Things I write and draw

Writing down things randomly without polishing them to completion has its own quieting charm.

Today I have mastered a new linux command, a personal achievement. It hasn't happened in awhile since I learned the basics, but when it does, usually it also causes a really time-saving shift in thinking and planning things through. This was one of those.

I have also tried to read wikipedia in a secondary language I was taught at school but haven't used since I was a child. It's a Turkic branch language with Cyrillic alphabet and 42 letters. While my faded memory of basic set of vocabulary words + a lot of loan words from Russian makes spotty comprehension relatively simple, verb tenses and evidentiality system is pretty non-intuitive to grasp for my mind. It's odd to realize that I can still handle the reading and the pronunciation at a decent level, and can tell apart verbs from nouns. I can still count to ten and sing at least one song in it. Achievement unlocked.

There's a big marriage equality push in our state this month which will make a world of difference for a lot of families (including us) when it passes. I've been writing letters, but our district's representative who'll be casting a deciding vote soon is not only conservative but also has the endorsement of an anti-gay hate group. The vote will be close. Here's hoping there are enough politicians around here who do have a sense of justice and a conscience. I am tired of being treated as second-class and we deserve better than this.

In a year, I want us to live by the coast, close to good friends, where it never ever snows. A friendly mix of tech/DIY nerds, LGBTQA and immigrant communities for neighbors won't hurt either. Recent yoga and meditation retreat has been good for me and I should be taking the time to do both again. Splitting time between the high-priority tasks: volunteering (necessary) and work (also necessary) really doesn't leave much time to relax. But thankfully, it finally feels like a long mental winter is lifting. Here's to a long lack of personal dementors lurking in the brain this year.

Speaking of things that do relax me and which I should do more of (drawing, knitting, hot tea, reading fic, videogames), Sinick and I have started an AU together that reminds me a bit of Commonplace Magic, same sort of pairing-driven alternative setting immersion. Though oddly enough, the protagonist's point of view is one of a priest. With our mutual personal preference for flying spaghetti monsters as deity of choice, it's odd to be dipping into religious themes so heavily in the story, but I'm treating it as another research scenario.  Just another writing challenge.