Dystopia is in details

So, ever since the country locked down, I've been delicately balancing severe executive dysfunction, resultant depression and all the fun side effects. ADHD services are not essential after all. My normal work-outs involve leaving the house and spending time with other people and there's only so long I can tolerate the same four walls before I start going bonkers. Add in that my circadian rhythm is apparently set to Alaskan time and it gets miserable.

My solution to all this has been to go running. At night. While using the Zombies!Run! app. If you're not familiar with it, it's a running/walking app set during a fictious zombie apocalypse and you play as Runner 5, the enigmatic runner who leaves the settlement of Abel to gather supplies and collect clues to figure out how the zombie virus came to be. It's normally a fun app but it's a very different experience when you're running on deserted, too-quiet streets and passing locked up buildings and abandoned parks.

The few other people who exercise at the same time are skittish and it's not unusual to cross the road to avoid people a hundred metres further ahead. At the same time, people genuinely crave human interaction so some people make a point of staying close enough to exchange a quick smile or 'Good evening'. There are more frequent police patrols, ambulances flashing through empty junctions and the taxis who are still rolling. Given that we live in a central urban region, it's really disconcerting. You can still hear people, through the walls and over the garden fences but it feels like they're living in another world.

Originally posted here Please comment there using OpenID.

Masterlist: Fanfiction

Collapse )

Book! - Borderline by Mishell Baker

Today's book came by a recommendation from Seanan MacGuire who blurbed the book and tweeted about it while she was reading.  BBH pre-ordered it and I finally got around to it today.Collapse )

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I'd expected to and I will be keeping an eye out for sequels/other books set in this 'verse.

Originally posted here Please comment there using OpenID.

April Reading

::blows dust off the journal::

I figure keeping a record of the books that I read will help keep me motivated and help me keep track.  I'm three books into this month so I'm going to mush them all in together in one big post.  These are not particularly deep reviews and are just what I came away from the book feeling.

Book One - The Devil and the White City by Erik Larson

Collapse )

Book Two:  Sane New World: A User's Guide to the Normal-Crazy Mind by Ruby WaxCollapse )

Book 3: Macbeth, a true story by Fiona WatsonCollapse )

Originally posted here Please comment there using OpenID.

Voted! ....dammit.

I am planning to hide from all the gloating Tories for the weekend.  I'm honestly appalled by the election results.  I really don't like the idea of the Tories in charge for another five years and I'm fucking pissed that Labour couldn't get their heads out of their arses to exploit the chance to beat them.

 Saving Age of Ultron for post-election escapism might be the best decision made this week.

I originally had intended to write more but honestly, this is bullshit.  This is going to be a disaster.

Fuck this shit.

Originally posted here Please comment there using OpenID.
  • Current Mood
    crushed crushed

(no subject)

On the list of things I needed to close out 2014, losing most of my support network to the belief that my depression can be fixed by wanting it fixed.  I have had nearly a week to adjust to this.  It's a good thing because I'm capable of taking the time to decide if this is a fight I want to have.  I don't have the spoons to try convincing a person, however dear, that addressing my mental health issues is important.  I don't have the energy to keep arguing this.

I need to use my energy to stay moving.  I have very little to spare as it is.

I have managed to complete a project that was **mumble* months in the making.  I have finished Sister the Younger's tea cosy which is blocking on the ironing board.  I am not sure if the ironing board could use a new cover or if we need a new ironing board. I'm thinking a cover since we don't use the board enough for it to be seriously inconvenient to have to bang it into place.  Mostly I am happy to be done with the poppy pattern and to be taking a break from intarsia knitting as a whole.  I am probably going to work on cables next in my knitting projects.

I have a loosely planned idea for a novel involving a centaur girl and a human boy in the American 1930's - YAY for research to be done.  I'm hoping to start writing regardless but I want to decide a few important details like where and when exactly.

I also need to do some gardening this week so fingers crossed for decent weather!

Originally posted here Please comment there using OpenID.

Oww

I ache.  My smart idea to go to a NOVA class last night is costing me in pain today.

I have mostly been on the internet for Duolingo, thanks to the brand new in-Beta Irish course, where I'm discovering that my ear for Gaelige has stayed surprisingly intact, my ability to spell as Gaelige has atrophied completely.  I am finding it hard to stay sitting because my back muscles are not liking the sitting at all.

Originally posted here Please comment there using OpenID.

Book-Bingo: Stitch 'n Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook by Debbie Stoller

Collapse )

For my non-fiction slot - I am choosing 'Stitch'n'Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook' by Debbie Stoller

This is something of a cheat because I have had this book since just after Christmas, courtesy of BBH who has been generously indulgent of my fascination with all things yarn- and haberdashery-based.  I got intrigued by knitting thanks to [personal profile] vae who creates some of the most beautiful and fascinating works with needles and beautiful yarns.

Collapse )
Originally posted here Please comment there using OpenID.

Book-Bingo: Dracula by Bram Stoker

I am slightly hedging here - I did only read Dracula this year though technically it came before I decided to do the bingo.  That being said, I have thoughts and feels! about this book so I'm counting it for the "One word title" square.
Collapse )

That said, this was a genuinely interesting and engaging book with powerful, interesting female characters which I would recommend to anyone with a Kindle or time to track down a hard copy.

Originally posted here Please comment there using OpenID.