su sekat gnitirw erehw egnartS 😊

Quote by gillianleeza
Slowly digging out from the weekend's snowstorm. We didn't get as much snow as predicted, but the sleet and freezing rain that fell all day on top of the 6 inches of snow created a mess. Everything was covered in ice, and it won't get above freezing until next week. Breaking up the ice on top and then shoveling the ice and snow was back-breaking and exhausting.

We just caught the edge of it but parts of Ontario to the east of us like Toronto got smacked hard. Right now, we are in a cold snap but it's supposed to "warm up" for certain values of "warm up" next week. Meaning -4 to -5 instead of -10 to -15 (all Celsius). Nice to see you. At least you go something productive done amidst it all. Our place is probably coming due. We last painted after our son moved to Ottawa for university but that will be a decade next year.

Quote by verbal
Dinosaurs fighting in the back yard is a great image with which to begin the day.

It's amazing how much scientists accepting the hypothesis that birds originated as theropod dinos has increased my enjoyment of them. 😊

I am kind of toying with lots of stuff but am often too worn down in the evening to write much so I am only writing on weekends right now. Got a couple ideas started plus my ongoing project. I have removed a bunch of backstory exposition and replaced it with "chapters" that fill in those blanks in the back story (basically explaining why the protagonist fled her homeland and filling in some details of how she ended up where she is) but not sure if those should be earlier chapters, turning the story into something bigger than I had thought it would be, or just flashbacks in the story as currently written. I don't actually have chapter breaks inserted yet so I am not sure how I will fit them in if I do flashbacks but I think they work better that way.

Quote by verbal
We had a junco attack a finch on the bird cam yesterday. Dive bombed her! Marking territory I guess.

Birds can be incredibly aggressive. I've seen jays go after squirrels and I've been dive bombed by a redwing blackbird whose nest was close to my deck and BBQ. Just remember that they are distant cousins of theropods like tyrannosaurus rex and it makes perfect sense. 😊

A duet between two wonderful female metal singers. Fabienne Erni sings in Swiss folk metal act Eluveitie and another band called Illumishade, Lena Scissorhands (stage name, obviously) is the vocalist and writer for Moldovan metal band Infected Rain. Song is terrific, highlighting both of their voices, including Lena's formidable growls. It will appear on Erni's upcoming solo debut.

Oh, and we had snow yesterday so I had to shovel this morning.

"Cold enough fer ya?" is the question of the day, I'm finding. -15C or so here with wind chill down to -27. And I'm hearing about wind chills in the -40s out West.

Bit of a lively week at work so mostly just resting in my off hours. Might work on a story this weekend, just not sure which one. Need to find something shorter to work on so I can actually get something new on here. I haven't posted since the last comp, basically.

Not really a fisherperson period, let alone ice fishing.

WYE do a "polar bear" swim?

From the same gig, another new song that was untitled at the time. This performance was at a venue called MK11 in Milton Keynes, UK, where the band originated. Love poor Andy trying to teach the audience how to clap in 7/4 time. Prog and jazz (and even some schools of metal) love weird time signatures.

Solstice with an early tryout for a song that eventually appeared on last year's album Clann. At the time of this performance, it was untitled but it later received the title "Life". Jess Holland is on leads with the usual bright harmonies from the other singers. Love the lively violin riff in this one.

Weird seeing Jess with shoulder-length hair. She usually wears it close to waist-length.

Quote by verbal
I got Talia one of those bird feeders that identify the bird

Smart Bird Feeders? That's a new one but definitely cool. I think I know most of the winter birds around here but who knows, maybe I would learn something? Does it identify the squirrels, too (I recall my parents' bird feeder being as much a squirrel feeder)?

Good morning. Winter continues. -8C with light wind and occasional gusts here. Light snow right now.

Fresh coffee and tea are on. Here's some goodies for the week.

Aside from my own (I have a headcast for the Tana stories, though I've moved away from who I originally pictured as Tana)? Hm. Maybe instead of a movie, an anthology TV series of SS stories?

WYE camp in winter?

Quote by verbal
I think they are going to bring in Ghidorah next.

Three headed space dragon seems a bit out there for this version of Godzilla but I'd be down for it. King Ghidorah is probably my second favourite kaiju after the Big G himself.

I could see the living port to port part but me handling a sailboat? Yeah, I'd probably end up doing the Robinson Crusoe thing after wrecking it on a reef or something.

WYE, become a hermit or otherwise isolate alone from society for a time?

Flowerleaf are originally from Brazil but currently based (IIRC) in Europe. They do symphonic metal with a fairly heavy sound. Vocalist Vivs Takahashi packs a smooth, powerful voice that is perfect for this genre. Fellow Brazilian Marina la Torraca of the bands Phantom Elite and Exit Eden (and soon joining Finnish heavy metal band Battlebeast, who split with their vocalist at the end of last year) has been helping them from the start and does vocal production for this song.

TGIS!! (I know, that's not really a thing)

Good morning. Putting on a fresh pot of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and some Assam and Cream of Earl Grey teas. Other fine teas are in the cupboard behind the coffee bar. Hot chocolate is available and probably necessary in a lot of the Northern Hemisphere. Mini-marshmallows are there, too. If you are the rare person in need of a cold beverage in this season (say, you're an Aussie or Kiwi), then there's lemonade, iced tea, and assorted sodas in the fridge.

I am back to my big project, probably mentioned here before (a "Robinson Crusoe"-esque story about a woman in exile who is living alone on a "deserted island" that turns fantastical when she finds the island is not quite as "deserted" as she thought). The realization that starting in medias res was becoming a problem led to a new first chapter or maybe prologue filling in a healthy chunk of the protag's backstory. She's living in exile but filling in the details of what happened to send her into exile through flashbacks and exposition was just not working for me so I decided on this route. Then I just need to allude back to it or fill in gaps as needed. There's a still a burst of exposition filling in a gap between the end of the prologue and the beginning of the story proper. That might end up getting broken out as well, though I don't know that there's enough content there for a chapter and I don't want two prologues. We'll see.

Quote by verbal

Sick as a dog for 36 hours, and then fine. We think it was a norovirus, though it was over so fast, who knows? Talia luckily didn't get it. I puked HARD for 12 hours (TMI, I know), slept miserably for another 12, and then recovered. Nasty. But I woke up early this morning, and my first thought was, "I'm well!"

Yeah, that really sounds like norovirus. Brief and brutal. Been there, done that, didn't want the t-shirt (it needed to be washed anyhow).

Quote by gillianleeza
You can do it online, and after struggling to even comprehend what I was reading, I gave up and called my son. He accessed my computer remotely and helped me. Even with his expertise, it took over an hour because of the way the government insists you do things and the programs they require you to use.

Well, I guess that's sort of an improvement. Bureaucrats really do not know how to design effective online systems and should just specify the end goal and then leave it to the pros.

Good morning! We are back in the throes of winter here. Negative (Celsius) temps and chance of flurries basically everyday for the next week, or so says the forecast.

Based on experience, probably the hot tub but I've never really given a sauna a proper try, just a brief visit to one in Iceland when I was there.

For clearing ice: Salt or "Ice melter" (which is mostly just calcium chloride instead of sodium but whatever)?

Charlotte Wessels is a favourite of mine, a Dutch rock and metal singer who has been kicking around the scene in her homeland since her teens. She went solo in 2021 after 17 years in a band. New single out today with her band The Obsession. Since this doesn't appear on her last album or its recent deluxe edition, I'm hoping this signals the lead-up to a new album.

Charlotte trivia: she holds degrees in art history and women's studies so she's a smart one as well as a hell of a terrific singer.

Interesting tat. If I get one, maybe something like that would be good. Less inking involved than some of the wildly elaborate ones. Except with my crappy skin, it might be hard to tell what's a star and what's a blemish/lesion. 🙄

Another brief warm spell is ending here today and a squall warning is out for the next 24 hours. By tomorrow, it will be cold again. Hope it gets better by Friday. I have visitors at work from Newfoundland and they head home Friday morning.

Refreshed the coffee and tea and I'll put out a pie.

Quote by gillianleeza
Mark Hamill is in both films

He seems to be getting busier again, doesn't he? For a while there, unless you knew that he was the voice of the Joker in the various DC animated series, you could have been forgiven for thinking he had retired from acting.

Cycle. My legs and joints have never handled running well.

Shower or bath after a run/ride?

Vibes, Gil. There's nothing worse than a bureaucracy trying to make a minor correction in the 21st century. "Oh, we can just tell people to do it online, then we can hire fewer people" seems to be the attitude nowadays. That goes for government, finance, insurance, and a raft of other so-called "service" industries.

Snow is back here, though fairly light so far. No shoveling needed yet, anyhow.

I'll put on some Wild Goat (yes, that is the new name for local roaster Fire Roasted) Snow Day Dark Roast. Teas are Canadian Breakfast and Sunday Tea. Pitchers are washed and refilled with unsweet iced tea and lemonade. Soda stock is good. There's hot chocolate available with mini-marshmallows for a suitable garnish.

When I was in university, the whole fraternity/sorority thing was kind of on the outs here. Some existed but they by and large were not allowed on campuses and had to operate on their own without support from the universities or student organizations. So wasn't even a consideration back then. Not sure about today. In the end, getting into a school that had the program I wanted would be most important.

WYE spend a month by yourself on a retreat of some form?

Not much of a fisherperson period, but river/lake most likely. I have done that as a kid at the cottage.

Quality critically-acclaimed movie or wildly entertaining B-movie?

No snow falling here. We've actually lost most of ours after a couple warm (relatively) wet days. Been very windy today, though.

Hope you're all keeping well in spite of the continuing insanity from your side of the border.

And I keep forgetting to highlight it, but we do have some goodies in the freezer, too.

2026, like 2025 but worse. Oh gods, what a start to the year. You Americans need to rise up and march on the White House or something. Hey, tomorrow is January 6 so there is precedent. 😲😒

Anyhow, I've put on a fresh pot of coffee. Teas (Earl Grey and Assam) are steeped, too. Hot chocolate is available if you need a cocoa fix. Cold bevvies seem to be in good shape. And goodies are out.

Quote by gillianleeza
Wuthering Heights. It is one of my favorite books. I'll probably watch the new movie, but I don't care for the casting of Margo Robbie. Maybe I'll change my mind when I see the film.

I actually saw the Olivier film before I ever read the book (well, really, I heard Kate Bush's song* first). Did like the book when I finally read it but not sure I care for another film version. It's been filmed so many times another one seems almost redundant but an adaptation of a classic novel with an A-list cast is never going to have issues getting greenlit.

Footnote: Kate has admitted that not only had she not read the novel, but she hadn't even seen the full Olivier film. The song was inspired just by seeing the opening of the film. Doesn't stop it from being a fantastic Kate song, even if I prefer the re-recorded vocal she did for her "best of" album The Whole Story to the 1978 original. Her singing really improved over her first decade in the industry.

Quote by gillianleeza
I haven't heard, but is this the only movie, or will there be more? I have no idea how he will fit the story into a single film.

As far as I have heard, it's a one and done, albeit probably a long one. Nolan's only multi-part series is his Batman/The Dark Knight trilogy at this point. But you're right, the epic would actually lend itself to a duology or even trilogy (or a one or two season TV series for that matter).