☆❀☆

Stuff I did this weekend:
- Went for coffee with Bea
- Had breakfast with parents
- Went to the car show with my dad
- And the usual chores 'n things.

The car show was cool. Obviously you need to calibrate for Fort Mac, but there were still some very neat rides. And I'm glad I got to do something with my father - we don't normally hang out at all.

Talked with Bea about her being banned from Pride events. It's similar to what I expected - she accidentally made someone uncomfortable. Multiple people, apparently. ...and apparently including me? I remember the conversation that apparently caused it, and whoever overheard it wildly misinterpreted what went on. So, uh. There is that.

I don't think there's anything we can do at this point. But, anyway. I'm glad I was able to meet up with her at least.

Disappointed that I wasn't able to find the time/energy to work on any fic this weekend. Maybe next weekend.

I didn't have the energy to make my bed this morning. I feel like a slug.

I managed to score a ticket to see Sigur Rós in Edmonton later this year! They're going to be performing with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.

This is super exciting. They're one of those bands that I've enjoyed for a long time, but never thought I would be able to see perform live. I remember seeing Takk in the store and buying it based on the album design, completely unaware of what their sound was like, and then getting my mind completely blown.

I've never actually been to Edmonton - like, I've gone around it plenty of times on the way to visit family down south, but we never stopped anywhere other than Costco. So, I'll probably take an extra day or two to go to the Royal Alberta Museum and the Art Gallery of Alberta. Maybe will also do some shopping and whatnot.

If anybody has suggestions of Fun Things To Do in Edmonton while I'm there, I'm open to ideas. I'll probably be taking the intercity bus to get there.

Ahhh I'm super excited for this concert. <3 <3 <3

Ahhh, summer wildfire season. +31C and smoky as hell. Lovely.

Time to stay inside with the shades down and all the lights off, I guess!

(Ugh, eew, I can even smell it inside. So gross.)

+ This year's Victoria Day weekend has been somewhat cold, as usual, but still nice overall. I finished all of my Obligations on Saturday and Sunday, and now I get to just relax and do nothing. (I might relax, but I will not do nothing.)

+ The interval act from this year's ESC with Baby Lasagna vs Käärijä was pretty awesome, not gonna lie.

+ Wrote a little. Feels good. I also have a finished thing that I don't know what to do with. It'll go up on my writing DW as usual once I'm done a few nitpicks, but I haven't decided if I want to crosspost it or not. It's one of those stories without much substance and not much happening. On the other hand, it's a rarepair. Hm. (I'm leaning toward not crossposting because I can't be arsed to make a decision on how to tag it, but we'll see.)

+ I rewatched Conclave with the director's commentary. It's a good commentary; would recommend giving that a look if you enjoyed the movie. Lots of insight into cinematographic choices and casting choices etc. I found it interesting that they deliberately sought out an unknown to play Benitez - since the cardinals don't know what to expect from him, the director wanted the audience to be unable to have any preconceived notions of the actor, too. It's not something I'd considered but it makes sense. (And it means they ended up with Carlos Diehz, which is of course wonderful.)

+ ...Also spent way too much time playing Delectatio Morosa. On the one hand, I generally like to complete all routes when I play visual novels. On the other, getting the Bad Routes will be hard for me - I am way too attached to these characters and I don't want to upset anybody. On the third hand, I am curious about how cardinal Lawrence could possibly fuck up so badly that it ruins his relationships with everybody, including Benitez. So.

+ I'm rather glad that I did not go to Calgary this weekend to watch the judo nationals in person. It would have been interesting, but I think it would have also been very stressful for me, and I don't really need that. One of our competitors placed, and the other did not. I looked in more detail about the match for our guy who did not place, and found out that our friend was going up against someone from Montreal. So, against someone from a bigger club with many more training opportunities due to the location (compared to here in this small northern town, where the club is small, the opportunities are limited, there is nobody at his level/weight category to train against, and the nearest training camps are 5 hours away). Of course, this is a generalization. But taking that into account, I'm not surprised, and think the guy from our club did very well considering the circumstances. Even getting to compete at the national level at all is a big achievement.

The trainer hasn't replied to my email yet. I wonder if she received it? It was sent through her website, so who knows whether it even got to her. Anyway, I'll leave it be for a few days - it's not like I'm on a schedule here.

On an unrelated note.

A while back I decided to put together something special for myself. I really like the idea of subscription boxes that introduce you to new snacks and treats and personal care stuff, but I can't afford that kind of thing - they're so expensive. So I decided to make my own "gift box".

I included a book that I haven't read yet, a scented candle, some hair masque samples, some cologne + nail polish, and some tea. And also some Ukrainian snacks that I picked up at the international section of the grocery store that I've never tried before. Aside from the snacks, all of the stuff going in the box was things I had around the house - either things I haven't used before (book, candle, samples, tea) or things I used quite a while ago and forgot about (cologne/nail polish). And by the time I opened the box a month later, I forgot all of the things that I put in it.

It was kind of neat to make trying the snacks a Special Thing. It made me think about the experience more than if I'd just done it the way I do anything else, I think. I kept it simple - a chocolate bar and a small package of cookies.

The chocolate bar was kind of disappointing. It was chocolate with a chocolate filling; the filling was too... gooey... I was hoping for something more like a creme. The cookies were quite nice, though. Baked milk flavour*, which I had not been aware was a thing until now. They're kind of a shortbread type, but with a slightly different flavour. A very everyday sort of cookie. I could see myself buying those again, I think.

I think I'll do one for next month, too. With snacks from a different region. Going to have to find a different box though - the one I used was too short for most of my unread books. Maybe I have a shoebox lying around somewhere (as obviously it would go against the point to buy a box for this).

...Provided I can find the time:

+ Play Delectatio Morosa* - I downloaded it and got it to run, so it's just a matter of fitting it in somewhere
+ And rewatch Conclave while I'm at it, yeah. Might need to wait a while tho', there's several holds at the library.
+ ...And maybe make some icons while I'm at it, even if I might not use them.
+ Finish and post some fics. I have a few that're close to completion, hooray.
+ Make an awesome broccoli and tofu recipe that I came across in a book recently
+ Relax a little. Chill out. Man, I am so bad at that. :V

+ Took today off because I Felt Like It. Plus I had to go to an appointment. (Didn't need the whole day for that, but like, figured I might as well....) Also, treated to myself to lunch, just because I could. Felt nice!

+ Repotted two of my plants. Two others got the boot - the pepperomia and the oyster plant are gonzo. I probably could have saved them, like I did last year when they were struggling, but I didn't feel motivated enough to make the effort. So, now I'm down to a christmas cactus and two snake plants. Not sure what I will replace the other two with. Last year I'd considered picking up one of the hens&chicks that the garden centre was selling, and just keep it as an indoor plant; I might end up actually doing that. It seems that plants that tolerate dryness and cold do well in my apartment.

+ Made lentil burgers. Used this recipe from Occasionally Eggs. Tasted pretty good; would make again. Next time I might mix it up a little - different spices, maybe include some diced bell pepper. Though, I really suck at making patties. Maybe that's something that comes with practice? I've only tried making burgers a few times.

+ Took the book version of Conclave out from the library. Looking forward to it. The movie was pretty good, but the nice thing about books is that you usually get more deeply into at least one character's head.

+ I was surprised to see a lot of people on the Latest Things page posting their first entry in a new journal. Turns out some people are considering making a jump from Tumblr to DW due to some issues going on over there (staff layoffs etc). Well, DW's a very different kind of site, but I hope they enjoy it. I think it would be a good match for people who like textposting.

I wish I weren't so hungry all the time.

I think maybe I should add more protein somewhere, but it's hard to come up with solutions that are very inexpensive, nutritious, and zero-effort.

Though, I do have a lot of dried beans... they unfortunately are not zero-effort because of course you need to prepare them ahead of time, but. It might be an option. And I should probably use them up anyway. I could have some of them with my breakfast; they're very nice cold, with salt and pepper.

Aughhhh.

+ Washed my car. I really should do it more often. It doesn't take that much time to do, and honestly, even just spraying it down makes it come out pretty good. It's kind of a rustbucket, so I guess there is a part of me that thinks "Eh, what's the point?" when it comes to washing it, but... thee dirt was getting pretty ridiculous, and I should at least make sure the windows are clean. We've got a couple of muddy months to go.

+ Took some extra books to the nearest Little Library. Two of the books that I took there last time, over a month ago, are still there. Disappointing; it's much nicer when someone picks them up. Oh, well. Maybe once more of the snow is gone things will circulate more.

+ Took myself out for sushi because I was craving sushi. It's not something that I would want to make a habit of, but I'm glad I indulged it. I had wanted nigiri for some reason, even though it's not my usual choice, so I got one of their variety deals. Now I've probably had enough of it to satisfy myself for a while.

+ Worked on Norwegian a little. And by that I mean I tried to do some reading. It's... challenging, like walking through knee-high snow. I have this one novel in Norwegian, and I tried reading the first page. It was kind of challenging; I got the gist but there were a lot of words I don't know. I think I might start a project where I read through just a page, and write down the words that I don't know in a notebook. That might help.

+ There have been times when I thought that my interest in Norwegian was primarily fuelled by my fondness for the Hetalia character, but I think now I can safely say that this isn't the case. I just really like it. The sentence structure, the way the words sound. It's nice. It's really nice.

+ I spent some time today not feeling great. I think the depression is getting to me again. I'm just not feeling very good. Kind of listless and, like, it's hard to find motivation to do anything. All the things that I have to do still get done, but it's hard to find, like, joy. Spark. That kind of thing.