Talk About Tuesday

 

Happy New Year, Y'all!

And just where have I been since October?!?!

Buckle up, Buttercups!

So, you might've noticed that I utterly failed my art challenge this year. That triggered an Apathy episode - I stopped caring about doing art, to be honest. I'm getting back on the horse, but man, I was super bummed. And then I started doing Christmas-Related Stuff, and that... well...

I finished my gifts at 4AM on Christmas Day.

Again.

So yes, I have been working hard the whole time I've been gone...

Except for the end of December/into this month.

My family rang in the New Year by my mom & younger sister plus her husband all contracting COVID.

Since I live with my parents, this meant that I've been quarantining.

And I'm sure you've all guessed it - it's hard to focus on anything except COVID when you're quarantining because one of your household family members - the one who basically keeps everything running smoothly because she's basically a superhero - has COVID.

I've basically been in a constant state of Anxiety for 3 weeks.

Because that's about how long it's taken for her to test negative. I know. It's not fair, and she deserves far better.

Thankfully whatever strain she & my younger sis + husband caught, it was symptomatically mild.

Unfortunately, I had pretty much all the symptoms the entire time, but consistently kept testing negative.

So it's been a weird and uncomfortable start to 2024.

On the other hand, I got some fantastic gifts this year - Z got me that cool wooden shoulder bag that's been so popular (I had one on my wishlist, and he nabbed it for me!!!). I'll be using that with some of the watercolor paints & papers I was given by my folks! I got gift cards for Dunkin and a local bookstore, some of the crochet books I've been lusting after (I GOT THE ONE WITH DRAGONS I'M SO STOKED), flannel sheets, thick cashmere blend socks, and an unforgettably wonderful Christmas with my family.

It's no one's fault that the dumb virus got its claws in some of us. I'm so glad it wasn't worse.

That said, this storm tonight and tomorrow is going to test me.

I HATE power outages, and we're almost certainly getting one. Our wind band is somewhere in the 60-80mph (96,5-128,7kph) gust range, which... alarms me.

I still remember what the roof sounded like when it was torn off by that windstorm so long ago.

I still remember the panic of trying to find things to put under the leaks as they formed on the ceiling.

It's not comfortable, man.

And I feel for my dad - the siding is broken on his side of the house and it's going to spend all night slamming around.

I feel for my mom because this is the first night she doesn't have to feel like a pariah in her own house... and it's during a shitty storm.

I went and got myself a bunch of snacks - Doritos (BBQ and Sweet Chili), Cokes, Nerds (did you know their serving size is 1 Tbsp?!), and Skittles.

I still have the onion I bought for Z right after Christmas lol.

Basically, I am just going to be a little anxious until the storm ends. And possibly beyond, because let's be real, that's what I do. I worry.

At least I have a zipper repair to worry about and keep my mind off of things. I'll have to find a smaller, sturdier needle than the one I started using because it's just hurting my fingers and my stitches are... not great.

And yes, I'm trying to sew it by hand. Our sewing machine does not have good tension and I'd take just as long with that as I do by hand between the snapped threads and the cursing lol.

I might post again tomorrow if we have power/internet. I honestly haven't even begun to think about goals for this year.

Until next time, though,

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

Art Day!

 

Hopefully we're nearing the end of the "less-than-seven-pictures" period of this year, because I'd really love to get back to the daily art grind. It didn't happen this week. It won't happen next week. Why? Because I've been busy! And I stress when I'm busy.

I mean, I stress no matter what, but I've been extra busy and extra stressed this month. Hopefully after Sunday things calm down significantly and I can just... work. The way I want to.

A birb can dream, right?

Anyway, these are the watercolor paintings I managed this week!

"Dreamhogs"; watercolor; 1/18/2023 [ANIMAL]

"Parrot Waxcap"; watercolor; 1/19/2023 [VEGETABLE]

I'm pretty happy with the waxcaps, though I couldn't quite figure out how to make them look properly glossy (maybe some white gel pen highlights?), and the hedgehogs are cute, but I have felt off lately in the watercolor realm. Maybe it's because my art space, usually fairly disorganized as is, has been completely obliterated lately and I haven't really felt like I could clean it up. Maybe I just don't have the skills I want to have. Maybe I'm just tired. Whatever the case, these little pictures took way more out of me than they should've.

I'm going on a Family Adventure this weekend, so I've been stressing pointlessly about all the minutiae and potential hazards and such. I stress, remember? It's just how I am lol. I don't know if I'll have time to do more than take a few photos to eventually turn into art, but I'll try to do *some* work on the go, whether it's art or writing.

If you'd like to have a say in next week's art, feel free to send a coffee (and a prompt) via Ko-Fi. The categories you can suggest are Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Location, Dedbert, Geometric, or Word.

I know this week's blog is short, but so is my attention span, so we'll hope for the best for next week, eh?

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Filmic Friday 312: Social Distancing And Film

In Which I Talk About COVID-19 and Movies

It's fun to get together and watch movies with friends and family. Movie theaters are great for dates and just to relax and enjoy yourself. Hitting up a RedBox or other rental kiosk can be a great choice for a night in.

But now there's COVID-19 to be concerned with, and with cases all the way up here near Nowheresville, it's time to think about some changes.

I'm already a fairly antisocial person - social distancing won't be as big a change for me as it might be for some social butterflies - but this will still change how I view movies.

It's unlikely that I'll have the option of a movie theater soon (hopefully it waits for after tomorrow, though, there's a 35mm print of In The Bedroom I'd like to see with my partner...), and I'm already paranoid about the disease-slicked screens of the grocery store kiosks.

So how do we engage in the social behavior of movie-watching when we're all freaking out and don't want to get sick?

Well, there's a few options, in my mind.

There's streaming, which most people have or have access to (and if you have family with Netflix or something, now might be the time to beg for the password, tbh).

There's also cable tv, but fewer people have this, now, and companies like to make it hard for you to share this experience outside your home.

You could also make sure your fellow viewers have a copy of your movie of choice in their own homes.

These three solutions are great for being housebound.

Except that you're still sitting in a room alone watching a movie and having no one to talk to.

Well, chances are, if you're 30 or younger, you're on your phone anyway, so hook up a group chat or a multi-person Facetime call or something and get to sharing your experience digitally!

To be honest, if movie theaters and production companies want to really make bank, they'll run Pay-Per-View-style movie streams under their branding with built in conferencing to make groups more interested in streaming these shows from home. It could be on an emergency basis, running when there are natural disasters or plagues or just really bad air quality.

This is a scary time. Yes, it's unlikely that most of us will catch this disease (I think. I hope.) but it pays to be cautious, especially with an illness like COVID-19.

Here's a few bits of advice from my heart to yours:

• You're allowed to be anxious about this. It's scary. Anyone telling you to stop worrying is either worried themselves and trying to keep you from heightening their anxiety or they just are not paying proper attention. You can be worried. Just use that anxiety to prepare in sensible ways. Which ties into my next point:
• Stop buying toilet paper unless you actually need it - there wasn't a shortage before the panic because every continent except for Antarctica makes their own TP. The US imports a very small amount from Canada, Mexico, and yes, China, but we're not going to miss the Chinese imports that much because guess what? We make our own TP. It's going to be okay in this regard.
• When selecting a movie, try not to pick anything that will keep you up too late! Your body needs proper sleep, and spooking yourself out by watching that extra-scary horror movie might not help. I'm not saying you should switch over to all kids' movies, but now is a good time to pick up some things that won't give you a heart attack. If you're looking for scary but not too scary, I recommend The Lost Boys.
• I'm sure I'm about to piss people off but here's some mild medical knowledge that's easily accessible by laypeople like me:
• Homeopathy is not medicine. It's literally just placebos. It's pseudoscience and should not be confused with medical science.
• Naturopathy is also not really medicine. Yes, many medicines are derived from nature, but please remember that by definition, literally everything is natural. If it exists, it is in nature, and therefor it is natural.
• Antibiotics cannot cure viruses because antibiotics only fight bacteria, so if you're talking to someone who claims they're on antibiotics for their "cold", they have misunderstood the situation and do not have a cold. They have a bacterial infection. Also, COVID-19 is a virus and thus is immune to antibacterial materials.
• You cannot cure this with honey. You cannot cure this by drinking bleach. One is tasty on toast. The other will literally kill you.
• Remember, if it has "alternative" in the title, unless prescribed by an actual straight-up medical professional, it is not medicine and it will not work. Our great grandparents used this stuff because there was no medicine.
• And finally, if you are going to be around people you like and you have allergies, please consider dosing up on your allergy meds, despite the grogginess. Try not to sneeze too much.

We'll get through this, guys.

We're all in this together (ish).

Seriously, though, this week's recommendation is The Lost Boys, which I only saw about half of because I kept falling asleep (I was super tired), but if I ever see the whole thing? I'm blabbing about it on here. Promise.

Also, uh... I need to start working on a list of movies as I watch them because... my memory? She is the suck.

That'll about do it for me, guys!

Stay social from a distance and take care of yourselves!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC