Life Updates
Finally starting to feel settled into this housesit in Ann Arbor. Though the bed is comfortable, I haven’t been sleeping well. I wake up exhausted, which isn’t good. Feeling tired when I wake up makes me not want to go out and do things, so I’ve mostly been in the house slumping on the (admittedly very comfortable) couch with my books and my Roku.
But this week things changed! I dragged myself outside and did a walk around the neighborhood on Tuesday, one of the less-hot days, and I’ve switched to spending my mornings outside in the garden with my book and coffee mug. It’s an urban area, but this particular plot/neighborhood is ripe with tall trees and plants, so there’s lots of creatures to watch. Yesterday I spotted a goldfinch, and today I saw a chipmunk and a groundhog.
This morning I woke up feeling normal, so I think it’s working. I may start going on sunset walks when the temps cool down in the evening.
🐈⬛ The cats continue to mostly ignore me, but in a benevolent way. Miss F and Mr N have started letting me pet them more, but Mr B still runs if I get closer than 10 feet away. I suppose the upside is they’re very independent and I can get a lot of work done without having to shoo them off my keyboard.
Media Consumption
🎧 Lots of podcasts this week. Caught up on My Brother, My Brother and Me episodes from the last two or three months. I used to listen to eps regularly but this past year in particular it’s gotten increasingly obvious that they are aware that they’re, like, being watched? Like, it’s a little too much “looking for the bit” so they can clip it and put it on TikTok.
Also caught up with Too Many Tabs, which has topics I enjoy but which has gotten maybe a bit more shout-y since they started recording videos for Youtube. I’m sensing a trend.
Also listened to a great episode of Gender Spiral Podcast, which I wrote about here (DW).
📺 Continuing on my Midsomer Murder binge-watching. I’ve made it through DS Troy and have gotten into DS Scott’s episodes.
One thing I’ve been thinking about more during this rewatch is what happens to all these victims and secondary characters after the episode ends. So many people who find a dead body, lost a loved one, had a family secret exposed, etc. and they just disappear from the world entirely.
Hardly anyone shows back up again– there were a few times in the early seasons when a character from a previous episode would be referenced, and there’s one memorable time in season 10 (I think) where the same two character actors show up as the sister/nephew of characters from season 1. But other than that it’s just a swath of murder and misery in this one small UK county and nobody talks about it!
Which obviously has to happen, or else the story would never continue. But I think it’d make for an interesting story (perhaps a satire), to focus on what happens after a TV murder mystery. Anyone know if something like that exists? I’d be very surprised if a satirical author hadn’t put something out already.
📖 Still reading Moby-Duck, and am about halfway through it now. Very much enjoying it (especially when I’m reading it under a tree in a garden).
Food & Dining
I ate a salad and am very proud of myself.
Basically I ate all the good stuff from my major order (DW) and am down to eggs and beans, so I need to head out this week to get rice and potatoes and other starchy things I can put eggs and beans on.
Besides that, though, I actually have quite a bit left from my last order and I think I can put off ordering again for at least another week. Or at least until DoorDash gives me another coupon.
Web Updates
Joined heaps of fanlistings and a few cliques, as well as two site directories (Smooth Sailing and LinkLane.net) and a webring (No AI Webring). I joined the MelonLand Forum and am dipping my toes in.
New page added to the main site:
And blog posts:
- weeknotes (july 20-26) (July 27)
- little free library visit log #1 (July 29)
- 📷 purple coneflower (july 29, 2025) (July 30)
- 📖 reading log: moby-duck by donovan hohn (July 30 & being updated daily)
- ai spams fediverse, zine library, permacomputing (August 2)
- 🎧 listened to: gender spiral podcast “money sucks -and- you can do it (w/river nice)” (August 2)
Looking Forward
Keep working on my website, write more blog posts, finish Moby-Duck and maybe one more book, perhaps start an animal-spotting log for this garden because WOW and catch up on my Dreamwidth correspondence.
