I’m not Dopey


April 15, 2023 :: 11:08 AM

I totally heard it in the dude’s voice

Marathon Weekend registration was this past Tuesday and apparently sold out in record time.

I was sitting in the neurologist’s office with my husband asking about options… but I’d already decided against trying Dopey again.

Right now, I don’t have the interest in running a marathon. 6 hours of running isn’t really what I want to do right now, and I doubt I’ll ever get fast enough to cut that time down.

So, I passed.

I did register for Wine & Dine, though. I think if I start training in earnest now, and maybe follow some of the Dopey / Wine & Dine rD training plans, I’ll be fine with the half marathon.

I need to redeem myself for the crappy runs I’ve had lately…

I have been pretty good about putting in some miles every day, though. They may not be quality miles, but they are miles.

I even started doing a lot of iFit workouts that are hilly or walking intervals, so I’m getting some variety in.

I’m doing the Space Coast South Half Marathon this Thanksgiving, and that should be fun. The South course has no time limit and I’m going for the experience - mostly because some of my favourite Dopeys are going.

I’m at peace with my decision, but I’m having massive FOMO this weekend (Springtime Surprise) because I love the medals and theming, but by the time I decided I wanted to do it, it was sold out.

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In other news, I’m writing my first original piece of fiction in a long time. (AND it’s het!!!! Yeah. I don’t know where that came from either.) It’s a wee bit autobiographical, but I got inspired by reading these absolutely terrible books about women who work for sports teams.

I’m four chapters in, and it’s getting there. It’s a totally shitty first draft. I mean, really shitty first draft, but it’s a nice break from throuples and soulmates and statutory rape. (Wow. I write the full spectrum, don’t I?)

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As if I don’t have enough hobbies I’m ignoring, I’ve decided to learn how to crochet.

So… that’s knitting, counted cross stitch, scrapbooking, sewing, photography, web design, and a few others that I have all this stuff for, but will probably do nothing with.

But, look at how cute Pierre is!

 

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I should really do a photo dump here… I made a friend at the Ft Lauderdale half and the concerts have been amazing, but I don’t have the energy.

I know I should be scheduling Ukrainian lessons, but I don’t have the energy.

I know I should be doing… anything but I don’t have the energy.

I’m very obviously depressed, but having to watch a beloved family member deteriorate in front of your eyes will do that to you.

It turns out he tested negative for DM (but may be one of the 2% affected by it and doesn’t have the carrier gene for it), but it could be a spinal tumour or a herniated disk. It’s $5,000 for a doggy MRI… and then, he’d probably need surgery to fix either issue. He’s 12. I’m not putting him through all that… and as much as I love and will do anything for him, let’s be honest. It’s stupid to spend that much on him. It’s not going to increase his quality of life and I don’t want him to spend whatever time he has left dealing with the repercussions of those decisions.

We’ve got him on prednisone, but it’s a temporary fix.

We’ve bought some time, but I don’t know how much.

Fun times.

Lion Country! Lion Country!


April 01, 2023 :: 11:41 PM

pro tip: wash the car windows before going to a drive-thru safari

So.

I don’t know how to say it, so I’m just going to drop it here:

Guinness has been diagnosed with Degenerative Myelopathy.

When he was diagnosed with arthritis in his hips, it was expected. He’s a 12 year old, German Shepherd. Bad hips are a fact of life.

What was not expected was going to see a canine neurologist and having to listen to her tell me that we should really think about putting him to sleep.

It’s incurable.

It’s a slow paralysis.

It’s a death sentence.

I am not OK.

Not even close.

Degenerative Myelopathy: Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine

Increase Your Understanding of Degenerative Myelopathy (DM)

The Stages of Degenerative Myelopathy

When is the Right Time to Put Down a Dog with Degenerative Myelopathy?

We’ll dance where the ice gets thin


March 18, 2023 :: 9:36 PM

The Zest Legacy, 2nd Generation: Bryce and Nathan Richardson

I don’t make it a secret amongst friends that I retreat into video games when the world becomes too much.

I’m probably a year into hardcore playing the Sims again. I cycle in and out of the Sims because the game gets boring, but this might be the longest I’ve been in deep.

All that to say, the new Sims expansion pack is really frosting my cookies.

Let’s start with the size and scope of the expansion pack: Growing Together is a complete overhaul of generational gameplay.

They’ve reorganised the social pie menus. Added a whole new life state (infants). Changed the way Sims interact with different personality markers. A memory system of sorts.

I’ve only been playing with it today because it took me most of yesterday to update my mods. (I have a metric fuck ton of custom content and mods. WAAAAAAAAY too many.)

The Sims team practically rewrote huge chunks of code to shoehorn infants into the base game and then added even more into gameplay by adding the new expansion pack.

Let’s also add the fact that the base game is now free so there are more players using mods.

There are several major mod tech support Discord servers and, from what I can gather, they are shutting down for a few days because of the amount of abuse the volunteers are getting.

A change this large has broken every single mod I have. I knew it would. I was expecting it to.

Mod developers have been SHOUTING to remove their mods and to make sure they were updated before you put them back into your game.

Yet, people don’t pay attention. It’s easier to let the game get completely destroyed and then bitch in the support servers.

I haven’t seen anything this ugly in a long time.

It’s a fucking video game. A buggy video game which (I think) is almost completely unplayable without mods now.

I love my mods, and yes, it is a major pain in the ass to manage them but I made the choice to play with them, and that’s something *I* need to deal with.

Screaming at the person who has spent hours making the things I can’t live without, KNOWING that they’re not getting anything from EA for fixing the game, doesn’t accomplish anything except making the modders quit…

But… dealing with the fallout from that isn’t bad enough.

Nope.

Apparently, if you live in Ukraine, your version of the Sims is geolocked. If you want the new expansion pack, you’re screwed.

They get language choices of Czech, Polish, or Russian. No English language version at all.

But, wait, there’s more!

If you live in Ukraine, you can only pay for your game using rubles.

RUBLES.

This is problematic for two reasons:

1) The hryvnia is the official currency of Ukraine.

2) Russian rubles are not allowed to be used in Ukraine thanks to the invasion.

Apparently, Ukrainian Simmers are reaching out to EA and complaining about those things.

And EA is constantly deleting the forum posts, shutting them down, and otherwise ignoring them.

This makes me so fucking cranky.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

But, aren’t my Sims up there adorable? They’re from my favourite legacy to date.

THAT I CANNOT PLAY WITH BECAUSE EA BROKE MY MODS.

I started a new save file because I don’t want to destroy my boys and their kids. Once everything is up to date, I’ll go back to them.

And while I’m impatient, I’m certainly not going to go to Discord and scream at people.

FIVE FOR FUCKING FIVE


March 05, 2023 :: 2:19 PM

just like the real citgo sign, it only works about 85% of the time

Favorite American Artist: Matt Nathanson
Concert: 10 February 2023, Fort Lauderdale
Ticket Acquired: ✅

Favourite Ukrainian Band: Океан Ельзи
Concert: 27 April 2023, Miami
Ticket Acquired: ✅

Second Favourite Ukrainian Band: Антитіла
Concert: 18 October 2023, Miami
Ticket Acquired: ✅

Third Favourite Ukrainian Band: Бумбокс
Concert: 8 March 2023, Miami
Ticket Acquired: ✅

New Love: KALUSH
Concert: 10 March 2023, Orlando
Ticket Acquired: ✅

If you’ve been around me for any length of time, you know how much live music means to me. I mean, fuck, I used to drive to Upstate NY as much as I could to see Black Mountain Symphony. There were countless trips to Connecticut for Instrument and All Crazy shows. That doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what I jokingly called “Scott-the-Roadie: Live at UConn” - all the BiG MiSTAKE, Frogboy, and Spring Heeled Jack shows I used to attend with him. Then, there were the nights at The Sting, and the nights at Toad’s Place. A random concert in Maryland. The day I went to a gathering at Bird’s that turned into an impromptu concert only to leave and catch BMS in Providence. (That, my friends, was probably one of my more ridiculous weekends: I drove through four New England states in less than 24 hours.)

Thinking about it, I’ve probably spent more of my life at live shows than I have engaging in any of my other hobbies in my life to date.

Of course, I don’t have the luxury of getting in the car and driving to NY anymore. It breaks my heart to think of the ridiculous logistics nightmare leaving Florida has become. There’s a plane ticket, and a hotel, and a rental car… I hate shit like that. I just want to get in the car and go. The drive itself is as therapeutic as the live show. All planes, hotels, and rental cars do is stress me the fuck out.

There is one unexpected perk of being exiled to Florida - the massive Ukrainian community in Miami.

I haven’t been kidding when I’ve babbled on about how thrilled I am about the opportunity to see ALL of my favourite Ukrainian bands.

Granted, I hate the reason why they’re all on tour, but… at the same time…

I GET TO SEE ALL FOUR OF MY FAVOURITE UKRAINIAN BANDS THIS YEAR!!!!

 

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I went on a deep dive in YouTubeLand to find live video of KALUSH and… expectations matched reality.

Seriously.

This video confirmed that I’ve been to too many shows.

When you can perfectly imagine a show just by listening to the recorded versions of songs, you know that shit needs to be a resume-level skill.

 

 

Topping from the bottom


January 22, 2023 :: 10:54 AM

I. Can’t. Believe. This. Happened.

I’m always that person who takes charge of a group project when people are slacking… this time, I bulldozed a Captain.

In my defence, not a single person on the team was offering anything up, and I have charities that mean a shit-ton to me.

FRC is attempting a new format for racery - teams of five people randomly chosen, a fundraising component, and all the shenanigans we’ve grown to love.

I’m really looking forward to this one. The last few just haven’t been fun because people talk offline and make teams full of super cappers. They take off and are impossible to catch… but, with random people creating teams? We might actually have a chance to have fun this go ‘round.

So any way - I wanted to choose Cobblestone for our charity, but that didn’t work out. (Cobblestone hooked us up with with our trip to Lviv, sent us the most amazing tour guide ever, and now are helping support his family through donations. I donate as much as I can, when I can.) Unfortunately, Cobblestone isn’t a registered charity in Canada yet.

I asked if we could fundraise for Razom for Ukraine. This is a better known charity and absolutely massive. I’d rather donate to them, if I can’t directly donate to Ukrainians hurt by the lack of tourism.

Razom is the transliterated version of разом - the Ukrainian word for together. (It’s pronounced “rah-zom”)

The team ran with the word, brainstormed different ways to use razom in the team name, and we settled on razoomies, because, well, we’ll zoom.

Razombies was also thrown out there. I loved that one, too.

Our team colours were also chosen for us. The Ukrainian flag serving as inspiration.

I know it’s trendy right now to care about Ukraine, but - of course - this means so much to me, personally.

I’ve been crying on and off, I’ve been so touched by the interest.

I have bunch of hashtags chosen for the race itself and I’m so excited to use them.

If we’re friends on Facebook, you’re about to get sick of the relentless posts sending you to the racery fundraising link. And I’d apologise, but sorry, not sorry.

Together we zoom!

 

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