Clever Manka is dressed and undressed

The vast majority of my Tumblr dash (on desktop) is blocked Good Omens tags or notifications of notes from my Twitter screencap about how everyone's dash is getting spammed with Good Omens posts. Seriously I paged down ten times to get to a post that wasn't one of those things, and it was something I'd already reblogged.

I think I'll be doing most of my Tumblring on my phone for a while since the app doesn't give you notes notifications. It's still funny to me (it's only at about 7k notes), but now I understand why people delete their mega-popular posts.

Note: I absolutely intend to watch the show, I just haven't had time to find a way to see it without giving Amazon any $$$. If someone's got a reliable download site suggestion, I'm all ears.

Breaking Muscle has suggestions for improving your alignment, stability, and motor control. I'm pleased to note that Andrew includes at least one of these in every weekly routine for me. Nerd Fitness posted an article about being anti-fragile that's pretty great, too. And ms_danson posted a link to this fantastic essay on breaking a Low Mood cycle. Happy Health Reading!

A recent Toast Link Roundup posted a link to an article about people taking pictures of fireworks with their phones. It prompted me to share this memory, there and here:

When I was fourteen, I entered to the State Fair a photo I took of my godparents' dog in their lake. He was an enormous golden retriever, standing armpit-deep in the shallows and looking down into the water at a fish. His nose was an inch above the water and the water was so still that his entire body above the surface was perfectly reflected. I'd taken one photography course and was avidly applying Fibonacci's Ratio to EVERYTHING. Thirty years later, I still believe it's one of the best photographs I've ever taken. I got second place. First place? A generic photo of a bunch of fireworks. I AM STILL BITTER, Y'ALL. Still bitter.

I mean, people can take all the phone photos they want, and see the world through their phone as they please. What pisses me off is ALL THE PHONES BLOCKING MY VIEW OF THE EVENT. And photographs of fireworks taking first place at the state fair photography competition. Fuck you, 1984 Kansas State Fair Photography Judges. JUST FUCK YOU.

mckitterick and I re-watched this old episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast a while ago and just...oh my god you guys. I remember a time when I watched this thing like, once a week. My ex and I had it saved on our TiVo and we would just...oh, watch it all the time.



My back is slowly feeling better. mckitterick was kind enough to give me a backrub last night and it helped loosen things up. I have another chiropractor appointment for Friday afternoon. And I told Andrew that I'm still a bit tender but I want/plan to see him Sunday--just taking it easy on low back stuff.

EXCELSIOR!

Today's Tumblr collection is Tuesday, February 4: Guns.



"Quick Reminder: Your fear of looking stupid is holding you back."

— RuPaul [x]

Wow. Psychologists Discover How People Subconsciously Become Their Favorite Fictional Characters.

Oh shit, how did I forget that this existed.



Use earphones, or listen with a Properly Appreciative audience.

KU canceled classes last night at 9:30-ish, which meant I don't have to go to work today. I scoffed at it because why make that decision so early? And when I woke this morning there was nothing on the ground. But by 8:30 this morning, snow had started to fall and it's been coming down pretty consistently so maybe we are going to get some accumulation after all. Damn it.

I'm trying to decide if I want to be productive today (maybe make some new bloomers for the Etsy shop?) or fuck around on the internet and read porn all day. DECISIONS.

If you're not using your heart for anything today, check out this Sherlock vid.



Only a couple more weeks left to revisit and enjoy those post-Reichenbach feels!

And now, a bit cheerier: Notes from kids. Seventeen and nineteen, man.

And now I gotta get to work. Shit's starting to pile up, here. It's that time of year, yep.

My life:





The cat at 1:40 is one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen. I've seen gifs of it, but the whole clip is even better.

Today's Tumblr is Tuesday, December 3: 1910s Fashion.

Inspiring.


Especially inspiring after (at my request) we re-did the squat program thing from last Sunday since I didn't make it to the gym last week. Only this week I did four sets of twenty instead of three sets. Andrew also suggested I bump the weight to sixty pounds. You know you're doing front squats right when your abs hurt the next day.

This is why I am still loving The Toast so much. SO MUCH.

Oglaf is one of my favorite online comics, but it's usually NC-17 so I don't share it here. But Sunday's strip. OH, THIS STRIP.


I ate breakfast at 9am, lunch at noon, and am starving already at 2:40pm. RATS.

Thanks to sherwood21, here is a pretty awesome-looking Sew Your Own Leggings tutorial.

Check out this fucking awesome weather page, made by one of mckitterick's students.

I'm posting a small collection of Thor 2 posts on Tumblr tomorrow. Beware, spoilers.

Last night's P!nk show was great! I'm not completely on board with the new trend of singers not actually singing for large portions of their concert, but with all the gymnastic antics P!nk performs, I'm willing to give her a pass. How in the world they coordinate her flying around the arena on a wire harness and land (near-literally) on a dime astounds me. Never have I seen backup dancers and singers look to be having such a fantastic time. She must be an amazing person to tour with. I thought it was strange that she won't say "fuck" during her live shows, but she's okay with her and her dancers simulating (sometimes violent and borderline abusive) sex. Um. I'm not a parent, but I'd rather children hear an F-bomb dropped than watch dancers pretending to hump and then slap each other around. Overall, though, I was so happy to be given the opportunity to go to the show and am incredibly grateful to athenaartemis for the ticket.

OH MY GOD THIS SONG.



I changed the locks
But your key, your key's still working
You can't train a moth, I guess
Uh, each beast gets her burden
So we circle this old flame
Too much at stake but too late to change
My nerves are shot, my reserves exhausted
It's a tired plot but we bought it
Now we're lost
Between love and cholera
Saccharine read, such a sentimental novel
Give you cavities if it doesn't drive you to the bottle
As for me, I'll take another kerosene if you got it
Something harder, look, like a moth you see
And I still get chills when you talk to me
But the years pass by now in twos and threes
These thrills ain't as cheap as they used to be

If you're asking
I can't say no
Just one more chapter
Our book won't close
And I know it's madness
To play these odds
It's like giving matches
To paper, to paper dolls

(I know it's madness, I know
I know it's madness, I know
I know it's mad)

Uh, tried sweet talk, tried dynamite
But I sleepwalk back to the battle site
Fight fire with fire but the fire won't fight
We just fly these circles like tired kites
And you flash some fang
And I bat my lashes
And we're back again
No end to this game with matches
We've been lovers and strangers and friends who get angry
Made mistakes and amends and brief moments of magic
We forgive and forget and give in to attraction
This whole thing depends on amnesia and magnets
And I'd be leaving for good, I'd be looking for better
But I got this broken habit I keep gluing back together
The fever, the fire, the feathers
The fever defies measure
And good sense won't venture where the moth will go

If you're asking
I can't say no
Just one more chapter
Our book won't close
And I know it's madness
To play these odds
It's like giving matches
To paper, to paper dolls

(Just like, just like...
Just like, just like...
Just like giving matches to paper dolls
Just like, just like...
Just like, just like...
Just like giving matches to paper dolls)

If you're asking
I can't say no
Just one more chapter
Our book won't close
And I know it's madness
To play these odds
It's like giving matches
To paper, to paper dolls

Rules for people 25 and older. I found that while reading an entry on this advice blog and oh my god you guiz that advice blog. SO GOOD. Like, honest and for real good good.

And in the opposite corner is this blog, with this entry as a perfect example of the awesome.

Not gonna lie, I get a teensy bit irritated that strict Whole30 eating didn't/doesn't cause miraculous physical improvement for me. I got over my obsessive/compulsive food issues. And, um. That's it. And that's huge, I realize that. But my thyroid/autoimmune issues, weight gain, fatigue problems, etc., are all just as bad or worse after two (three?) years of conscientious monitoring of my food. GRUMP. I'm also feeling a bit tetchy that, for the second year in a row, I am more bloated/swollen/thick around my middle as KCRF winds down. Despite eating less. Despite moving more (except for this week). Despite everything that happens with a normal body.



I am so relieved to have only two more weekends of KCRF. I can only imagine how awesome it's going to be next week when it's one more weekend. And then Tuesday the 15th. OH GLORIOUS DAY OF TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 when I'm done done done with this gig forever.

Okay so if you're wondering what's the only thing keeping me from a complete meltdown today, it's this.



You're welcome.

BREAKING NEWS: The pathology report just came in! Diagnosis: Seborrheic keratosis, irritated and inflamed. No evidence of malignancy.



You NEED this in your life. SFW. Seriously. Watch it.



I got a bill for the cortisol test I had done at Dr. Burt's office in March. The one that I had to go in to talk to him about, and pay a co-pay, so he would sign off on it and send it to insurance. Guess what? It never went to insurance. I got a direct bill from Quest Diagnostics. FUCK YOU, FIRSTMED. I am so so so done with you fucking asshats. Calling them today, and if I have to go in for another appointment and another co-pay, I'm not sure what I'll do. What sort of recourse do I have? Other than shaking my tiny fist in anger?

The wound in my shoulder is starting to hurt more, which is annoying. I suppose it's logical. Things tend to hurt more as the skin heals. I can't bear to put a bandage on it anymore because the surrounding skin is starting to get irritated from the adhesive. I hope it doesn't dry out too much without being covered. I'm not even thinking about what I'm going to have to deal with if this is actually SOMETHING. You know? nope nope nope nope nope Don't have to worry about that anymore!

In much-better-even-good news, I did my weight-bearing/high intensity ACTIVITIES today (still trying to think of "working out" as "activity" so as to not overburden my adrenals) and I feel good. My legs are a little shaky (still!), but internally I feel pretty great. Burpees kill me, though. Man. I can't do ten in a row without getting winded and feeling wobbly. Forgot to mention, though, at Sunday's session with Andrew I did deadlift reps (five sets of seven) at 95lbs, which was my two-rep max when I first started Crossfit last year. That was encouraging!

Andrew gave me a movement to build up my lower abs so they can engage (taking over from the hip flexors and adductors) on Knee-to-Elbows. I was getting frustrated with those because I can't even get my legs to a 90-degree angle before things just stop firing. I can hang there and squeeze and flex and try my damnedest to get my knees higher, but nothing happens. I'm not exhausted, I'm not at full range of motion, I'm just stuck. It's weird. So I'm doing these crunches where I hold a dumbbell (eight or ten pounds) between my feet, lie on my back with arms overhead clutching something stable, and then do the Knees-to-Elbow movement. The trick is to keep the upper abs curled in and not let the middle back come up off the floor. Man, that is hard! I don't remember the last time my abs were sore like this. I like that feeling because it tells me something got worked for the first time in a long time.

Today's Tumblr collection is Tuesday, June 25: Things I Would Wear (given appropriate weather and finances). Alas, the Kansas climate doesn't facilitate dressing like Adam Ant Visits Thunderdome for more than two or three weeks out of the year.