Entries tagged with done

Current Mood: between calm and worried
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: Nottamun Town

Entry tags:

Done Since 2025-06-29

It doesn't feel like a very productive week, but I have gotten a few things done. Five (short) walks, four (short) guitar practice sessions, some patio furniture assembled (one Adirondack chair fully assembled, the other partly assembled, table unboxed).

The Adirondak chairs each have a curved, removable leg-rest. It's not exactly an ottoman, so I've decided it needs to be called a nottaman -- hence this post's music.

The weather has gone from unpleasantly hot to pleasantly cool (with a reverse or two) over the course of the week; we are now enjoying a light rain. Or at least I am -- I'm the one who sits closest to the sliding door in the living room. It opens to half the width of the house, and fortunately has a screen behind it. Because cats.

Between ADT and anemia, my body's temperature sensing has become very wonky; I feel like I'm freezing at temperatures that the rest of the household thinks are too hot, but if I put on something warm I quickly become overheated. It is not conducive to sleeping well. I don't so much mind having the cats wake me in the middle of the night, because my bladder is also wonky, but it would be nice to be able to get to (or back to) sleep in a reasonable amount of time. On the flip side, if all goes well I won't have to talk to a urologist until November.

Not much to say about what's going on in the US. But One Million Rising: Strategic Non-Cooperation to Fight Authoritarianism · No Kings looks like something you can do.

And go watch The FIRST images from the RUBIN observatory! - YouTube

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag

Entry tags:

done,
links

Done Since 2025-06-22

I went out walking five times last week. Altogether they probably amounted to 2.5km, but I have been going a little farther most days. Other than that I don't feel like I've gotten a whole lot done.

That's not entirely justified, however. I ordered a replacement for m's keyboard, which was apparently stolen off of their neigbors' porch. I got what I hope will be the last shot in my 2-year course of treatment. (I was expecting a follow-up phone call, but that had to be rescheduled due to a major phone outage. And I updated my LinkedIn profile and my "professional" website (https://stephen.savitzky.net/) to make it clear that I'm not job-hunting. And helped N get most of the patio furniture, in flatpack form, out to the patio. We put together one of the two Adirondack chairs this afternoon.

I also went down some interesting rabbit-holes, many of the m involving the Vera C. Rubin Observatory -- more links under Wednesday.

You don't have to prefix things with "doom" anymore, that's just the default now. You can just say scrolling. OTOH, if you're on Mastodon and need a break, check out #Bloomscrolling.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: apprehensive
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: The Merry Minuet

Entry tags:

Done Since 2025-06-15

Welcome to the start of summer, and maybe of WWIII. This post that came across my Mastodon feed this morning kind of says it all:

You don't have to prefix things with "doom" anymore, that's just the default now. You can just say scrolling.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, ...

I had my oncology appointment; I'll be getting a hormone injection (tomorrow, and apparently they do house calls for that) rather than continuing with abiraterone (which insurance won't cover because not metastatic). It's good for six months, which will take me through the end of my 2-year course of treatment. I'm okay with this.

Last night I fell down a rabbit-hole troubleshooting my little script that prints out the URL of one's last post. See this commit. Pretty sure I can blame AI bots for that problem.

I fell down another rabbit-hole Friday, which started by looking for the overture to Wagner's opera Der fliegende Holländer. Turns out that J. Slauerhoff, whom our street is named after, wrote a poem about it. It's in his book, Eldorado. I expect to have a little fun trying to translate it. (And note in passing that doom is also mentioned in that connection.)

ysabetwordsmith has some good links about dealing with Heat. It was supposed to hit 30C (90F) today, but it looks like we may be getting a thunderstorm instead. It'll still be too hot indoors.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: unhappy
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: earworm: Sam's Song

Entry tags:

done,
links

Done Since 2025-06-08

I think this was one of those weeks that makes me want to give up on trying to characterize my week. It wasn't particularly good, it wasn't particularly bad, I didn't get a whole lot done, the US had a lot of mostly-peaceful No Kings" demonstrations, but it also had political assassinations in Minnesota alongside other symptoms of its slide into fascism.

Last Sunday was the 23rd anniversary of this blog's founding, back on LJ. Today is the 27th Father's Day since my Dad's death in February of 1999, and I've been kind of wrecked since Thursday. The keyboard I ordered on Tuesday arrived Friday; it's flawed but will do what we need it to. The one I ordered for m has not arrived yet. I may have the start of a toothache.

Thursday was my first, and so far only, Thankful Thursday post ever with only two items. Since then, both of my kids wished me a happy Father's Day, so next week should have at least that many. I had a blood tests and a CT scan done last week, but I won't get to talk with a doctor about them until tomorrow.

See what I mean?

Here -- give a listen to the recordings of my and m's 2-song "set" at DFDF two weeks ago. In keeping with the theme of the week, the first verse and a half of Millennium's Dawn got cut off thanks to technical difficulties.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: mostly worried
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: some band practice

Entry tags:

Done Since 2025-06-02

... so I still haven't done a full con report -- it's been almost a week -- so in the interim I'll just refer you to last week's "Done Since 2025-05-25" (posted on Monday) and "Thankful Thursday" posts. The only parts of the trip it doesn't cover very well are the songs we sang ( "Millennium's Dawn" deserves full S4S treatment), the hotel (the breakfast and dinner buffets, included in the room price), were noteworthy), and the travel.

Right. The travel. Tips:

Don't leave anything in (travel guitar)Plink's case -- it could delay inspection (and did, at Hamburg).
On arrival, stay in the plane until somebody tells you that your wheelchair is ready. Hamburg again.
If you don't look disabled (like m, for example), take a cane and hobble out of the plane with it. This is especially true for Schiphol -- the Dutch tend to be ablist.

Yesterday N, m, and I had a good band practice/conference, including more tweaking on "Millennium's Dawn", scripting for several songs that still had only two-person arrangements, and harmony arrangements because we finally have someone in the band who can reliably sing harmony. We're also going to want a keyboard. Or two, since m is leaving tomorrow for Seattle.

Health-wise, I don't think I'm doing all that well, so it's a good thing I have an appointment with a cardiologist soon, as well as with an oncologist.

If you're interested in word origins, check out the Online Etymology Dictionary, which includes some fascinating articles as well as the dictionary entries.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: mostly still high from the con
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: DFDF, all weekend!

Entry tags:

Done Since 2025-05-25

This weekend, Thursday through Sunday, m and I were at D.F.D.F. | Das Frühlingsfest der Filksmusik in Hanstedt, Germany -- one of the two German filk cons. We got in a couple of good rehersals, Sunday and Wednesday. We'd signed up for a two-song set in the Main Concert, which is basically a couple of hours of two-fers interspersed with voice auction items. This is f'n brilliant, because the auction items overlap the tech setup for the next concert set, allowing the whole affair to proceed seamlessly.

Our "set" was Millennium's Dawn and Ship of Stone. We'd done quite a bit of hacking and slashing to bring "Millennium's Dawn" up to date (removing the verse that starts "There ought to be talking computers...", taking out the first chorus, and making some minor wording tweaks.) We absolutely nailed both songs.

The open filking mostly started after my bedtime, We did get to perform Gentle Arms of Eden and The Bears (middle-sized and middle-aged). m stayed up later, and their singing was also well-received. We'll be back.

There may be a proper con report in a few days.

The flight back was not fun, with hassles in both Hamburg and Schiphol. And Sunday afternoon and evening were kind of a blur due to ( a health issue )

that had me very worried. Fortunately it resolved this morning.

I note in passing that the song pages for Kaleidofolk are in pretty sorry shape right now and badly in need of troubleshooting. Later this week. I also need to put up a page for our new album (in progress), Winds of Time.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: anxious
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: D.F.D.F next weekend, also see post

Entry tags:

done,
links

Done Since 2025-05-18

It feels like it's been a busy week. I have actually gotten a few things done. (Some of them today, which doesn't really count.) Most notably, making travel arrangements to get to D.F.D.F..

It's also been a good week for finding stuff, including an obituary for my father, written by his friend and co-worker Walter Slavin [pdf]. Also, a box containing a small carpet, two plastic bins of memorabilia, and a number of old hard drives (which need to be looked at and erased before being discarded) that I thought had been left behind,

Happy Lilac Towel Day Also note that last Sunday was Mount St. Helens Day, so you'll find several more links immediately under the cut.

You'll also find the Epic v. Apple Contempt order, which is epic in more ways than one. I haven't had that much fun reading a court order since SCO v IBM. It's worth an extended quote:

In stark contrast to Apple’s initial in-court testimony, contemporaneous business documents reveal that Apple knew exactly what it was doing and at every turn chose the most anticompetitive option. To hide the truth, Vice-President of Finance, Alex Roman, outright lied under oath. Internally, Phillip Schiller had advocated that Apple comply with the Injunction, but Tim Cook ignored Schiller and instead allowed Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri and his finance team to convince him otherwise. Cook chose poorly. [...] The Court refers the matter to the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California to investigate whether criminal contempt proceedings are appropriate.
This is an injunction, not a negotiation.

For a musical finale, here is Duetto buffo di due gatti (Duet for Two Cats). Put your drink down before listening.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: calm locally / worried globally
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: yes -- see post

Entry tags:

done,
links

Done Since 2025-05-11

So, not a bad week. (Can I accurately call it a "pretty good" week? I'm never able to make judgements like that.) But I did some guitar practice, and got out for a walk four times, and sang a little with m, who came back from the US last Sunday (bringing mail that had accumulated at our US address). N came back from New York yesterday; she gave me a little "engraving and drill pen" as an unbirthday present -- it had arrived while she was gone. j came over as well, so we had all of my Dutch family here. G made baked salmon.

Apparently I totally forgot about posting Thankful Thursday this week. Well, Thursday was pretty eventful, with a urology appointment (I can expect to hear back a week from Wednesday about what my ongoing treatment will be), some singing practice with m, and actually performing the songs we'd practiced at Eurofilk. (Is "at" the right word for attending an event by zoom?)

... and forgot to mention Mother's Day in last week's post, though that's not terribly surprising, since I have no-one to call anymore.

Yesterday I finally stopped waffling and (finally!) pre-ordered a Framework 12" Laptop. I've been eyeing it for some time, and coveting a Framework for years. I increased the specs over what I'd initially configured, but because I'd waffled over it I won't get it until Q3 sometime. Bah! I'll post a lot more once it finally ships.

Also, yesterday was the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia; there's that. Some more trans-related links under Saturday. And today is the 45th anniversary of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. (Which of course sent me down a rabbit-hole involving magma, hollow-Earth fiction, and so on.)

As for links, here from yesterdat is a list of The world's five happiest cities for 2025. Look for your hometown in the Institute for Quality of Life's Happy City Index 2025. Den Haag ranks #65, and Seattle is #80.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: scattered
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: The Music of Dying Stars. vide infra.

Entry tags:

Done Since 2025-05-04

It hasn't been a very productive week for me, but not totally unproductive either. You can see the improved font selections -- Atkinson HyperLegible Next and Merriweather -- on HyperSpace Express. There's not really all that much to see, it still needs some improvements, and it took me too long to get around to. But it's something.

In my partial defense, CSS is a very deep rabbit-hole, and I am easily distracted. Especially if I can frame it as something I can use.

Music. I didn't publish an s4s post yesterday, but I meant to, because I ran across The music of dying stars -- head over to the Zwicky Transient Facility's Sonify the Cosmos page for more information, a combined sonification and visualization, and an interview. You can make your own.

I this is not the first time I've used a sonification as my s4s. Maybe not even the second, depending on whether you count The Songs of Pando.

In other news, Pope Leo XIII cared for the poor, fought for labor union rights. He was against Socialism and Laissez Faire Capitalism. What influence Leo XIV will have on the way the US is going remains to be seen, but the fact that his first homily as pope has apparently upset some MAGAts gives reason for hope.

I could use some hope right now.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: worried
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: "Moon Song" by Mildred Plew Meigs

Entry tags:

done,
links

Done Since 2025-04-27

It's been a busy week. G and N have been in Paris since Tuesday, celebrating their (10th?!) anniversary. (I can't think of a more romantic place to celebrate it, but maybe that's just because of the flashback scenes in Casablanca, which was one od Colleen's and my favorite movies.) They're getting back tonight. Meanwhile, I've been taking care of four cats on three different feeding schedules, and trying (with mixed success) to get my guitar-playing back into shape for recording.

I've also started to get websites switched over to my current favorite set of fonts -- Merriweather for headings, and Atkinson Hyperlegible Next for body text. I like the contrast between serif and sans-serif for headings and text; in print it works better the other way around, but only if you have the extra resolution and contrast to pull it off. I started with Going Sideways, which is probably worst case because of the convoluted way WordPress deals with styles.

(makes a note to work on that rant about WordPress...)

I've been having a lot of trouble concentrating lately. Perhaps relatedly, I have been having a lot of trouble making decisions. From what to work on next to what to eat for dinner. I frequently wind up sitting -- or standing -- frozen in place for minutes. Sometimes, I think, nearly an hour, although my memory for such things is extremely unreliable.

... so, being decision-paralyzed about what links to give you, here are Daniel Kelly singing "Moon Song" by Mildred Plew Meigs. (See also my post about it, with lyrics, from 2007. It used to be one of Colleen's favorites), and Rodin's Celle qui fut la belle heaulmière. More about that under Friday, including links to the poem that inspired it.

( Notes & links, as usual )

... and May the Fourth be with you.

Current Mood: slightly frazzled
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag

Entry tags:

done,
links

Done Since 2025-04-20

I actually got a few things done. Go me? A little too down-to-the-wire on some things, so I'm frazzled and down on myself. I think they'll get done, though, which is the main thing. Several have already gotten done, thankfully, despite my habitual procrastination and easy distractability, so there's that. And I seem to have been pretty successful (finally!) at re-establishing my toothbrushing and exercise habits. Minimal, but still... I've let a lot of things go over the six -- no, seven -- months since we moved.

Some of the things accomplished have included a couple more medical appointments. I still worry, but not as much. I'll be getting a call later this week to schedule a CT scan. Another is switching my laptop over to Atkinson Hyperlegible fonts. (Still using Inconsolata for monospaced things like terminals and emacs.) I'm starting to work on my websites, as part of a general accessibility push. Hopefully there will be a detailed post about that when I get farther along.

There are a few bright points in the general gloom that is the US, for example Washington State Passes Bill To Cover Some Hormone Therapy Stockpiles. My advice is to stock up right away. And an increasing number of judges are ruling against the administration (which, however, is ignoring them). On this side of the pond, the EU fines Apple €500M and Meta €200M for breaking Europe’s digital rules

On the other hand, if you have travel planned either into or out of the US, here are some tips on How to Protect Yourself From Phone Searches at the US Border, and These are the most LGBTQ+ safe countries on Earth right now. If you're not ready to move just yet, Meet the new American refugees fleeing across state lines for safety.

On the gripping hand, here's another version of Three Kobolts (sic) In a Trench Coat -- this one has lyrics and chords in the description, along with a link to the (original?) animated version.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: worried but otherwise mostly okay
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: household seder last night

Entry tags:

Done Since 2025-04-13

For once, I seem to be mostly okay today, and on the whole I think it was a pretty good week, modulo worry about what's going on in the US. I noticed after the household seder last night that I wasn't shivering, which supports the theory that it's psychological rather than thermal. (Does not rule out something else, like iron deficiency.)

I got quite a lot done, including backing/ordering a Roamate Mobility Device (a combination rollator and powered! wheelchair), going to an initial appointment at the local hospital (mostly for bloodwork; I have another this week to discuss it, and another next month with the oncology team), helping N and N" clean up the living room (prep for Saturday's seder), filing my income tax extension, and singing at Eurofilk on Thursday (only one song, because I still suck at deciding what to sing),

And I completely forgot to include the fact that we have tulips blooming in the planters on our back deck in this week's Thankful Thursday post. I still sometimes have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that I live in Nederland now, but I have to admit that tulips next to a canal are very convincing.

In case it gets omitted from wherever you get your news, yesterday Protesters gather[ed] for 'day of action' against Trump administration, Anti-Trump protests build momentum in WA: ‘We’re just getting louder’ | The Seattle Times. There have been a couple of promising court victories, but we all know how much respect the current administration has for the courts. On this side of the pond, Thousands of trans rights protesters on Edinburgh streets following court ruling.

A few nice things in the links: there's a Capybara Cafe in Florida, and last month was the first on record when fossil fuels drop below 50% of US power mix,

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: slightly less than okay?
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: Three Kobolds in a Trenchcoat

Entry tags:

Done Since 2025-04-06

I'm always hesitant to put down just "okay" as my mood -- I'm not sure I know what it's supposed to feel like. But it's not a bad morning. The rest of the week hasn't been so good. According to my doctor, who I had an appointment with on Monday to discuss the results of last week's bloodwork, I'm very anemic. Also I have a referral for cardiology now, to go with the previous oncology referral. Both of those appointments are tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.

There are yellow tulips blooming in two of the planters on our back patio. Sometimes I have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that we're really Dutch residents now, but the tulips are very convincing.

In the links, Is It Time To Leave The US? is alarming. Good luck. To leave on a much lighter note, watch Three Kobolds in a Trenchcoat (Animated Music Video) - YouTube. And if you're my kind of geek, read 20 years of Git. Still weird, still wonderful by Scott Chacon, one of the authors of Pro Git and one of the founders of GitHub.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: uncomfortable
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: Eurofilk Thursday night

Entry tags:

done,
links

Done Since 2025-03-30

Had my doctor's appointment Tuesday mornning. Went okay though I forgot to mention a lot of things because I didn't have them written down. I'll have another chance this Tuesday when I go in to discuss the results of my bloodwork. I debated calling an Uber, because I have no self-confidence whatever, but in the end decided to chance it on Lizzy, our folding mobility scooter. It's about a 25-minute ride. Uber would probably have taken longer end-to-end.

I've been walking less and having more trouble doing it; my limit right now is around a kilometer. N and I went out for a 2-km st/roll Tuesday afternoon, which worked well with both of us taking turns on Lizzy, but I wouldn't have wanted to go much farther. I don't like it. It's probably in a feedback loop with the dysthymia. When I lived in San Jose I used to walk about 5km (3mi) every day at lunchtime. I'd settle for half that.

I have a good set of exercises from PT sessions several years ago -- I just don't do them often enough. Don't practice guitar or brush my teeth every day, either. No-one to blame but myself.

The ongoing fascist coup in the US does not help either. It would be nice to think that Monday's International Transgender Day of Visibility and yesterday's mass Hands Off demonstrations helped, but I don't have a lot of hope right now. See Tuesday for 72-hour emergency preparedness kit links.

The Man Who Almost Broke Math (And Himself...) is a video about Georg Cantor, with nice clear explanations of the Axiom of Choice, the Well-Ordering Theorem, and the Banach-Tarski Paradox. Enjoy.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Good luck, be well, and be careful.

Current Mood: better, not quite okay
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: yes; see post

Entry tags:

Done Since 2025-03-23

Last week was physically quite uncomfortable for me; the problem has (mostly?) resolved this morning, thanks mainly to macrogol and senna. I also learned that constipation can cause back pain. On the other hand, I finally got the email from VGZ saying that I have health insurance. (I'm annoyed that it took so long; the fact that I am living in a house that I own should have given them a clue three months ago.)

There was music this week, starting with Leslie Hudson's Hemlock in the Honey tour playlist listening party (all American stops on the tour having been cancelled), and ending with this Star Wars Medley played on the Finnish Kantele, and, by the same performer -- Ida Elina -- the Evolution of Kantele (Finnish Harp). In between, N and I had a practice session. Which, among other things, finally got me off my arse about starting to bring the Kaleidofolk up to date, since one of the songs we worked on, "Life Cycle of Flowers", didn't have chords on the site. (I found the original, printed using an unknown program, in one of my notebooks.)

More music links below, mostly on Saturday. It's been a good week for rabbit holes.

Monday has quite a few good links about how to De-google-ify Internet. My favorite, though, has to be CHATONS. It's French (but easily switched to English or German), and stands for "Collectif des Hébergeurs Alternatifs, Transparents, Ouverts, Neutres et Solidaires". "Chatons" is French for "kittens". Honorable mention goes to a crowdfunding site called "KissKissBankBank".

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: kind of down
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: Leslie Hudson "Hemlock In the Honey" playlist

Entry tags:

done,
links

Done Since 2025-03-16

Something seems to have flipped my comfort reading switch this week. I guess looking into boxes full of books I haven't seen in months (and was neglecting for a long time before that) -- well, there went the week. Starting the week with Colleen's birthd may also have contributed to it.

I did get a couple of things done -- making a GP appointment, paying some bills, singing half a dozen songs during Eurofilk (see Thursday). Also got some back pain (boxes full of books? Right.), and a lot of late-night worries about taxes, which cat-cuddles only partially make up for. No idea what flips Bronx's cuddle switch.

See Friday for a little good news about steps taken, and some good links on getting your data the heck out of the US: How to Avoid US-Based Digital Services—and Why You Might Want To | WIRED, Linux-Is-Best/Outside_Us_Jurisdiction: Digital Service Providers outside the US.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: complicated
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: FotLR #25, this weekend

Entry tags:

Done Since 2025-03-09

The week has been mostly okay, or at least not particularly (not okay), but with occasional nostalgia attacks and nostalgic rabbit-holes. Unpacking boxes of books can do that, apparently. Especially when one box contains mostly the contents of my TBR shelf, and another some of the old favorites dating back to my parents' house in Connecticut, and their Heritage Press subscription. No idea what I'm doing with two copies of the NESFA Press edition of The Rediscovery of Man, though. But since I have all of Cordwainer Smith's short fiction in digital form, I don't need to have multiple dead tree editions taking up shelf space.

Do I? Many of those editions have memories associated with them. Maybe I should write some of their stories before I put (some of) them into boxes to go back to storage. I should certainly inventory them. Of course, the same goes for the boxes of assorted memorabilia, which won't all fit in the curio cabinet that we have yet to put together. How am I supposed to decide what to do with the things I'm unlikely ever to use again, but can't bear to part with?

The unpacking was, of course, enabled by N and I having finished putting up the four bookcases in the living room. A 78cm shelf roughly corresponds to the contents of a loaded 16" moving box or banker's box. It's not all going to fit, even after the serious culling before this and the previous moves. I mean, books! I'm a firm believer in the maxim that "there is no such thing as too many books, only not enough bookshelves." As, I would expect, are most of my readers.

Also, my birthday was Thursday, and Colleen's is today. I wrote about Colleen's yesterday, and combined writing about mine with Thankful Thursday. I might be just a bit confuzzled.

In the links, you ought to read How to Use Signal Encrypted Messaging, if you're not using it already. You ought to read Leopards eating faces, if you haven't heard that phrase before, or been puzzled by its meaning.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: not bad
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: See post

Entry tags:

Done Since 2025-03-02

Pretty good week, actually. No disasters on this side of the pond, I had a urology consultation at the International Health Clinic and signed up with a GP practice, and a lot of boxes got moved. N's old friend J', and N's son j, were over last week and put up the big circular painting on the wall by my desk; J' also moved most of the art work into the closet under the stairs, moving the fabric that had been stashed there up to the sewing room. N and I put together a bookcase, and I recognized the large moving box sitting in N's bedroom as the one that I'd packed in the Lair in Seattle. (I didn't realize what it was until I recognized some of the things that started appearing out of it.)

I was especially glad to find, in what I've been calling "the mystery box", the bamboo "Squatty Potty" toilet stool, my old plywood lap desk, my sport coat, my white terrycloth bathrobe (the one N left on Whidbey; not the old one that Colleen's mom gave me, which I abandoned because it was falling apart), quite a lot of clothing (some of it Colleen's -- we took the same size), and the little bag of random pens from my desk (including Colleen's purple fountain pen and a couple of antique pens she'd inherited). A few things are still missing; they may still be in storage.

Nevertheless, I don't know what "okay" feels like anymore, if I ever did, and I'm still scared as heck for my kids and grieving for my native country, so I'm just setting today's mood to "not bad". Now that I think about it, the fact that Colleen's birthday is a week from today may also have something to do with it.

The week's earworm, which I never did make into an s4s post (maybe next week, but I'm adding the tag just in case because Songs for Sunday is also a thing) was Jackson Browne's “Before the Deluge”, which I first heard sung by Joan Baez on her album "Honest Lullabye".

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: adrift
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: The October Country

Entry tags:

done,
links

Done Since 2025-02-23

It was a pretty busy week, as my weeks go these days. It might even be considered productive, as my weeks go. Four walks, some music (including two sessions with m and N). Puttering with boxes (a stack fell over a week ago; nothing was broken fortunately, but it gave me an excuse to go through some more boxes.

There are still quite a few things missing. Some were undoubtedly left behind deliberately -- pretty sure that's what happened to the tablets and old phones, because batteries. No idea about some of the other stuff.

I finally got enough paperwork in to get SVB (Dutch equivalent to SSA) to agree that I need to get health insurance. I'm living here, and it's required, and that damned well should have been obvious two months ago. Grrr. N's is still up in the air and she's half-owner of the damned house.

I don't really feel at home. Anywhere. Seattle wasn't really home, either. But, really, I've been somewhat adrift since we left San Jose, and more so since Colleen died. Cue Where the Heart Is. Apparently five years in a place isn't quite enough. Ask me again in 2030. If I make it that far. If I start listing the places, people, and things I miss, I'll be here all night.

Cats and chosen family help a lot, though.

If you're sad about Joann Fabrics closing, here's a list of other places to shop for fabrics online (From Friday).

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: insecure
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: not enough practice

Entry tags:

Done Since 2025-02-16

I should probably track my mood better. Then when I look back over the week on Sunday I'd have more to say about it. Not likely to happen. So it was a week. Still mostly worried about health insurance, and feeling somewhat out of place. Of course, that last is probably because I am out of place. Out of the US, to be sure; but I'd be feeling out of place there as well, given the ongoing coup. The words "exile" and "refugee" come to mind. I'm just a little ahead in the crowd.

I just replaced the mood field on this post with "insecure". The previous value was "stressed, worried, depressed", and that still applies, but "insecure" mostly covers that and feels like it belongs there. Right up there with "exile" and "refugee". I don't think that will change in what's left of my lifetime. I'd love to be wrong.

Meanwhile our cats were checked over by a vet who makes house calls, and the older two got their arthritis shots. And I discovered, somewhat to my surprise, that Bronx makes a pretty good lap cat! Not as good as Desti was -- he sometimes needs a little encouragement. But he's still a bit of a youngster.

As usual, it doesn't feel as though I did much over the week, but that's partly because I don't usually think to count dishes, laundry, and paperwork. The paperwork was especially arduous. Anxiety also takes energy, and there was a lot of it.

Yesterday N gave me a couple of field guides to Scotland's wild haggis, which naturally sent me off on a search for rhinogrades. Much more under Saturday. Enjoy.

( Notes & links, as usual )