Behold the Spinster, in her natural habitat of AWESOME.
The Old Reader eventually turned itself back on, only to announce that it can't deal with all the new readers who jumped on when G-reader shut down, so they're going to close up shop to anyone who registered after G made *their* announcement. I'm not absolutely sure that I'm out, but I've already set up a feedly account, which is working OK so far. Tho its annoying that I need a G login for it, and can't set up one independantly of my G account. Since its G's fault all this annoyingness is happening in the first place. Meh.
Meanwhile, a weekend happened. Where I fell into a clay-hole for 10-12 hours and made lots of very pretty polymer clay items. For my costume, and maybe some other ppl's costumes if they'd ever answer my emails. Here is a pic of all the handcrafted clay goodness on my Tumblr, cuz that's what its for. I've since glazed them, since it turns out the glaze I use nowadays *can* be baked, so I don't have to wait until after I pick up pin backings and liquid-polymer-glue them on. I thought I already had pin backings, but oh well. That can wait until my financial karma resets in August.
If you look at the pic, you can see I was playing with a lot of new Art Nouveau ideas, which turned out waaaaay better than I expected. So I accidentally leveled up in polymer clay skillz, yay :-D
Skipped doing any fabric stuff, b/c clay-hole. Now I think I want to finish my DCon costume before starting any new projects. But I also forgot to do the laundry, so will try to make that up tonite. Luckily I did have time to do my cooking, so I can eat this week.
Food-wise I'm trying something new this week. I found out how much fiber there is in coconut flour (a lot), so maybe that was still making my (fiber-hating) stomach cranky. Instead of banana bread for breakfast, it will now be apple slices and hard boiled eggs for a few days to see if that's not going to make me crazy. Also, nice excuse to not turn on the oven for a while.
Still trying to figure out my acupuncture sitch. I was going to go in August to get my sinuses worked on, but now my sinuses are a lot better since the heatwave ended (tho the migraines seem to be creeping back in). I think I'll wait until the week-of to decide whether or not to cancel my appointment.
My needler is sympathetic to my $$ situation, and I'd still like to go back next summer. On the other hand, its nice having a physical-symptom-understanding practitioner to talk to a couple times a month, who doesn't need to check her notes to remember who I am and what the problem is (like my pcp, whom I still like, but ugh modern medical industry). Unfortunately, I guess I can't afford that level of consistent care. *sigh* Tho over the last few years, my healthcare package steadily changed for the better, so maybe it will do that again?
Also, when I paid my bills this weekend, I went over some of my budget plans. My budget balances out almost perfectly when I don't have acupuncture in it. Oops.
And tying in with budgeting, I really need to start saving more seriously for retirement. B/c even if I get my fatigue problems managed, I'm that much less healthy than my peers, and while most of them will probly be able to keep working into their 70s (and I hear that's the plan for a lot of ppl), I may *have* to quit gainful employment a lot sooner. Despite recent weaknesses for craft supplies, I'm a lot more restrained about my extras-spending than I was a year ago. And a lot better at planning ahead for purchases. Many factors feed into this, and its definitely a healthy direction. Tho not perfected yet.
I'm not sure of the wisdom giving up acupuncture to put half in retirement and half into attending more sf conventions (instead of all into retirement). But I miss traveling. If DragonCon turns out to be too much to handle with all the new dietary restrictions, I'll change things around again. I hope it does work out, but considering that DCon is uniquely situation so I don't need a car to get con-groceries, if it doesn't work there I'm not sure if mid-pricerange 'suburban' cons will work out either.
Looking at my DCon savings I realized that I may have saved more than I needed, and that's not a bad thing, since craziness can happen at the last minute. But I've technically already paid my share of the room with the deposit in November, and my plane tix in June, and now all that's left is food, cabs & subways, and whatever I buy at con. Which probably won't be much b/c a) I don't often buy jewelry from other vendors, and b) I'm running out of wall space for new art pieces (and space in general for all forms of stuff). Maybe I'll make a list of favorite imps in case BPAL is there again? I do also buy gifts for friends & family with upcoming b'days. Considered that I could get a new corset, but I've come to the conclusion that I just don't like wearing them anymore. If I change my mind about that, I can save $$ for a new one then.
Having the so-called 'side hustle' in place would definitely help with the financial stuff, but as with the paleo-sphere, most finance bloggers don't seem to have chronic fatigue problems. Working on the jewelry for my costume seems to be knocking some of the fog loose from my creative brain-bits, but the state of constant costume-frenzy I had last week seems to have dissolved. And I can never remember to queue Etsy tweets while I'm at work, and/or finish photographing/editing/uploading finished stuff onto Etsy itself, so ... again, meh. Dumb brain fog.
Today I'm also reconsidering my local social life options. On Friday nite, I had this weird feeling of "I wish I had somewhere to go *out* to tonite." I could *also* feel my body and energy levels crashing out, and I did still want to stay home to finish all-the-crafts that weekend, but it was an interesting emotional twinge I haven't specifically felt in a while.
So far I'm mulling over the SF readings scene vs. the improv scene. Not that I can only do one, but its interesting to compare them. Both would probably work out best if I had a gf/df dinner before going out. For the SF scene, hanging out at 'afters' would be really nice, but for improv I think it would be best to avoid the bars entirely and just enjoy the shows. Much as I luv and respect my improv friends, there are SO. MANY. Douchenozzles floating around in their midst, and its not worth missing out on my sleep to hang out with drunk jerks anymore. There are occasional douches on the writers-scene, but far fewer. And there's no 'Yes, And' culture pressuring us to support the jerks.
There are some local meetups, but the Steampunk one is in someone's own home in the village, which was a little weird for me. He's a nice guy, but the apt is really cramped with (awesome) stuff, and last time the a/c was broken. And it doesn't even start until 8pm, so I can only be there for an hour if I want to get home in time for bed.
I haven't made it to the HP meetup yet, but may put that off until after DCon. They're a bit locationally challenged right now, but usually they meet up in a bar too.
There's always Browncoats, but my typical mode is to completely crash out on weekends, so Saturday afternoons just don't work so well for me. The other meetups are weekday after-work things.
Goth clubs seem right out. I try to organize ppl to go out, and they ALWAYS flake on me. I don't really have any friends on that scene anymore. In the old days I was fine to go out and dance by myself, but now that I sometimes don't have the strength left to hail my own cab home, I don't think this is such a good idea. Also, doors don't even open until 10 or 11 pm, and the party hardly starts until midnight. Court of Lazarus would work out better, except for it being on a weekend and me having flaky friends. Oh well, I still have my goth music podcasts.
In July I gave myself the permission to stop hermitting, but unfortunately external forces put the kibosh on it so far. Maybe I just need to hold out until September. It seems I always have to hold out for *something* to come together. More meh.
I also really miss being able to go on long walks around the village without going into collapse afterwards. On my lunch breaks, after work, whatever. I didn't have to judge whether or not I had the energy beforehand, or have a full day off to crash afterwards. I *did* get some in last fall after going gf/df, so I guess its another 'wait for fall' thing.
There's lots of news about weddings and engagements this summer, I guess its got me thinking about stuff. Good for my friends, certainly, yay for them! As for me tho... meh?
I guess it all comes down to the work I've done on my self/life lately, somewhat forced on me by body fail, and there just aren't really any guys I've met that I've a) been attracted to, b) felt could keep up with my path-towards-personal-responsibility.
Overall I'm just not attracted to that many ppl in a romantic way these days. Not sure if there's any underlying reason to that or if its just another fatigue symptom. I've also seen a lot of really gross mating game bs over the last few years, more directed at friends than at myself, but still ... eew. It makes the prospect of spending my precious spoons combing thru the slime look really unappealing.
There are so many other things I want to do (health permitting, meh) that I don't really want to waste time/energy/resources on the mating game. I don't actually need another person to constantly reassure me that I matter, I don't need a relationship to feel secure about myself. I'm content to be taking care of myself & being awesome on my own terms (tho I'd be happier in general if I wasn't fatigued anymore, kthnx universe?).
And I *am* loved by my friends (lol, I hope?), it doesn't matter to me that this love doesn't come coupled with teh sex. I don't really understand that pov to begin with.
I guess if romance wants to come find me, it knows where I live, but it better call ahead to make sure I'm home and relatively awake. And at the same time I can still be happy for my friends that have found their own happiness in the Romantrix :-)
In related news, I'm saving so much money since I switched to rechargeable batteries ;-)
<3 Chrysilla
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, http://chrysilla.dreamwidth.org/
Meanwhile, a weekend happened. Where I fell into a clay-hole for 10-12 hours and made lots of very pretty polymer clay items. For my costume, and maybe some other ppl's costumes if they'd ever answer my emails. Here is a pic of all the handcrafted clay goodness on my Tumblr, cuz that's what its for. I've since glazed them, since it turns out the glaze I use nowadays *can* be baked, so I don't have to wait until after I pick up pin backings and liquid-polymer-glue them on. I thought I already had pin backings, but oh well. That can wait until my financial karma resets in August.
If you look at the pic, you can see I was playing with a lot of new Art Nouveau ideas, which turned out waaaaay better than I expected. So I accidentally leveled up in polymer clay skillz, yay :-D
Skipped doing any fabric stuff, b/c clay-hole. Now I think I want to finish my DCon costume before starting any new projects. But I also forgot to do the laundry, so will try to make that up tonite. Luckily I did have time to do my cooking, so I can eat this week.
Food-wise I'm trying something new this week. I found out how much fiber there is in coconut flour (a lot), so maybe that was still making my (fiber-hating) stomach cranky. Instead of banana bread for breakfast, it will now be apple slices and hard boiled eggs for a few days to see if that's not going to make me crazy. Also, nice excuse to not turn on the oven for a while.
Still trying to figure out my acupuncture sitch. I was going to go in August to get my sinuses worked on, but now my sinuses are a lot better since the heatwave ended (tho the migraines seem to be creeping back in). I think I'll wait until the week-of to decide whether or not to cancel my appointment.
My needler is sympathetic to my $$ situation, and I'd still like to go back next summer. On the other hand, its nice having a physical-symptom-understanding practitioner to talk to a couple times a month, who doesn't need to check her notes to remember who I am and what the problem is (like my pcp, whom I still like, but ugh modern medical industry). Unfortunately, I guess I can't afford that level of consistent care. *sigh* Tho over the last few years, my healthcare package steadily changed for the better, so maybe it will do that again?
Also, when I paid my bills this weekend, I went over some of my budget plans. My budget balances out almost perfectly when I don't have acupuncture in it. Oops.
And tying in with budgeting, I really need to start saving more seriously for retirement. B/c even if I get my fatigue problems managed, I'm that much less healthy than my peers, and while most of them will probly be able to keep working into their 70s (and I hear that's the plan for a lot of ppl), I may *have* to quit gainful employment a lot sooner. Despite recent weaknesses for craft supplies, I'm a lot more restrained about my extras-spending than I was a year ago. And a lot better at planning ahead for purchases. Many factors feed into this, and its definitely a healthy direction. Tho not perfected yet.
I'm not sure of the wisdom giving up acupuncture to put half in retirement and half into attending more sf conventions (instead of all into retirement). But I miss traveling. If DragonCon turns out to be too much to handle with all the new dietary restrictions, I'll change things around again. I hope it does work out, but considering that DCon is uniquely situation so I don't need a car to get con-groceries, if it doesn't work there I'm not sure if mid-pricerange 'suburban' cons will work out either.
Looking at my DCon savings I realized that I may have saved more than I needed, and that's not a bad thing, since craziness can happen at the last minute. But I've technically already paid my share of the room with the deposit in November, and my plane tix in June, and now all that's left is food, cabs & subways, and whatever I buy at con. Which probably won't be much b/c a) I don't often buy jewelry from other vendors, and b) I'm running out of wall space for new art pieces (and space in general for all forms of stuff). Maybe I'll make a list of favorite imps in case BPAL is there again? I do also buy gifts for friends & family with upcoming b'days. Considered that I could get a new corset, but I've come to the conclusion that I just don't like wearing them anymore. If I change my mind about that, I can save $$ for a new one then.
Having the so-called 'side hustle' in place would definitely help with the financial stuff, but as with the paleo-sphere, most finance bloggers don't seem to have chronic fatigue problems. Working on the jewelry for my costume seems to be knocking some of the fog loose from my creative brain-bits, but the state of constant costume-frenzy I had last week seems to have dissolved. And I can never remember to queue Etsy tweets while I'm at work, and/or finish photographing/editing/uploading finished stuff onto Etsy itself, so ... again, meh. Dumb brain fog.
Today I'm also reconsidering my local social life options. On Friday nite, I had this weird feeling of "I wish I had somewhere to go *out* to tonite." I could *also* feel my body and energy levels crashing out, and I did still want to stay home to finish all-the-crafts that weekend, but it was an interesting emotional twinge I haven't specifically felt in a while.
So far I'm mulling over the SF readings scene vs. the improv scene. Not that I can only do one, but its interesting to compare them. Both would probably work out best if I had a gf/df dinner before going out. For the SF scene, hanging out at 'afters' would be really nice, but for improv I think it would be best to avoid the bars entirely and just enjoy the shows. Much as I luv and respect my improv friends, there are SO. MANY. Douchenozzles floating around in their midst, and its not worth missing out on my sleep to hang out with drunk jerks anymore. There are occasional douches on the writers-scene, but far fewer. And there's no 'Yes, And' culture pressuring us to support the jerks.
There are some local meetups, but the Steampunk one is in someone's own home in the village, which was a little weird for me. He's a nice guy, but the apt is really cramped with (awesome) stuff, and last time the a/c was broken. And it doesn't even start until 8pm, so I can only be there for an hour if I want to get home in time for bed.
I haven't made it to the HP meetup yet, but may put that off until after DCon. They're a bit locationally challenged right now, but usually they meet up in a bar too.
There's always Browncoats, but my typical mode is to completely crash out on weekends, so Saturday afternoons just don't work so well for me. The other meetups are weekday after-work things.
Goth clubs seem right out. I try to organize ppl to go out, and they ALWAYS flake on me. I don't really have any friends on that scene anymore. In the old days I was fine to go out and dance by myself, but now that I sometimes don't have the strength left to hail my own cab home, I don't think this is such a good idea. Also, doors don't even open until 10 or 11 pm, and the party hardly starts until midnight. Court of Lazarus would work out better, except for it being on a weekend and me having flaky friends. Oh well, I still have my goth music podcasts.
In July I gave myself the permission to stop hermitting, but unfortunately external forces put the kibosh on it so far. Maybe I just need to hold out until September. It seems I always have to hold out for *something* to come together. More meh.
I also really miss being able to go on long walks around the village without going into collapse afterwards. On my lunch breaks, after work, whatever. I didn't have to judge whether or not I had the energy beforehand, or have a full day off to crash afterwards. I *did* get some in last fall after going gf/df, so I guess its another 'wait for fall' thing.
There's lots of news about weddings and engagements this summer, I guess its got me thinking about stuff. Good for my friends, certainly, yay for them! As for me tho... meh?
I guess it all comes down to the work I've done on my self/life lately, somewhat forced on me by body fail, and there just aren't really any guys I've met that I've a) been attracted to, b) felt could keep up with my path-towards-personal-responsibility.
Overall I'm just not attracted to that many ppl in a romantic way these days. Not sure if there's any underlying reason to that or if its just another fatigue symptom. I've also seen a lot of really gross mating game bs over the last few years, more directed at friends than at myself, but still ... eew. It makes the prospect of spending my precious spoons combing thru the slime look really unappealing.
There are so many other things I want to do (health permitting, meh) that I don't really want to waste time/energy/resources on the mating game. I don't actually need another person to constantly reassure me that I matter, I don't need a relationship to feel secure about myself. I'm content to be taking care of myself & being awesome on my own terms (tho I'd be happier in general if I wasn't fatigued anymore, kthnx universe?).
And I *am* loved by my friends (lol, I hope?), it doesn't matter to me that this love doesn't come coupled with teh sex. I don't really understand that pov to begin with.
I guess if romance wants to come find me, it knows where I live, but it better call ahead to make sure I'm home and relatively awake. And at the same time I can still be happy for my friends that have found their own happiness in the Romantrix :-)
In related news, I'm saving so much money since I switched to rechargeable batteries ;-)
<3 Chrysilla
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, http://chrysilla.dreamwidth.org/