My brain in blog form.
Posted in Personal
The interest you all showed in an update to my experience driving stick shift surprised me. I wrote the first post about 1¼ years ago, and there have definitely been some ups and downs in that time. Let’s start with the lows, shall we? Then we can end on a positive note.
Posted in Reviews
Fragonard is the first perfume brand I’ve ever liked enough to purchase multiple items from. Find out what makes it so great.
Posted in Random Reflections
Recently, humans have started questioning historical “fact.” We’re acknowledging that history is written by the victors and may be biased or even completely fictional.
Posted in Random Reflections
Pondering a concept that has been buzzing around my brain for quite a while. Why aren’t mouth/tongue movements taught when teaching languages?
Posted in Personal
I’ve wanted to paint my stair risers in a rainbow for about a year now, and for the last 4-5 months, I’ve been thinking of painting the kitchen cabinets as well.
With our financial situation back in hand by the end of March, we went out to choose and buy paint. I’ve been industrially painting ever since.
Now that I’m done, I’m delighted with the results. It’s almost hard to believe we had a bland kitchen for so long.
Alright, this should be my last Assassin’s Creed (AC) post for a while. Should as in I don’t have any other ones planned.
We’re five months out from Valhalla‘s release date, and the rumor mill is working overtime on “leaks” and theories of varying degrees of believability for the next entry in the series. While I have precisely zero insight into the next AC game, I do have several — *cough* many *cough* — ideas about what I’d like to see in a future game.
And so, I give you the elements that would make up my perfect AC game. Be aware, this post doesn’t take into account the likelihood of any of this actually happening.
Technology let me do something pretty amazing this weekend. Just a post appreciating that.
Posted in Cat
As Dante, Bumbledore, and Sandy have all had dedicated posts, it’s only fair that Ritz get one as well. However, you should read Dante’s post before this one, as I won’t be repeating much information.
I didn’t interact much with Ritz before we abduct — erm… adopted him from “the streets.” Technically, it was an under-porch den, but that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Jim describes him as “very cautious and standoffish.”
On the day we’d planned to catch the siblings, we managed to nab Angus without too much trouble, and wrangle him into the carrier. We foolishly thought that, because they were small, we could fit them into a single carrier without much trouble. Oh, the naivete.
Posted in Cat
A few posts back, I wrote about silver linings, mentioning our kittens. Those two are such sweethearts. Dante and Ritz have such distinct personalities, there’s never a dull moment around the house.
Dante, especially, is a unique little fruitloop. He started life as an unnamed feral kitten with 3 brothers fed by half the neighborhood. Jim, however, was one of their two primary benefactors, and decided to name them Angus, an all-black kitty; Boo, a grey tabby; Ritz, our posh tuxedo boy; and Sparky, the fancy, multicolor tabby (later Dante).
Posted in Random Reflections
With April right around the corner, the time approaches that many dread: Mother’s Day. With a deceased mother, I especially dislike the multitude of emails “reminding” me how important it is that I find the right present.
But this year, there’s a shining light of hope that I won’t have to go through this every year until I die.
I want to take a moment to applaud Etsy for being the first — that I’ve seen — to make a move that, admittedly is long overdue.
Posted in Random Reflections
As the COVID vaccine rolls out and we really start thinking about “life after COVID,” I find myself wondering what work will be like. Today marks one year since I started teleworking 100% of the time.
At first, I was concerned about it. I didn’t like working from home, mainly because I didn’t (still don’t) have a good office setup — I sit at my dining room table. Also, I was sure that the distractions and easy access to food/snacks would prove problematic for me. The lack of dual monitors struck me as an additional hurdle to leap.
As time marched on, I began to see the benefits of teleworking. My commute is seconds long. Pajama pants are perfectly acceptable. Furry coworkers are abundant.
Posted in Fountain Pens
Alright, I’ve got a potentially (probably) divisive post for you today. I’m sharing opinions I have that seem to be unpopular based on what I’ve seen and heard in fountain pen groups and gatherings. Let’s jump in, shall we? I’ll start slow, leaving the doozies until the end.
It’s been on a lot of pens in the past couple of years, and I think it’s ugly and overpriced. From Visconti’s Rainbow Watermark to TWSBI’s Vac 700r Iris and Conklin’s Duragraph Rainbow, pens at all price points are using the colorful finish.
I don’t know what to call it. It’s not a proper rainbow — the colors aren’t in order and there isn’t a good red or purple. It’s not iridescent — the colors don’t change, or even appear to change, at different angles. Regardless, I bought a seven piece cutlery set with the same finish about 3 years ago for $11 thinking it would be super cool and ended up woefully disappointed. I definitely won’t be investing in a pen with it.
Posted in Personal, and Random Reflections
Some of you may know that I used to be terrified of driving. I didn’t get my license until a couple of months after my 29th birthday. And learning to drive really only diminished my fear, it didn’t eliminate it. In the intervening nearly 4 years, I’ve hardly driven at all. In fact, I didn’t drive on the road at all until December of last year.
That’s because we only have one car, and it has a manual transmission. Jim tried, right after I got my license, to teach me to drive stick. But, he’d driven stick for long long that it was all muscle memory for him. He had trouble explaining to me what to do. And he loves his car so much that it freaked him out when I keep stalling it out.
Posted in Random Reflections
I came across a fun writing prompt the other day. The question posed was: If you could travel back to any era, would you and which one?
My immediate thought was, “Yes, of course,” but as I thought about it, I realized there were some qualifiers.
Posted in Random Reflections
On Saturday, I went to a comedy show. I don’t intend to mention any names in this post, as that’s not the point of this post.
I found it interesting that every performer, the openers and headliner alike, spoke some form of “comedy’s getting hard because people are more sensitive” near the beginning of their act.
Of the openers, two were received very well, and one received a lukewarm response. Thinking about the show later, I realized something crucial.
Let me pause for a moment to say I’m well aware I’m no comedian. I can’t refute comedians’ assessment that comedy is getting harder. What I can offer, however, is an outsider’s perspective of the situation.
Posted in Miscellaneous Information
This post is a cross between genealogy research and random thoughts. As I’ve been delving back into my genealogy research, I’ve come across an increasing amount of uses of necronyms.
For those unfamiliar with the term, a necronym is a reference to, or name of, a person who has died. In this case, I’m referring to naming a child after a dead sibling. Thinking in terms of modern-day expectations, necronyms seem a little insensitive, almost like parents are simply replacing their child. However, I found reference in one of the articles I read to naming conventions and traditions. For example, there were traditions that dictated parents name their eldest son after his paternal grandfather. So if that son were to die, the next son born would be given the same name.
I’ve started working on my ancestry research again. I’m currently researching the Dutch side of my family right now.
It’s been a year or two since I researched that branch. While I remembered some of the terminology used on official documents, I’d forgotten some, too. And, of course, I’ve come across some new terms as well.
Google Translate is great, but it only goes so far. Sometimes, it even gives you translations that are obviously, and hilariously, wrong. For example:
For the record, the highlighted portions should be “Sheriff &” and “appeared” (as in, appeared before me) respectively.
Posted in Random Reflections
Anyone else bothered by how early Christmas stuff shows up in stores?
Posted in Personal
My brain bounces around a lot meaning many random thoughts floating through my mind. I’d like to share some of them with you.
Posted in Fountain Pens
“You spent HOW much on a pen?” Every pen person has heard it. I’ve found a way to avoid it. Find out how to explain pens (or anything) to non-pen people.
