Molly Ringle's Blog, page 15

Three better habits lately

My stress and anxiety levels in recent months have been so much lower than last year's. I could yet stand to improve my overall happiness, but "equanimity" does now describe me far more often than it used to. As a result of being calmer, I sleep better, which means I have more energy and don't get sick as often, so my physical health's much improved too.

There are lots of changes I've made, large and small, that I would say have contributed to this improvement. But he...

This is Halloween, this is Halloween...

Our geekiest pumpkins from Halloween: Minecraft swords, Avatar Aang (with somewhat messed-up eyebrows)...

...and a cat, and Toothless the dragon.

And I was Titania, Queen of the Faeries. Complete with battery-powered lights and safety pins, just as Shakespeare wrote.

Much rain and chocolate was had, so that was all good. How was your Samhain?

What I'm watching, writing, and reading this week

1. TV: Why yes, I AM watching Once Upon A Time and it IS easing me off my Merlin melancholy, thank you for wondering. So far I'm only nine episodes into season 1, but I am already enamored of Emma's hair and her slightly-more-badass-Lorelai-Gilmore attitude. And I'm really liking looking at Jamie Dornan--oh. Well, I was enjoying looking at him. From the sympathetic glimpse into hitherto-slimy Rumpelstiltskin's past, I'm sensing this is one of those cool shows where everyon...

Bromance championship: Frodo/Sam vs. Arthur/Merlin

I was lately remarking to various people in comments that, by the end of Merlin, Arthur and Merlin "out-Frodo-and-Sam Frodo and Sam." But maybe it's a tie, to be fair. Now my mind won't rest until I've delineated all the items on the bromance checklist that both pairs seem to be using as their guidebook. Let's go!

Master and servant situation: check!

Save each other's lives a whole bunch of times (bonus points if you get soaked): check!

Also make verbal promises a...

Nothing Compares 2 U, Merlin fandom hangover version

I still have SUCH a fandom hangover after the Merlin finale. So I wrote this, to the tune of that one Sinead O'Connor song we all know by heart. I figure anyone who's ever had a fandom hangover can relate, and might smile.

Btw, despite the lyrics, I have in fact started watching Once Upon a Time and I do actually like it so far and will keep watching, in hopes that it will ease me off this angst.

---
It's been seven hours and fifteen days
Since "The Diamond of the Day"
I read fic every night and w...

So I finished watching all of 'Merlin'

Emotional exhaustion and late-blooming fangirling!

What a frustrating show. In a charming way. It became quite addictive, despite the problems, such as the ridiculous silly plots, and the big magic reveal coming waaay too late, as everyone says (come on, Merlin, you know you could have sat Arthur down and talked him onto your side; you even could have used MAGIC for it; it would hardly be the most underhanded thing you've ever done). And most frustrating of all, we didn't really get ou...

Three easy things I do for halfway decent skin

1) Mix some brown sugar with my usual face-washing substance and rub it on for some exfoliation. My mother, who has lovely skin, has a nightly ritual of scrubbing her face with a mixture of sugar and oil. I think she uses just canola oil or some other cooking type. I don't know about your face, but mine would break out for a week if I used canola oil, olive oil, coconut oil, or pretty much anything else from the kitchen on it. (Trust me, I've tried.) So I hit upon the solution of mixi...

Why doing my hair has always helped me relax: lessons in mindfulness

In my teens and twenties, when I woke up in the morning from disturbing dreams, I often found that a good way to dispel the lingering feeling of dread was to do something about my hair. That was something I generally had to do anyway in order to get ready for the day, but its oddly therapeutic quality struck me time after time. I'm not the sort of woman who particularly likes doing hair (my own or anyone else's), and am merely average at hairsty...

Times I've been in love with rain

As you probably haven't heard, because California's admittedly more serious drought has overshadowed ours in the news, the Pacific Northwest this summer has very much NOT been its characteristic rainy self. Actually--and no one from outside the region ever believes this, but it's true--we usually do get dry summers. It's normal for the grass in Seattle to have turned brown by August. But this year the drought started in spring, kept up relentlessly, and was coupled with unusua...

Scenting the Greek gods, or What Perfume Would Hades Wear?

In fragrance-loving forums, a common game is to post a photo of someone--perhaps a celebrity, perhaps a selfie or friend of a forum member--and ask everyone to scent them; that is, choose a perfume for them based on what they look like.

Now, very few people are going to care about this, but for my own entertainment, I'm going to do this with the main characters of my Greek mythology series (Persephone's Orchard and its sequels). Even if you haven't read it, you likely know the god...