The usual sample of some of my seasonal cards. Hopefully they've all arrived by now, or will very soon. This year I decided to paint people freehand (which means they're all a bit wonky) and then name them after less well known minor deities - it's called the Small Gods series. I had fun, anyway - it's always good to get back into watercolours again (although I use them more like gouache), after mostly working in Procreate the rest of the year. Embellished with metallic paint in various colours, gold, and silver, for a festive touch. Hopefully you can see the sheen a little in the way I've photographed them.
I'm doing some minor operational work tonight. It should be transparent, but there's always a chance that something goes wrong. The main thing I'm touching is testing a replacement for Apache2 (our web server software) in one area of the site.
1. I had a nice work from home day today. Carla had an appointment and some errands late morning, but when she got back we walked up to our new favorite pizza place for lunch. They do a nice lunch special that's two slices and a drink, and it's a good amount for sharing.
2. We actually had pizza again for dinner, but it was homemade pizza, something we rarely do. The dough was just from Trader Joe's, not from scratch, but Carla made her own pizza sauce so that it didn't have garlic and onions in the seasoning, and for toppings we used Korean BBQ flavor spam and roasted corn (also from Trader Joe's; they have delicious frozen roasted corn, which we always keep on hand). I meant to put edamame, too, but didn't get everything prepped in time. It was soooo good. For some reason the crust didn't get that crispy on the bottom, but it wasn't soggy or anything, and the general texture was really good and tasted great, too. Would definitely get this dough again, and we have leftover sauce, so I think we'll be making it again soon (this time with edamame).
3. We have so many posters and paintings and stuff we want to hang on the walls, but just never do it because I hate hanging stuff on the walls lol. I'm bad at getting it just right, and while I don't care about making extra holes in the house, since the walls are already a lost cause, I'm hesitant about the garage with it's nice new walls. But I ordered a painting hanging kit thingie that has a level and it makes marks in the wall to show you where to put the nails, so hopefully that will help me get all this stuff up on display finally.
4. Tuxie! This pic is from the other day and he's currently off wandering again (didn't show up at all today), so I hope he'll be waiting at the back porch tomorrow morning for breakfast.
To the office all the morning, at noon to dinner, where Mr. Creed dined with me, and Mr. Ashwell, with whom after dinner I discoursed concerning his daughter coming to live with us. I find that his daughter will be very fit, I think, as any for our turn, but the conditions I know not what they will be, he leaving it wholly to her, which will be agreed on a while hence when my wife sees her. After an hour’s discourse after dinner with them, I to my office again, and there about business of the office till late, and then home to supper and to bed.
This praying mantis visited me last september on my fourth floor balcony. I'm not sure if it was a male or female, I think it was male. A saw the same mantis for a few days. I have some hope that this means that a female mantis laid eggs (called "Oothek") and I might see the babies in the spring.
I posted my pictures to a German site (https://gottesanbeterin-gesucht.de/). Check out the map of the last few years. There are two distinct populations in Germany (East and West) but barely any sighting in the south or north.
1. I stopped at the car wash on the way to work this morning and it looks much better now. Thankfully the trees on our street have stopped shedding berries the way they were a couple weeks ago, but there's still a ton of dust from the construction site at the end of the street, so it was very dusty even though I have been getting it washed like every week. D:
2. Looking at my work tasks and meetings and I think I will be able to work from home most or all of the rest of the week.
Up, and after paying Jane her wages, I went away, because I could hardly forbear weeping, and she cried, saying it was not her fault that she went away, and indeed it is hard to say what it is, but only her not desiring to stay that she do now go.
By coach with Sir J. Minnes and Sir W. Batten to the Duke; and after discourse as usual with him in his closett, I went to my Lord’s: the King and Duke being gone to chappell, it being collar-day, it being Candlemas-day; where I staid with him a while until towards noon, there being Jonas Moore talking about some mathematical businesses, and thence I walked at noon to Mr. Povey’s, where Mr. Gawden met me, and after a neat and plenteous dinner as is usual, we fell to our victualling business, till Mr. Gawden and I did almost fall out, he defending himself in the readiness of his provision, when I know that the ships everywhere stay for them.
Thence with Mr. Coventry down to his chamber, where among other discourse he did tell me how he did make it not only his desire, but as his greatest pleasure, to make himself an interest by doing business truly and justly, though he thwarts others greater than himself, not striving to make himself friends by addresses; and by this he thinks and observes he do live as contentedly (now he finds himself secured from fear of want), and, take one time with another, as void of fear or cares, or more, than they that (as his own termes were) have quicker pleasures and sharper agonies than he.
Thence walking with Mr. Creed homewards we turned into a house and drank a cup of Cock ale and so parted, and I to the Temple, where at my cozen Roger’s chamber I met Madam Turner, and after a little stay led her home and there left her, she and her daughter having been at the play to-day at the Temple, it being a revelling time with them.1
Thence called at my brother’s, who is at church, at the buriall of young Cumberland, a lusty young man.
So home and there found Jane gone, for which my wife and I are very much troubled, and myself could hardly forbear shedding tears for fear the poor wench should come to any ill condition after her being so long with me.
So to my office and setting papers to rights, and then home to supper and to bed. This day at my Lord’s I sent for Mr. Ashwell, and his wife came to me, and by discourse I perceive their daughter is very fit for my turn if my family may be as much for hers, but I doubt it will be to her loss to come to me for so small wages, but that will be considered of.
Two hot off the press HR recs, and an older GC one.
cut to the feeling - by Charlotte_Stant, one of my fave authors in HR and HR RPF. For magical realism reasons, 18 y.o. Shane wakes up in the body and life of himself at age 35, married to Ilya. It's brilliant, very funny and just the best "crack taken seriously" imaginable. Also hot as hell. So good.
Torture Me (With All I've Wanted) - by Toomuchplor, also an absolute fave author. 17 y.o. Shane and Ilya end up on a long bus ride together. Under a blanket. Yes, it's super hot but all the details are so lovely, the writing so good. I love it.
And so it's gonna be forever has already been reccd by people and is still a WIP damn it, but it's completely addictive. I just loooove fix-it fics, and in this, Ilya dies in the Centaurs' plane crash but is magically transported back to his teens again, reliving his life with all his future memories intact, determined to get it righter this time - and boy, does he make some changes. I could do without a few of the mystical bits but the majority of this fic is like pure crack to me.
It's run a bit differently to FTH. You donate in one of 3 tiers - $5, $10, or $20. For the lower tiers you don't get much, or any, choice, just an HR fanwork assigned to you as thanks for the donation. For the $20 tier you get a bit more choice and can specify the type of fanwork (art, fic, podfic, vid, etc.), and can give a brief prompt for the creator. But this isn't an auction - you can't put in bids for a specific creator's work. The mod assigns you, like a matchmaker.
To complete the form you'll need to have already donated. I did most of the form then jumped sideways to do the donation to one of their listed orgs, then I completed the form. Seemed to work okay.
1. Final sales total for the new store yesterday was off the charts and today looks like it will be just as high.
2. The other day we were browsing GrubHub for something to eat and saw a burger place that looked really good, but decided it would be better to go in person as one of the big draws was their loaded fries, which would just be soggy on arrival. We went over there today for lunch and it was so good!
Karaage chicken sandwich with jalapeño yuzu slaw and sweet potato fries on the side.
Yakiniku steak fries, which were supposed to be with tater tots but they were out of tots so just regular fries, but still super tasty.
It was so much food but so good. Brought half the sweet potato fries and half the loaded fries home and Alex ate them this afternoon when she came over.
3. For some reason Chloe was so into exploring this Disney bag yesterday when we got home from the park lol. Nothing inside it but she had to investigate.
Two hot off the press HR recs, and an older GC one.
cut to the feeling - by Charlotte_Stant, one of my fave authors in HR and HR RPF. For magical realism reasons, 18 y.o. Shane wakes up in the body and life of himself at age 35, married to Ilya. It's brilliant, very funny and just the best "crack taken seriously" imaginable. Also hot as hell. So good.
Torture Me (With All I've Wanted) - by Toomuchplor, also an absolute fave author. 17 y.o. Shane and Ilya end up on a long bus ride together. Under a blanket. Yes, it's super hot but all the details are so lovely, the writing so good. I love it.
And so it's gonna be forever has already been reccd by people and is still a WIP damn it, but it's completely addictive. I just loooove fix-it fics, and in this, Ilya dies in the Centaurs' plane crash but is magically transported back to his teens again, reliving his life with all his future memories intact, determined to get it righter this time - and boy, does he make some changes. I could do without a few of the mystical bits but the majority of this fic is like pure crack to me.
(Lord’s day). Up and to church, where Mr. Mills, a good sermon, and so home and had a good dinner with my wife, with which I was pleased to see it neatly done, and this troubled me to think of parting with Jane, that is come to be a very good cook. After dinner walked to my Lord Sandwich, and staid with him in the chamber talking almost all the afternoon, he being not yet got abroad since his sickness. Many discourses we had; but, among others, how Sir R. Bernard is turned out of his Recordership of Huntingdon by the Commissioners for Regulation, &c., at which I am troubled, because he, thinking it is done by my Lord Sandwich, will act some of his revenge, it is likely, upon me in my business, so that I must cast about me to get some other counsel to rely upon.
In the evening came Mr. Povey and others to see my Lord, and they gone, my Lord and I and Povey fell to the business of Tangier, as to the victualling, and so broke up, and I, it being a fine frost, my boy lighting me I walked home, and after supper up to prayers, and then alone with my wife and Jane did fall to tell her what I did expect would become of her since, after so long being my servant, she had carried herself so as to make us be willing to put her away, and desired God to bless [her], but bid her never to let me hear what became of her, for that I could never pardon ingratitude. So I to bed, my mind much troubled for the poor girl that she leaves us, and yet she not submitting herself, for some words she spoke boldly and yet I believe innocently and out of familiarity to her mistress about us weeks ago, I could not recall my words that she should stay with me. This day Creed and I walking in White Hall garden did see the King coming privately from my Lady Castlemaine’s; which is a poor thing for a Prince to do; and I expressed my sense of it to Creed in terms which I should not have done, but that I believe he is trusty in that point.
A quick update on my progress for my reading challenge this year. My plan is to finish some of the series that I've got ongoing - I've selected 14 series with a total of 44 books. I've managed to read 4 books this month which is an excellent start. These are:
Spook’s: Seventh Apprentice by Joseph Delaney Taken by Benedict Jacka Chosen by Benedict Jacka Hidden by Benedict Jacka
Seventh Apprentice was the last book of The Wardstone Chronicles series, so that's that all finished. It was a bit odd in that it was the last of the series but actually a prequel. And the series itself continues in The Starblade Chronicles which I've already made a start on. It's very confusing. The other three books - Taken, Chosen, and Hidden - are all from the Alex Verus series. That's the one with the most books so I wanted to get it finished early on. I've got another 6 left yet but I'm having a little break from it which was completely unplanned. I happened to see an intriguing book in the library a couple of days ago, so I'm reading that now. It's Doing Time by Jodi Taylor which happens to be the first book in the Time Police series! I didn't realise it was part of a series, it looked like it was a standalone novel otherwise I wouldn't have picked it up!
So this is what the full list of series looks like now:
✔ The Wardstone Chronicles by Joseph Delaney - 1 book COMPLETED
The Starblade Chronicles by Joseph Delaney - 2 books
The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovich - 7 books *
▶ Alex Verus by Benedict Jacka - 10 books - IN PROGRESS
Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo - 1 book
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman - 1 book *
Gentlemen Bastard by Scott Lynch - 1 book *
Her Majesty The Queen Investigates by SJ Bennett - 1 book *
Spellcaster by Charlie N Holmberg - 1 book
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman - 6 books *
Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens - 7 books
The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell - 1 book *
The Locked Tomb by Tamsin Muir - 1 book *
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells - 4 books *
* These series are still being written so there may be more books to come!
1. It looks like the weather's supposed to get a little cooler for the next few days, though it'll be up in the 80s again mid week. D: But there's a possibility of rain by the end of the week after, so hopefully things'll cool off a little. Not a fan of this weather!
2. Despite the heat, we had a really nice lunch at Disneyland today. Low crowds and delicious food.
3. I started playing this browser-based matching game that aethel linked to yesterday and it's fun but also addictive lol. You have to group a bunch of random words/phrases/names and some of the groupings are very similar to each other and also sometimes what you think the grouping is turns out to not exactly be right.
4. I normally don't check my work phone much during the weekend, but I have been keeping an eye on the sales figures coming in from the grand opening. As of 8pm they've already blown past the sales for the Irvine grand opening, which was a huge success. Closing is officially 9pm but there were still lines outside last I heard, so I think they're going to try and let as many people in as possible, even if they have to stay late.
not much in the way of medical TMI this time, but still, content note for cancer treatment details.
Healing (external) looking good. The scar is as long as my little finger, and quite dark (almost like a lightly faded black permanent marker). It is no longer raised or itchy. Little bit red either side, possibly because it is difficult to get the breast in a position to see the scar, and it means I was pulling on the skin. I continue treating with the scar therapy gel, in hopes that that decreases my chance of it going stiff (I have a history of cheloid scarring on my knee, which the doctor that did the surgical tidy up of the scar attributed to issues with the original stitching / treatment)
Internally I'm assuming there is still a bit of healing to go because there is infrequent discomfort, mostly if I end up in an odd position and the breast is not supported. Also noticeable last night while chopping veggies, so I may need to look at what is wrong with my posture there.
I'm still wearing the surgical recovery bras; I've now moved to not using them at night because my skin was getting quite irritated under the band. Of the four I started with, I have misplaced the good one, and one is a size too large. Fortunately, I have found an old sports bra which is appropriately soft and has no underwire to wear while the two are in the wash. A couple of times I have tried wearing one of my usual, which I think of as soft, but have underwire; in each case the surgical area has become noticeably sore. I'll keep doing that every few weeks until it isn't an issue, then transition back to my usual bras. I have decided against going to the specialist bra shop to get more, mostly because I don't have the necessary time + energy.
radiation: appointment one with the radiologist, who was all 'this is your choice, ...' and then gave info that summed up approximately to 'given your age/situation, I'd do it anyway'. Also implied, I think, was the fact that there were cancerous cells further from the cancer site ('the margins'), necessitating the second surgery; my take from that is that it was moving quickly. Thus I am skipping over the expensive test and going straight to radiation. I think if the cancer site had been elsewhere in the body, it might be different, although I did not get a feel for which way the likelihood went. But being in the breast duct, there is a lot of potential for cancer cells to have moved a long way and be starting up again. Thus, radiation of the whole breast.
Appointment two with the radiologist is Monday. They can treat me at the local public hospital (literally next door to the private one I had the first surgery at). It will be three weeks, multiple sessions. Likely noticeable side-effects are sun-burn like sensation and some other minor discomfort. Slight change in the breast tissue (ongoing) may occur, so it might feel different to the other, but as it already does, eh. And there is a slight chance that a small bit of the lungs behind will be damaged, but in a way that I am not likely to perceive.
We said we were going to go to Disneyland less frequently this year and it feels like we've kept to that, and yet we still somehow went seven times this month lol. But it's mostly down to the way the days landed, since there were five weekends. We only had two weeks where we went more than once a week.
Up and to my office, and there we sat till noon. I home to dinner, and there found my plate of the Soverayne with the table to it come from Mr. Christopher Pett, of which I am very glad. So to dinner late, and not very good, only a rabbit not half roasted, which made me angry with my wife. So to the office, and there till late, busy all the while. In the evening examining my wife’s letter intended to my Lady, and another to Mademoiselle; they were so false spelt that I was ashamed of them, and took occasion to fall out about them with my wife, and so she wrote none, at which, however, I was, sorry, because it was in answer to a letter of Madam about business. Late home to supper and to bed.
A solemn fast for the King’s murther, and we were forced to keep it more than we would have done, having forgot to take any victuals into the house.
I to church in the forenoon, and Mr. Mills made a good sermon upon David’s heart smiting him for cutting off the garment of Saul.1
Home, and whiled away some of the afternoon at home talking with my wife. So to my office, and all alone making up my month’s accounts, which to my great trouble I find that I am got no further than 640l. But I have had great expenses this month. I pray God the next may be a little better, as I hope it will. In the evening my manuscript is brought home handsomely bound, to my full content; and now I think I have a better collection in reference to the Navy, and shall have by the time I have filled it, than any of my predecessors. So home and eat something such as we have, bread and butter and milk, and so to bed.
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