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+ I won another reading challenge from the library. I feel kind of weird about winning twice, especially because a lot of the stuff I read was things like comics and audiobooks, which bump up the numbers easily. But at least it wasn't two challenges in a row or anything. And I think they give out more than one prize; maybe it's the top three people or something. Anyway, will have to pick that up on the weekend.

+ Work is going okay. I think. It's moving very slow, but on the other hand, I don't think much is expected of me at this point. I don't have all the access that I need, and some of the people on my team aren't finished with the orientation videos yet (there's like, 12 hours of them that we have to do). But I think I'll talk with my in-office supervisor tomorrow morning to ask if there's any shadowing I can do with her. The thing is, I think there might not be; my job handles stuff at a bunch of locations and our location only deals with this task occasionally (at least that's my understanding).

+ Xmas is coming way too fast. I need to start, like, buying presents. On some occasions, I've been done by now. Going to have to get lists from everybody. I have ideas for dad at least, but mom and SIL are mysteries.

+ 2h judo class today. I'm extremely sore and I think I might have pulled something. Though I'm not quite sure what. I was looking myself over and like, "Is that a bruise or a shadow?" It'll probably be clearer tomorrow. ...Anyway, I'll have to take it easy.

+ Watched Taxi Driver this evening. I don't know if I would say I liked it, but I think it was well-crafted and did a stellar job of telling the story it was trying to tell. You know what I mean? Yeah. After watching Godfather II, I put a bunch of Al Pachino and Robert de Niro movies on my to-watch list, so that's how this one came up. I think out of the two of those Godfather guys, I prefer Al Pachino, but de Niro is also really really good. As for this movie, I think the music was my favourite part - it was really really good.

+ After judo I went down to the rec centre and had lunch. And by that I mean I packed a bag lunch and ate it there. I picked up some stuff from the library first, so it's not like I was in the building for no reason, but yeah. It feels kind of weird to do this, but like, there are a bunch of tables that are just kind of around the building and you don't need to purchase anything to be in there or use the space. So I guess there's no reason not to as long as you're not making trouble for other people. Anyway, I might make a habit of doing this after Saturday judo classes, because honestly it's better if I eat ASAP rather than waiting until I drive up the hill and get home.

+ I made an absolutely stellar chili this evening. Truly delicious. I still have half of a sweet potato that I'm going to need to use, so maybe I'll make it next weekend too. Honestly, the only reason I don't make it often is because it requires fresh mushrooms, which can get expensive. But maybe I can find an alternate. Like, the mushrooms seem to be there to simulate the texture of meat, but I could just like... add meat. I could throw some ground venison in there. Why not? Worth a try.

+ I'm trying to get better about not offering help. Like, on weekends I call mom a lot to ask her if she needs help around the house and stuff, because I want to be helpful. But then it takes all day and I end up exhausted. I'm trying to... not... do that. I specifically told myself today that I would not do it, and stopped myself from doing that. So. Small steps. If she really needs something important done, she'll ask. I don't need to volunteer.

+ I'm already getting some ideas for resolutions for next year. Technically, I theoretically could do this stuff this year, but I don't think I'll be able to set aside the time. So, next year. ...I should write it down, though.

Well I am sure glad that I sent some followup questions to the prof, because I was doing the assignment completely wrong. But now I have it figured out (I think), and it's going so much more smoothly now. I'm so glad he's so patient; I'll have to remember to be like, effusively appreciative when I fill out the performance evaluation.

I think my dad is losing his marbles. He thought that I have a job interview tomorrow, but that was last week. And recently I saw him write my name down, and he spelled my name wrong. This isn't the first time in the past year or two that I've noticed he's spelled my name wrong, either. I'm used to strangers having trouble with it because, while it is a traditional name, it does have some variations. But this is a different situation.

I've brought this up with mom, and she always brushes it off as him being a flake. But. I don't really know. I mean, he IS a flake, and flaky behaviour and not remembering things is not new for him. (To be honest I would be unsurprised if there were some kind of neurodivergence going on with him, but this isn't something we will ever be sure of.) But one thing that I would expect him to remember is how to spell his eldest kid's name.

I guess it's possible that I'm paying excessive attention to any possible problem/change in behaviour because it could indicate health problems - his father died of brain cancer, so it's something we should all look out for. (Likewise, my maternal great grandmother had dementia, so I've been trying to keep an eye out for any potential issue with my mom.) ...I guess the first thing to do will be to ask mom if dad has always had problems spelling my name or if this is something new. I didn't get a chance to do that earlier. If he's always been bad at it, then it sucks, but it's not something to worry about.

Had coffee with my brother this afternoon. It was nice!

He started a new job a few months ago, so I asked him about it. At his previous place, they had him as the main person in his primary trade and his secondary trade, but also they had him doing planning, QA/QC, timesheets, and a shitload of other admin stuff, all for just an okayish wage (relative to other people in his trade).

Now, he's just doing his trade, and for an awesome wage. No fussy admin stuff, no planning. Just the hands-on work that he trained for.

There are some things that aren't perfect (12-hour shifts, and he's on both days and nights) but that comes with the territory, and he seems really happy with everything overall.

Anyway, the point is - things kind of suck work-wise for me right now, but my bro is doing great, and I am SO happy for him and proud of him. Yeah.

No brains once more! Oh, well.

- Had to dogsit for my brother this weekend. I am exhausted. The adult dog is lovely and chill, but the puppy is still very much a baby, and needs to be watched at all times to make sure he won't get into something he shouldn't. Fuuuuh

- Pride month coming up. My feelings are kind of a tired "ugh, don't feel like it", but that could be because I'm tired. There sure are a lot of things going on locally; it's gotten a lot bigger from the first one. Getting up motivation to do things is going to be hard, but I think I'll try to go to one or two events, just because it's important to show up. But ughhhh dragging my feet, as usual.

- raremaleslashex is in the nom stages. I enjoy this exchange and really would love to participate, kind of tempted to nom some things just in case I do bite the bullet, but... I think I'm going to have to skip it this year.

- ...Because I've been invited to participate in another Chinese Hetalia fanbook, and I need to write a thing for it! (WHAT) A bit of a surprise, but I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully whatever I come up with will fit with the zine runner's vision.

+ Managed to slide in with one final fic to just barely make my target wordcount for 2022 (and posted it!). Feel like Indiana Jones over here. Despite the low numbers, I'm actually pretty happy - I managed to complete more individual works than expected, including some that were written only for myself and not in connection with an event. That's nothing to sneeze at.

+ Offline life continues to be busy. Hopefully family, at least, will back off after Jan 01. That's the last formal dinner and (probably) the end of this season's Compulsory Family Fun Time. If there's anything after that, I'm gonna scream.

+ Need to put together my Candy Hearts Exchange signup. I'm really looking forward to this exchange, just as I always look forward to Chocolate Box. Deciding on my prompts is so hard, though. "Anything with the requested pairings would be nice, as long as it's cute!" is not enough for most people to work with, ha. As for other people's requests, I'm hoping to see Promare stuff, or some TMA with Michael, or maybe Hetalia, though that's a long shot. (I see you, person who put those Nordic 5 gen options in the tagset. What are you looking for, buddy, I want to know...!)

+ I feel so restless without judo class to go to. ;~; Keep hoping that next week I'll receive a text from Sensei saying that we received permission from the school to go back earlier than expected. Unlikely, though. (I'll just have to practice as much as I can at home in the meantime, I guess... But it's just not the saaaame.)

+ [Family] Went to visit relatives in Calgary. Hung out with cousins, saw the new baby, had a nice time. I haven't seen them since around 2019 - these were relatives who couldn't come to my brother's wedding - so it's been a while. Great trip, but I'm very glad to be home now.

+ [Fashion] Managed to find myself a winter coat while we were down in the Big City. High-quality one too, suitable for our extreme weather, at a fraction of the original price. It's kind of a relief - I was worried about replacing my old one because they're so expensive. (I could have worn the old one if I had to, but it's much too big for me now... I stuck with it last year and I was absolutely swimming in this big heavy thing, augh.)

+ [Books] Started reading Nona the Ninth, finally. I've been trying hard to avoid spoilers, though I suppose it wasn't necessary, because most of the time Locked Tomb spoilers sound nonsensical out of context. Enjoying it thoroughly so far, though I kind of wish I had re-read the previous novels first.

+ [Twitter/Plurk] I've seen lots of people looking for alternatives to Twitter. One of my mates wrote up a tumblr post suggesting Plurk. Plurk is a more obscure social site even though it has been around for a long time - it's based in Taiwan, and on the English-speaking side, I've only seen it used by Dreamwidth roleplayers. It's side-scrolling, chronological, and each conversation is rolled up into its own little box. You can take a look at my pal's Plurk to get a better idea of how it is visually (I'd link my own, but it's locked). Anyway, this one is very good if what you want is the equivalent to a personal Twitter that you use to talk to your friends.

+ [Weather] Drizzly today. Feels pretty good. I opened up all the windows to let the nice cold air in. The ventilation in my place sucks, so I'm really glad that the heat has gone down enough for this.

+ [Cooking] Tried a new recipe yesterday; chicken cacciatore. Turned out great, which was a relief! I've been feeling kind of stagnant lately (just cooking the same things all the time) so it was nice to try something new. I'll post the recipe later if I remember.

+ [Family] The stressful real-life stuff that has been coming up is getting closer and more stressful. Aughhh, I just want it to be over with! /)_(\ I also don't want to talk about it in specifics, not until it's over. But the next few weeks are going to be Bonkers.

+ [IIBB] Need to get to work on my fic for iddyiddybangbang. I haven't looked at this thing in over a year and editing it will be such a pain in the ass. Are any of you signed up for it?

+ [Hetalia] There's been some talk about trying to revive the Hetalia Kink Meme. I expect it'll go the way these things always do - people talk about it, maybe poke around it a little, and then not much else. Though someone did post a few fills recently, and I think that's pretty awesome.

We just don't have the level of people in this fandom on DW to bring it to anything near the level that people usually mean when they say "active". The occasional prompt and fill, yes. But active... No. Then again, it could be that I'm misunderstanding things, and maybe the people having this discussion do mean "one or two prompts or fills per month", which I think is a realistic hope, though it does seem far-off at this point. But if they're comparing it to their nostalgic memories of the kink meme, which is the impression I usually get in these discussions - no. It's impossible to bring that back.

Though this discussion did remind me that I still have some old prompts bookmarked, and partially-finished drafts for a few of them, so maybe I'll post something there... eventually.

Needed to order my mom another AC adapter for her computer. [/pinches the bridge of his nose]

I bought her one a few years ago! I shouldn't need to buy her another one! They don't wear out that fast!

And yet.

I swear, it's like she's... the way a black thumb is to gardening, she's that to computers. Jesus.

At least this time I'll bookmark the site I bought it from, so I'll remember. Just in case we need to replace anything else.

Well, I think I managed to clear up my parents' phishing problem. I really wish that I'd been able to do that right away, but here we are.

Details under the cut, mainly for my own reference, though possibly some other people will find it helpful if they encounter anyone else who gets into a similar mess. It seems to have been a low-tech method that works by fooling people into giving away information; no downloads and no trackers, as far as I can tell.

( Continued )