Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which Heat And I Are Not Friends

I could not sleep at all last night. Between the heat and how hard it was for me to find my collection of tank tops, I was exhausted. I got up at 4:30AM to go to the bathroom and just... gave up. The sun was rising, the birds were singing, the cat was curious.

I got some coffee and went back to bed. The second time I got up, I went down for a second hefty mug of coffee and curled up on the couch while my head sloshed. It honestly felt like my skull was filled with hot water, I was so tired. Eventually I dozed until around noon, then I got my day started.

Today's temperatures were about the same as yesterday, but we had about 20% more humidity so it really just sucked.

I'm sleepy, I'm annoyed at how little I've done on the crocheted pouch, and I'm creatively washed out. It's hard to write when all you can think about is the way your armpits are sticking to themselves or the way you can feel steam building under your spine where you lay on your bed.

It's hard to draw, too - holding a pencil makes my fingers hot, and frankly, I just can't think of something to draw.

I'll figure it out by the end of tomorrow, but yeesh.

I'm pooped.

And we are not getting relief until Sunday. Our daily highs are 80℉ (26,7℃) and up, power rates just increased by apparently enough to double our bill, and we already had a brownout yesterday so it's just gonna be a really crummy summer, I think.

I hope they don't jack up the water bill, too, because I foresee a plentitude of cool showers in my future.

We'll see what the rest of the week brings, but I'm not going to fight through a heat headache to do art. If I make art, I make art.

Meanwhile, I've just dug up a bunch of old black pants that don't fit me anymore (and won't unless I drop an unreasonable amount of weight - one pair is from middle school, when I was about 13), which I might turn into various projects, I've got a pair of shorts to repair the waistband of, a winter coat in need of a zipper.

I've got work to do, in short, and I don't think this is the week it will happen.

In fact, I think tonight is just going to be for watching videos and relaxing until the glowing hate ball (the sun) rises again.

I'll do my best to keep posting.

Go Enjoy Something (maybe the beach if it's hot where you are, too),

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Am Fried

I spent the last week or so out-of-office, as it were, cat-sitting for my sister & her husband as they honeymooned abroad. The apartment was delightful, the cat was a precious hauspanther with the cutest white spot on his chest, and the town was marvelous. Z & I had a blast! But...

Tiny, the cat, prefers to get fed at 3am.

And neither Z nor I are morning people, naturally. So today was a recharge day.

Not that I slept in - I got up at 8 and was out the door by 9:15 to run some errands.

You would think, that, having not slept for 7 or 8 nights, I'd have gone to bed early last night.

Lol no, I was playing Tears of the Kingdom. It took until this afternoon for me to reach the surface and I just got my paraglider.

I did get to keep Chonkers the Giant Horse, though, so that has been fun!

Also I do keep falling to my death. Shocker.

Also I suck at Recall.

While Away, I did actually figure out how to write part 2 of my wrestling story! I will keep writing the other story, too, but it felt so good to figure out where I was going!

I'll get back to doing wordcounts next week, but for this week, I'll just get on with writing and resting and arting.

I do have at least one finished piece that I'll be showing next week, and I'm making progress on a hilariously oversized piece. I may also try to do some fanart this week, but we'll see.

For now, I'm going to change into pajamas because it's basically bedtime, and hopefully wake up early enough tomorrow to actually do things.

The plan for this week is to write a bunch, read a bunch, have art done for Thursday, and take some pictures of the small progress I made crocheting for Monday. It's a weird project and I don't know if I can actually make it work, but I'll try.

If you'd like to have a say in what I draw/paint/pixel this week, feel free to go over to my Ko-Fi and send me a coffee with a message Recommending one of the following categories: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Location, Dedbert, Geometric, or Word. I also take commissions as seen in the sidebar!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which My Brains are Mush

My youngest sister got married last week! It was a lovely ceremony, the weather was perfect, and we hung out in a ski lodge for the reception. There were amazing cookies and the food was spectacular. Also the weather was perfect. I mention this twice because it was the Last Perfect Day so far. Saturday was 60℉ (15,6℃), clear and breezy, and after that magnificent day and parts of the next...

It has not really stopped raining. It's still misty out and it's almost 1PM!

I know last week I talked a big game about putting up art on Sunday and getting myself together so I could post properly this week, but... you've probably noticed that none of that happened.

I could make excuses or whine about my mental state, but I'm honestly just tired and distractible. My brain is flying in a thousand directions at once, and I'd really like it to just settle down for a nap.

I'm still plugging away at creative things, they're just way harder to focus on than they should be. I especially have been struggling to write. I put down a sentence and it's basically gibberish. I've rewritten every line of this blog at least twice. At this rate, my poor backspace key is going to break!

Maybe if I can convince my noggin to calm down, the strawberry jello of my brainmeats will resolidify and I'll be able to focus again.

Maybe I just need some tea.

Whatever the case, today has been another very sleepy day, and I think I'll be using it to catch up on missed art prompts and stare at cursors on my various writing projects.

The plan for this week is:

• Finish up the art! Post last week's ASAP.
• Work on some writing
• Figure out where I'm going with Crochet
• Nap.
• Post my crochet progress on Monday, possibly something Halloweenie.
• Blather next Tuesday

As for whether or not I'll actually get any of this done? Well, that's up to the brainmush gods. They are not known for being merciful.

Still, I hope you guys have a good week and make good progress on your own projects!

And Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

*slightly insane laughter here*

Well... my plans for yesterday were for naught, and boy have I had a week since Thursday.

On Friday, my mother found a large crack in her windshield, which was very stressful for her, and even though the replacement is going to be covered by insurance, trying to find someone to do it was rough. Tomorrow is the best anyone in the state can do without her driving to another county or six. She spent the rest of the day manic and cranky. Understandable. I would be, too.

On Saturday, I was so exhausted by... life? I don't rightly know. But I was exhausted enough that I did exactly nothing creative. Which guess what?

Is exhausting.

Sunday was also exhausting, which was weird because I didn't do much besides crochet a glove and then realize that the pattern I'd been using was worthless. Uh oh.

So I replaced the pattern with one from YouTube and I'm working based off of that. It's going better. I think.

Sunday also saw me realizing that I had nothing for Monday, so I started going turbo mode and....

Further exhausted myself.

So I've basically been slowly spiralling myself into deeper and deeper exhaustion to the point where the muscles behind my ears are sore, which sucks because I'm a side/back sleeper and those muscles are pressed against my pillow the whole time I'm trying to sleep. Bread before bed no longer works - we no longer have oat bread. Thus, I remain sleepless.

Well, not entirely. I am managing a few hours a night. I'm hoping that frontloading my day with caffeine will lead to a crash tonight and I sleep until a normal hour tomorrow, waking refreshed and ready to paint or doodle.

Speaking of painting & doodling, if anyone wants a say in the category this week, feel free to leave a donation on my Ko-Fi with a message containing which one of the following subjects you'd like to see:

Animal

Vegetable

Mineral

Location

Geometric

Word

Dedbert

I have some ideas, but I'd love direction.

So yes, no crochet two weeks in a row. I'm very disappointed in myself. At least my art has been consistent!

I hope to get some more crochet done today, or at the very least I'd like to detangle Gordon once and for all.

And I also want to maybe write a page or so in one of my manuscripts.

There is one more thing I'd like to mention before I give my tentative plans for the next week or so, and that is this: I've discovered a silly new way to lightly exercise.

I call it "VGCIA".

Which stands for Video Game Character Idle Animation.

Basically, if you're waiting for something to finish - a scanner or printer, the toaster, the microwave, a kettle, etc - you assume a position with your feet spread apart shoulder-width, and then you pretend you're a video game character in idle animation. Just find a repetitive motion that sways a bit and keep that going while you wait. I did this in a semi-crouch yesterday watching toast brown in my toaster oven and it was like squats but more fun.

I kept my eyes on my toast, bouncing and swaying slowly from left to right until the muscles right above my knees started to burn a bit. Then I adjusted my stance until I could feel a different set of muscles in my legs working. Eventually, I put my chin level with the counter and had my arms akimbo like a spider so my biceps could feel it.

My toast didn't burn and I felt like I'd gotten a nice light workout.

I'm a fairly stationary person, but that's not healthy, so I like looking for small ways to keep my body in motion. I know I looked patently ridiculous the whole time I was waiting, but honestly, if anyone in my family didn't think I was a weirdo already, they've been paying even less attention to me than I thought.

I'm pretty open about the weird.

Anyway, if you guys have any other suggestions for stuff to do that is like exercise but can be fit into times when people are naturally getting up and moving around, I'd love to hear it! I saw someone post something on Twitter about a set of arm/wrist stretches they do before playing Splatoon, and that seems like a good idea, so if you've seen anything else like that, please let me know!

As for the rest of the week, these are my goals:

• Make art tomorrow & Thursday, have the blog posted before 4pm Eastern on Thursday.
• Detangle Gordon finally.
• Finish these gloves.
• Finish one of my shrugs.
• Start work on a possible cross stitch project? We'll see.
• Write at least 350 words in one manuscript. Not picky about which.
• Compile next month's prompts for whatever Inktober alternative I'll try!
• Next Tuesday I'll be back here to blab.

Today will mostly be me fiddling around with things I need to get done, some writing, and probably a sketch at the very least. It's cloudy and humid (87%) and warm (68℉/20℃, but probably feels a good 20% warmer due to humidity), and my cat is being super demanding and wants to go for a walk.

I think that'll do it from me today.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Am Very Tired

I am, as the caption says, very tired. Poor Evie the cat is back on her antibiotics again, but we did get good news from the vet saying that her kidney values are down, and it seems to support my theory that her upper respiratory infection was a bit more widespread than they'd initially thought. She's coughing a lot (probably because the meds are draining her sinuses and loosening gunk in her chest) but she was just playing like mad downstairs, so I think she's actually feeling much better.

The back half of December is always tricky for me. I rarely buy presents for people, preferring by far to make things for them. Unfortunately, I'm also an over-committer. I make too many things all at once and I don't plan accordingly.

I have 2 parents, 3 grandparents, 3 siblings with a partner each, 3 niblings, an incredible boyfriend, some friends, and a cat. I also have the time management skills of an overstimulated toddler.

Did I mention that some of these folks have birthdays this winter? Yeah, that's also a thing.

My final count of Making for the holidays was:

• 20+ snowflake ornaments
• 1 pair socks
• 3 amigurumi (2 cat cupcakes and 1 chibi dragon)
• 3 doilies
• 1 bag of popcorn (not crafted, but purchased!)
• 1 set of fingerless gloves
• a mouse that has already found its way under the couch beyond the reach of the yardstick

Needless to say, I was unable to find time to work on that Mystery Project I thought I'd finish in November (ha!).

Then I went shopping with Christmas money and realized that the jumbo skeins of Red Heart Super Saver Neon Stripe were very in-budget.

I've had an ongoing promise to myself ever since I first encountered the colorway that I would make myself a sweater from it one day and after bullying my way back through old Lion Brand Patterns, I chose the "One-Stitch Adult Cardigan" (pattern #957). 

It took just about 4 skeins of the RHSS in Neon Stripe and a week to achieve my dream. I lined the pockets and finished the seams with a jumbo skein of solid black I had on-hand, and next thing I knew, it was not only finished, but I have worn it pretty much every day since I made it!!!

Behold, the reason I haven't been posting lately :P

I even made the buttons myself (because I hated the selection in Wal-Mart and the local sewing shop wasn't open that day. I have one sleeve stuffed in the pocket because I didn't want to back all the way up lol. And yes, that black triangle on the sleeve is natural pooling.

The post-Christmas exhaustion was to be expected, but as I've mentioned, I also have to help pill poor Evie every morning and night. I'm one of those perpetually-exhausted-pigeon people - neither an early bird nor a night owl. I also don't get to sleep easily. And I cannot fall back asleep once I've stood up, so that means I've been exhausted for the past several days. You wouldn't think an 8AM-8PM schedule would be so grueling when I'm not doing anything else to exhaust myself!

And yet here I am, midnight rolling past me once again, and I'm stupidly tired.

At least the cat is fairly easy to pill this time around. I've got it so I hold her like we're just cuddling, but I have her paws on my right bicep while my left arm curls around her haunches and that hand gently holds her back feet. Then I press my cheek gently into the back of her head so she has nowhere to twist her face. At that point, my mother quickly apologizes to Evie and forces the pill into her mouth. We've got it down to a 30 second job that mostly involves me trying to collect the cat for pilling.

Heck, I've pilled her solo twice now with very little difficulty. The first time, my mother was busy during an evening pilling so I was alone and managed to lay down next to her on the carpet, snake an arm around her to keep her from running, and stuck the pill (and most of my finger) into her mouth. The second time I ambushed her during Wheel of Fortune because she was asleep on my mother (and waking her up would've made pilling her harder). That time I literally just petted her a few times before slipping the pill into her mouth. She did not appreciate that at all and coughed at me accusingly for a bit.

She's such a gentle cat, too!

At every juncture of the pilling process, she could easily gouge at either one of us with her little razor claws or bite me right in my fat stupid face but she refuses to do more than turn her head like the slightly cranky baby she is. We really, really lucked out with her, health problems and all.

I think that does about cover things from me this week.

I plan to do some more art on Thursday, finish more of the Mystery Project for Monday, and blather at you all again next Tuesday, but aside from that, it's too cold and precipitative for me to make any kinds of plans. Seriously, it never got above 7℉ (-13.9℃) today and we're supposed to get another storm (our 3rd this month!) on Sunday. Bleh.

I hope you guys are having a restful beginning of the year, and if not, then I hope you can at least find some time and energy to be creative!

For now though,

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Filmic Friday 236: Naptime Movie Critiques

I'll be perfectly honest, guys, I didn't really feel like blogging today. There's nothing wrong. I'm not unwell, I'm not canceling the blog or anything, I just... I don't feel up to blogging. I haven't had good sleep for a couple days now, and while I did get a full 8-9 hours in last night... it's not cutting it. I am on Big Mug #3 of excessive caffeine intake and... nothing. Not even a jitter.

Today's weather may be contributing to my lack of film critique/overview. It's a day of clouds and chilly breezes - a day I'd normally be over the moon about, but today, I'm just too darn tired.

So what am I planning to do on this cloudy, 64℉ (~18℃) day?

Probably napping, but while I am, I like to have some noise. YouTubers are great for this, especially long-form YouTube videos/channels.

While there are some YouTubers whose voices are... not conducive to restful sleep (PeanutButter Gamer, for instance, though he's still fun), I sleep like a very tired dead person, so that's not really a barrier for me.

Instead, I just choose people who I'd be happy to find chatting on my Roku or laptop. People I enjoy watching regardless of my waking state.

Here's some of these people:

Red Letter Media - specifically their Best of the Worst series. These Great Lakes geniuses have nailed down the forum-discussion of bad cinema to a science. Funny and irreverent, these folks make me happy to be surrounded by horror films I'll never watch and Sci-Fi flix I regret viewing (Cybernator, I'm looking at you...)

AVGN - Yes, he's best known for taking you back to the past to play games that suck... but James Rolfe also has his Rental Reviews and Monster Madness videos, which I love. It's sometimes easy to forget that he's also an aspiring filmmaker, but I would 100% watch one of his movies. Through my fingers. Because I'm a wuss.

Movie Nights - Once Obscurus Lupa Presents, this YouTuber is fantastic at finding the exact kind of 80s and 90s schlock I love. I'm not into hyper-obscure art films or crazy Italian horror movies, so seeing someone else with an intense love of Quantum Leap and other ridiculous touchstones of my childhood is fantastic. The fact that she's hilarious and has crossed over with Red Letter Media a time or three doesn't hurt either.

Cyborcat - Dena Natali is a gem of the internet. Sharing my love of Red Dwarf and survival horror, she also has her Film Den series, which covers everything from bad video game adaptations to beloved classics of horror.

PushingUpRoses - as the name may suggest, Roses' channel is primarily about things related to death, like Murder, She Wrote, or various games about spunky detective girls solving murders, or the awesome Grim Fandango. She also covers various childhood favorites of mine, like Hey Dude or Goosebumps. Definitely give her a look-see!

AgonyWolf Media - I first became aware of these fine people during the Dark Times, when Mystery Science Theater 3000 was unavailable and everyone was looking for their next riffing fix. They did some spectacular riffs, back in the day, and while I regret to inform you that they have been asked to cease doing so, if you can somehow find their older work, it's well worth it. These days, I follow them primarily for their other channel, Robot Co-Op, where they play and riff video games, and that's also cool. They're also working on their own horror series, Gray-Colored Glasses, but it escapes me where that's located.

BrutalMoose - the nomadic Brutalmoose has traveled across the country several times since I started watching, making videos everywhere he goes. Much of what he covers are video games, but he also does food reviews and, most importantly to today's blog, video/tv reviews. His chill presentation style and snappy editing are top-notch, but he's no one-trick pony. On top of the rest of the reviews, he has a somewhat randomly-updated series that I've fallen in love with, and honestly, it's one of the coolest things I've seen on YouTube: Televoid. Televoid defies explanation, but it is glorious and it is entertaining. I have actually had a hard time sleeping after some episodes, since it can be eerie, but it's worth the watch every time.


I'll be honest, I was gonna make this a Top 10 style list, but...

I'm really tired, guys.

I think I need to go take a nap.

I'll throw on some videos. Playlist or two. Then I'll rest until I don't feel like I need sleep anymore.

At least it feels like fallllllllllllllllll!

Go Enjoy Something
FC

PS: I'm still planning to do reviews of the last few movies I've seen (including Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, and Superman, and I'm pretty sure a few others). I was just too pooped today :P