Tuesday

[clevermanka]

Still not up to linking tons of Twitter stuff, but oh lord, this view of Zhao Yunlan/Bai Yu scooting back on the bed.

Gotta venture into the outside world again today to pick up my thyroid prescription. It finally, finally made it to my PCP from Dr. Anti-Vaxx's office after three months of my pestering. Hopefully I never have to interact with that office ever again. Wish the pharmacy opened before 9am but it's a small, private compounding pharmacy. My prescription is specially formulated (of course!), which is why I really really needed that prescription to get transferred.

In other good news, I stumbled across my backup lap desk (stashed in the back of my bedroom closet) and oh my god ya'll, it has a slide-out tray for a mouse. 😂 So now I just need a mouse, which will be much simpler to acquire than a new lap desk.

Skipping ahead in the questions order to one with a shorter answer from plingo_kat. What is your favorite perishable item (food, decoration that is deliberately made to decay over time, etc) that you own/have ever owned?

This is such a great question! So simple but required a bit of consideration. I gotta go with my devotional candles. Now that I'm finally burning them, it feels such a treat. Some of them were so old the wicks had fallen into the (very soft) wax and I had to dig them out before lighting. I'm saving all the glass empties, though. Despite my resolution to never move these things again, I just can't bring myself to pitch them. They're so pretty and honestly I don't know if they're making candles like this anymore. The only ones I find these days have the design printed right on the glass in boring monochrome ink or a label that wraps all the way around so the glow of the flame inside doesn't show well. Someday when I can, I'm venturing to the Catholic supply store in Kansas City to see if they still sell the refills. I see refills available online, but I want to make sure they fit since there area  few different glass column sizes out there.

A very close runner-up was my sizeable collection of spices. I don't cook nearly as much as I used to, but I season what food I do make with great enthusiasm. I'm purposefully unsnobby about food and honestly one of my greatest cooking accomplishments was a close approximation to the seasoning packet in a package of Top Ramen (as best I remember anyway--it's been well over a decade since I was able to eat actual ramen). It's not how I make my usual noodles because that amount of salt leaves me feeling dehydrated for hours afterward 😄 but not gonna lie, it was tasty.

And now I'm headed off to the pharmacy!

ETA: So I decided to let Windows update run while I was on my errand and now my laptop won't get past a repeating cycle of two blue screens, one telling me Windows didn't load correctly and I need to reboot, the other saying my device ran into a problem and needs to reboot. I have rebooted five times now. It won't even shut down, just keeps going back to those two screens. Currently trying to find reliable PC support people.

Why. Why?

ETA 2: Oh, and while I was running errands I thought I should probably get cash so I stopped by my bank but the machine said it was going to charge me $3 for the withdrawal. At my own bank? So I contacted the video teller who was as confused as me and told me to try again. Same thing happened so I gave up. I mean it's only three dollars, but... ugh. Why. WHY.

Comments

[marycrawford]

That! View! O.O

I wonder-- is that from a brand new BtS Guardian video, or did I somehow miss it earlier?

[clevermanka]

No idea, sorry! Always such a nice surprise to see new stuff.

[marycrawford]

It is so great that there's still new (to me, anyway) Guardian content out there. <3 Thanks for sharing it!

[trobadora]

Oh! That gif! Do you know where it's from?

And that's great about your backup lap desk!

[clevermanka]

Do you know where it's from?
Um, Twitter? 😆 beyond that, no.

So handy to find that lapdesk an hour before my laptop died!

[frith_in_thorns]

I think the bluescreen might have been an issue with that update - my wife and I both had that on our laptops. I did a force-restart by holding down the power button and it eventually decided to actually start properly.

[clevermanka]

Yeah that was the first thing I did. It just keeps going back to the two blue screens.

bluescreen

[writedragon]

I'm so sorry this is happening to you, but am actually glad you mentioned it. My son's desktop bluescreened smack-dab in the middle of online virtual school (of course); fortunately we were able to get it rebooted. His computer was doing an update -- looks like Microsoft really stepped in it this time.

Re: bluescreen

[clevermanka]

A friend of mine was able to get it back and running. She had to remove the update, then ran it again (while I was at a good 3-mile distance) and glared at it the whole time. It's back now, but jeez, what a stressful thing.

FUCKING MICROSOFT.

[naye]

Yay for finding the lapdesk with the mouse drawer! That's excellent.

Good luck getting the laptop working. ♥

[clevermanka]

Thank you. Of course this couldn't have happened when, you know, I couldn't use it bc of wrist and eye troubles. 😂

[moodsong]

I haven't used cash since march.

[clevermanka]

I haven't either--since March, in fact! 😄 But we're supposed to get snow again soon(ish) and on the miraculous off-chance that someone offers to shovel my driveway...

[khellekson]

Yay lap desk!! Also sorry about your computer. I assume you're booting into troubleshooting mode so you can hack? I would totally come over and do it for you if I were, like, in the same state.

[clevermanka]

Yeah, booting to safe mode did nothing. THANKFULLY a friend of mine (who even lives on this side of town!) came to my rescue. She had to remove the update, and then updated it again while glaring at it for me. Baby's back home with me this morning! 🧡

These are a few of my favorite (consumable) things.

[writedragon]

Ooh, that IS a great question! My favorite consumables would have to include the fancy-shmancy Italian and French soaps I splurge on. Handmade lotions and balms (made from beeswax, oils and cocoa butter) are the only kind that work for me and I love making them. I am also an herbs, salts, and spices addict. Not only do I grow my own herbs, but I collect and use different kinds of salts from around the world (sel gris, Maldon, and Himalayan/Earth Salts are three favorites). I have recently discovered Penzey's spice company -- much to my bank account's chagrin and my kitchen's happiness. And good-quality art supplies (mountains of them!!). These indulgences (along with plenty of Very Good Chocolate) have helped keep some of the pandemic boredom at bay. [Heh. Bay. Pun!] :) Happy for you that you are using the "good" candles. If there were ever a time to enjoy them, it is now.

Re: These are a few of my favorite (consumable) things.

[clevermanka]

Penzey's is THE BEST! Most of my spices are theirs and the only ones that aren't are ones they don't carry. I love knowing others who love them, too.

[tinny]

Ugh, glad you got that update problem fixed. Those are the most stressful! (I guessed since you were online, you had to have fixed it somehow. :D )

[clevermanka]

Thank goodness for having friends in IT!