Rae Roy's Blog, page 10

2024 - Week 15

Arts & Crafts

I'm casually knitting toys. I should have the first one done soon. It's around bean bag size. I think I'll want to make bigger versions eventually, so they're more huggable. I'm also really gung ho to work on baskets. I acquired a bunch of patterns for a wide variety of them, which were mostly free.

I was in the mood to finish other projects this week, so I completed my donut coaster. One sprinkler is sus and so is the bread part of the donut, but the icing went fairly well, so my crochet is improving. I still don't love it. Maybe I'll just prefer the basic crochet rather than the fancy stitches that mean way too much counting for me.

I wove in the edges of my PWHL Scarf to make it ready for blocking. Maybe I should block the part of my coast that looks wonky.

Decluttering & Minimalism

This photo might not look like much, but I've been needing to reconfigure this cart for a couple of months, but I was too injured to do it. My countertop dishwasher has been moved onto it, so that it's at a much more reasonable height for me as I continue to heal. This also let me slide an IKEA bookshelf over to make better use of my space. And having it on a cart is better in case I need to move it for some reason.

When I joined my two metal IKEA PS cabinets together, I lost the space I had my small bar area on. This has let me have space for one again. I'm not a big drinker these days, but I'd rather my bottles have a spot that isn't on the bookshelves in my living room. My tea items are able to live there too.

I also never finished the one corner when I wallpapered in that room, so I was able to complete it. Yeah, I just kept the bit of wallpaper for it around all this time for *someday* when I had the energy and time to do it. But then it was still missing a tiny piece and I had to fake that one just to get it done. It's not a spot anyone is going to look at anyway. Now I need a tiny extension for my dishwasher. A really short appliance strength one. Ugh.

Gaming & Streaming

This week, Diablo IV worked out. I'm getting really bored of it though. I want to beat it and move on to something else.

In Stardew Valley, I finally made it to the bottom of the cave system. I guess I'll be moving to the place that matches the skull key. I need one iridium bar to finish repairing Willy's boat, which will open up another area to explore.

Lifestyle & Sports

Some friends that haven't known me very long have asked me what I will be doing once curling is over for the season. Have no fear, friends. I'm very good at filling a schedule up. I used to do that for a living. I'll be catching up on all the things that have been difficult while being in two curling leagues! That includes sleep since the Tuesday one began at 8:45 PM. I have no shortage of creative and home projects to do. This first Tuesday without it was filled with watching hockey, making instant pot French Onion Soup, and gaming.

I enjoyed the IIHF Women's World Championships. It was fun seeing a lot of the PWHL players on the ice competing for their countries. I did not like that Canada lost to the USA on their first meeting. The USA got an overtime goal, which made it 1-0.

Something that wasn't working for my particular injury was resistance bands, because they have the most resistance at exactly the wrong point for the location of my injury. I switched to light free weights and half body weight exercises like wall pushups and my shoulder and arm are finally getting better. Also helpful has been injury strength Rub A535 to get my muscles to relax. I wish I would've figured this out sooner! The mind likes to keep muscles rigid when there has been an injury in order to protect the injured area. In my case, it likes to do that longer than necessary and the more I tried to get it to release with deep tissue massages, the more rigid it became. Jerk.

I caught up with a friend this week and had a lovely dinner. When I got home, my hallway smelled like a campfire, but I couldn't find smoke or anything, so I called the building emergency line rather than pulling the fire alarm. No doors were hot and it was only our hallway. It turned out to be incense that smelled like burning birch trees. Why is this a thing that exists?! I later burned some lavendar incense in the hopes it would counteract the other stuff.

Update: I totally forgot that we also had the first meetup for softball. I got to catch up with so many friends and many hugs were involved! I'm looking forward to finding out what team I will be on and which friends I'll be playing with.

WritingI didn't get much done in the way of writing, but I did add space for it in my schedule for the rest of the month and beyond. I have one more grouping of films from the library to finish watching as background research before I switch to watching ones readily available on my streaming services.

2024 - Week 14

Arts & CraftsI found myself overbooked again, so I bailed on the queer craft night. I quite enjoy it as a respite from the busyness of the week usually, but in this particular week, I felt like I needed to reclaim an evening. I ended up knitting anyway while watching women's hockey. I finished my PWHL infinity scarf. It needs to be blocked and such before I can wear it around.
I've begun a new knitting project. I'm working on some stuffed toys.Dating & SexThe Lez Go Singles event was on Friday. Honestly, I wasn't getting my hopes up too high. I've went to a lot of events like Speed Dating and not met the right women for me. Often, they wanted to use me to get connected in the artistic community, had nothing in common, were polyamorous, or were way too young.
We played some games like This and That, a bingo card where we had to talk to people grouped with us for a round, hot potato with the DJ who I know from softball, and a general ice breaker question round that was my first round. People began getting into the games more than the trying to get to know other people partway through.
Several friends were rooting for me to meet a special someone. I might have. Time will tell on that.Decluttering & MinimalismWith my arm still being a pain in the a**, I have been doing mostly chores and sorting through some smaller things like pieces of clothing I don't like. I swapped my mini rice cooker that couldn't deal with basmati rice for a hot pot that could deal with more types of foods. I had been wanting a hot pot for a while. This one can cook ramen or rice in the bottom while steaming dumplings or veggies in the top. I can also use it to stirfry veggies to later add into a soup.Gaming & StreamingDiablo IV was a bust. It was laggy and hung, so I got halfway through A Case of Distrust instead. 
In Stardew Valley I'm trying to get a fish smoker together. This is partly for a quest, but also to move more fish and make money as I suspect I will need to expand the house soon enough.
On Sunday, I played some Minecraft and built myself in our server's Founder's area: 
Also on Sunday, I played Shadows of Brimstone with friends. This was what I had before the town was unfortunately destroyed by some kind of tornado. Thankfully, I had a chance to heal and stock up on bandages before catastophe struck.

Later, I had more items:

The poor Faithful Dog that we found earlier hanging out with cultists, ran ahead and didn't survive this:

He was the bestest doggo.Lifestyle & SportsTuesday held a massage and the last night of Getting Started League. I'd be seeing some in the Gordie Perry bonspiel at the end of April, but others it would be four months until I would see them again. A tasty shawarma banquet was had. 
I was very sore the next day, but I had a little more mobility, so the massage helped. Just in time to be able to hug my Dino friends. More on that in the music section.
Day two after the massage had me feeling a little less sore. I really have to get better at telling the students to lighten up. Their instructor worked on me a bit to show a technique and she knew the exact right pressure and movements to use. 
The IIHF World Women's Hockey Championships began this week. I enjoyed watching all the PWHL Ottawa players play for their home countries.MusicI was fortunate to be able to see Danielle Allard perform this week and it happened to coincide with a lovely musician friend being in town from California. I had hoped to introduce the two, but my friend's dinner and her tummy weren't in agreement. Despite the sudden winter storm in April, it was important to get out because it would be one of the few in-person performances Dani planned to do for the year. She's got a lot going on between working on 5 studio albums and her day job plus streaming on Twitch and building her community.
As to my own adventures in music, I've always struggled to figure out what genre I want to create in because my tastes are quite varied with the exception of country because I can't stand most of it outside of Dolly Parton. This uncertainty has made it immensely difficult to stick to learning one instrument enough to be decent in it and remember things like chords. Anyway, as I feel like I'll probably be playing some kind of alternative, indie, folk type music, I think I can finally just focus on my tenor ukulele for now. The bonus of that is that it is ultra portable.WritingWith it being not only the beginning of a new month this week, but a new quarter, I put more time in my schedule for writing. I had several films and documentaries to watch as part of my continued research into backgrounds of different characters and how those may play into my novels. They also might not given that I've set everything in the future and I might want to have a more hopeful outlook going on that what we currently experience. I finished most of them, renewed one, then the library automatically renewed the others the day they were due instead of letting me return them. I didn't know they do that.

2024 - Week 13

Arts & Crafts

Craft night had me learning crochet. I think having a live human help me really made some things click. I spent a good chunk of Friday working on my rainbow dinosaur kit. My friend called the supplied kit yarn, t-shirt yarn. I was finding it hurts my hands more than yarn usually does when I knit, but I also felt like if I stopped, I might forget everything I had learned like every other time. Luckily, I didn't have to do a magic loop for the beginning because the kit had it done for me. This helped with knowing how much tension I should have on the rest of "Fred the Dino." I learned that I shouldn't use pliers to try and pull the yarn through when I was doing the arms. Well, arm number two. The first arm worked just fine. The second needed three attempts. On one of those, the yarn just would not pull through and using pliers brought the arm inside the dino and I had to cut it off and try again.

No pliers in crochet!

I had to straighten the darning needle after that with a hammer...

The tail and the spikes had me having to learn to do magic loops myself. This was something that had me so confused on Thursday that my friend had to start it for me on my other Woobles kit. The carrot is particularly wonky, but I'm choosing to let myself be bad at it because I'm a beginner and that is the white belt mindset.

The dino is coming along. Just a couple more spikes and the tummy stipes to do. The eyes are messed up, but I think the head shape is too.

And then... Well, I wasn't done with crochet and now I want to crochet all the things like a donut coaster.

Decluttering & Minimalism

I wasn't sure I would get anywhere on these goals this week. I focused on catching up on laundry since being injured had made me quite behind there. I brought some items to donation on the weekend before having my hair stylist fix my haircut.

Events

This week featured the Tegan & Sara concert at Meridian Centrepoint Theatres for their NOT TONIGHT tour. It was an excellent show filled with musical talent and humour. The twins like to chirp at each other now and then and I'm here for it. Sara told us how the old songs transport her back to the time when she was living in a particular apartment and owned very little. Tegan mentioned that they don't transport her back in time, but the old words have new insights about her life now. We learned about how Sara is a landlord these days and has spent way more time than she ever thought possible during the tour just trying to get a fridge for a tenant.

The twins also mentioned that people are usually a fan of one or the other. Now I'm wondering which I am because I thought that I was a Tegan fan in terms of personality, but Sara wrote Closer. Clearly, I need to delve into this and see if the songs I like the most are all Sara's. Perhaps Closer is an outlier.

The tour shirt I got and my ticket.

I first discovered them the year I moved to Ottawa, so they were part of a major life change. All I know is that I love them even more after seeing them in a proper concert setting versus an outdoor one. The sound quality is vastly better and we got a lot more time with them. Concerts always feel more intimate and special.

What an excellent kick off to 5 work-free days!

Gaming & Streaming

I'm close to having the map uncovered in Diablo IV. I haven't decided if I will finish that first or try the battle with Duriel again. I should be able to kill him soon, right? I'm level 50 now, so that should mean something.

I haven't been gaming digitally much on account of the pain. I've mostly been trying to be good at following the directions to heal. More on that below.

Lifestyle & Sports

The week began with the finals in the BKT Tires World Women's Curling Championships. The bronze medal match featured South Korea (Gim) vs Italy (Constantini). I was cheering on Italy.  Curling commentary is different than a lot of sports. They don't just talk about the athletes, but also the ice technician who provides them with the surface they play on. Gim slipped out in the third end and still made an excellent shot. Later, they had hoped to blank the end, but got a point and lost hammer instead. Hammer is the last rock advantage in an end. 

The gold medal game was Canada (Homan) vs Switzerland (Tirinzoni). Team Homan has been on fire lately. They lost to South Korea the first time they faced them in this competition, then beat them the next day. That loss broke a 27-game winning streak and was partly due to some overly ambitious shot choices. Team Homan has a habit of making shots other teams might never dare attempt. I was eager to see them battle for gold. With several amazing shots from Team Homan, they earned the gold medal. I especially like that it was Team Homan that won as they've gotten flack over the years for not smiling enough or for being fierce competitors. Basically, misogynistic bullshit. Here is a compilation of shots by Rachel Homan. And she's only gotten better.

I watched my own team play here and there while the gold medal game was on. They won too! Sadly, I've left the team due to the injury I have. It was the responsible choice to make. The season ends for them on the 14th of April. Hopefully, I'll be better in time for the Gordie Perry. My new physiotherapist said she can get me there and also get me ready for the softball season the month after. She taped my shoulder up because my supraspinatus has been getting pinched by the ball in the shoulder. Add that to a tricep injury on the same arm and it's been quite painful. My infraspinatus is good now though, so I'm thankful for that. The tape along with not lifting things is supposed to calm things down. It's all frustrating to me since I have things I need to move around at home!

By the weekend, my arm was feeling quite a lot better though it certainly wasn't a hundred percentage. It was nice to welcome sleep back into my life. I was still tweaking it doing small things from time to time, but even that didn't hurt as much. Hopefully, it will all be behind me soon. Despite it all, I've not let it sour my mood though not playing sports makes me feel sad. They're so good for physical and mental wellness.

Writing

Does this blog post count? Seriously. Typing hasn't been the most wonderful thing and a lot of the time I've had to focus on work. I have lots of ideas in my head as my characters are never too far from my mind.

2024 - Week 12

It's hard to believe that the first quarter of the year is almost over. 

Arts & Crafts

I currently want to craft all the things at once. I'm so excited by all the projects on my to-do list that it's hard to focus on just one. I finished PWHL Scarf. It seems like it may be too short for me. I need to block it before I can join it together and be sure on that.

My weekly queer craft group was a good place to be while I am dealing with all that I am. Well, until my arm really started to hurt and I had to stop, but the conversation was good. 

Decluttering & Minimalism

One of the things some people get wrong about minimalism is that they think every space needs to be devoid of everything. Sometimes it's more about making an improvement to your space that makes what you already have function better for you. This week, I got new chair wheels that don't get clogged up by things like carpets and blankets. I was spending way too much time fighting with traditional caster wheels and got these rollerblade style replacements.

It's wonderful not having my blanket caught in my wheels anymore! A couple of things to note on them are that they do make the chair sit a bit higher naturally. They also move so easily that I may need to swap back to the rug I had down before or get a set of triangular bit to tighten them. I'm keeping the other wheels in storage for now. I'm not sure if I will put them back into the chair when I'm getting rid of it someday or not, but I'm loving the new wheels and will want to keep them. I can likely swap in new rollerblade style wheels if I ever need to, which makes this purchase more environmentally friendly.

I've boxed up things like my rollerskates and ice skates to go into storage soon. I'm hoping to carefully make that happen next week.

Gaming & Streaming

Diablo IV on Monday was a pretty standard stream experience. I completed the quest line involving Taissa. It took a lot to fully exercise that demon from her. After all she's been through, I doubt we'll see her again. 

Also on Monday, I finished putting together the mystery puzzle that was begun on the 16th. There is a bloodied yellow oar that has Hitchcock written on it; a bird cage with two yellow birds; a bag of potatoes with metal items that may be propeller parts from a boat; a chef's knife, a grandma wig in a bun; a men's tie; a fish in brown paper; and two taxidermied seagulls. What does it all mean? I won't know until I read the 12-page story that goes with it. Given PWHL events on Saturday, I won't be able to stream crafting for a bit unless I do a pop up stream.

Lifestyle & Sports

My RR Curling team had a bye on St. Paddy's Day, so there was no curling for that league this week. With the 31st being a bye for everyone due to Easter, there were three games left for my team. But I'm fairly certain that I won't be in shape to play in them.

Tuesday was one of three sessions left for GSL Curling. It was heavily suggested I not play until I've seen my new physiotherapist and gotten exercises to rehab my muscle adhesion issue. Basically, the perfect storm of ADHD stimulants, injuries, and playing sports likely with my autoimmune disorder had me in a state where I didn't know I was overworking my muscles and then I wasn't able to heal at a fast enough rate, so I have scar tissue that needs to be busted apart. The ultra painful deep tissue massage I had on Tuesday prior to a queer boardgame event had me dealing with an endorphin high while trying to socialize. That was less than ideal.

I'm hoping this can be resolved soon and I consider myself lucky that I was only on the meds for about six months. It sucks that I got injured a second time, but I may be in worse shape had I continued to play without knowing I was doing myself harm. 

Last year, I put a date in my calendar for when I needed to start allergy meds. It was supposed to be May 1st. Instead, it has begun with the start of Ostara. Happy Spring Equinox to me! Ugh. But it also means we're one day closer to the start of the softball season! Registration happened on the weekend and I'm looking forward to catching up with friends, meeting new people, and getting to know my new team in April. Hopefully, I'll have no lingering muscle issues by the start of the season in late May as not playing sports has me quite sad. Watching just isn't the same even with wonderful friends.

I had a lovely catch up with a friend who is in town for a short time. It was just what I needed as there have been other things going on that I could only talk to her about.

I enjoyed watching Team Canada a.k.a. Team Homan dominate in the BKT Tires World Women's Curling Championships this week. I wish I had remembered it was going on a bit sooner, but life has been a bit hectic.

PWHL Ottawa took on Toronto at TD Place this weekend and it was an excellent game to be in the crowd for. I ended up sitting with friends rather than in my own seat alone. It was slow to get going and it looked bad early on. Toronto got the early goals. But Ottawa found a way around the wall that is Campbell and came back fiercely to not only win the game, but break Toronto's 10-game winning streak. Looks like those recent trades may have been exactly what Ottawa has needed. There were a couple of people cheering on Toronto nearby and I made sure to cheer extra loudly for Ottawa in their direction. One of my friends called Toronto the Leafs, but I think that's unfair until they choke in the playoffs.

After the game, there was a season ticket holder event, which I intended to go to. As we waited, I walked around the arena and scoped out areas I would prefer to be in for next season if I'm able to change seating. I want to be in a higher up row to avoid the tripping hazard of climbing down so far, but also because I think the view of the ice is better for me. I ran into a friend and caught up with her and caught her up on my injured status. The event began, but I got hit by a wave of fatigue and decided it would be better for me to start on the journey home. Once I got to my home bus stop, I was quite sore, so I absolutely made the right call.

Writing

This week saw no progress outside of my head between all of the events I attended and dealing with physical pain. It's been harder than usual to write up this week's blog post as the pain led to fatigue, which had me going to bed earlier than I normally do. Have no fear though, as I'm on the mend and have a lot of next week available for writing.

2024 - Week 11

This week began with the annual Mayfair Theatre Oscars Watch Party. A friend wanted to share the trivia wealth and let me grab a prize. I thought I was selecting a piece of a horror film reel. 

I suppose it's about a horrifying piece of women's health history made extra by being turned into a Rom-Com. I haven't seen the movie, but the concept seems a bit tone deaf considering all the difficulties women still have being taken seriously by the medical community.
Speaking of women's history, last week ended with International Women's Day and this is Women's History Month. One of the events I went to didn't sit well with me. There were no women like me there. Butches deserve representation. A lot of women have no interest in looking like a Kardashian. There was an American woman who proceeded to tell us that women should always do things with grace. I felt like telling her, "Honey, the only grace I need in my life is Grace Zumwinkle." It's long passed time that women should just be able to be who they are and not be told by anyone else, including other women, that they have to dress or act in certain ways to be valid as women.Arts and CraftsI did get my Fairy put back together properly and I've been making steady progress on the rest of this project. I'm aiming to get the darkest colours out of the way as they are the most difficult to work with on navy blue Aida. I promise she's all in one piece. The ring just makes it look sus.


I've finished sticker bombing my cabinet doors. I will be sealing them sometime soon. I just haven't felt motivated to do that kind of messy thing. I'm hoping they'll all stick a bit better after it.Decluttering and MinimalismSome of this week has been a virtual declutter as I wanted to reduce some blog tags. Fitness, Health, Wellness, PWHL, Sports, Skating, Travel, Roller Derby, Food & Drink, and Budo are now under Lifestyle & Sports. There are two Writing related tags now instead of three. It's possible some are under the wrong one and I'll fix them eventually. Writing (General) is focused on general stuff like updates. Writing (The Craft) is about writing skills, tips, editing, and tricks. I've also combined Teaching, School, and Language Learning into Education. There were a number of others that I cleaned up as well.
I also got some of my bedroom more organized and my rowing machine is in a usable place.Lifestyle and SportsMy muscles were not healing while I'm on stimulant meds. It's common for muscles to tear when exercising. Then they should repair in 24-48 hours. It's usually safe to exercise a muscle group every two days. I had more days in between, yet I was not healing like I should be. I talked a bit about this last post, but since I stopped my meds, the pain is reducing and my arm is healing at a much more normal rate. I suspect it will take a bit though. The massage therapist felt a lot of scar tissue in my upper body. I'm annoyed, but at least it was caught before I could end up in such a state that I'd have to miss the rest of the curling season and be screwed up for softball in the other half of the year. I see another massage therapist on the 19th and will see how much things have improved then.
Why would that happen? Well, stimulant meds can change one's ability to notice their muscles are being overworked. You don't get the same warnings like the discomfort of lactic acid. It's actually one of the reasons they are considered performance enhancing by many sporting competitions. To me, it's not worth the cost to my physical health longterm. This also likely specifically happened to me because of my autoimmune condition making it a little more difficult to stay properly hydrated. Hydration is super important in healing. 
Unfortunately for me, the non-stimulant options aren't good. They are either antidepressants or drugs that lower blood pressure. I can't stand brain zaps and my blood pressure is normal, so some of them could be quite dangerous for me. But, CBT, meditation, good nutrition, sleep hygiene, exercise, and some supplements can be an alternative option to meds for ADHD. Looks like I'll be glad I have a copy of Scattered Minds by Gabor Matte afterall. I don't regret trying the meds out. I think people shouldn't shame ADHDers for using the meds if they work for them. I learned more about myself in the process and was able to finally figure out what I had been reacting to in food.
In PWHL this week, Boston was shut out by Minnesota. Grace Zumwinkle got a powerplay goal and Heise got an empty net goal. Minnesota is at the top of the league once more. Ottawa and Boston were tied for fourth place, but Ottawa lost to Boston in a shootout after a game that had a lot of unfortunate post hits. Hopefully Ottawa can pull ahead and snag a playoff spot.
Friday was that special day in a queer human's life in Ottawa where softball registration opened up. I was eager to get back to the field and the routine of the warmer months. I was also looking forward to seeing friends who don't curl.
Edit: I forgot to talk about where things are at for my tongue tie! I got more exercises. At my next appointment, I will be given the exercises that are for the release. It looks like I'll be getting it done in early May.Gaming & StreamingDiablo IV continues. There is still about a quarter of the map that I haven't uncovered. I've been doing many of the side quests in the rest of the map before venturing on. I figure when I get close to having only the quests that can't be completed alone, I will find a guild to join.
I began putting together a puzzle. Back when I visited Kingston with friends for a Spooky Vacay, we stopped by a store and I bought a jigsaw puzzle. But it's not just a puzzle. There is a mystery involved in it. This particular one is the Alfred Hitchcock mystery puzzle. The puzzle inside doesn't match the box and, once it is complete, there is a mystery to solve. I've been wanting to try these puzzles as jigsaws are too easy for me. Even the all black one I finished in about a week. The Wave puzzle was 4 days. After one day, I'm halfway done the 1000 piece puzzle. I have been enjoying that I don't know what it is and that I'll have to figure out the clues. It comes with a 12-page case to solve.
There seems to be a couch with a body, a fish in a sleeping bag, and a bird cage, plus a carpet runner with some blood on it. 

WritingI don't like the chapter I'm working on right now and I think I will be cutting a lot of things out that don't matter to make it better. Sometimes, I'll get lost in weeds that don't matter to the story and when I'm not passionate enough about what I've written, it's not well executed. That's how I feel about the current version of Chapter 10. It sucks when I get to a chapter and I feel that way on editing it because I dread all the work it needs to fix it. I end up enjoying it at some point during the rewrite, but it always takes a bit to get going on it. Story changes in one chapter may create a ripple of changes everywhere else, so it can be a lot more work than just the chapter at hand.

2024 - Week 10

Oh, Hi, March!

This is a busy month at work as I try to finish all the 2023 things and set up the 2024 things. I'm pushing forward on my goals outside of work anyway. Maybe that's a bit silly given still being injured on top of it all, but I'm getting so close to just being able to relax much more often, which also means I'll have more time for guilt free creating.

Arts & Crafts

I don't really have an excuse for why I haven't finished my PWHL Scarf yet other than that I didn't feel like knitting at my queer craft group and I have gotten sucked into this sticker bomb project. It's addictive once you get going! Three of the four doors are ready for sealing. I will finish the fourth and then find time and spare to clear coat them all two to three times. When? Your guess is as good as mine.

I started bringing my Fairy Cross-Stitch to the queer craft night. The room is very bright, so it's ideal for it. That is also the craft project I've been working on the longest. Unfortunately for me, I had to frog much of what I had done this week because the young fairy's torso and bottom half were not aligning. Luckily, I recently hung some new lights on the wall above my couch for crafting and reading and now the girl's body is properly assembled.

Decluttering & Minimalism

This week, I got a shelf unit and some cloth bins to put my video game accessories in. The unit matches my TV stand and so do the bins. Unfortunately, I had to get more bins because they were a couple of milimetres too tall for the shelving unit.  Yes, milimetres. Ugh. At least I had another place I could make use of the bins in and they came with extra tags. It worked out in the end, but I was pretty frustrated by the whole thing.

I've moved my weapons bucket to my bedroom, since that's where I exercise. Or where I will when my arm isn't in pain.

Fitness & Budo

My arm is finally starting to feel better. I'm sleeping through most nights and I'm not in constant pain. I forced it to stretch forward some despite the pain and just started moving it a lot more because it won't get better being idle. I haven't had a day without pain yet, but I hoped that would start after beginning massage appointments. 

My first massage appointment was interesting. It was with a student. Part of the intake had her gently feeling me all over and she was able to tell things about me I never wrote down like that I had injured my ankle previously. Some of the things she suggested I work on are things my physiotherapist gave me, but she explained to me what was happening with my body. Like the cross-body stretch that we have been told to do for curling is actually bad for me because those muscles are over-stretched on my body from decades of office work. I need to do the opposite to get my pecs and upper back muscles strengthened. She also said I've got very strong muscles, but I've been working them at a rate that is faster than they can repair and grow, so I need to slow down. As one friend said, "Rome wasn't built in a day." I guess that's why my biceps were feeling rather rock-like. Oops.

But I think there is more going on here. This unfortunately seems linked to my medication. It's like it prevents my muscles from healing. Apparently, it's not unusual for kids with ADHD to take longer to heal broken bones. I guess I'll be asking to try non-stimulants next.

Gaming & Streaming

Monday was Diablo IV night as usual. I had to pull myself away from my sticker bomb project, but I got a lot of quests done.

On Wednesday, I went to the monthly women's only pinball night. I didn't make it as far as last time, but it was still fun. I had a sour beer. It was OK, but quite tart. I'm still searching for a beer I like.

In Stardew Valley, Emily and I aren't married yet. There's been no rain for me to go get the necklace from the old guy on the beach. We did go camping though.

Sports

I watched some of the Montana's Brier curling event this week. I'm not as invested in watching men play sports. This may be because it's not as relateable to me in that some of the ways men do things just aren't feasible for the body I have. I'm looking forward to the Women's World Curling Championship coming up later in the month.

In PWHL this week, Ottawa faced Minnesota. Lately, I've been unable to get time to watch the games as I have other things like curling in the same timeslot. And then I only have time to watch the highlights.

Writing

When I began this week, I had no idea if I would get anywhere on my writing. It's something that has been difficult to do with getting my condo to be a nice place to be in. When one is away from writing for awhile, one begins to wonder if they are really even a writer at all. It's been quite some time since I submitted any projects anywhere and I've been feeling the weight of that. 

I got a chapter edited. I forgot I had renamed one character and was confused for a bit. I started changing it back and then realized I liked the new name better and fixed it again. The joys of editing...

But it's another chapter done and I added quite a bit to a scene, so I'm feeling better than I did earlier in the week about the state of my novel.

2024 - Week 9

The week felt really long. 

Arts & Crafts

My calendar was looking quite packed, so I wasn't sure if I would get the time to reclaim my crafting space or not. Luckily, I had Friday afternoon off because I have some vacation I need to use up. I've got time off every Friday in March and I'm looking forward to it. I began reclaiming it on Thursday, so I could relax more on Friday as I had that earmarked for reading and relaxing.

On stream, I began sticker bombing the doors of my media cabinet. One has dinosaurs. Another has games and music. Door three has neon stickers. The final door will have pride stickers on it. I didn't get started on it. I also ran out of stickers, and had to wait for more to arrive. I'll be working on it more during the week and I will likely not finish it on stream as I'd like to get my doors back onto my cabinet as soon as possible. The craft is a mix of fun and frustration.

Decluttering & Minimalism

I took it somewhat easily this week as my arm needed a break, but I was still able to turn my former rolling TV stand into a portable keyboard stand for my Akai. This was something I've wanted to do because I can move it to practice with my computer, without the annoyance of moving my laptop. It's not terrible to do it once a week for craft streams, but regularly to practice for 30-60 minutes would become a barrier to practice. I know myself well enough to know that. Eventually, I'd like one with more keys on it. I tried with my portable electronic piano, but it took up too much room behind me and I couldn't really sit comfortably in my work/gaming chair, so it wasn't a good change. I may sell it or give it to a cousin.

I also moved some light things around like string curtains. I put those back where I used to have them to add some privacy from nosy neighbours. I've been meaning to do that to allow me to eventually put up balloon valances, that don't exist yet, on my kitchen doorways. So much to craft and little time to do it in.

The area above my TV is looking much better too. I think I'll put something like a cross-stitch in the middle as whatever I put there will have to be thinner than the display cabinets, so I can slide the doors when I get more POP Funko dolls. I only collect badass female characters who are part of fandoms I enjoy. The only reason Maleficent is still in her box is because her horns make her too tall to fit in the cabinets. Wonder Woman will always be boxed because she is my fave.

Fitness & Budo

The Scotties final between Homan and Jones was within 1-2 points the whole game. In the 9th end, Jones tied it up. Since it was my first time watching the Scotties, I thought it was extra Canadian to see the trophy be paraded in by three female-presenting Mounties. They joined their two male-presenting counterparts to stand guard over it. That's peak Canadian right there.

In the end, Homan clinched it, 5-4, stealing what would have been a storybook ending from Team Jones as Jennifer Jones is retiring from 4-player curling. She will be playing in a couple more championships this year before switching to mixed doubles curling with her husband.

I'm trying to find time to list a piece of workout equipment that I'm not using. I realized my rowing machine takes care of my abs, so I don't need the other item. I bought a punching bag because I miss having one to practice things like karate kicks on. They're good lower body work and fun. Hopefully, I'll get that all done soon.

Gaming & Streaming

I finished the Community Centre bundles in Stardew Valley. I bought a pig, named her Bacon, and I was able to get truffles I needed. It took a bit to get the rainy day fishes I needed. I'm still working on reaching the bottom of the mines. I read that an update is coming on March 19th. Some friends have asked if I'll start a new character. I'm still on my first play through, so unless there is extra content for a new one, probably not.

Something funny happened in Stardew Valley. I accidentally put a hat on my horse and Brownie won't give it back. 

It happened after Emily and I decided to get more serious. She mentioned a picnic to me when I visited her at work, but then she didn't seem to want to go next time I saw her. This is the strangest relationship I've ever been in. I just give her gifts and that seems to be all she wants from me. I've reached the max friendship level with her. She's mentioned my farmhouse must be cozy. I need it to rain to be able to get the necklace and propose.

Somehow, after meeting Emerance Maschmeyer on Monday, I was able to go home and stream Diablo IV. I think I prefer game streams without camera. At least while my home is still in decluttering mode. I feel like I got quite a lot of side quests done.

Health & Wellness

I've been given new exercises for my tongue. At my next appointment in mid March, I'm supposed to meet the dental surgeon who will be releasing my tongue tie eventually.

My meds were increased and it's a bigger jump than I think I needed. That combined with a chihuahua with the zoomies at 5:30 AM on Monday, followed by my sore arm regularly waking me up that night, I hadn't gotten much sleep early on in the week.

PWHL

It was a busy week with the event for season ticket holders on Monday. At this event, I met Emerance Maschmeyer, who happens to be my favourite PWHL Ottawa player. She's an Olympic level goalie from Team Canada as well. I managed to make small talk with her while my legs were shaking and I didn't pass out. She signed a Team Canada mini goalie stick I had brought and I got a picture with her. Then I leaned against a wall for a bit to calm down before I got the other Team Canada members to sign mini sticks. Oh, yeah, she's not only a super-elite athlete, but she's kind, friendly, and beautiful too.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be talking to several Olympians someday, let alone in one day. What a week it was!

I watched the home game on Wednesday against New York from home because of extreme weather plus things that needed to be done before Thursday. 

I also watched the home game on Saturday vs Toronto from home. I'm really scared I'll trip again. I've been in so much pain. I've asked if I can change seats to one that involves fewer stairs to reduce the tripping hazard. They reserve some seats and only release them on game days, so I hope it's possible. I don't even care if it's a more expensive seat and I have to pay extra to switch.

Writing

I picked up some more documentaries from the library when I returned the previous ones. That's all I accomplished with writing this week, but I will be watching the documentaries and pushing forward on the current novel. I find it hard to work on both the novel and a screenplay at the same time with the same intensity, so I've been focusing on the novel more lately. It's closer to submission ready anyway.

2024 - Week 8

This week, I fought hard to make progress on my living areas. And I ran out of fucks a few times. I will eventually elaborate on that, I'm sure, but not right now. There will be more swearing in this post as it has been that kind of week.

Decluttering & Minimalism

This week is a big one for me on this front because I've been actioning my Living Room plans. I acquired display cases for my Funko POP dolls. 

I also began combining my two IKEA PS cabinets into one for all my media to live in. This had me off to Home Depot for a small cut off saw to remove the four legs on the one unit. This is a fairly common IKEA hack. There are even holes that can be used to screw or bolt them together for safety. The saw helped, though I still needed to use my manual one as I wasn't comfortable with the sparks and noise. I try not to be an asshole neighbour.

With the legs off, I needed a break for refueling as I hadn't eaten anything yet.

The next day, I got it joined together with some small bolts and got all my games and movies into it. It's great having it all grouped together. I love that I have used the same amount of floorspace and gained storage area.

I plan to do some sticker bombing on the doors on it with a variety of stickers, but that will be a future low key project I can do later. I'll need to order more stickers for it as there are four doors and I only have enough for maybe one door.

I also purchased a new TV bench unit for my TV, game systems, and entertainment equipment. My goal was to have something where it was easier for me to have all my game systems and such set up and I could do better cord management. Also, I didn't want to spend a lot on it. I had briefly thought about building something, but I found a reasonable TV bench for under $200 that is mostly black metal. It has a rustic brown top and basically matches my daybed couch. Things aren't all in place yet as the other display case seems to be missing its lighting piece. Please excuse the rest of the living room disaster displayed on the screen. I'm loving this much less cluttered TV area where most of my game systems are connected.

I have some further plans that involve buying two shelf-length pieces of wood. One will be to join my bookshelves for displaying the miniatures that I enjoy making on stream. The other will be to add a back to my daybed as I think that will make it more comfortable as a couch. I'm going to stain both as close in colour to the other wood on the daybed. That is a bunch of work that can't happen until the rest of my living room has a lot less clutter.

Unfortunately for me, after getting all of this done, my arm was quite angry with me. 

(Chosen) Family

After catching up with Dad briefly via the phone, I spent family day with a favourite queer couple playing a boardgame. I enjoy low key activities like that. We played Shadows of Brimstone, which is like old west meets cosmic horror with a D&D oneshot kind of vibe. My character was not doing physically or mentally well with the hell bats. I'm the one in the hat.

It's a pretty cool setting for a game and you can choose to level up to go on future adventures together too.

The following day would have been my mother's 81st birthday. I was a bit down. I sent my brother a picture I found of him and her together smiling. Since my mom hated having her picture taken, each one is much more precious.

Fitness & Budo

My team at Rainbow had a bye last Sunday and all the work I've been doing combined with a recent fall at TD Place had my arm injured, so there was no curling for me. My team played on Saturday and called it early.

I wanted to go to GSL curling this week, but I couldn't play, so I stayed home.

Gaming & Streaming

I've been failing at streaming lately after all the pest control nonsense having my home turned upside down. A lot of stuff has ended up in my crafting space and I'm annoyed by it. I ended up using my craft stream time for Stardew Valley as I didn't want to continue to bail entirely on streaming. I'm hoping to be ready to start the sticker bombing crafts on the 2nd.

Nightingale came out and I really wanted to play it right away, but it took a long time to download and patch, so I couldn't. Then work was in the way of it. I also needed to finish my living room work. I finally did get to play and I'm not in love with it yet. I'm supposed to buy something from a wandering trader who hasn't appeared yet. I saw a giant mystical stag one night, but that's it.

PWHL

It was so great to see Ottawa win a game after a 5-game losing streak. Hopefully, all of that is behind them and they continue being the awesome team that we all know they can be! I never stopped loving them, but I did wonder if they needed to change something up to get back to winning.

Unfortunately, the next game against the same team later in the week was a loss. A number of people are blaming the coach for it as they continue to play the same lines week after week. The lines that may have had them winning in the earlier part of the season, but don't seem to be effective anymore as the other teams have adjusted to them.

Writing

I didn't get much physical writing done that I recall. This week has been too much. Work was quite heavy as we're in the busy period. I did get some ideas for scene changes and additions and wrote them down. I've also looked at the chapters I haven't gotten to yet and there are a lot of areas where I can expand on things. There are also a lot of other changes ahead as I made some dumb choices that I will be fixing.

2024 - Week 7

I've felt quite out of sorts this week. My home is upside down and I'm hating it.

Arts & Crafts

I planned to move my stream to Sunday, but after a busy week, I was too tired and spent much of Sunday napping.

On Thursday, I went to the first meeting of a queer needle crafts group. I'm pretty close on my PWHL Scarf, but I'm losing steam. There's an event I want it ready for coming up two Mondays from now, so I really need to rally and finish it.

Decluttering & Minimalism

I was so distracted this week. I've made a bunch of plans to reorganize some things and I really just wanted to get going on them all, so that I could be done with this decluttering effort. Yes, I know that I'm limited with budget, time, and such, but I just want to be done with it all so badly. I pulled a glute somewhere along the way though, so that has been problematic. It was my left butt cheek in case you really want to know ;)

I have a lot of plans, but I couldn't get to any of them this week as work was heavy and I had a lot going on outside of that. We had a repeat pest control visit complete with emptying all the cupboards again, so that's why my condo is extra messed up right now and I'm so tired of it. It's so bad, I couldn't be streaming this week

Finances

So, my bathroom loan repayment is ongoing. This is mostly due to stupidity on the part of the loaner. Let me explain.

When I got Bathfitter to do the part of the bathroom that was too much for me given the complexity of the plumbing and wanting to be sure it would be covered by home insurance in case of issues, they signed me up for a loan with Snap Financial. I was told once the loan was due, the full amount would go to my line of credit that I supplied.

Well, the loan came due and nothing happened for several months. Then a $56 monthly payment began. Then it changed amounts to around $37 and recently $41. I wasn't able to find anything out until they decided they would not be taking credit card payments going forward. I finally got the loan number in the mail. They began emailing people telling us we had to sign up for pre-authorized payments via a link in email.

Which goes against every financial security recommendation ever, so I guess not a lot of people signed up, myself included. Last week, they sent an email saying they extended the dealine for this to late March. On Thursday, I recieved an email stating that a new company would be taking over my loan and they would be reaching out at some point to set up repayment.

All of this has taught me to never use a company to do work for you that doesn't use a proper financing option. But also, I'm glad I didn't jump to do anything about it because it's not even being reported on my credit score currently. It's almost like it doesn't really exist, which seems odd. Anyway, we'll see how this goes in the coming months, I suppose. My plan is to get it moved to my line of credit, which is where it should have always ended up in the first place. I don't see the point in rushing on it given how disorganized they seem to be. I'd like to be sure that when it is done, it's really done.

They should have mailed us all the full details of our loans with the number and all the terms and conditions as soon as it was coming due. That's what real financial companies do. Actually, you usually get that as soon as you sign up for a loan.

Fitness & Budo

I felt quite broken this week. My arm was bothering me some from when I tripped up the stairs at TD Place. Also, the whole hurt-my-butt thing. On that, it felt a bit better by the late evening on Tuesday, but given that I wouldn't be able to walk about on the ice to learn anything, I opted to stay home. I was going to go watch people play, but it had grown quite cold compared to the weather we had been having recently. I had a number of library rentals to watch anyway.

On Pancake Tuesday, I attempted broccoli and cheese pancakes fried in roasted garlic olive oil. They were almost good. I guess I had the heat too high, so some didn't cook in the middle. I decided that next time the broccoli would be a side dish. What I did have was tasty. I think it would be a healthier pancake than the traditional sweet ones. Especially with the spinach my neighbour suggested. Too bad I had run into her as I was leaving the grocery store.

Gaming & Streaming

I cancelled my gaming stream on Monday as I had some things left to prep for the pest control thing.

Something terrible happened in Stardew Valley. Kent sent me a bomb in the mail and I accidentally blew up both of my furnaces, my charcoal stove, and two lightning rods. I'm not happy. Who the f**k mails a bomb?! I don't think I'm going to rush to be friends with Kent. My cow and my chicken are far more important to be friends with given the community centre bundles.

PWHL

Ottawa played Minnesota twice this week. The first was in Minnesota on Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, though Ottawa was the first to score, they didn't win even with Heise out of the game due to an injury. Minnesota had a pharmaceutical student, Abbey Boreen, in her place who delivered one of the two goals that led to Minnesota winning the game.

Saturday's game in Ottawa against Minnesota, I watched on YouTube as I was doublebooked that day. It was another loss to Minnesota. I think they need to put different lines up against them or something. They've gotten good at watching some key players like Zumwinkle, but then they aren't watching others.

Writing

On my recent trip to the library, I found some interesting documentaries on DVD. Several were on topics relevant to the current novel I'm working on, so I took them out and I watched two of the five this week. I made lots of notes and there are things I want to dig deeper into. Doing this research in the mornings before work has felt really good. Perhaps I'll make it a more regular habit. I tend to write short and need to length my novels, so research breaks help me figure out my next scenes.

2024 - Week 6

We're 6 weeks into the year and I don't know about you, but I feel like I've hardly accomplished anything. It's OK to just survive sometimes though.

Arts & Crafts

It was excellent getting together and craft with friends last weekend. There was so much good conversation and it had been a while since we last got together.

My scarf is coming along nicely. 

I need to figure out the next craft for stream. Perhaps I'll try to finish my Fairy Cross-Stitch on stream. I do have my big quilt that I need to start sewing also, but I don't know how I'm going to do the camera work for it.

Decluttering & Minimalism

The first big challenge I had was moving a carpet from my living room because there was a lot of stuff on it. I both dreaded this and was excited about what it was going to lead to. I think I accidentally invented "Hot Cleaning," while doing it. I was too warm, so I turned down the heat. At least, I thought I turned it down. In actuality, I had turned it up and was a sweaty mess by the end of it. Anyway, cleaning with the heat up might help burn extra calories?

What has it led to? A space to read and play my acoustic instruments. It's not entirely usable yet. They are repeating pest control spraying in my unit and several others to ensure they got the problem handled, so that means I get to take my stuff out of my cupboards again. With limited space in Tiny Condo, it's hard to figure out where to put things. Hopefully, this second spray will resolve it!

Family

On Saturday, I spent time with my local cousins. We're a large group when we get together. There were some from out of town, so there were more than 30 of us and a third were children with endless energy reserves. It's a lot, but also wonderful to see them. I get quite lonely being single and living alone, so I'm grateful for the times and hugs we share.

Fitness & Budo

I didn't make it to GSL this week. I had an early morning on Wednesday as I took my car in for a much needed wheel bearing replacement. It's amazing how loud one crappy wheel can be. I couldn't even turn up metal loud enough to enjoy it. Not that I was actively ignoring it. I just had to make time to get it to the mechanic. Could I have taken the bus and gotten a ride service to take me home? Sure, but the time lost on getting my place ready for the whole pest control thing wasn't going to work for me.

My team had a bye on the 4th, so it was a week off of curling for me. I haven't had much downtime in round 2, so it was welcome.

Gaming & Streaming

I was hoping to have done more side questing before stream came back around, but that didn't happen. So it was side questing in Diablo IV on stream on Monday. I ran around Scosglen, which has a number of Celtic themed quests and I enjoyed those. I don't think I finished them as I got distracted by other ones. At least, there was a tree one and I don't recall how it ended.

On Wednesday, I hung out with friends at House of Targ for the Pinball Women Ottawa Tournament. It was fun and I made it through six rounds. I think I'll go back and probably make it a regular thing. They're monthly on a day I usually don't have booked, so it's not too bad for my schedule. Also, who knows who I may meet there?

I cancelled my craft stream because of all the other stuff going on. There just wasn't enough time in the day for it. I have been cancelling more than I'd like lately, but hopefully soon I won't have to unless I'm sick.

Health & Wellness

What kind of things does one do in tongue therapy? Well, I have this hard styrofoam bite block to move my tongue around and push against my cheeks near the front corners. Another exercise has me use the block to keep my mouth open some while moving my tongue between the space behind my front teeth on the top and the bottom. In another exercise, I suction my tongue to the roof of my mouth then make a tick sound with it. And the last exercise I have currently has me push my tongue against the roof of my mouth behind my front teeth with my teeth staying apart at the back while relaxing my jaw. Just like in physio, I'll likely get new exercises in the coming weeks to add or replace those. Doing the exercises makes me yawn quite often, which really isn't helpful.

Music

I got an extra long midi USB cable and a cable channel to prevent tripping. It has taken a little bit to get used to my electronic piano being behind me, but I think it's going to work out great. I'll soon have time to practice regularly.

PWHL

For much of the game against New York, it seemed like Ottawa had it in the bag. They had a 3-point lead for most of the game and then the third period happened and suddenly New York flipped the tables and beat Ottawa in overtime. I hope Ottawa spends time analyzing what the hell happened because I'm still confused despite being there to witness it in person. But last week, Toronto beat Minnesota, so strange things have been happening all over the league.

Sadly, I missed the rivalry series because I don't have TSN. 

But my PWHL Ottawa hoodie arrived. It was a day later than it said it was delivered, which had me freaking out. The key for the parcel box was not in my mailbox on Thursday, but it was there on Friday. I don't know what happened  *cough* Canada Post, but I'm hoping that if I order anything in the future, I can have it go to the post office and not come anywhere near my condo building where things go missing too often.

Spirituality

This week I attended a Celtic Fire Festival for Imbolc. We did a ritual to set intentions via a Cloughtie/Clootie Tree. I was surrounded by strangers, yet I felt comfortable, which is not a common thing for me. Well, mostly comfortable. Not enough to cry or anything like that, but I didn't feel out of place.

We also got candles lit from a perpetual candle from Kildare, Ireland in honour of Brighid/Brigid. The perpetual candle there is tended to by the Brigidine Sisters. Brighid was long held to be possibly a Celtic pagan deity, but there is a St. Brigid and it's unclear whether or not the Christians claimed her as her own as they did with so many pagan things or not. There may have been more than one as it's also unclear whether or not Brigid was a title rather than a specific person, but that fact comes from a book written by Christians, so it may not be truthful to this pre-Christian deity's origins. At any rate, in paganism, she is the godess of many things including wisdom, poetry, healing, protection, smithing, and domesticated animals. It sounds to me like she was an empowered woman skilled in many things. Also, perhaps one who was neurodiverse. As she is also often associated with spring, cleaning can be part of chasing out the negativity of the previous year and heal. 

We set intentions for the year. What did we want to change and heal from? What did we want that healing to help us prepare for in the year ahead? I thought it was a great way to start the year. I decided January doesn't count for me. It's too sad of a month.

Writing

I did not get much writing done this week. I think I only got one, maybe two scenes edited. I'm not happy about that, but it has been a very full week. My cousin really wants to read my novel though, so I better get on it!