![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catness) wrote2025-08-22 09:22 am
Friday Five - traveling
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
thefridayfive.1. Have you ever stayed in a hostel? If so, where? Did you like it? If you haven't stayed in a hostel, would you?
If capsule hotels count, then yes (in particularly, Japan: Tokyo and Kyoto). LOVED IT!!! Never stayed in a proper hostel (room with roommates), I consider it (for price) but have serious doubts, because I'm a diehard introvert, and lack of privacy is terrifying.
2. What is your favo(u)rite airport that you've been to? Why?
I remember being impressed by Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, because it was so big and not too crowded, and had a lot of variety in shops and food places.
3. What is the best museum you have visited on vacation?
Tokyo teamLab Planets, hosting an interactive art exhibition which feels like being inside a video game - you don't just watch stuff but wade through water, climb narrow corridors, find your way through a mirror maze, meditate in a garden, light flowers in the rain (rain was an unexpected bonus ;) and such.
4. Have you ever made friends while traveling whom you keep in touch with on a regular basis?
No, I can't socialize with strangers, sadly. Maybe if you count Pokemon Go friends? I friended a couple of people during a Pokemon Go fest in Germany, and we still exchange in-game gifts occasionally.
5. Have you ever had a conversation with a seatmate on a plane?
Hahahaha no way.
kaberett) wrote2025-08-21 11:42 pmBL trip a success
In brief: book is the least I've been annoyed by any such book I have yet read, which is fairly impressive going, especially since the copy in the BL's collection is the first edition originally published in 2003 rather than the second edition updated in 2013; more notes possibly to follow (subject to reaching a decision about whether I want to hold out for getting my hands on a copy of the second edition before talking about it in public).
Entertainment: shortly after I finally settled myself down in my nice corner desk against a window with my back to the wall and a whole enclosed-in-glass booth between me and Any Other Readers... my watch buzzed to let me know that I'd just finished a Period Of High Stress. The high stress was, obviously, sitting quietly wedged into a corner on public transport while reading a relaxing book. I did know public transport was exhausting! I have been saying! I'm still kind of impressed at the watch Earnestly Informing Me, In Case I Didn't? Know? and mildly regretting that I'm planning to do the same-ish again tomorrow, and also also I am reassessing A Lot of my wheelchair use in light of this...
Related entertainment: how much my hypervigilance kicked up when I returned from lunch to discover that neatly leaving my notebook and reading-book in a stack on my desk had not had sufficient inhibitory effect, and a Noisy Person had decided to sit diagonally across from me, in my Space, being Noisy. The amount I relaxed when they (temporarily) fucked off is another one for the "yep I can see how not leaving the house for over a year and then staying Hyper Local has added up to me looking much more functional" files...
wychwood) wrote2025-08-21 08:54 pm
it's a nuisance, but what can you expect from reptiles?
For some reason I'm having a bit of a decluttering moment. I was discussing it with some friends this evening, and the other day found myself making a list of things that need decluttering in the longer run so that I stop thinking about them. My space isn't bad, there's not really anything urgent that needs doing, but periodically I remember e.g. the box of random electrical cables under the spare bed and decide yet again that I really ought to do something with them. Maybe it's the change of seasons; I know it's supposed to be a spring thing, but perhaps I'm getting ready to nest for the winter!
And next week I'm on leave again, so perhaps I will do all sorts of exciting domestic things! Or then again, perhaps not. Although I am going to visit
toft for an afternoon, which is pretty exciting if not very domestic. Plus the new mattress arrives next Friday. St Augustine's Day on Thursday, Miss H's birthday brunch, a visit to the dental hygienist, choir and SF Readers' Group and singing at St N, it's all go around here.azurelunatic) wrote2025-08-21 08:28 am
Michigan, again
Unfortunately, breakfast was crispy chicken Caesar salad, with buffalo sauce on the side. And after I finished that, I was dipping baby carrots in the sauce. And there was a spill.
I can't seem to face up to the facts
I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax
I can't sleep, 'cause my bed's on fire
Don't touch me, I'm a real live wire
Spicy pillow, qu'est-ce que c'est?
Fa-fa-fa-fa, fa-fa-fa-fa, far better
Run-run, run-run-run away
Oh-oh-oh
kaberett) wrote2025-08-20 10:54 pm[migraine] peripheral vision nonsense
The thing about buying new glasses, right, is that I've been feeling avoidant about it in part because I think I was slightly migrainey the day I had the most recent test done and I was already pretty sure that my vision goes... wrong... when migrainey -- most noticeable when moving, but always... there.
Slightly more specifically: it's neither scintillating scotoma nor loss-of-whole-field-of-vision nor any of the other very classic visual auras; instead it's a sense that I'm not managing to track movement properly along the lower edge and especially the lower corners of my field of vision.
... which matches up really well, actually, with the peripheral vision deficiencies that, er, showed up during my last eye test.
I've been noticing the Weirdness on-and-off for quite some time now, and was dithering back and forth about whether it was just confirmation bias in that I was only noticing it when otherwise migrainey -- but then on Monday, while on my way to my GP surgery to pick up some paperwork, it resulted in the railings I was going past (and that I go past regularly!) causing an extremely pronounced and unmistakeable strobing effect. I am very confident that that is not something I would somehow manage to confirmation bias myself out of noticing most of the time, so, hurrah, Definitely A Migraine Symptom (for lo, on Monday I was migrainey) it is.
The thing that is mildly baffling me is that I can't actually find (admittedly on a fairly cursory search) any description of specifically peripheral vision fuckery as a migraine thing! Lots of mentions of tunnel vision, lots of mentions of classic aura, and one case study in which "peripheral vision" is used metaphorically. So, you know, let the record show, &c.
kaberett) wrote2025-08-19 10:52 pmvictory of the day is GLASSES
Ordered, at least, to pick up next week.
Indulgence is a writing slope off eBay with a lucky dip of writing utensils, one of which I am very cheerful about...
liv) wrote2025-08-19 06:45 pm
Weddings
( wedding squee )
I sort of want to see if I can make it to my brother's charity's ceilidh next week. But Friday evening events in Brighton when I have a bar mitzvah in Cambridge on Saturday are a bit unworkable. And although I enjoyed the dancing, what I want more of isn't mainly dancing, it's spending time with people. And waiting for my friends to have reunions in the form of weddings isn't very efficient! I'm amazed that there were even two weddings this year, with most of my circle being in our 40s.
jack has planned a bank holiday picnic next Monday; it will be fully outdoors, which is good for infection risk but possibly bad for enduring summer weather. But if you happen to be in Cambridge you're most welcome.tcpip) wrote2025-08-18 07:52 pm
Happy Birthday, Ratties!
Currently 3.7K kilometres away, I am very thankful to Kate R., for looking after the rats in my absence. Delightfully, she provided them a little bit of cupcake for their birthday, complete with a candle. Meanwhile, at the top-end, Lara D. has purchased some Banksy-rat decals for our apartment, MrBlueSky, which we installed this evening in honour of Mayday and Mayhem. Further, because it must be mentioned, a few days ago the Australian water rat, the Rakali (Hydromys chrysogaster) won the ABC award for Australia's under-rated animal as part of National Science Week (I give honourable mention to the marsupial mole). Common in Melbourne's waterway, I derive a great deal of delight watching rakali, especially as they swim at speed, their white-tipped tail hoisted like a flag.
My advocacy for rats can now be measured in decades, and I like to think this has had some effect on their reputation and welfare. There is an excellent essay from Aeon ("Rats are Us") which highly the juxtaposition between the rat and animal welfare laws (essentially non-existent in the United States, it can be harrowing reading) and the scientific evidence that I have raised many times over the decades; they are social animals with communication, they are capable of past memories and future prediction, they are dreamers, they have a highly developed sense of empathy (even for strangers), they love to play, they like to learn (even driving rat-sized cars). With their sentience ("sentus", to feel) certain, and their sapience ("to know") evident, what of their consciousness ("shared knowledge")? The rat is us.
kaberett) wrote2025-08-17 11:02 pmvital functions
Cooking. One more thing from East (kimchi pancakes, mildly disappointing) plus a gooseberry oat crisp I have been meaning to get to since I started picking the pink gooseberries [mumble] ago.
Eating. Ruby Violet (hazelnut + hazelnut brittle, blueberry + lemon curd). buns from home (cardamom, cinnamon, garlic + rosemary focaccia).
My first granadilla, courtesy of a whim in a supermarket!
Allotment apples and tomatoes.
Exploring. Spent a chunk of Monday afternoon poking around the Camley Street Natural Park!
Growing. There are TOMATOES. There are BEANS. I harvested some PEPPERS. I'm still not doing great at, like, efficiency or yield, but hey, I'm eating some things from the plot, which is better than none.
wychwood) wrote2025-08-17 07:52 pmso many good books so little time
Unfortunately mostly what happens is that the overdue item sits there and stares at me on the list. It's annoying, because I do in fact! want to read all of these books! and also most of the ones on the to-read shelves in the spare room. I just somehow don't. However, I've not been in much of a computer game mood in the last few days, and that's freed up some time for reading that isn't fanfic (not that there's anything wrong with that!).
Basically there is too much stuff in my life that distracts me from reading, and if only I didn't need to e.g. earn money I could finish more books. But then I wouldn't be able to go on book-buying sprees, and that would be sad.
In other news, I ordered my new mattress, just as my old one started causing me actual back issues, so good timing me. It's not due until the end of the month, and I'm very impatient.
kaberett) wrote2025-08-16 11:14 pm[books, embodiment] further grousing
Just, you know, For My Own Reference: a list of the exercises included in Hypermobility Without Tears. I am going to come back through and add links to Pilates and physio explainers for all of these.
( Read more... )
azurelunatic) wrote2025-08-16 01:12 pmExtreme amounts of "fun"
I wound up taking a small dose of my "street cred" when I realized I was starting to have a trauma response. That turned out to be a good idea. There's a follow up in a few months, and I should pre-medicate for it.
Afterwards I got the 32 oz reverse mocha from a local coffee shack. (Not one of the bikini coffee shacks.) With chocolate whipped cream, thank you very much. My first time encountering white coffee espresso in a drink. Interesting and almost floral. I had Belovedest (a bitter supertaster) try it. Still coffee tasting, but not as strongly.
Although that's also possibly due to me only having 3 shots of espresso in the drink instead of the usual 6.
I would much rather discuss the coffee than the source of the trauma and the appointment, in any event.
tcpip) wrote2025-08-16 05:41 pm
Darwin Visit
There are nominal household matters to sort out, but it is a convenient time for the Darwin Festival. I have a lifelong interest in aesthetics, which I have to grudgingly accord myself a modest analytical ability. From metaphor, referentiality, creativity, technique, persistence, and connections, I must also confess some apparent predictive skill when evaluating the future success of self-proclaimed artists. Darwin's contribution to the fine arts is not exactly famous, being small and distant, but there are plenty of opportunities in the programme which will receive a fair review in the week to come.
In the meantime, I was blessed yesterday with a second opportunity to visit to the Menzies School of Health Research (Charles Darwin University) (not to be confused with the Menzies Institute for Medical Research (University of Tasmania), let alone the Menzies Research Centre of the Liberal Party. The Darwin Menzies centre particularly interests me as they have a small high performance computing system, which has a few file system and management issues, but nevertheless great to see that it's there! I was hosted by Anto Trimarsanto, a medical researcher in malaria (specifically Plasmodium vivax), who also dutifully informed me that Menzies has an outpost in Timor-Leste. My brain is now working on how to combine these multiple interests.
kaberett) wrote2025-08-15 11:09 pm[books, embodiment] Hypermobility Without Tears, Jeannie Di Bon
Jeannie Di Bon is a "Movement Therapist" who "specialis[es] in Hypermobility, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Chronic Pain." In the introduction, she talks about her own experiences in a way I find very sympathetic:
I've lost count of the number of times a doctor has told me it's all down to IBS and instructed me to eat more fibre and try Pilates or yoga to relax. Dismissive in its nature and kind of ironic now, as I trained to become a Pilates teacher in 2008.
And, you know, the actual core (yes I did that) of her Integrated Movement Method is sound: she's giving advice about fostering body awareness, of when and where you're tense and when you're not, working through a pretty standard sequence of breathing exercises and gentle movements. All the exercises in this book are the kind of thing that show up pretty early on in any full-body physiotherapy programme, that have loads of progressions available (particularly within the Pilates model), and they're absolutely fine and probably useful to folk who've not been able to access care covering this kind of topic.
If it were just the exercise programme, it would be ... fine. More or less. I think a bunch of the ways she explains movements are unclear and counterintuitive, but hey, presumably they work for at least some people.
Unfortunately, there are all of the bits in between.
Chapter 4 is where they went from "okay, you're simplifying to the point of lies-to-children but you are also explaining why" to "... either you're deliberately misrepresenting things for personal gain or you're wildly incompetent", and I'm still not sure which of those it actually is. (I am trying not to think too hard about the possibility that the answer is "both".)
( Read more... )
tl;dr there is nothing you will get from the Integral Movement Method that you won't get from competently-taught or -explained Pilates except scaremongering and misdirection... and unlike IMM, you can get decent Pilates resources for free. Don't bother with this one.
kaberett) wrote2025-08-14 10:53 pmokay, this is an anti-rec for Jeannie Di Bon
I am now well over halfway through the book, and spent most of chapter four screeching to anyone who would listen about the extent to which either she is deliberately and cynically misrepresenting approaches that aren't Her Personal Programme in the interests of selling the latter, or she's just incompetent.
The actual suggested movements -- the strength-building and the stretching -- are totally reasonable, and also totally standard. It's the surrounding framing that has my eyebrows crawling into my hairline; I... tried to summarise and rapidly discovered I was launching into the full rant, and it's past bedtime, so let's start with: while there's a References section it's a whole 15 items long, and she's blithely saying "X states" or "Y says" as though the fact that something has been published in a single peer-reviewed paper means that it's unquestionably true, and of those fifteen one is a systematic review of any kind and... Several... are under the aegis of an organisation specialising in complementary medicine.
More details tomorrow, probably. With excerpts.
althea_valara) wrote2025-08-13 09:13 pmFFXI: Rise of the Zilart summary!
It all began with a stone, or so the legend says.
In ages past, a sentient jewel, enormous and beautiful, banished the darkness. Its many-colored light filled the world with life and brought forth mighty gods.
Bathed in that light, the world entered an age of bliss until, after a time, the gods fell into slumber. That world was called Vana'diel.
The legend goes on to say...
From the darkest depths of the earth the Warriors of the Crystal rose...
The Rise of the Zilart expansion tells the story of the Warriors of the Crystal, and of the ancient clash between two races, one of which was the Zilart - who have plans to bring about Vana'diel's destruction. Read on to find out just what the Zilart have planned.
(As before, the actual game script is located at my Neocities site, here: https://altheavalara.neocities.org/ffxi/rotz - what lies under the cut is my summary for those who don't want to read the long script.)
( spoilers galore! )
kaberett) wrote2025-08-13 10:40 pmfinally it is tomato o'clock
(This cultivar is called Blue Fire. I was very late getting my tomatoes started, but I am about to have lots of them and I am excited by this! Rainbow planting didn't quite work partly because none of the Yellow Pear-Shaped made it but largely because I lost track of which were my purple plum tomatoes and which were instead my orange, but -- I'm about to have A Bunch of ridiculous coloured tomatoes, and this is probably the showiest of the lot of 'em!)