In the Background

What song are you listening to right now?

(I generally work in silence, so I'm listening to the wind and the fountains outside.)

13 Surprises from My Junk Drawer

Last week I listed a bunch of projects that I had worked on or was planning on working on. It was not a complete list. A couple days after completing the post, I found a "junk drawer organizer" that I had purchased months ago with the knowledge that I wouldn't be able to do anything with it until I had some time. I had some time.

I knew what was in the junk drawer. I did. I put the stuff in there myself. And yet, I was surprised by some of the crap I found. So, for today's Thursday 13, I am listing some of the surprises and some of the weird that I found while doing a bit of clearing and organizing.

1. I have an index card problem. I did not realize how bad it was until emptying the drawer. I knew I had some index cards, but I didn't realize how many. And they were everywhere. (Don't let the picture fool you. That was after I had found them all and stacked them together. They were not this neat in the drawer.)

2. I also have a post-it note problem. I had six full pads of post-it notes. 

3. And, I have a scotch tape problem. I had three full rolls plus an empty roll. Why I had an empty roll, I have no idea. It's now in the trash. (And that doesn't count the two or three tape dispensers I have in my wrapping paper nook.)

4. Mechanical pencils. I do not need this many mechanical pencils. I do not know why I bought all of them. (They are going to come to school with me next school year. I figure a week, two tops, and that will be a problem of the past.)

5. Instructions for a digital clock that I no longer have. I remember the clock. I had to have bought it in the '90s. I tossed it (after it died) years ago. Why I still have the instructions... (Those also got tossed.)

6. An old cell phone case... for my old iPhone 4... (I have an iPhone 15 today.)

7. Speaking of phones, I also found my old phone books. I haven't needed a phone book since getting a cell phone and keeping my contact list up to date.

8. A Halloween sound effects box and a Halloween flashlight. Neither work (although, that's a battery issue, I'm sure). I don't remember the last time I saw either, but it was before Covid. 

9. I have an eraser I keep in my school bag. I use it a lot. I used it up. I knew I had another, but I could not find it. So, sometime during the school year, I bought a new one. Guess what I found in the junk drawer? Yup, I knew I had another one of those erasers. Now I have four. (They come in packs of three.)

10. Three packages of crazy glue. I don't need three packages of crazy glue. And they're all sealed, so I have never used any of them. 

11. Old sunglasses...

12. Of course, there were the assorted tacks (why I need 100 tacks...), paper clips, rubber bands, etc. in every corner. And, of course, some fell on the floor while I was going through it all, so of course I stepped on a tack...

13. Random buttons. I have a button tub where I keep random buttons. So, why did I have at least a dozen in the junk drawer?

Yeah, so the drawer is organized. For the moment. You know what I did not find? Pens. I have been in Dollar Tree about once a week for months, and I have been holding back on buying pens. "You have pens at home." Nope. I now have permission to go and buy more pens. I think that's my biggest surprise. 

3 Body Problem

Last week I talked about how I had started a bunch of shows, but I couldn't get past the pilot episodes. Luckily, one show interested me enough that I was able to finish its first (and only, so far) season. 3 Body Problem.

I had heard some rumblings about this Netflix show, but they weren't the sort of rumblings that would normally draw me in. Incomprehensible. Violent. Weird...

Okay, weird I'm okay with. I'm not fond of violence, but I can put up with it for the right sort of story. As for the hard to understand part, I am familiar with the 3 body problem from my physics studies (in that it's not solvable). 

As nothing else was sticking, I figured I'd give it a go.

The pilot episode didn't turn me off. I was ambivalent, but willing to give it a second episode. It wasn't until episode four or five that I felt like I got my feet under me, and then I was on board. (That's about the time the underlying mysteries got explained. It went from what the heck? to oh, I know these tropes.)

The show starts off with some weird things happening in science. Particle colliders are turning up weird results that are upending all particle physics theories. Something's wrong with the accelerators or something's wrong with the theories. Science is broken.

At the same time, various scientists are dying--many by their own hand. It's too many to be a coincidence. And one of our main characters is seeing a countdown in her vision that no one else can see. It's clear that some of the other now-dead scientists had seen this same countdown. (She goes to see a neurologist. They can find nothing wrong.) 

The show centers on a group of people (age: 30-ish) who went to university together (I think it was Oxford--they're in the UK). They studied physics. Two are working scientists. One went into developing something in the private sector. One became a physics teacher. And the last one left the field and became a millionaire selling chips (food, not computer chips). 

And then there's a parallel story set in China in the late '60s. That connects it all together. Eventually.

This is a great sci fi show. If you like that sort of thing. And if you have Netflix. (Sorry if you don't.) 

Have you seen it? Are you tempted if you haven't?

All Closed

What if? It's the basis of many stories. We ask. We ponder. We wonder. 

On Tuesdays I throw one out there. What if? It may be speculative. It may stem from something I see. It may be something I pull from the news. 

Make of it what you will. If a for instance is not specified, interpret that instance as you wish. And if the idea turns into a story, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements 😉

What if your local library closed permanently? (Could be budget cuts. Could be citizens protesting what's in the library's collection. Could be new regulations. I won't specify why.)

How to Crochet a Mobius Scarf

In my summer of getting random projects done, I actually got myself a new computer. I ordered it a week ago, and it arrived on Wednesday. This is the first blog post I've written using it. (It's a Lenovo, and I know nothing much more than that other than it has a touch screen and a working keyboard.)

And I also finished reviewing that mobius scarf video that I made over a year ago, but have been talking about since I made a pink one two years ago and mentioned that the video was in progress in April. 

And now, if I want to keep my YouTube channel active, I need to figure out what to make on camera next. (I have one video being edited, but nothing coming after that.) I've been toying with the idea of doing the Christmas ornaments, but otherwise I'm out of ideas. Any thoughts?

Anyway, here's the video:

It's about 33 minutes long, so I don't expect views from any except crocheters. I hope you like it.

Your Bait

While planning out this week's blog posts, I was perusing Bluesky. And someone had started a thread with this question:

If someone was baiting a trap to specifically catch you, what bait would they use?

The post from Bluesky.

And I thought that would be an excellent question. 

So, what would be the perfect thing that would get you to fall into a trap specifically designed to catch you? 

(I've been pondering the question for days now, and I can't come up with anything. Although, if they fixed my computer so it stopped doing this lagging/glitching thing it's been doing, I might not notice something coming for me...)

Summer To Do List 13

It's the middle of my summer break, so I've been busy getting some things done. And I have a mental list of all the things I would like to finish before school starts back up. For today's Thursday 13, I'm listing some of them.

1. As I sit here writing this (a week ago), I am car-less. My car is over 30 years old, so routine maintenance tends to find issues. It was my own fault, really. I told them to check the brakes... Better they find it now than it causes a problem later.

2. A couple years ago, I came up with a way of handling the pictures I post on this blog, mostly the classroom pictures. That necessitates a reset once a year (where I clear out the pictures from the previous school year). I have backed those photos up to an external hard drive and cleared the pictures on my laptop.

3. And while I dealt with the pictures, I backed up all of my laptop's files. I should do this more frequently than once a year, but I don't. (Everything is backed up to the cloud, too. And most of these files aren't critical.)

4. I finally have my dental appointments set so they both hit at vacation times. (My dentist's office is only open until 3:30, and school gets out at 3:35, so if I want to go in on a school day, I'm not working that day.) I had my semi annual cleaning at the end of June. 

5. I also cleared out my school digital files. Mostly I purged a bunch of files that were class specific to this past school year (notes to teachers about classes that now no longer exist, seating charts for classes that now no longer exist, etc.). What was left was organized into files so I can find them if I need them again. 

6. I made a bunch of copies of my weekly checklist. More than 52. I won't need to do this for another year. And I updated a few pages of info I keep on hand.

7. I am due for an optometrist appointment. (I have a feeling my contact prescription has changed.) I was going to go in June, but I didn't want to go while sick. Now I just have to call and make an appointment... (This can take me months, actually, but I'm determined to do this before my birthday. My birthday's at the end of this month.) 

8. I finally went through the video files I made for another video for my YouTube channel, and I sent them off to my brother to edit together. Now, I need to watch one video that's been finished for months, and get that uploaded. (It's a moebius scarf. I'm quite proud of that project.) 

9. I still have to go through my school bag and clean it out. I started this a month ago, but I haven't really done the purge that I should do at least once a year (best before a new school year begins). 

10. I need to work on packing stuff up and moving it to a storage unit. I started this back in October when it looked like I was going to have to move. That move is going to happen, and I'd rather not have to scramble when it does. That means getting ahead of things (downsizing, storage unit, etc.) before. (I don't know when the move is going to happen. I may have another year. I may have a couple months.)

11. I really need to plan Christmas gifts. Yes, it's early. But this is when I need to start if I plan on making anyone anything. 

12. It's time to replace my computer. And I've been intending to do this for three months. Maybe soon?

13. I need to clean up the apps on my phone. Once upon a time I managed to get them all on one screen. (Grouping them helped with this.) But then a couple new apps (for school) became necessary, and my system got broken. It's time to get it organized so that the apps I use are on the first screen and the ones I keep around aren't. 

What sorts of things are you getting done this summer? What sorts of things do you want to get done this summer?

Continuing to Watch

When I write these posts, I tend to look for a TV show that I'm currently watching. I want to recommend something I'm enjoying and something you might not have heard of. But alas, everything I'm currently watching are shows that I wrote about already.

Well, okay, that works. Kind of...

First off, Evil is on its last season. I initially wrote about it five years ago when it started. Since then, it's just gotten weirder and creepier. And the student priest was fully ordained. (It's on Paramount Plus. Sorry, Alana.)

(Oh, it looks like the first two seasons are on Netflix. I'm sure they'll get the last two seasons later.)

I mean, what's not to like about a show with a nun who sees (and fights) demons. And a priest who does remote viewing (for the Vatican). And four daughters who always talk at the same time. And their grandmother (who's gone full evil) is babysitting the antichrist who is her biological grandson. The show is wild.

Here's the trailer for the current season:

Last year I wrote about The Lazarus Project. It's currently airing season 2 on TNT. (I would assume you can catch the episodes on demand at this point.)

Last season the show was about resetting to July 1st when things went wrong. This season someone built a full-on time machine--that created a black hole that's going to destroy the earth three weeks after July 1st, so they've got to figure out a way to stop this. How (or if) they get a season 3, I have no idea.

Here's the trailer for the current season:

I have started a bunch of series. Some I got through the whole pilot episode. Most I couldn't even make it that long. So, when trying to come up with something interesting to watch, I thought, why not a rewatch? So, I'm rewatching Ted Lasso. I wrote about it three years ago. That was about season 1. They did three full seasons and then ended it. 

As I write this, I'm a couple episodes into season 2. By the time you read this, I'll probably be finished rewatching it. Instead of finding a trailer, I found a video titled "convincing you to watch ted lasso in 7 minutes". It's 7-ish minutes of scenes from the show. I do need to warn you, the language is "salty". (Roy Kent can't utter a line of dialog without at least two F-bombs. And the others don't hold back.)

Have you seen any of these shows? What shows are you currently enjoying?

Out of the Blue

What if? It's the basis of many stories. We ask. We ponder. We wonder. 

On Tuesdays I throw one out there. What if? It may be speculative. It may stem from something I see. It may be something I pull from the news. 

Make of it what you will. If a for instance is not specified, interpret that instance as you wish. And if the idea turns into a story, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements 😉

Last week I mentioned my list of bad "what if?" questions that I came up with a couple months ago that I am going to use (or get rid of), so here's one just as bad as last week's...

What if some random person sucker punched you one day out of nowhere? And then what if that person claimed that you started it... and everyone believed them?

Assembling

The last time I talked about the crocheted strand of Christmas string lights, I said I was calling it. And since then, I finished the last yellow bulbs and I knit a very long I-cord with the remainder of the dark green yarn.

On Saturday I ran out of the dark green yarn. And then I began attaching the lights...

I basted them down just to make sure placement was okay before making the stitching more permanent. (That's why all that string is hanging off the piece.) I only got three bulbs fully stitched down before I called it for the evening.

So, this should be done rather soon, now. It's just a matter of finishing up sewing the bulbs to the cord.

This is an excellent take along project. If only someone wanted me to make them one, I would start another strand. 

The string lights thus far:

• Scrolling
• Lit Up
• String Lights
• More Lights
• Crochet the Rainbow
• Almost There

Money and/or Hate

As I was perusing social media the other day, I stumbled upon this question: 

"You're offered $50,000 but if you accept it, the person you hate most in the entire world gets $100,000. Are you taking it?"

It had generated a huge thread where people were answering and debating. I did not participate in that thread. But I realized that this would be the perfect sort of question for my random Friday question (especially as I had no other good ideas). 

So, what do you think? Would you take it?

My knee jerk reaction was that I would. Why should I care what's happening with some person I hate? I can ignore them, right? Let them be happy somewhere else away from me. That would make me even happier, I think.

13 Earthquakes

I have lived in southern California all* my life. This means I have experienced myriad earthquakes. Why not make a list of some of them for Thursday 13? 

*Except for the first three-ish months of my life when I lived in central California. Of course, I do not remember this time at all.

I'll start with some earthquakes I remember from before I had a blog (most before blogs even existed). 

1. Whittier Narrows 1987

Marching band practice. We were out on the practice football field, standing ready to do a full run through of the half time show, at least as much as we knew at that point. We were at attention, waiting for the director to count us off...

There was a rumbling. It sounded like a truck was driving down one of the streets next to the school. But then it didn't stop. We realized what was happening, and we kind of laughed. No longer at attention, we were reacting. And then it was over. 

The band director got our attention, counted us off, and we ran the half time show. (I later heard from fellow band members that the director jumped off his tall ladder when the earthquake started. I did not witness this as I wasn't looking his direction.) 

It was only as we were scrambling to get to first period on time (the half time show takes around 15 minutes. Class started at 8 AM. The director cut it close) that we learned just how big that quake was. 

We were probably in the best place for a major quake--in the middle of a field with nothing surrounding us. 

The school day went as normal. In Anaheim, we were far enough away (roughly 15 miles) that we didn't suffer any damage. But it was a significant quake: 5.9. We had aftershocks that whole year. My junior year of high school. Ah, the memories...

2. Northridge 1994

I was in college at the time, but it was after the winter semester but before the spring semester, so I was on vacation. The earthquake woke me, but I was far enough away from the epicenter (over 50 miles) that it didn't concern me enough to get out of bed. 

Only after getting up (rather late that morning) did I see the news reports of how bad it was. 

Those are the two biggies. The rest of these are from more ordinary, run-of-the-mill earthquakes.

3. It was approximately 9:50 PM. I was reclined in a chair with the footrest up while watching the latest episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. (This was likely the early '90s, but I can't say for sure.) 

Shaking started. I realized it was an earthquake, but it wasn't shaking so bad that I felt the need to move. Then there was a BANG, and the shaking started in earnest.

I leapt over the footrest (not bothering to push it down) and darted into the doorway to the hall just behind me. And then I looked over, feeling slightly chagrined. Did I overreact? 

See, my brother had been sitting on the couch behind me this whole time, watching the show with me. I turned to look at him and say something about my sudden darting to the doorway only to find that he was standing in the doorway to the kitchen on the other side of the room. He judged the earthquake's intensity just as I did.

(Conventional wisdom says that when inside, the safest place to be in an earthquake is in a doorway. Things are less likely to fall on you, and supposedly, if the building falls down, you're more likely to have some structure above you to keep you safe. I have since heard this might not be true, but it's what we've been trained to do.)

Earthquake over, we resumed our seats. The show was on a commercial break. And that's when I started to worry.

Generally, at that time, when we'd have an earthquake, the news would break in with Dr. Lucy Jones to give us the raw data (epicenter, magnitude). 

I knew it would be on the news. But would they interrupt the show (which I was invested in seeing the ending for, and this was before streaming, so who knew when I'd get a chance to see it again?), or would they wait until 10 PM (like reasonable people)? I watched Star Trek with bated breath, hoping to see the conclusion of the episode...

And I did. The news started at 10, like reasonable heads prevailed. I could not tell you the magnitude of that earthquake as I have forgotten it. And I have forgotten which episode of Star Trek it was. But I know I did see the end.

4. 12:30 AM. I had been asleep. The earthquake woke me. But it wasn't big enough for me to bother getting out of bed for. I turned over and went back to sleep.

And it would have been completely forgotten, except the next day I was at school. (High school, so likely an aftershock of Whittier. I can't remember if it was a school day or a Saturday and it was just a band event that we were there for.) 

Outside the band room, clarinet player asked us if we felt the earthquake the prior night. Two others said they hadn't. I said I hadn't... And then, "Wait." And that's when it was like, oh yeah, it did wake me.

5. I was getting ready for school, high school, and I was late. I had to walk that day, which meant I had to be on my way about a half hour before school began. It was about a half hour before school began. I was getting ready to put on my shoes and head out.

I had the radio on. The DJ said something about it being a "shake and bake" day. Me: "Don't say 'shake'..." At which point the ground began to move. Sigh. Me: "I told you not to say 'shake'..."

Earthquake finished, I tied my shoes, turned off the radio, grabbed my stuff, and headed out. I managed to make it to first period on time. Barely.

6. Chemistry class. I don't remember what we were doing when the earthquake struck. I do remember the reaction when it hit--the usual titters and whoas. 

And that's about when one of our classmates bolted for the door. Only one. (I won't name names, so let's call him Benny.) 

Earthquake over, we resumed what we were doing. (Probably some sort of lecture.) It was a few minutes later that Benny returned. 

I was sitting close enough, so I heard when the classmates at his table asked him what had happened. He just panicked. Apparently, he disassociated. He said he "came to" when he was all the way to the gym (the other side of campus). That's when he trudged back.

Our teacher? Didn't say a word. We continued on as if nothing had happened. 

7. Psychology class (or it might have been sociology--I don't remember which semester it was). Second period. This would have been my senior year. 

I don't remember if the teacher was talking or if we were just taking down notes. My chair started shaking. I figured it was the boy seated behind me. We had those chairs with a wire basket underneath. The person in the seat behind would often put their feet up on it. I turned around to ask him (nicely--we were friendly) to stop shaking my chair.

There was a gap of at least a foot between his chair and mine. And he was too far back to have his feet on my chair.

Oh. Earthquake.

I think I told him why I turned around, and then, of course, our area of the room started the earthquake discussion. ("Did you feel it?" "I didn't feel it." etc.)

The rest of the list are quakes I've blogged about before. Links included.

8. My Earthquake Story

From 2008, this is the first earthquake post on my blog (that I could find--if I wrote others before this, I hadn't yet started using the tag "earthquake files"). I remember this vividly. I was supposed to end the video (I was at the continuation high school) at the same time as the previous classes. When an earthquake happens and the school has us evacuate, it's kind of hard to make the kiddos watch a movie. 

9. A New One

Ah yes, this winner from 2009. This was the first time an earthquake happened while I was in the shower. I had conditioner in my hair and soap on my face. I'm glad it wasn't a big one where getting out of the shower would have been necessary. 

10. Friday's Earthquake

And this one occurred just in time for F day for 2014's A to Z Challenge. I have no memory of this class, which is why I write the blog. 

11. Didja Feel That?

Oh wow, this post is from exactly five years ago (and it was a Thursday, too). It looks like there were a few quakes over a week there. And you know, until reading that post, I had completely forgotten about this. Funny how that works.

12. Hurriquake

I absolutely can't leave out when we had an earthquake during a tropical storm. That was definitely a new one for me. (It hasn't even been a full year since this happened.)

13. A SoCal Lunch

And I'll finish up with my most recent earthquake, the one that I felt back in May while covering Mr. J's classes. One student called it the wind. I knew it was an earthquake.

SkyMed

When I first subscribed to Paramount Plus (mostly for The Good Fight, but also a bit for Star Trek: Discovery), I ran into SkyMed. (Okay, maybe not right when I first subscribed.) And then the second season dropped a few months ago, so it's back on my mind. I might as well tell you about it.

It's a medical drama. It's also a rescue show. But instead of ambulances, these nurses use airplanes. They have to as they are in the north of Canada, and they service the remote villages which are mostly accessed via the air.

Between the rescues, the show is about the nurses who man the planes. And the pilots who fly the planes. And they're all young and ridiculously attractive, so they're all hooking up and young drama and such. It's fun, though, really. 

If you like rescue shows, definitely check this out. Here's the trailer:

Since the show is Canadian, I assume it was just a regular show in Canada. If any of you can confirm this, I'd appreciate it. South of the Canadian border, it's streaming. 

Has anyone seen this show? Any good recommendations for me?

Like a Bad Neighbor

What if? It's the basis of many stories. We ask. We ponder. We wonder. 

On Tuesdays I throw one out there. What if? It may be speculative. It may stem from something I see. It may be something I pull from the news. 

Make of it what you will. If a for instance is not specified, interpret that instance as you wish. And if the idea turns into a story, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements 😉

A while back, I sat down and wrote out a bunch of "what if?" questions. And ever since, when it comes time to write a Tuesday post, I go to the list and go, "nah". So, since I've been reading a lot of social media posts about bad neighbors (and I'm going to either use this list of questions or finally get rid of the list)...

What if someone offered you a lot of money to create a situation that got your neighbor arrested? (I will not specify whether or not you and the neighbor get along. Answerer's choice.)

Surveying the Sweater

I made some progress on the eye sweater. 

If you recall, last time I had marked where the corners would go. So, putting in corners was the first order of business. Then I followed that up with another round/rectangle of variegated.

And then another "round":

That one I kind of evened out the top and accentuated the curve along the bottom. (And now that I'm really looking at this picture, I think I might have this upside down, or rather the inside is out. Oops.)

I have done this for both the front and back now:

And now I'm kind of stuck. At this point I have gone way past the reference picture (which didn't square the circle), and I'm not sure what to do next. 

Partly, I want to keep going "around", but I don't know if the sizing would be right that way. The other option is to start working the top and bottom for a bit, as that's what it looks like they did in the reference picture, but I'm not sure.

I just need to make a choice. I showed Liv the middle two pictures, and she likes it thus far. It's almost the size it needs to be. It's just a matter of creating some sort of neckline, and then I'll add sleeves. (I'm going with a boat neckline and drop sleeves, so I don't have to worry about too much more in the shaping.

This is why I like patterns. With a pattern, the choice is already made. 

Eye sweater previous posts:

• Eyeing a New Project
  
• Seeing Some Progress
• Second Sight
• Envisioning the Next Step
• Glaring and Sniffling

Can You Name the Famous Book?

While I was going through the various images I had saved on my phone for yesterday's Thursday 13, I ran across this one: 

I realized this would make an excellent random quiz. It's from www.laurieparkerwwriter.com. You can click on the image to make it bigger, but it might just be easier if I type it out. So...

Can You Name the Famous Book?

1. The Geezer and the Caribbean
2. An Elm Develops from a Sapling Where the Dodgers Once Played
3. Brilliant Red Communication No One Writes Anymore
4. While I Was in the Bed Croaking
5. The Muscadines Belonging to Anger
6. Armed Conflict and the Kind of Train Cat Stevens Used to Ride
7. Out of Here in the Current of Air
8. The Purple Rain Singer Associated with the Rising and Falling of the Ocean
9. Tremendous Anticipations
10. What Comes Before a Fall and Preconceived Judgement Towards a Group
11. Mitt-Wearing Home Plate Squatter Enclosed by Reuben Sandwich Bread
12. Murder a Derisive, Taunting, Feather-Covered Creature
13. An Au Revoir for Everything Inside the Shirt Sleeves
14. Y2K Minus Number of Candles on Molly Ringwald's Cake
15. Felonies and Misdemeanors Couples with Spankings
16. That Audio and that Rage
17. Toward what Person or Persons a Recess-is-Over Sound is Directed
18. One who Domineers over Things Stuck to the Swatter
19. Scoliosis sufferer at the Fighting Irish School
20. Courageous Globe with the Tag Still on It
21. Pirate Loot/Counter in the Center of  Kitchen
22. Story of a Duo of Municipalities
23. About Little White Rodents and Grown Boys
24. Ruby-Colored Nametag Indicating Bravery
25. The Star in our Solar System Comes Up, Too

13 More Memes

While trying to decide on what to list today, I was perusing my photo library on my phone, and I noticed the various images I'd collected from the internet. It's been about a year since I did this last, so why not?

This is a Thursday 13. In no particular order...

1. Many of these I saved for me. I like this sentiment.

2. I saw this in March. Still true.

3. My newest "when I saw this I couldn't stop laughing" image. I can relate to this so hard.

4. I can relate.

5. I really, really, really like this. 

6. Math geek me found this funny. Here's the link to the website.

7. I think you all know why I saved this one.

8. This is a t-shirt. I am tempted to buy this t-shirt.

9. Another one that spoke to me.

10. We've all had those days.

11. sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow... Yup, way cooler.

12. I'm sure I saved this to show to J E Oneil. I'm also sure I did not get around to showing this to J E Oneil.

13. And another one that made me laugh for way too long.

Almost Paradise

For today's what to watch Wednesday, I have the perfect summer-type show. It's called Almost Paradise. 

It's on the streaming service Freevee. Don't get Freevee? If you can stream TV, you have access. It's a free channel (supported by ads), so if you're finding you have nothing to watch, you might find something to interest you there. (I talked about it a year and a half ago.) 

In Almost Paradise, we have an ex-DEA agent expat named Alex who moved to the Philippines to retire. Of course things didn't go according to plan, and things are way more expensive than Alex expected. But he tries to make do while trying to take it easy. But, of course, he keeps getting sucked into solving crimes with the local police (who don't really need or want his help). 

Description via Google: 

Alex Walker, a former U.S. DEA agent who was forced into early retirement. Once the DEA's most resourceful undercover operative, the combination of his partner's betrayal and a life-threatening battle with hypertension has sent him as far from the madness as he can go -a small tropical island in the Philippine Archipelago.

For a show that takes place in not-America, a surprising number of people speak English (sarcasm intended). So, yeah, some of it is a bit far-fetched. But it's the perfect summer show--beachy, light (relatively), and not too involved. (It is a crime show. Crimes are committed and solved.) 

Trailers help, so here's the trailer for season 1. (There are two seasons thus far.) 

Ignore the Universal Plus. It is on Freevee.

Has anyone else seen this show? Does anyone have a recommendation for another show I can start?

Doppelgänger

What if? It's the basis of many stories. We ask. We ponder. We wonder. 

On Tuesdays I throw one out there. What if? It may be speculative. It may stem from something I see. It may be something I pull from the news. 

Make of it what you will. If a for instance is not specified, interpret that instance as you wish. And if the idea turns into a story, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements 😉

What if you encountered someone who looked just like you?

How to Crochet a Water Bottle Carrier

About a year ago, I made three videos. The idea was to edit them into something coherent and then post them to YouTube.

The first video is finally ready. (I sent them to my brother who knows how to edit video. He kindly did the edits for me. It took me forever to watch and ask for fixes. And then to watch again to make sure it's ready to be posted.)

It's a how to make this thing:

I wrote out the pattern about decade ago and posted it to this blog. But last summer I had this idea of making it on camera. So, I did. 

And here's the resulting video:

It's about a half hour long. 

Hopefully I'll get the next two uploaded sometime this summer. That's the goal, anyway.

Questioning the Questioner

At the moment, I'm drawing a bit of a blank as to what question to ask. So, let me turn it around...

What's a question you'd like to ask me? 

I might even answer it in the comments. (If it's a really good question, I might steal it for a future Friday question.)

A Falling 13

In April/May as I contemplated the upcoming summer, I got a couple ideas for Thursday 13 that I could use. So, today I'm going to list all the times that I've fallen. Let's see what I can remember...

1. I was a freshman in high school. It was passing period between 2nd and 3rd periods, and I was running late. (Likely band had let us out late.) I was walking quickly towards my typing class. I slipped in my ballet flats, and bam. I landed on my butt. Who would be nearby to witness my humiliation? My third grade bully. He laughed. Somehow, I managed to make it to 3rd period on time, and only my pride was hurt. (Ah, to fall without major pain. Those were the days.)

2. My second major fall happened when I was in college. Freshman year. Like all of them, I was just walking along and I tripped over my own feet. It happened right in front of a group, I think they were called Campus Crusade for Christ. (No comment.) They were very nice and helped me to the campus clinic. There, the doctor said it was a moderate sprain, wrapped it, and sent me on my way. I managed to get to the rest of my classes that day. It was painful, the sprain, but I healed up after about six weeks.

3. So, that day I called my job (the now defunct evil toy store) to call out. But it was Season. They promised to find a box I could sit on while working the cash register so I could come in to work. This they did not do, and they gave me no help while insisting I continue to work on a sprained ankle. Yeah, reason number three (of about a thousand) why it's the evil toy store.

4. I walked out of my 2nd floor apartment, went down a couple steps, slipped. and landed on my butt. These were outside stairs, covered in those rocks you sometimes see on buildings. And I went down hard. It felt like I had bruised my tailbone, so I couldn't sit comfortably for a couple weeks. (I don't recall the exact year this happened, but considering where it occurred, I would have been between 26 and 28.)

I didn't dare call in sick to the evil toy store (now defunct) as the boss was an absolute a** who yelled at you for calling in sick. (I even went to work feeling like death warmed over one day as I didn't dare call in sick to him.) The injury was minor other than the tailbone. (I almost forgot about this one. I had finished this post before I recalled it. Well, posts are easy to edit.)

5. My niece (who is now 23) was young--three or four-ish. We were out in front of the condo, waiting for something. Or maybe just hanging out--the memory is fuzzy. Niece was running and laughing. I would step out to chase her. 

The condo was on a hill. It was the third or fourth time I went to chase niece, but this time I was chasing her downhill. After two steps, I realized I was gaining momentum and I couldn't stop. I angled myself towards the grass (off the sidewalk), and let gravity have me. I landed on my knees, face first. Getting around was painful for a few weeks after that.

6. Now we've reached the falls that happened while I was blogging. First up: Not About the Highlighter. I was just walking to check out for the day. Although, to be fair, the area where this happened was not very even, so it was kind of easy to fall.

7. For a couple years after that, occasionally a student would ask if I was "the sub that fell". Apparently more of them saw it than I realized, or the story got around.

8. The area where I took that fall, though? It no longer exists. That was the area that became the new STEAM building at that school. The whole area was razed and they completely replaced the pavement around it. Of course, with how many times I've fallen now, that doesn't make me feel any better.

9. This one was recent enough that I still have vivid memories of it: A Fall Day. I even used a cane for a couple days right after this happened.

10. And just when I was healed from that, bookending the fall: Another Fall Day. #7 happened on the first day of autumn while this happened on the last. At least it was fairly minor compared to the others.

11. Oh wow, this one happened just about a year ago. I won't make you dig through that Thursday 13 to get to the fall story. I was in the bathroom because the plug in the sink wouldn't budge, and I had leaned down to open it from under the sink. I lost my balance and fell, but because small bathroom, the wall helped keep me from hitting the floor as hard as I could have. 

12. And my latest fall: Locked In, Part 2. I'm really, really, really, really hoping this is the end of the fall saga. At least, I hope it's going to be another five years before I have another good blog-worthy fall story. Although, better if I don't.

13. As for the injury, it's mostly healed. It took about a month before I could fully bend the knee again. It was a little less than that before the scab fell off. But there's still a purple bruise on my right knee where it hit the asphalt. It's small and it doesn't hurt, but the discoloration is still there. I hope it vanishes eventually. It definitely looks way better than it looked when it happened.

Renegade Nell

In last week's "what if?", I mentioned Renegade Nell. Since it's summer, Wednesday is the day I talk about whatever weird show I managed to stumble across.

It turns out that if you subscribe to Hulu, you also subscribe to Disney Plus, no extra fee required. (This was news to me when I found out. Of course, I couldn't take advantage of this right away due to how I was subscribed to Hulu, but things changed and I sorted it out.) Once I was newly receiving Disney Plus, the first thing that popped up was this show, and it looked kinda interesting, so I checked it out.

The description via iMDB: 

A quick-witted and courageous young woman framed for murder unexpectedly becomes the most notorious outlaw in 18th-century England. When a magical spirit called Billy appears, Nell realizes her destiny is bigger than she ever imagined.

Nell (don't call her Nelly) goes through some stuff. Newly widowed, she returned to her father's home (tavern) only to have him killed by the local toff. When Nell tried to get justice from the magistrate (who was that toff's father), the toff killed him (yes, his father), and framed Nell for the deed.

Now, Nell had her two younger sisters to take care of, no home (as the magistrate gave it to someone else), and no recourse. So she turned to highway robbery. As one does...

And I'm not even mentioning her pixie helper or the sister of the toff who found her way into dabbling in dark magic. It's quite a show.

It's funny how I've wanted Disney Plus for so long to watch shows I've heard of, and then when I get it, I end up watching a show that it seems no one has heard of. Or have you?

Anyway, it's best to see it, so here's the trailer:

If you have Disney Plus, have you seen this show? Interested? Any good shows I should check out?

Unable, Perhaps Unwilling

What if? It's the basis of many stories. We ask. We ponder. We wonder. 

On Tuesdays I throw one out there. What if? It may be speculative. It may stem from something I see. It may be something I pull from the news. 

Make of it what you will. If a for instance is not specified, interpret that instance as you wish. And if the idea turns into a story, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements 😉

I was pondering blackmail (as one does...) and I wondered something. (There was a blackmail subplot in a show I was watching, although I wouldn't be against using such a thing in something I was writing. If I was writing something.) 

What if you were being blackmailed, and while you did not want this information getting out, you had absolutely no way to meet the blackmailer's demands? (It could be that there was no way to get the kind of money they were asking. Or perhaps they were asking for you to do something that you absolutely could not do--hurting someone else comes to mind.)