Category: Whining

In like a very wet lion

March is coming in with (checks with weathercat Buster) YUP IT’S RAINING. Definitely more like a lion.

I think I owed you a Grecian urn, right mOm?

Image

3300 yo Bronze Age pottery jar with an octopus motif. From Ialysos, Rhodes

I have learned from Tish’s latest letter that Terry will be here in July and he intends to bike back to Cornwall from here. Shoulda heard me squeal, oh how we shall feast him!!! Don’t you love it when guys pushing 70 with a broom just say FUCK TIME! I AM NOT IN YOU! This is a guy whose back was broken in a bike accident …. so he’s, you know, hard fucking core. I learn also that they are grandparents again; Peter and his s/o have had a little boy.

I learn from Leo and Linda that they have REALLY CUTE GRANDCHILDREN. I mean, I already knew, but damn. They are most sincerely cute.

DAY 6 of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine 2022 edition.

Belarusian hackers have messed up troop transports from Belarus. Précis of story:

The ‘Cyber Partisans’ group said that trains had been stopped in Minsk, Orsha, and Osipovichi due to them compromising the routing system and switching devices by encrypting the data on them.

Minsk is the capital and largest city. The Belarusians are going to feel like they’re being whipped at a cart-arse in hell for supporting Putin in this mess. No surprise to me that local hackers are making their sentiments known. Interestingly Anonymous is refusing to do infrastructure hits (such as this) because they figure there’s too much that can go wrong for civilians.

Now, for a little of the old BUT HOW IS THE WAR AFFECTING THE FOLKS AT HOME?

LOLOLOL you will remember the convoy of honkies which so exercised Ottawa and Centretown for three whole weeks until the Emergencies Act was levelled against them? Or perhaps the Ukrainian ‘conflict’ has shoved that recent outbreak of boils upon the body politic from your ever more easily distracted mind?

WELLLLLL, it turns out that when you turn off the rubles AT THE GLOBAL LEVEL, the flow of money AT THE GRANULAR LEVEL which allows the honkies to continue being complete fascist assholes STOPS and they collapse like the water critter in ‘The Abyss’, when the door closes. So the convoy which was supposed to go across the US had 6 trucks and is apparently disbanding. THIS MEANS THAT THE HONKIES IN DOWNTOWN OTTAWA WERE PARTYING ON PUTIN’S DIME.

NEVER

NEVER

NEVER

forget this. They weren’t traitors by my standards (even if I said so, at the time, mostly because I’m kinda over the whole nation state thing and how can you be a traitor, etc, if the entity you’re being a ‘traitor’ to shouldn’t exist in the first fucking place….) but they sure’s fuck were dupes and bad neighbours, DUPES I tell ya, and every word of their maskhole, anti disabled, racist misogynist homophobic transphobic ahistorical anti Indigenous horse puckey was supported by Dirty Russian Money. Don’t forget. Never forget.

The punditfaced and wibblebrained Yanks on twitter are encouraging the US to go to war with Russia LIKE SURE BUDDY do you think your Cheetos are going to stay on the supermarket shelves in a post nuclear war world or do you REALLY HAVE PUDDING FOR BRAINS. Bad pudding. Jeff says, “I like pudding.”

TRANSCRIPT OF A CATHERINE BELTON INTERVIEW. She is the person who keeps getting sued by Russian oligarchs because she tells the truth about their relationships with Putin.

There are reports of gang rape (I saw on reddit, it was heartbreaking, a personal account of an 18 year old woman in eastern Ukraine being gang raped ON THE HALFTRACK by five Russian soldiers, who threw money at her and called her hohol (Ukie) whore at the end of it but it was not news and not verified) but less unclear are the multiple reports of Russian tank crews ABANDONING FUELED AND FUNCTIONING TANKS. Just leaving them in the damned road. I don’t know if they’re walking back to the border or handing themselves over to be interned until the end of the war or hiding, or just heading back to Donbas. Who the hell knows. But the untouched tanks are just sitting there. I’ve seen video of one but there are credible reports of more.

_______________

New story is up to 1516 words. I’m going back and forth with first person chapters of about a thousand words apiece.

Two kudos in my inbox this morning; one for the musicians story (in which I promote another musician/filker, go me, AND integrate a song one of the actors is well known for singing … as part of the soppily romantic ending oh come now haven’t you ever wanted to wake up after a night of love with someone singing something beautiful and romantic in the next room … speaking as someone this has happened to, it’s verra noice) and one for the “I’m going to pretend to be your perfect boyfriend” story that starts with a pickup in a bar. One of the things I like doing best in writing fanfic is taking super well known lines from Supernatural (2005) and integrating them in conversations that have nothing to do with the show to give a little frisson to the reader.

More items off the list

I am continuing to feel much more chipper.  It wasn’t a super productive day, but I walked (really walked, not ambled) and got some social contact and the sun was a benison.

There’s a new game, Semantle. IT’S INSANE MAKING. Wordle is fun and brief and lively, but Semantle makes you understand you don’t understand English at all, and given that it is, “My bag, my thing, my evil specialty” it’s … Okay, here’s the link. Just don’t ever play the game, you will die of frustration. (suitably vexed voice, with shaken fists: CURSE YOU VIXY) —LATER LATER MUCH LATER I’m up to 3hundred and freakn 80 guesses on Semantle, I feel like me brains are leaking out my ears.

It’s supposed to be ass freezing cold tonight until Wednesday. I am not worried; I’ll have the warmth of VISITORS tonight yes that’s right Mike was supposed to come over for ‘za last night but he drank too much with sifu (sifu is master in Chinese martial arts)  and couldn’t manage it, so he’s coming over tonight.

Buster heals and complains about the door being locked.

Yesterday I ordered the bamboo charcoal smell-killers that have worked so well for us. (really helps with the damp smell in the downstairs john).  Why? As mentioned Mike got a right hand drive Delica (which I rode in for the first time when we went saunaing and dining with Jarmo and Susanna) and it’s unfortunately a Japanese vehicle which means it’s been smoked in. So I’ll give him three of those bamboo charcoal smell killers and that will keep the noxious effluvium down to a dull roar, hopefully. I ordered it from Rona and with the exchange and free shipping it’s about the same as if I ordered it from the US, so that worked.

Absolutely delightful walk in the park at Fraser Foreshore yesterday with Paul. I fed the chickadees from my hands for about ten minutes with Paul watching, most entertained; with what delicacy and firmness did they grasp my index finger as they rested a flashing moment to grab a sunflower seed. The sun was just blasting down and there was no wind, so we sat in the sun and basked for many long minutes in companionable silence. Everyone on the trail (except for those two fuckwits on mountain bikes who came through with a gopro and attitude and 90 dB of shitty club music at about 25 kph without a bell or shout) was practically giddy with joy at the warmth and sun, and even though it was the Sunday of a long holiday weekend (it’s ‘Family Day’ in BC) the trails weren’t too crowded. I masked, Paul didn’t.

Then we went back to KC Junction and I ate Keith’s leftovers, a superlative yellow lentil stew with heaps of veg and subtle, lightly heated spicing, and then we ate my choc rice pudding for dessert. (Keith enjoyed it with thanks.) Paul was much more interested in the borscht I brought (he really likes my borscht) and I realized why when I saw the sour cream container. But I can’t eat borscht two days running because anything with oxalic acid makes my kidney output scratchy so I ate lentils instead.

Keith’s loving his job… just loving it. He says it’s only a week and you can’t know for sure, and the pay is not great, but it’s work he can stand and he’s visibly in much better shape than even two weeks ago.

Katie was out with Ryker & Alex and some friends so I didn’t get to see her.

The Russians are claiming that the Ukrainians are ‘reacquiring nuclear weapons’ and I’m like wow, we can’t trust a fucking word you say now, can we.

Worst showing ever in terms of ratings for the Olympics. Why NBC keeps this boat anchor tied to its ass I have no idea. What if they held an Olympics and nobody wanted to broadcast it? That would be choice.

Twitter antifa (canuck division) is rooting around in rural Ontario to find the names of the people who are hiding the convoyancers. So far some son of a sea cook in Embrun who’s the best friend of the mayor there is one of them. LOL they can hide but six months from now the knock will come. Remember they’re still knocking on doors from the Jan 6 rebellion in the US, it’s not like the cops work faster in Canuckistan.

I’m an abolitionist; if they could all be referred to restorative justice and be filling planters and picking up garbage in Centretown for the next two years instead of paying fines and going to jail I WOULD BE HAPPY. Especially if they had to wear a PLEASE DON’T FEED THE HONKIES sign around their necks while they were doing it, but that’s not nice, I know it.

I don’t know if I mentioned it, but if they reboot Futurama without the voice acting talents of John DiMaggio I won’t watch it, even out of whatever is left of my curiosity.

Side note to mOm. The Metformin did it again this morning, fortunately I know how this goes and I had plans in place and managed to deal with it all promptly. What a life.

 

 

 

 

Buster is an indoor cat

Buster had an immense weeping ear infection from a long cat scratch down his ear canal. He’s to be kept indoors and fed antibiotics and gooped for the next ten days. We are both very relieved, and Jeff says he was a brave boy at the vet. He peed in his carrier again, but he does that every time. He’s also up to date on his shots again, so tranquillity abounds, etc etc.

I had to replace ALL the ink in the printer yesterday which would have been even more annoying if I hadn’t previously stocked up on ersatz cartridges and didn’t have to go anywhere or spend any money to make it happen. Part of having ADD is hoarding, and part is being therefore prepared, and the rest is having a million iterations of shit that don’t fit. BUT IT IS OKAY because I finally got Mary’s letter printed and I’ll be mailing it today.

Got my balance ball back and that will make making music a lot easier. I love playing music on a bouncy ball, I can really rock out. While looking like a loon.

Saw Ryker the other day, he’s still an adorable baby with a commitment to sleep that outpaces my own.

Absolutely sweet comment – brief, too – on the most recent story yesterday.

Haven’t received word from Keith about how his first day on the job went.

 

I would like to read a newspaper headline through your breast

Said the mammogram technician. Anyway, I have booked one for May, and it’s relatively local, so all is good.

Why isn't there a more comfortable mammogram procedure? - Harvard Health

Yesterday I did two loads of laundry, and thanks to Suzanne the bathrooms are shiny again. She’s settling into her new apartment at Kingsway and Gilley (SOOOO CLOSE) and is probably going to get Alex for an overnight soon, when her apartment’s all shoved back into corners. Katie helped her assemble all her computer-y stuff like a boss.

Slept FANTASTIC. Went to sleep just after 8, woke up around 4. I may not nap tidday, boys!!!

Jeff bought me a burger and shake from Wet Spot, and it was fantastic.

I am very close to being finished writing Mary’s letter but I think it should be at least another couple of pages longer.

No kudos this morning… what a sap I am. One must be motivated from the inside.

Recent uproars on the internet:

person 1 – I ain’t taking my shoes off in your skanky ass house cause your floors are heinous and I don’t give a shit about your cultural constructs appears magically on line. THERE ARE OPINIONS

(this is all part of the editors in NA on line venues looking for ways to shit on Asian people during the Olympics, how rude)

person 2 – I ain’t putting up with your skanky ass shoes in my house because you fucking people walk through broken glass and dogshit and then march all over my new laminate floors and you laugh when I point out the scratches

person 3 – (allegra) I brought orthotic slippers to help me keep my feet warm and keep my balance, if you prevent me from wearing my indoor slippers you’re an ableist fuck and I ain’t enterin’ your skanky ass house (I didn’t actually say this, I never found a venue, so here it is on my own site) and if your floors actually are dirty I won’t fucking care but if there is a shrine in the house of course I’ll take my fucking slippers off do you think I’m a clod, deaf to the songs of the gods?

Vocabulary review: skanky – cheap, dirty, slutty, low-rent, low-class; – ass – added for emphasis.

Got a comment hijacked by a comment bot on Reddit this morning. Didn’t even notice until someone picked it out of the crap pile for me. It’s one of the funniest lines I ever wrote so of course some witless algorithm steals it.

Jeff and I are continuing to enjoy Peacemaker (it is rude, it is funny, it is freaky, it is scary) and Leverage (well written, clips along, very very formulaic and light hearted, which compared to the grimdark we watch most of the rest of the time is GOOD).

Have some Ice from Iceland to go along with today’s fog. It was 5 degrees and rain blowing horizontal, if you wonder why it’s so dull, almost four years ago, May 2018.

Multum in parvo

(much in little)

Wordle got bought by the NY Times, so I’m not doing it anymore.

Still no letter for Auntie Mary. She’s owed one since October but I’m a bum.

Still processing the four of us getting together on Sunday. It was a lot of feels and it felt almost like group therapy, or more accurately, like the group meditations that we used to do through Beacon. I feel seen, and I listened with intent. I’ve said many times how amazing Jarmo is (he just is, okay, trust me) but Susanna is absolutely amazing and so kind, given her trials.

Thandiwe Newton reported as referring to Sean Penn as a jibbering fool made my morning (he was decrying the ‘feminization of men’ poor sod).  Sean Penn being a freehold scumbag is pretty much a given but her shade was a touch of perfection.

Rehearsed a tiny bit yesterday. Music has pretty much died inside me. I’m listening to music on line, but there’s no music inside me, and I read incoming emails about on line filking with no emotion at all and just delete them.

Pandemic brain is real. Jeff and I went out for food pickup yesterday and WE HAVE NEVER SEEN IN 35 MINUTES OF DRIVING SUCH AN ASSORTMENT OF CLUELESS AND ACTIVELY FUCKED UP DRIVERS. Broad flipping daylight, zero problems with traction and visibility, and drivers were all the words you use when you don’t want to say they’re mentally ill, chemically altered or just dgaf.

The DaVinci Drone

Straight outta Compton ruined by white people

Perdikomata

Above noted is a song by the Greek band Villagers of Ioannina City, a shoegaze/indie/folk band. The lyrics are a dreamy love song to ‘my partridge eyed one’.

 

 

a little after six am

Finally managed to fall back asleep sometime around three am. I am now feeling weird and hollowed out and shaky, but I’m not experiencing pain, nor is there fever. I do think I’m getting better, but I just feel so betrayed, not knowing what is wrong, and other than drinking more liquids I don’t know what to do about it. My balance is shot; I nearly fell twice last night.

Jeff’s going to make a Timmy’s run (mebbe) and if he does, I’m going to have me a big mug of coffee.

This image is illegal in PRC.

This is apparently the first known photo of ‘the middle finger’ … he didn’t invent it but isn’t it perfect? Charles Radbourn in 1886.

pain pain pain

Canna sleep.  When I lie on my back I feel hungry but there’s less pain. When I lie on either side my guts slide around (I can feel it) and put pressure on the top of my stomach and it just hurts so bad. In amongst all that I can feel the snarly bits of my ribs where the costochondritis is acting up (although it’s not as bad tonight, it just sends a message once in a while.) Prone is worst for that, and my stomach hurts too.

So anyway it’s 1:30 in the morning and I can’t sleep, how are *you* doing.

at wit’s end

My doc was a no show for my last appointment, when I was supposed to get my prescriptions updated, and I got victim blamed after half an hour of trying to get through to the clinic for not realizing she doesn’t do phone renewals. I knew that, I just COULDN’T GET A FUCKING APPT and now I can’t for FOUR WEEKS.

I’m about to run out of meds that, if I don’t take them, will cause me to be at risk of stroke or brain bleed so FUCK MY BLOOD PRESSURE DURING A PANDEMIC, RIGHT?

ANYWAY if I die, please ask Jeff who my doctor was so you can send her my regards posthumously. I’m so angry and scared I’m losing it, hard.

AND I WAS SUPPOSED TO GIVE BLOOD TODAY and I can’t because I was reluctantly given an emergency appointment that my doc may very well bail on that falls at the same time. I’M TRYING TO BE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE HERE and fuck my life, seriously.

 

Eclectus

Someone posted a pic of their pet Eclectus and I was thinking of Little E. I tried to find the pictures pOp sent me in 2016 but I can’t find them, or I’d post them.

I have a nasty sore on the back of my neck from where my necklace was rubbing. Sigh. I am not a jewellery person. I shall douse it with peroxide at some point today.

The abdominal pain, if I’m interpreting the signs correctly, is actually back and muscle pain from a lightly pinched nerve from shovelling, worsened by inactivity and the fact that my ribs shift around a little. I need to get out for a walk and unkink myself but we’re going to get rude amounts of rain today and I’m not walking around a mall in COVID spike whether I’ve got the N95 to deal with it or not. When I took a bath and submerged myself with a flat back the pain briefly quit and it’s been much better since. I thought it was my abdomen in pain referring to my back but it was the other way around. Bodies are weird man, getting ghosts to run meat is weird, weird weird.

Very close to finishing a fanfic, deleted about two hundred and fifty words that were running the story off a cliff and recovered my aplomb. It’s the shortest one. The 20K one is just gazing at me biliously.

 

Family

Saw the Fam today when Jeff and I took Alex’s computer over to Caspell Junction; he was thrilled and we actually had a family chinwag and it was so lovely.

Spoke to Peggy on the phone; I wish I could recount even a third of what we talked about, given how hard we were laughing but no, it’s all either not my story or unsuitable for repetition. It was good to hear her laugh.

Spoke to mOm on the phone and conveyed to her that we had a little window of family happiness today and it was lovely.

I am starting to have the strange feeling that this is a bone problem, not an innards problem. You will recollect that I fell in the spring and hurt my ribs.  This is starting to feel similar. Anyway, I still have pain, but it may be just ordinary back pain with shovelling pain on top. And I can sleep so it’s not that bad.

BC is about to experience an atmospheric river AGAIN 72 hours of solid rain, on top of snow goddamn.

cancelling the NY Times

They ask you why you want to cancel and give you 100 characters LOL

 

So I said,

I get so angry when I read it it’s bad for my health.
You are now connected to Jonathan.

Jonathan
7:13 AM
Hi there! Thank you for contacting the New York Times. My name is Jonathan. Hope you’re doing great! I am sorry to hear that you would like to cancel. Please, allow me 1-2 minutes while I pull up your account.
You
7:14 AM
thanks
Jonathan
7:14 AM
Of course! Thank you for your time, Allegra! I was able to locate your account and I would like to thank you for your support as a Basic Digital subscriber! I understand the news can get a bit intense or overwhelming, and we sometimes need to take breaks, however, it is also important to stay aware of everything that is going on.

If I may, we have different sections as well that you might find interesting and joyful; for example, when I feel that I need to take a break from the news, I look for the Tech and Books sections and listen to the Daily, in which I can get all the news in 20 minutes. That way I can stay tuned without being too involved. Would you consider giving these options a try?
You
7:15 AM
Thank you for the offer but no.
Jonathan
7:16 AM
No problem! Before we cancel, please remember all the benefits that the subscription has to offer; you do have access to our entire catalog from 1851 to date, podcast, and newsletters, all that and more for just C$0.50 per week until 09/23/2022 on both nytimes.com and in the New York Times app.

Keep in mind that the regular rate for this usually is C$20.00 every four weeks, so you might as well take advantage of this. Are you sure you would like to give up these features?
You
7:16 AM
No thanks, I’ve decided to support a local on line newspaper.
Jonathan
7:16 AM
Understood, I respect your concern. I will now proceed with the cancellation. Allow me 1-2 minutes, please.

Jonathan
7:17 AM
Thank you very much for your time and support. We have enjoyed having you as a member of our family. I have cancelled your subscription, you will continue to enjoy all your subscription benefits for the rest of your billing cycle, which ends on Friday, January 14th, 2022. Unfortunately we cannot issue any credits or refunds for the remainder of this billing cycle. You are all set on our end, Allegra! Is there anything else I may assist you with today?
You
7:18 AM
Thank you for your time, have a safe day.

abdo pain

So… the pain went until about 8:30, 9 pm last night. I very slowly found a position that would allow me to breathe without it hurting. Pain was diffuse and on the right side of my abdomen, with referred pain up to my right shoulderblade.

Was it a kidney stone? Gas? My digestive tract twisting? Grumbly appendix? Surgical adhesions being crabby? Liver pain (and if so, what from??) Indigestion? Some new weird form of heartburn? (Tums didn’t really help, but didn’t hurt either)… it lasted the best part of 8 hours and was really horrible.

Slept until 1:30 and now can’t go back to sleep. Sigh.

I will do my best not to complain…

Normally I spend some time talking to Suzanne while she’s here and I was literally too fucked up to say more than a few words to her. She visited Ryker yesterday while dropping Alex off after a sleepover and she says he’s grown a BUNCH… which as pOp has observed many times, they tend to do at this age.

We’ve started Expanse S6

Trolls come out to play

Boy Howdy if you want to get shat on in subreddits ? supporting trans people is def the way to do it.

Still very sore in my muscles but the walkways look great LOL. Weather today involves rude amounts of wind, so charge your devices.

Tiny bits of writing.

Made a really nice bean stew / sorta chili last night. Forgot to seal the instant pot but it cooked up okay anyway. (after enlivening Jeff’s evening. IT HISSETH MOST SCARILY)

One can Heinz veggie beans, two cans diced tomatoes, one can black beans, one cup frozen corn, one can garbanzos, one can red kidney beans. Half teaspoon of cayenne, teaspoon of cumin, many many many shakes of garlic powder, a shake of black pepper, and no added salt.

The astronomers are watching a star blow up in real time, and it sounds really cool, although the event itself is rather warm.

 

shovelling was horrible

My back hurts from shovelling so much in the last week that I collapsed around ten and slept for about four hours. I’m scared to take my blood pressure, but I will. Please be advised that Jeff shoved more snow around than I did.

No Suzanne today. Either next Thursday or this weekend, depending on when and whether the weather tries to fucking kill us next. Streets as icy af.

We FINALLY FOUND WALKWAY SALT my God that took a while.

Alex Fraser Bridge closed by cops, both ways, around noon today. Skytrain morning commute on the Expo line by all accounts a disaster.

However there has been no power interruption, and I give the workers of BC Hydro a wave of appreciation for their labour.

And I got a wholesome award today on reddit, and talked to a neighbour to make sure he had salt as well.

 

Lovely to see Tammy last night

We got two kinds of Japanese takeout (far too salty, but oh so tasty) and ate at her accommodations, which included a view of the Science Centre. She was half a block from a taxi stand, and I got home just as the temperature was dropping and it was about to snow. I haven’t had the courage to look outside yet, but I need to pee so…

Yup, there’s another 3 cm out there, just as the prophecy foretold.