A difficult morning after the New Year celebration

Ugh...first day back after New Year's Day was just awful. I have a swollen ankle and my cyborg implant is out of whack.

Could not finish my physical therapy. I was to wear compression socks and braces on the swollen ankle.

Putting the brace on was a medley of out-of-shape struggles and R-rated swearing, not to mention frustrations putting it on at all.

My mom said I looked tired and I felt it. I feel too warm from the layers. Just need to rest.

Have to go to the doctor again for a exam inspection to qualify me for back care (they won't violate resources based on writing. A sort of legal mumbojumbo for HIPAA and government-based entity (like the one for my insurance company) for my health insurance.) So, TL;DR, I am booked solid with doctor appointments until the weekend.

Either way, I have a sizeable box of dental care products coming in the mail from Australia starting next upcoming Monday and a doll from England starting this Saturday. I just have a few days to get through.

The one thing I never liked about the "lens of the Internet" is that it paints a one-sided or limited view of a country when it comes to things to be careful of when traveling. Sure, there are giant poisonous bugs and crocodiles who can swim with sharks, that much is true about Australia in terms of zoological hazards.

(in fact, any children's shows that show the handling of spiders is usually banned as I previously stated. However, most people live as far away from the forest\outback to attempt evasion of such animals. It would normally take those of strong fortitude to live in such remote areas.)

Remember, a few hundred years ago, Australia was a prison colony and even if the original prisoners repaid their debts to society, many prisoners' descendants still live with their ancestral debt.

But I think from my study is that Australians who are descendants of former prisoners and the indigenous people are currently working together to share and restore the country burned by that brush fire in the past years, not to mention working on the land in general to restore it to a beautiful land.

Reminds me of when the Choctaw Native American tribe gave to Irish immigrants escaping Ireland after the Potato Famine and, in recent years, the Irish descendants paid the Choctaw back in full.

I'm more than just a fan of Japan, cooking\baking, gaming, animals, supernatural being and the like. I love a feel good story when I worry all hope is lost. I love when my faith in humanity is restored.

Now that I mentioned it, zoological hazards in my area included poisonous\venomous snakes and turtles that bite AND they are not as slow as one might think 🤔 then we currently are being warned about the Joro, a giant invasive species of East Asian spider.

Edit: I did go for an appointment for my back, but it turned out I had a bad sinus infection, that they forgot to examine my back.

Currently, I had my psych therapy appointment today. Quite a bit of a load of mental energy was unloaded today on my therapist C. Smith. She took it in stride with my anxieties and the fact that my house was not built for someone who uses a stair lift.

A cold, wet and miserable day. I badly need to shake off the post Christmas lethargy and get some fresh air and exercise, but the best I could manage was a walk to a nearby news agents to buy a new calendar. Well, that was yesterday now. But there has been near continuous rain all week. During the occasional bright spells I try to go out and take a look around the garden and within minutes it is raining again! Some snow would make a nice change, a least it wouldn't be so dark and gloomy.

My mom and I fought a bit. Then we took time to at least cool down.

We're in the border of where snow and rain mix. Eugh! I at least don't have to be anywhere for a while.

More infighting at home.

I used to carry on sophisticated conversations about the world situation with my father. Nowadays, he acts childish to end any argument that requires thinking.

I ended up eating half of a Mexican grill chicken quesadilla my mom ordered through Door Dash and ended up living up to the T-shirt slogan "My, aren't you a fucking ray of sunshine?"

I don't know why I am so grumpy today...🤬.

I seem very happy normally. 🥳

My doll I ordered on Christmas Eve finally shipped today and should be here by January 11th.

Starting tomorrow, I should have a dental care set, 3 foot hair extensions, and a metal replica of the nautilus pendant worn by Ursula in the 1989 "The Little Mermaid" being shipped out.

The nautilus pendant? It's an in-joke that my first and favorite Disney villain is Ursula and the fact I have countless voices to mimic, it's a reference that she can take on any voice stored in her pendant.

Edit: Nautilus Pendant shipped out now.

My 2024 goal is to learn to crochet. Today I finally got my hands on some yarn (I bought some online but they're not due to arrive until the 20th, and I'm very impatient) and I finally got started! I've got the hang of making a chain, and the bit after that... but that's about it, after that it feels a bit complicated and I end up making a clump of yarn lol, but I'm getting there. Probably doesn't help I was distracted by the kids. Hopefully by the end of 2024 I can at least do simple crochet! I really wanna be able to gift people hats and scarfs, and hopefully be able to donate some to charities and the local NICU

Random Thoughts of the Day

"Sometimes, I wonder what kind of dog I would be and it usually comes back to me being...a French Bulldog.

I have respiratory issues and I am not much for strenuous activities or I overheat. But I leave quite an impression wherever I go, since people are still going nuts for a Frenchie.

As long as I live in luxury's lap, I still will be a crowd pleaser for any class of human."

So with the beginning of year already a week in, I seem moody. Just beyond February, I will collect the last of the dolls and then quit to make androids, find my own place and purchase items I need for my new place. Who knows what lies ahead?

I had the day
to get stuff done
But somewhere
down the line
The stuff's not done
I wonder why
Your guess is
as good as mine...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WlJlLHq8sXQ
(The fact I've been wrapped up almost like the pug in the video for most of the day... )

(Yup, it's been one of those days again. I've been doing stuff all day, I've just not been doing anything even remotely useful all day. Maybe except making dinner and cleaning up afterward, I guess )

My projects need hard deadlines to get finished, or they get started and/or half-finished and then stuffed unceremoniously in the "some day..." bin, or possibly get done eventually when my brain decides it's time some 4 years later...

^ Today is a perfect example of the "It's time...". I'm working on some files I've been tinkering with the past days, then somehow stumble over some files I started on/extracted 2 years ago, and since the files I'm working on are similar enough (read: easily cloneable to the point where it's just a few steps to finish it) I decide to finish those files, too.

Yay for one finished old project, I guess? (Well, except for testing, but I guess that'll have to wait for next time I'm ingame).

Ah! I figured out how to crochet! Now I'm scared of stopping in case I forget. Not a clue how I finally figured it out, especially while my daughter was asking "have you made me a scarf yet?" every 10 minutes... maybe she's my good luck charm

^ Good for you!

I kind of gave up crocheting. Can't really wrap my head around the masks/counting. I'll crochet a border around something, or use a hook to fix dropped masks in knitting, but that's about it... Would've been nice to know how to make those cute crochet animals, though... I can knit, though (but I'm not good with knitting patterns - I need to see it in action, which isn't too easy, since a lot of knitters use totally different knitting methods than I do, which often complicates things ).

Thank you!
I learnt to knit years ago - I can make a scarf - That's it. I liked the idea of crochet though because it's easy to unravel it if I do it wrong. I've been watching lots of tutorials on crocheting and it seems like everyone does it different, in the end I just sat there and figured it out myself. I couldn't figure out the counting... I think I started with 20 chains, I don't know if I have accidentally added and taken away several over the 6 rows that I've done because it's looking a little wonky and there's a few big holes in it, but it is what it is. I'm just thinking if I do it a little wrong now, it'll seem more impressive when I'm an expert looking back.

I'm with you on the "do it before you forget it" though. A long while back, I knitted some finger gloves. Tried to do it agaiin (with all sorts of knitting patterns, videos, etc.), but my head just wasn't in it. This time around... well, back in 2022, really - I kept to socks and beanies (found a couple patterns that work very well and are simple enough to follow).

The wonkiness tends to sort itself out the more you keep at it. The first projects tend to look a bit off, but then you figure out tricks to sort out the problems, and you get better at it.

I got a silicone loofah and my peach locs for my grunge Godiva look. But then again, I'm at the age where it's "Shame be damned...throw caution to the wind!" and don't care about what look I take on. I want to radiate the aura of a goddess and decided to go with 3 foot hair extensions.

Today I am now waiting on my doll, my dental health care kits and a gold nautilus pendant (for those who just tuned in, my top 3 Disney villains including #3 Cruella De Vil (101 Dalmatians), #2 Madame Mim (The Sword in the Stone),
and #1 Ursula (The Little Mermaid) and I have a plethora of voices to draw from as a voice actor. The nautilus that Ursula wore held voices in the movie.)

The wonders of TikTok...

TikTok Food Influencers Must Be Stopped

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6jJDS67_XE

I don't use TikTok, but I've come across some similar videos on Insta.

For the "I have weird cravings" or "This is a weird combo, but you should try this" videos, some might actually have some genuinity behind them, although I think it's quite a bit of attention-seeking behavior, too (especially if they keep at it). Some of those things seem like they tried veeeeery hard to come up with something weird that maybe tasted kind of alright for a bite or two. Some people do like the oddest flavor combinations, though.

For the videos where it seems like they're wasting food for "lolz," I think the main problem isn't the weird recipes, it's just that these people crave attention and/or actually think they're being funny doing all those things, and will make such videos as long as they get enough viewers/likes/whatever (doesn't always need to be positive - sometimes negative comments count just as much for the attention-seeking). A lot of people are scroll through the videos, click "like", share, or post a random comment, which keeps the fire burning even longer. More people craving attention come around searching for easy-to-do stuff they can get some easy likes/comments on, see how much attention these videos are getting, make their own (similar) videos, and keep the ball rolling. Not actually being particularly creative, or funny - mostly just reusing ideas in a slightly different way. In this case probably also throwing away a lot of perfectly good food.

---

Anyway, having a calm day after being awakened by a freakin' siren screaming into my ear...

A growing trend on TikTok I keep seeing lately is where they mispronounce one random word in their video (be it a common or an uncommon word), and their comment section keeps on exploding with "actually, it's pronounced __," along with the stitches and duets (video replies) to the original video.

As simmer22 said, engagement is key. Their casual 20 second vlog is constantly in the loop over a mispronounced word, and as long as there is engagement, the creator is happy.

Went to my physical therapy appointment, only to go home as soon as they saw me wearing a mask. They worried about disorienting me.

I got myself groceries and when I came home, I received an Amazon $50 gift card, a red & clear purse with a gold chain shoulder strap and gold pyramid studs and gummy bears. I used the gift card to buy 2 dolls and 2 silicone loofahs and had 45¢ left over.

Addendum: my nautilus pendant should be in the mail today. It's on the other side of one of the closed off towns.

Edit: my nautilus pendant came just an hour ago and I love it! Looks like the real deal!

P.S. I should thank my uncle for the money used to buy it.

Or they just make up weird shit like dululu. Translation: Delusional.

I was watching somebody on YT the other day who doesn't speak TikTok. His guest threw out the stupid 'dululu' thing. It instantly got a as it should have. I don't know what is worse. Adults using stupid made up words or endless drama because Jeffree Star was kicked off the platform. Actually there is far worse, but I'm going to stay clear of those rabbitholes.

Is it just me or are people taking things on the internet to a whole other level? Maybe alien invasion happened that I don't know about.

When people have a tree fall through their roof, common sense would tell the person to call their insurance company, a contractor and a tree company. These 3 things become even more important when the outside temperature is going to be below 32 degrees with more ugly weather on the way. If the person lives in a rental property, then obviously they'd call their landlord, but the rental thing does not apply in this situation.

To add to the pile, when it is known that the heating system is out for whatever reason, if the "90-year old" ( quoting from the video) is telling a person that they're not going to come out because it is too dark, then it would be a good idea to call somebody else.

It’s a BIG, fluffy TEMU HAUL! | January 11, 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szXzxkRqIVU

Before somebody comes along and starts telling me that I'm being mean, this person is in their 50's. I'm not picking at a child here. Her 70+ plus year old mother is in renal failure and the decision was made to sit in front of a camera whining about how she talks too much instead of leaving the Temu haul for another day and dealing with shit, like a adult.

None of this is my problem, but what the actual fuck...

I actually found delulu to be very funny. I thought it was a clever play on the words delusion and coo-coo (crazy).

The P-words supstitutions for the word pandemics was also funny to me. So, instead of "we're in the middle of a pandemic!", "really? during this pandemic time?" etc., people would just say "in the middle of panini," "it's difficult during this pandora times," etc.

It was simply goofy, childish, and silly. And I wouldn't say it had a malicious intent such as ranking up views and engagement, it was simply a short-lived trend.

2024 is going to be one of those years.

the cult of the Stanley Cup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRrAa8kLerk

Comment:

It's as if the tamagoochi (or whatever it's called) kids grew up and started charging real money for the temporal trends