5 things make a post
1. Merc Rustad's short story The Android's Prehistoric Menagerie is quite wonderful, and gave me the feels but in a way that made the world easier to deal with after. (Thinking about Orlando is still really messing me up.) I do tend to love Rustad's work.
Mothership Zeta magazine (which has this story up for free, but I am not sure all the content goes up free) is very much worth the subscription. I particularly like that the emphasis is on stories that are NOT DEPRESSING. "fun" is in the description, and while the bounds of fun they use are somewhat loose, in this world of grimdark-n-gritty being still en vogue, it is so nice to know that the stories I read there aren't going to make me want to curl up in despair, becuase I just can't handle that right now and don't actually like it even when I am better equipped to handle it.
2. I finally started editing a few of the photos from my trip to Long Beach. Which was in February of 2014. And only because I needed to find some hi-res beach/sunset photos to use as backgrounds in a client's album. And I haven't even scanned the film negatives yet, even though they are all nicely sleeved and ready, and I'm keeping an old computer at Windows 7 becuase my film scanner wouldn't talk to windows 10 last time I tried. (I shouldn't have bought that damn thing, I shoulda just paid some service to scan what I have, but I hadn't fully acknowledged how much my photography energy was slipping. Then again, even if I'm not shooting, I have YEARS and YEARS of negatives just sitting around, that could at least be going and doing some good for me at my stock agency even if I'm not making and showing proper prints anymore. And, you know, if you need access to a medium format film scanner, I've got one.)
3. I still can either use the monitor with color calibration or have wifi, but not both. Awesome. Still 6 substantial towers of hanoi moves needed before I can move the whole computer setup to a place that will (hopefully) fix this.
4. The Great Pottery Throw-Down is as lovely as the Great British Bake-Off, but there is unfortunately only one season. The Sewing Bee isn't catching me quite as effectively, perhaps because I like both eating and making pottery, but am not really interested in sewing.
5. Peaceful Cuisine is my new favorite Youtube series. Even more soothing than How It's Made videos, and the recipes are followable. There is no talking, just the sounds of cooking and well-chosen background music. The recipes are vegan, and a mix of Japanese, Western European and American cuisines. (He's based in Japan.) He's definintely a proponent of veganism as a way of improving the world, but his evangelism consists entirely of making these lovely videos and not being shame-y/combative.
Mothership Zeta magazine (which has this story up for free, but I am not sure all the content goes up free) is very much worth the subscription. I particularly like that the emphasis is on stories that are NOT DEPRESSING. "fun" is in the description, and while the bounds of fun they use are somewhat loose, in this world of grimdark-n-gritty being still en vogue, it is so nice to know that the stories I read there aren't going to make me want to curl up in despair, becuase I just can't handle that right now and don't actually like it even when I am better equipped to handle it.
2. I finally started editing a few of the photos from my trip to Long Beach. Which was in February of 2014. And only because I needed to find some hi-res beach/sunset photos to use as backgrounds in a client's album. And I haven't even scanned the film negatives yet, even though they are all nicely sleeved and ready, and I'm keeping an old computer at Windows 7 becuase my film scanner wouldn't talk to windows 10 last time I tried. (I shouldn't have bought that damn thing, I shoulda just paid some service to scan what I have, but I hadn't fully acknowledged how much my photography energy was slipping. Then again, even if I'm not shooting, I have YEARS and YEARS of negatives just sitting around, that could at least be going and doing some good for me at my stock agency even if I'm not making and showing proper prints anymore. And, you know, if you need access to a medium format film scanner, I've got one.)
3. I still can either use the monitor with color calibration or have wifi, but not both. Awesome. Still 6 substantial towers of hanoi moves needed before I can move the whole computer setup to a place that will (hopefully) fix this.
4. The Great Pottery Throw-Down is as lovely as the Great British Bake-Off, but there is unfortunately only one season. The Sewing Bee isn't catching me quite as effectively, perhaps because I like both eating and making pottery, but am not really interested in sewing.
5. Peaceful Cuisine is my new favorite Youtube series. Even more soothing than How It's Made videos, and the recipes are followable. There is no talking, just the sounds of cooking and well-chosen background music. The recipes are vegan, and a mix of Japanese, Western European and American cuisines. (He's based in Japan.) He's definintely a proponent of veganism as a way of improving the world, but his evangelism consists entirely of making these lovely videos and not being shame-y/combative.
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