RIP Meat Loaf

He was apparently once referred to in the NY Times as “Mr. Loaf”. Most famous for his association with Jim Steinman the songwriter and producer, and for his star turn as Eddie on both stage and screen in Rocky Horror, he did a lot of acting on network TV in the last ten years of his life and I for one was always glad to see him. He didn’t get vaccinated against COVID (there’s no evidence he did, anyway) and that’s what he died of. The talent is not bigger than science alas.

Jeff’s all over his post vax discomfort. Today I’m going to feed crows, load dishes, run laundry and enjoy this brief moment during which my room is tidy again. Thank you Suzanne. SHE FOUND AN APARTMENT IN BURNABY I’m so happy for her.

Boostered

Jeff got his booster shot yesterday. So did the cashier at Save-On, and believe me, both of them are not fit to be working today. She had to open though. Sigh.

We did a small schlep this morning. Schlep means journey, it’s only in the 20th c acquired the meaning that you’re always carrying things as you schlep.

later…. I survived on hot baths and hot water bottles after my vaccinations, so I was glad enough to fit one up for Jeff.

Twitter is now providing hexagonal NFT icons. Imagine showing your whole ass in public, day and night, about how you’re the latest suckr for tulips and south sea bubbles. Imagine paying for that.  Heaving sighs, I am.

 

Peaceful day

Jeff has fixed my weird character problem on my blog. He literally had to run a script through the whole damned post database to decruft it, for which he has received my abject thanks.

Jeff also decided to get a burger and salad for me from White Spot yesterday and IT WAS GOOD and also the perfect amount of food, zero leftovers. The garden salad made me really happy and I ate every scrap. (Jeff got something else for himself.)

I have to stop eating my food so fast, it really causes problems. I had quite some discomfort around my sternum yesterday but it was gone after our early dinner. CHEW YOUR FOOD, …. SMALL FREQUENT MEALS.

Got wordle in 4 this morning. I’m keeping up a winning streak!

Paul and I will be going for a walk today, rain or shine. I had a lazy day yesterday and Paul mildly disapproves.

 

a day

So much social interaction, my goodness!

Went to Katie’s to watch babby while she cleaned and changed lightbulbs.

Ryker was extremely baby-like and basically didn’t cry for five hours. He smiled at me like HOLY CRAP what a funny face you have, and he kept time when I sang the Monty Python theme. Do babies that young keep time? Apparently so. It felt unbelievably good to hold him, and I realized I was holding him to tell mOm about it afterwards. He’s MUCH stronger than when he was born. Remarkable what an Exceedingly Mellow Dude™ he is. We talked. Katie made spinach salad with soft goat cheese for lunch, DMAN it was good I had seconds. Suzanne came over and cleaned, and it was just lovely to talk to her (we’ll see her again on Thursday). (Paul went to his volunteer job.)

Keith drove me home and came by and hung out with Jeff, and he also did a bit of shopping for us so I have salad fixings again.

I have this really faint memory that I actually wrote a review of the Sparks show I saw in 1975 but finding it will be something.

Nusantara

It’s a word that means ‘archipelago’ in Malay, a language spoken in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, East Timor, Singapore, parts of Thailand and the southern Philippines by a quarter of a billion people, give or take, with lots of regional variations.

It’s also the name of the new capital of Indonesia.

Jakarta, which was the capital, a city with 11-12 million people, 1 million of whom live in the kind of shithole poverty that you can only achieve in the tropics (more diseases, I’m saying), is sinking. Not like New Orleans. Like Jakarta. Thanks to corruption and non-regulation, it’s not illegal to pump out groundwater, and… sag. Subsidence runs 1.5 to 11 cm PER YEAR depending on where you are. The subsidence is also a consequence of the complete fucking failure of the colonizer Dutch (who actually know how to handle low lying areas menaced by the sea, but obviously not on colonized land har har) to do anything about building a capital in a swamp.

Jakarta is also close to Krakatau, in an earthquake zone. Just a reminder that it was built where you can drown in ash or get crushed by your house, on a bad day. Mt Merapi is the most active volcano, and it’s further away, but hey, volcanoes are a fact there, so also to get away from the worst threat of an ashfall, they’re moving the capital from Jakarta on the island of Java to Nusantara on the island of Borneo.

Just think about the amount of graft and corruption this will bring up. The Pres says it’ll all be done and dusted by 2025 but even his press secretary doesn’t believe that.

It’s in a relatively unspoiled part of the island so they’ll have to cut down ALLLL the trees. And build highways to connect it to the closest port (Balikpapan, a pleasant coastal city)  and an airport and ALLLL those amenities.

I predict an economic, population and environmental disaster with almost all aspects of the move, but hey, what are you supposed to do when you’re living with bad history and worse decisions since?

Also, the pres of Indonesia picked a name for the new capital that betrays his total lack of imagination. Would you like to live in a relocated capital called ‘archipelago’? Calling it Widodo’s Folly or Jokowi’s (Pres’s nickname) Folly works better for me thanks.

In other disastrous news from the Pacific, Tonga is buried under ash, there’s no internet, one of the tsunami waves was 15 m high and an international relief effort is being gently restrained by the locals because hey, we’re in the middle of a pandemic and they want full control over and the ability to quarantine incoming goods. Eighty thousand people are thought to have been affected by the blast from the no longer visible volcano, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai; there may be more coming. The wind’s blowing westerly right now.

The only officially sanctioned (by Tonga) relief effort fundraiser is here.

The direct death toll is apparently tiny, but the knock on effects of hunger, thirst, disease and a poorly coordinated rescue/response remain to be seen.

reasonably productive day yesterday

I did laundry – even managed not to leave a load in the washer overnight so it didn’t go skunky – unloaded and loaded the dishwasher – went for a walk in Fraser Foreshore with Paul – no animals but a lovely seat by the river in the sun with no wind, and hordes of lovely doggies – and then a side quest to the bank and to pick up some chocolate croissants at the Cobbs in Market Crossing (there was a request for same). I also called pOp and got the scoop on what a drag it is, being old.  Call your people while you can. One of my cousins told her pOp she thinks that with the pandemic maybe she’ll never see him again. I have thought this often, but one writes letters and makes phone calls as families did in more scattered and less communicative times.  Wrote, maybe (and only) 200 words.

I appear to be completely recovered from my unpleasant abdomen. I had a short talk with mOm about my provisional diagnosis and self-treatment and she was supportive and helpful. My BP continues to steadily improve, now that the doc has added a diuretic. I’ve noticed no difference in whiz volume though, a blessing I guess.

One of my favourites on twitter this morning suggested that the worst combo of director and musical would be Seth McFarlane and ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and I nearly barfed through my eyes, my reaction was so poor.

Someone recommended a 550K LoTR fanfic on AO3 and I got one chapter in and bailed. I’ve seen slow-moving stories before but this one was eerily reminiscent of a molasses drop on Europa. It wasn’t badly written in the usual fanfic ways, but s   l   o  w

Katie emailed me for moral support cleaning tomorrow which I said sure no problem. No bending? no problem.

Today, put away the last of the laundry, drink tea, support disabled activists, learn from activists of colour, plan out an embroidery project.

that hurt

Wordle 211 5/6

Given that the word of the day is an industry I used to work in I was choked when I didn’t get it in three.

Wordle is a blazingly popular (on twitter) game in which you guess the contents of a five letter word. I’ve won 11 days in a row now. The above noted graphic shows the progress of your guesses.

I’ll tell you what didn’t hurt, me, when I got up this morning. Virtually all of it’s gone, the muscle and bone and soft tissue pain I’ve been experiencing for days. My muscles in my abdomen are sore from guarding but I slept soundly and well and feel great today. Or greatish. Great adjacent? Approaching great? Maybe I’ll even touch an instrument today, I haven’t been practicing.

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.

Schopenhauer getting roasted by his mOm

I am still fighting with abdominal pain but it’s getting better and it isn’t affecting my ability to eat. I think I am taking so many pills suddenly that I’ve bruised my esophagus and am possibly working on a hiatus hernia. It’s also possible that this happened AT THE SAME TIME I gave myself costochondritis from shovelling every day for a week. If the pain continues I don’t know what I’ll do, the doctor’s gone for weeks.

My BP is excellent, and I’m about to eat a low sodium home made meal.