blissmorgan. Entries tagged with holidays

I'm having some leftover feels from Valentines/Galentines day, mostly surrounding the fact that I moved away from where I built my meatspace friends network almost a decade ago, and their lives have moved on, and I have not built much of a new network in the here. Not that I wish to replace those relationships, but I need somebodies who are close to me to spend time with, to support and be supported by, to have a life that is something other than just me and a selection of little glowing screens.

The obvious answer is to poke the fine folks who ARE local to me and do the making of concrete plans. I did it in December AND January, and I need to keep it up despite the fact that my most recent attempt fell through.

Today is Boomerang Celebration; SALM was in NJ with his mom for a few days and only just came back last night. Yesterday was my long day at work. None of this was conducive to schmancy togetherness. Instead we did basic togetherness: we went for an Ingress Drive, picked up chinese food to feed the family, and watched an episode of Z Nation before we each had to go do some Intensive Parenting for two different Spawn.

Today, though! Today he is off work due to dental stuff, and it's my regular day off. He is already in Boston, and I am shortly going to go hop on a train to join him. We're meeting up for hot pot, and then possibly some shenanigans - perhaps going to the Common for a walk. Perhaps not. Whatever we do, it'll be nice because it's some time together. That, I've been realizing, is why yesterday didn't really have much importance/impact. No flowers, no chocolates - no big deal, because we spend time taking care of each other and fostering our individual and shared contentment on the regular. No big gestures required, to know that we are loved.

::sudden topic switch::

I still haven't ordered a fountain/calligraphy pen. I should do that soon. I've gotten two InCoWriMo letters, and I'm going to work on my replies to them on the train.

I'm wearing a perfume called Kathmandu today. I'm trying to work my way through a bunch of the sample vials I've had for a while and haven't touched. The site says is is made of: Saffron, blessed sandalwood, Himalayan cedar and the miraculous lotus of the Buddha with chiuri bark and Nepalese spices. That explains why I am liking it so much; woody and spicy scents tend to sit well with the chemistry of my skin.

Time to get ready to catch my train. I hope you're doing well. Sorry I vanished for a while. Sometimes I go Big Turtle.

<3

Mood content

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Being able to sleep in is somehow elusive to me. Several times in the past week, thanks to children being away and various holidays/weekends, I have had the opportunity to do so, and usually stayed up late the night before. Each time, however, my body wakes around 7. That is the time that is the point of no return when it comes to getting the Spawn ready for school, and I think my body clock is somehow attuned to it.

On Sunday I paid tribute to the porcelain gods and returned to bed for a while. Today, no such luck. Today I was not sleeping alone, and while the room had been cool enough for me to comfortably fall asleep, for the comfort of my fellow sleeper there were two warm-mist humidifiers running. The air was too moist; I was too conscious of my breathing. It was a low-grade version of trying to inhale in a steam room. The other rooms in the house are all unsuitable for sleep. So, I am up.

I am back into that space where I am having vibrant and narrative dreams, and my mind is alighting on random objects, sounds, happenings, and making of those things brief but vivid scenes or vignettes. These are tell-tale signs, to me, that I am ready to start writing stories again. I was doing so regularly for the first... I want to say the first third of last year. Approximately once a week I wrote a story and shared it in relatively rough/unedited form on my Patreon. I would like to do that again. I need to get over that awful little "but what do I write about?" hum, however.

Perhaps there are story/writing prompt communities or accounts here on DW; I shall have to have a looksee.

My Mornthing post the other day was huge, but that showed me that I actually do have rather a lot to say when I am letting it come, rather than when I am trying to push myself to make social media posts on a daily schedule. Mornthings here are likely to be less-than-daily, but I reassure myself that they will also be more content-rich.

Today I am going to spend some time writing. First up on the docket is transcribing the responses to my written RPs into actual digital responses to them. I've been snatching spare minutes here and there putting them in a dead tree notebook. Then... then I shall go on a prompt-hunt, I think. Perhaps I'll even dig out the neato notebook that I had set up to use as a bullet journal (bujo) and see if I can't kickstart its use in some way that dovetails in with my writing. A dedicated page that tracks what I've written and when and how long it is, perhaps. I'll figure it out when I get to it.

The world is silverybright and damp outside my window. It rained fiercely here last night, and not only here - a friend half a continent away said it was like the universe was powerwashing last year off this world. I am holding that comment in my mind concurrent with the person I helped yesterday who commented to another person that the new year was just another day.

Every day is just another day. But every day is a day where things can change for the better.

Happy new year, Blisstopia - and good morning.

Mood hopeful
Music Dishwasher rumbles

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You know what my social media totally needs? Another post talking about social media!

In brief, everything is in wild kerfluffle right now.

In not so brief but list-oriented format (with links!):

Google+ announced to be shuttering by August 2019
Google Hangouts rumored to be closing down, although initial reports have been amended to say there will be a migration from Hangouts to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet
Tumblr is going to ban adult content as of December 17, and in the run-up to that has deployed some sort of supposed porn-detecting algorithm to flag posts that is in fact flagging everything, from innocuous cartoons to sand dunes, to regular fully clothed selfies and Mark Rothko abstract art, and even in the most laughable instance of all it flagged Tumblr's own text-only announcement of the impending change.
Facebook made a community standards policy change last month that essentially bans any mention whatsoever of sex or sexuality, and has started removing posts that mention sex in any way

So much is changing, and some if not all of these changes have me and thousands of others rethinking where we can comfortably post content we enjoy and interact with other folks without being afraid of an unnecessary ban-hammer. I came to Dreamwidth, and plan to keep sticking with the place. I will be creating a Blisstopia community sooner rather than later, so that folks can be social there. I have a Discord server - ping me for an invite, because it's a really decent place for both group and individual chatty goodness. I'm Bliss#0337

I'm on Twitter but I don't use it much.
I'm on Instagram, but mostly have just been using it as an easy way to push photo-based posts to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, so I don't know how much longer that will be useful.
I may make a PIllowfort account if a lot of folks from Tumblr go that way, but it's still very much in development and I'm hoping they come here instead.

WHEEE, CHANGES!

In other news, there are other changes in my life. Most notably, I am shifting from a part-time-technically-scheduled-for-less-than-twenty-hours-but-working-close-to-thirty position at work to a full time position. I am excited not only because I got my review at the same time, so this change is coming with the related small pay bump, but because my boss is really thoughtful and dedicated to working with my particular situation and needs so that the job doesn't interfere with my home life. To that end, I am going to be Closer Girl Extraordinaire! I'll be able to get all the Spawn up and off to school, and then head into work. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are going to be regular 8-hour days. Thursdays I'll be starting earlier and ending later, making a 10-hour day, because Saturday is only a 6 hour day. Fridays being a day off is awesome not just because it leaves me a chunk of open weekday time for any needful things that need doing during traditional business hours, but also it's a day off when the Spawn are at school so I get some built-in time just for me every week, AND I will still have no problem driving the lads to the Spawnfather's place on alternate Friday nights.

In related good news, my little pay bump is retroactive to when I should have had my review back in the beginning of September, so there will be a nice little chunk of change in my next paycheck for that. Given the impending $winter holiday$, plus the work my car needs done, the timing on that honestly could not be better.

Meanwhile, I have a workfriend who has made the overtures toward being an outside-of-work friend, and I could not be more excited. We have had some very similar life situations/experiences, and seem to kind of be in the same social interest place right now. To wit: "want to come over and have some wine and crochet and watch horror with me?"

A WORLD OF YES.

So, I still need to make the call to get the car worked on. I need to do Christmas shopping. I need to find me a kittycat to come be my buddy.

But I have a job I enjoy and am good at, at a place where I like all the people and they appreciate me and understand the value I bring to the job. I'm making enough money to pay my bills and start saving, the impending car repairs that will be eating all those savings notwithstanding. I am reasonably healthy.

And I gave myself the gift of a little bit of World of Warcraft time, so maybe come find me in Azeroth? I'm Bliss#1599 there.

Hello, Blisstopia.<3

Mood okay

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discord,
good mornthing,
holidays,
talking about the internet on the intern,
tumblr,
where's bliss,
work,
world of warcraft

In America, where I live, it is a holiday called Thanksgiving. It tends to be characterized by an intersection of celebrations and stresses. I am attempting to maximize the former and minimize the latter by not travelling, and by making a small feast suitably sized for and catered to the tastes of the few people I am feeding. For myself, SALM, and Daughterchild, I will be roasting a smallish turkey with a rosemary garlic butter rub under the skin. I will be baking potatoes, for which there are the options of sour cream, butter, salt, pepper. I will steam carrots, and I will bake rolls.

It will be a simple meal, but delicious. Within our means, and soon within our bellies.

I am deliberately not setting unrealistic expectations for myself today. I know I can roast this turkey because I have done this specific recipe before; it was, in fact, the way I roasted the turkey on the last Thanksgiving before I left Spawnfather, when we hosted his family for the holiday. I know I can bake potatoes, because I have done it. Ditto the carrots. The only new thing are the rolls, which are merely brown-and-serve, simple and tasty.

Aside from the food, I plan to shower and do some more fiber arts. I have have spent the morning thus far finishing a scarf. It is the offset dragonflies pattern in a white vintage fisherman's yarn, and it is flipping lovely. After I have gotten the food into the oven, I am going to set about trying to translate the pattern from crochet into knitting. This is perhaps my one unrealistic expectation for the day, because I have not done this kind of translation before. However, I have done the pattern enough in crochet that I know it, and I have enough knit skills that I already have a pretty good idea in mind of how to go about it.

There will perhaps be some picking up in the living room.
There will probably be off-brand chambord-type liquor in seltzer, because the sweetness and the bubbles feel suitably festive.
There will likely be a movie and/or minecrafting later on.

I am thankful that I have the agency and ability to use today to care for others but also for myself - that it can largely be a day of rest.

I hope you are well. I am thankful to know you.

Hello, Blisstopia.<3

Mood creative

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How to start a day: Make coffee, get kids to school, rediscover an indie musical artist who was just getting started last time you listened to them and plow through all their new-to-you music on Youtube, get antisemitic anon hate on Tumblr, fix glittery nail polish.

Yes, really.

We are barrelling toward the end of October - Halloween is coming, as is the switchover from the Nightmare Fuel Project to NaNoWriMo. I still have not settled on what I'll be focusing on for NaNo this year. I might try to pull out an old novel and see what progress I can make it, or I might just sit down and write [s]porn[/s] erotica every day. Or create some new fairy tales. Or more horror. Or or or.

I'll figure it out when I get there.

I learned some interesting things yesterday, including that Bosslady thinks I've got the chops to advance pretty quickly within the organization. I'm mulling over the ups and downs of more scheduled hours and higher associated wage versus maintaining the part time level and continuing to attempt to make something happen for myself in the field in which I actually studied.

Still waiting to hear about the loan. Still driving my car as little as possible, and with the windows open.

Are any of you going to be doing NaNoWriMo? If I run writing group chats on Hangouts or Skype or something, possibly even simply in posts on here, would that be valuable for you or distracting?

Hello, Blisstopia.<3