I didn't think I was that interested in it, in spite of my first ever project there being extremely textiles based (it's how I'm familiar with dyeing stuff with tea).

~

In other news, I bought the Inscryption soundtrack because it is available on Bandcamp for $4!! and it is an absolute banger.

~

And that is all I have to say at the moment, really!

We are having a heat wave! YAY! (not)

Since the 17th, the daily temps have been above 25°C, and my living room is currently 23° and it's not even dinner time! It's supposed to clear Friday/Saturday, but I hope it doesn't rain so much that town floods. Just enough to cool the air and make it less humid would be nice.

(Also it made me ill and I woke up drenched in sweat last night after only being asleep for two hours, so that was fun as well!)

~

Yesterday, I bought some Stabilo fineliners that I absolutely do not need, but they are in pastel colours! And I got £2 off the set of six, by pure coincidence! I've had the matching set of Pen 68s for a few years now, so it's nice to have the fineliners to go with it.

(I didn't get them from Cult Pens, btw, so please don't click that link expecting to get money off; that's just so you know what I'm talking about. Although, postage excepted, that's the cheapest price I've seen them for).

I also got a hoodie with skelly bones on it from work, so I am EXTREMELY happy about that! Especially since I can wear it at Hallowe'en without having to put extra layers underneath my skelly t-shirt, as I have had to do for the last two years. No promises, but I will try to upload a picture of it somewhere once I've given it a wash, because it's awesome, and y'all should see it!

~

Art youtubers got me super inspired again! Not that I did a lot last time, but the fact that I even felt the inspiration was nice. And not even the same youtuber, which is good. But, like the first person, is someone that is working on a webcomic/comics in general, rather than most of the people I watch on there. I need to find more people like that, as that is Very Much My Jam, though I wouldn't blame you if you didn't know this, because it's not something I've talked about a lot in the past several years.

So hopefully I will get some more noodling done from being inspired by them!

~

Music meme, nicked from sideways:

Without looking things up online, list a song whose title contains each of the following:

A Place: Rock the Casbah - The Clash
A Food: Raspberry Beret - Prince
A Drink: Tequila - Terrorvision
An Animal: Cry Wolf - Aha
A Number: Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon
A Colour: Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky - Manic Street Preachers
A Boy's Name: A Message to You, Rudy - The Specials*
A Girl's Name: Jolene - Dolly Parton
Profession: The Hitman - Queen
A Vehicle: The Riverboat Song - Ocean Colour Scene

~

*I mean, I always assumed Rudy was male?

I spent a productive evening last night listening to sea shanties. It was fun! And, weirdly, reminded me of my childhood. (My working theory is that they used to have people who sang shanties or shanty style songs on the folk music programme my mum used to listen to on the radio, and that's why).

Turns out I know more than I think I do (one I'm familiar with via its folk music incarnation), whereas I thought I only knew What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?, because that's the one everyone knows.

There's also one called Rolling Down to Old Maui which sounds a lot like The Miller of Dee in parts (I was not prepared for that, lol). I taught myself to play The Miller of Dee when I was a teenager, but it's not ever something I've heard in the wild, as it were. (The Wiki page for Old Maui suggests it may be based on The Miller of Dee, but there's no conclusive proof).

Jazz does not approve of sea shanties, but that's because she has no taste :q

~

Yesterday, Aoife streamed herself playing Journey as a chill game for everyone to watch. So I thought I'd share the link in case any of y'all are interested. She is planning to play other chill games as well, although we don't know what at the moment (she asked for recs during the stream, and the only one I can remember is Abzu).

I haven't actually played Journey myself, although now I'd like to (I think I'd spend ages bimbling around in the desert, tbh). And also even though I know what happens, it'd be nice to experience something like that for myself.

I got strong ICO vibes from it, as well, although there's no combat in the game at all. I think it's the running around with a friend thing (although it's entirely possible to play Journey on your own, whereas with ICO, you have to rescue Yorda because that's the point of the game).

~

Off to finish off this painting I accidentally wrecked yesterday, but have since fixed! (It just needs a few final touches, and then it should be good to go!)

1. I completely dropped the ball on the Post Once A Day meme, and missed my first day (I assumed the first of the month would be okay for posting except hahahahah no! Because tiredness and stress!) But I absolutely will get to answering the question in a moment!

(I still have spaces, btw, in case anyone has any burning questions they want to ask me? Or a topic to talk about! It doesn't have to be a question!)

2. Because of aforementioned tiredness and stress, I am still at the same place I was almost two weeks ago in Diablo III. I almost thought about quitting, but I'm so close to the end that I might as well see if I can dink the final boss on the head.

3. I saw a copy of Monty Python and the Holy Grail at New Work (or possibly Old Work, now I am confused). I did not pick it up, and am regretting my decision. I like that film, because Arthurian Myth, but also there's bits that I straight up have never liked, which is what gives me pause about it (although I guess at least with DVD I can skip that easily??)

3b. I did finally manage to get a copy of The Bends on CD, though, after having only owned it on tape for twenty plus years.

4. There is still snow outside, and it snowed most of the day while I was at work. It didn't stick in town, but when I got off the bus at home, I was amazed how much had stuck (It was little over an inch, which isn't that impressive, I know, but I wasn't expecting it).

5. Time for that Post Once A Day answer!

forests_of_fire asked me: What is the most frustrating aspect of games? The most rewarding? The aspect that brings you the most joy?

( Read more... )

I had a job centre visit yesterday, where I was informed that I was earning enough money that I didn't need to be seen as regularly \o/

So for the time being, I don't need to have appointments there! (I say for the time being, because my work coach did say that if my wages go down for any reason, then I may be made an automatic appointment just to confirm what's going on).

I also bought myself two P!nk albums from the local RSPCA charity shop, since I've always liked what I've heard by her on the radio, and I've heard a lot of her on the radio recently for some reason.

Also also I am reading a book! An honest to god actual fiction book, and it is not feeling like a struggle to do so! It is the sequel to Shiver (aka a book about werewolves that I absolutely did not get on with) and it's going okay? Nothing much is happening, but that's par for the course with what I've read of Maggie Stiefvater's books. I feel like Cole is a proto-Ronan, since he gives me the same irritated feeling, but I think she likes writing characters like this? Or maybe Ronan is a proto-Cole, since technically the meat of the Raven Cycle was written first? Anyway, whatever, I don't like him. Though I wish Isabel was still an abrasive jerk, because when she was, she was the best thing about Shiver.

Aaaaanyway. I'm reading! I'm, like, halfway through the book! I may even read the other two books in the series, since I own them already!

And then, one day, I might actually get to rereading the Raven Cycle, and possibly All The Crooked Saints, but I still kind of side-eye that one a bit.

(I'm still mad we'rd not getting the story about about the girl gang car racers because holy heck I wanted that so badly! But alas, it was not to be. I did think about writing my own version but I know next to fuck all about cars and I'm still not writing anything anyway).

Heh.

On top of all of this, I bought almost all Lousie Rennison's series that starts with Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, since we had them all at work. Except for book six, because I mean why donate a whole series to a charity shop, right. I can probably get it off ebay though, so no worries.

Oh yeah AND BEFORE I FORGET: honigfrosch sent me a box of Halloween things/snacks from Germany and it was amazing! I made a thread on Twitter, here, where you can see everything but the one item I forgot to take a pic of because that happens. Also I was giddy as heck. Sorry the pics are so dark, but the cat decided to help by sitting in my light (thanks, cat).

(I do not need to buy snacks for ages now, although in spite of this, I still bought a hazelnut Ritter bar and some Italian cookies when I did the shopping yesterday. I have already eaten the Kinder egg, and am most of the way through the hare gummies, which are really yummy).