Another abbreviated week in review because I have been doing a lot of things but it’s all in the lead up to something else.
Media | Handcrafts & Hobbies | Projects | Personal
– Media –
Books
Still working through This Inevitable Ruin. It’s getting really weird and twisty and I admit I did not spend a lot of brain time thinking about the reality of the ‘world’ created and now it’s just getting… so involved. Well done, Mr Dinniman.
Movies
Flow (2024): What a gorgeous piece of visual art. When we finished, Augs and I both went “I want to know what people thought was meant by it (aside from errybody loves capybaras) but I do not want to deal with someone screaming about wokeness” so we didn’t. Definitely worth a watch. Never has a lack of common language made so little difference.
Insomnia (2002): Okay, I’m no longer allowed to watch movies that take place in Alaska unless the director actually, yanno, thought about it. Nightmute is a real village (not town) in Alaska. It is not the halibut fishing capital of the world… That’s Homer —>
Nightmute is a dry village (no bar). There’s no roads to get there, so why the fuck is there a charter bus? That’s not where the Alaskan logging industry is. There’s no ferry service like they showed. Let’s assume they thought it was Yakutat (which does have some pretty amazing halibut fishing)… That’s on the COMPLETE other side of the state, there is (or was, I haven’t lived in Alaska in many years and governors and legislatures love to fuck with the gem that is the Alaska Marine Highway System) a ferry terminal there but ferries in the Inside Passage (for the southwest of the state) don’t have an hour or two between stops, they’ve got entire workdays between stops. I think the shortest one might be 4 or 6 hours? But unless you’re stopping at every stop, nah, son. That’s not how that shit works.
Oh, there was a storyline in there about a shady cop from LA and a skeevy writer and a murder or three? Who cares. Everything they got wrong took me completely out of it. It’s a shame, too, because Pacino against Williams should have been amazing but I was too busy going “No, but that’s WRONG.” (See also: Thor 2.)
Television
Apologies to my RSS reading folks, the hidden setup might not show up for you. You’ll have to hit up the website to remain unspoiled. For those on the site, click through at your own risk!
The Expanse: Season 6 (complete)
I remember this season being stronger. Maybe it was because the books were so fresh in my mind at the time and I was filling in the gaps, but there was a lot in there that was not as well explained as weird shit was in earlier seasons. Also, the webisodes were a little … eh. I didn’t hate it, but my memory was that it was a much stronger season to go out on than I felt it was this time.
The Good Place: Season 1
THEY SAID EVERYTHING IN THE FIRST EPISODE. Seriously, go back, watch, they tell you what’s going to happen in Season 1 in the first episode. It’s amazing. Well done them.
Severance: Season 2, Episode 6
I know they’re gonna have Helly/Helena be pregnant and honestly, kinda don’t wanna. I mean, I’m not mad for kids in the first place, and I know that it creates conflict for oMark and iMark, but ehhhhh. HOWEVER, I am 100% in on the what the fuck is up with Burt. 20 years? But the procedure has only been around 12? He’s been a bad boy? Innies can go to heaven and have a soul according to Church doctrine? I’m all in on Irving’s story. (I’m not suggesting that Burt has been severed for 20 years, but there is SOMETHING SUS AF GOING ON HERE.)
Board Games
Wild Gardens is an interesting worker placement game in that you start with the most workers you’ll have and then gradually lose them as the rounds progress (with a reset halfway through). We play most of our games 2-player, so we’re trying to figure out how best to house rule some things because there’s not the turnover of community cards like there would be in a 4-player scenario. We’re leaning towards having 8 recipes and guests and having the guests replenish after every day.
Overall, though, what a fun little game. There’s a bit of an engine system and a lot of moving parts at times to keep track of, but I think the next time we play it, it’ll be less “wait, what does this do? How do I do that? Can you do that? Can I do this?”
– Handcrafts & Hobbies –
Sewing
This week I got more of my fabric into Threadloop and started planning out the next phases of things.
I also made progress on two new Tidal dresses for wearing around the house because I am very guilty about not getting out of pyjamas unless I’m going out. Unfortunately, I don’t have the right color thread for topstitching either of them, so I’ll be popping by the fabric store while I’m in town. I have fabric to do another two house dresses but I’m debating on changing up the pattern. I like Tidal but I don’t like the lack of pockets (and the pocket options in the blog aren’t sending me. I’m debating between Choose Your Own Skater and the Inger Dress. CYOS takes loads more fabric but is my preferred style. Inger hits at 3 meters (which is the standard discount coupon amount) and for something to wear around the house, it would be very sufficient. Ooh, but the Grafton Dress would be a good option, too… I remember when I was limited to whatever the Big 3 (at the time) put out for patterns. Now I’m just overwhelmed with options. I think I’m going to get the pattern for the Inger and see how that goes. It looks like a straightforward sew with not many moving parts and I can always shorten the sleeves if I want.
The corduroy skirt is still on hold. I’m not mad at it, I just need some easy wins before installing a zipper.
I also cleaned and oiled my sewing machine and overlocker this week because they’ve been good to me, so I should be good to them.
– Projects –
Home Automation
I spent an hour pushing buttons. As a result, the carport lighting system is up and working. Blog post and photos to come this week.
DIY (Destroy It Yourself)
The new gate fobs and the replacement sensors arrived. I’ve cloned the remotes and haven’t installed the sensors yet because I found a break in the wiring to the sensors. I have some replacement wire on order and a very clever splicing system waiting to be used.
Garden
I recently came across a Garden Planner app from a YouTube gardener and I’m going to give the trial a good workout. Thankfully, when we bought the house, there were a number of extensive ground plans included, so I can really plan this out effectively and make choices about what goes where.
I already suspect that some of the trees I got in the ground last autumn will have to be moved (as we find out which ones made it through – the peach tree doesn’t look promising) and generally get this well situated. This does mean, as the garden is developed, that Basti’s free run area might need to be curtailed (though he’s been very good about not getting into the raised beds that already exist)
The seed starting area is 80% set up. I need to get an extension cord for the lights and fan. The good news is that I’m not behind. The only seeds that ‘should’ be in already are the onions and I have a bit of wiggle room on them. Also, pastRyn apparently really really wanted me to plant Walla Walla onions. I have 450 seeds.
– Personal –
Periodic Reset
I set up my planner four weeks at a time, and this was the weekend to do the reset for that. I’m really enjoying the tactile pen-and-paper setup and finding that I retain information better in a non-digital format. I might be An Old if… With that done, our next step is going to be sitting down over lunch and figuring out what our house projects are and creating that to-do list.
That’s it for this week. Still doing a lot of planning and working towards the conclusions of projects (and figuring out what the next steps are for some.
Take care!
— Ryn