So there's a few things I'll be doing for the next few months. The first is going back onto the Paleo Diet, in which I basically avoid processed grains and all things super-starchy as much as is feasible. The second is the One Million Kilogram Challenge, which I am mostly in to support the girls on the blog. The third is the Army Fitness regime, minus the cardio, because there are things one can and cannot do with breasts, and running five kilometers a day is one of the cannots.

A sample day on the Paleo Diet will, for me, involve:

• 2-4 cups of tea with minimal sugar
• a few spoonfuls of yoghurt (half a typical tub)
• half a banana, half a dozen grapes, a dozen blueberries -- and, next week, a few strawberries
• a hard-boiled egg
• carrot and/or celery sticks with hommus or salsa (rice crackers for Darrin, because he hates uncooked veggies)
• three or four lettuce cups of san choy bao
• a small handful of cashews and dried apricots
• about two cups of meat and vegetable stew, in this case my moroccan beef

Today we kinda skipped the San Choy Bao because, well, haven't made it yet. Shhh. But that will happen tomorrow. The yoghurt and assorted fruit breakfast, and the carrot and hommus snack, though? Mnnnfffff. I really do like these things, it's just that often I forget how easy they are, or that they don't hate me.

The Army Fitness thing is pretty much trying to do both situps and pushups on a regular basis, with maybe some additional weights or walking whenever I can manage it. I'd like to do the running as well, but, well, HH cups are not exactly conducive to that sort of thing, just sayin'.

Aside from all of THAT... I'm not finished F&F yet. This is a problem that must be rectified.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/534904.html || comments

With the continuing campaigns for internet-censoring litigation such as SOPA and PIPA, and the closure of sites like Megaupload under allegations of 'piracy' and 'conspiracy' the time has come to take a stand against music, film, and media companies' lobbyists.

The only way is to hit them where it hurts.

Their profit margins.

March 2012 is the end of the First Quarter in economic reports world wide.

Do not buy a single record. Do not download a single song, legally or illegally. Do not go to see a single film in cinemas, or download a copy. Do not buy a DVD in the stores. Do not buy a videogame. Do not buy a single book or magazine.

Wait the four weeks to buy them in April: see a film later, etc... Holding out for just four weeks, maximum, will leave a gaping hole in media companies profits for the first quarter, an economic hit which will in turn be observed by governments world wide as stocks and shares will blip from a large enough loss of incomes. This action will give a statement of intent:

"We will not tolerate the Media Industries' lobbying for legislation that will censor the internet."

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/534368.html || comments

38153 / 100000 words. 38% done!

I think I'm closer to the end of this than I initially thought I would be, so I'm going with 100k as its final length right now. I think I can do it. I hope I can do it, because I only have two months left in which I am willing to work on this damn thing instead of my original work. XD

Things discovered this evening: apparently Vincent has weapons stashed all over his house. Like, in walls. So he can get to them but probably no one else will realise they are there. Because that's not creepy at all.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/534019.html || comments

So, that meme is going around. You know the one:
Turn to p45 of the closest book to you. The first sentence on that page describes your sex life in 2012.

Wizard and Glass is lying behind me, so I grab it and flick through:
The stone truth.

Fair enough, I think, and move on. Then a colleague uses the book she's working on as the book, and -- given that the book I am working on is open on my laptop, and in PDF format and everything -- I check that out, too.

My page title is Input/Output. My sentence is, [Product] introduces several performance enhancements in the input/output stack.


Days I am glad to be working in performance tuning? Today.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/533942.html || comments

37551 / 120000 words. 31% done!

Might not seem like a lot, but that's about five hundred words of rewrite thanks to my lovely Katie who has the learnings as far as scary writing goes. Still not quite there, but better. Hopefully I can sleep soon, though I wouldn't lay much money on it.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/533525.html || comments

So if anyone has the animated version of this icon, I need it in my life. Like, now.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/533289.html || comments

37518 / 120000 words. 31% done!

Slowwwwwly. And I may need help rewriting that psychotic break. But getting there.



Incidentally, tonight marks the first time I've looked at this version of F&F and seen good work that is getting closer to completion, instead of incomplete work that still has a long way to go. W00t.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/533185.html || comments

Good news: Darrin said yes! Well, Darrin squeaked, "Okay!" which is just as good if not better. XD

Unsurprising news: My mother did not respond to my first SMS, and responded to my second SMS with, "Doesn't this rate a phone call?"

Subsequent conversation did not involve the word "congratulations" until about four fifths of the way through, but managed to cover:
- how inconsiderate this was she was meant to pay for a wedding
- shouldn't you have some assets before taking this step
- whether I was pregnant
- since when do you ask your boyfriend
- other stupid inconsequential crap that oh my god why do I even bother communicating with this woman, this is why I SMS'd you instead of calling you. *headdesk*



Seriously. I mean, aside from anything else: do I strike you as the kind of person who would marry someone just because she was pregnant? How far from my mental standpoint could you *possibly be*? I was too unsurprised to even get mad at her in person, and now I just don't want to have any further conversations on the matter. Thanks for your support, as usual, Mum.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/532847.html || comments

But I kept my resolution of looking after myself, which I am pleased with.

I plan to stick to that resolution this year as well, with one further point:

This year, F&F is going down.

That is all.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/532503.html || comments

36844 / 120000 words. 31% done!

Really, really the end of Chapter 11 this time.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/531980.html || comments

So as you may or may not have guessed, I am on holiday! For another week or so! I already think this time is far too short, but am trying to ignore that. Also to persuade myself out of bed so I can actually do things with my holidays.

Spent the last week and a bit in Perth with Lauryn, Karen, and Tina, and got back on Monday night. Naturally I was ill for about 80% of the week, but perked up in time for birthday and zoo outings, so that was all right, and got to spend time with my girls besides. <3 Need to do this more often.

I'd really like to reorganise the house while I have the time to, but that would involve getting out of bed, and honestly, I can't see it happening until I have run out of internet.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/531547.html || comments

As I write this, I have spent almost my entire Sunday going through the Earth Temple and unearthing the Lanayru Mining Facility. My wiimote's batteries have run down twice since I got up this morning. I am pretty impressed with the game's ability to keep me a) interested, and b) thinking when I am not interested, so I can c) come back for more after I've puzzled along by myself for a while.

The major new feature this time around is the magic of dowsing, in which you wave your sword around aimlessly and follow the trail of bleeps. Dowsing makes it super easy to follow the trail that the game wants you to follow, but it's also very easy to get fixated on the little ticky boxes that you're dowsing for. I've actually more or less stopped using this feature unless I'm stuck; it doesn't feel natural to me, and it doesn't let me wander around picking out the corners of the map I haven't visited yet. True, this generally puts me in situations I'm not yet equipped for, but quite a number of times I've found ways around that. (Hint: Spamming + Skyward Strike = I'll just buff my fingernails over here.) I think dowsing may actually have been a method of allowing the designers to reuse the same areas without needing to design a visually clear path for players at various points in the game, and, hey, I'm okay with that. For some reason, though, having something actually orient you along certain paths, rather than just badgering you "vaguely" about sinking to the bottom of a lake, just doesn't feel very Zelda to me.

The items are tricky to describe all of a piece. I'm not quite satisfied with them as a whole - perhaps because I now need to collect shit to repair or upgrade my shield, and upgrade a whole host of other items, including potions. I'm sure none of it is actually necessary, but I prefer my sidequests with a little more substance than 'get new shiny'. :\

The special items are surprisingly kick-ass, though. When the trailer first appeared at E3, I saw the beetle and I thought, "Oh, god. What have they done?" I was certain it was going to be a disaster. Instead, the beetle has turned out to be one of my favourite special items, and one of the items best-justified by the history of the world, as it turns out. It's insanely useful in a variety of situations, especially now I have the pincer upgrade (the lack of which I had spent steadily cursing my way across the desert until I ran into the chap who gives it to you).

I'm still trying to figure out how exactly it fits into the overarching timeline -- the creators say it's pre-Ocarina, and before I got too far into the game, that made a decent bit of sense according to the split-timeline theory. Delving further, though, unless a) Impa reproduces via parthenogenesis, or b) the Sheikah are not a clan in the blood sense, but in the knowledge sense, or even c) the fuckers can just travel through time even though that's generally frowned upon and you will like it, shut up about your quantum.

So, plot-wise, it's confusing me. Game wise, I may be enjoying it more than Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. Liking the graphics much more than I did in Twilight Princess, too, because it's not quite so full of freaking light bloom. It could still use some refinement, especially in the Lanayru region, but it doesn't go out of its way to make things difficult.

The first boss was no boss at all, but the second (in the Earth Temple) was the most fun I have had in ages. It was just so awesome. Impossible to fail at, unless you have not yet grasped that bombs plus fire equals bad for you, but it's not immediately obvious that knocking things down does not necessarily mean they have lost health, so I did waste a bit of time in there. It was damn fun, though. You're basically battling on a giant slide. I know.

I need to go to bed. It is probably worth noting that I have been playing so long that I have the Lanayru Desert theme stuck in my head, and I don't even know it enough to tell you what the melody is. It's just there. Perpetuating.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/530963.html || comments

Some days it's just not worth gnawing through the straps.

My head hurts, and both work and friends are full of drama, which makes me want to throw my hands up at them both sometimes. Hopefully better tomorrow.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/530789.html || comments

So today we came home to discover that we had been broken into. Not a lot taken, thankfully, but the cats are a bit shook up, and I am very irritated. They went through our papers, so identity theft is a possibility. We also have a lot of technology that they didn't take, so we are a very definite target for future robberies, which is just fucking glorious. :\ So we'll be dealing with that for the next day or so. Joy.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/530579.html || comments

I have spent more time working from home in underwear and a sarong this month than I have spent in a sarong at any other point in my existence. It's just more comfortable. True, I can't answer the door, but at least I'm nice and cool when I'm sprawling on the couch.

I am a little behind on NaNoWriMo, but I have finished the opening at approx. 11k on Saturday or Sunday night (I forget), so presumably all the things that make it a zombie novel are about to happen. Some day this week, I probably ought to write a bit more of it. So far, Our Heroine has met:
- the cute Asian DJ,
- the slightly pathetic groomsman her mother is trying to set her up with, and
- the Islander dude who is probably going to save them all if he ever makes it back into the story.

In other news, this is probably the most racially diverse thing I have written so far that does not involve races that do not actually exist. Hurrah!

I have spent probably the last week procrastinating on drawing, which may be one reason NaNo was progressing so well. I am still procrastinating on drawing as I type. On the bright side, if Harriet Potter and Ronalda Weasley were not the best thing about the internet this last week, it is only because this afternoon I discovered both Verka Serduchka and genderswapped Weasley Twins, Frida and Georgia, who are perhaps the hottest thing ever in the world.

My anxiety is higher than it was a few months ago. It seems like I am anxious with my pills, and sad without them. I can't say I approve, but I'm going to chat with the doctor about it next week, so we'll see how we go. I've also been sleeping worse as the weather warms up, which kinda sucks. Mum has suggested dark cellophane on the windows. I am seriously considering it, but I think I just need to get used to sleeping with a mask on.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/530209.html || comments

I'm still in a state of boredom and non-productivity at work and at home, but I'm doing okay aside from that. I just want someone to come along and magically reset my house to "spick and span" so that I don't have to magically reset it myself with elbow grease. :(

Doing okay at NaNo, but not really enjoying what I'm writing just yet. Maybe that'll happen soon, idk, but I just don't think I'm the person to write Lesbian Zombie Wedding. Much better left to someone who writes humorously and/or horror.

Things that I would like to vanish:
- the weeds in the garden
- the filth on my tiles and carpets
- the washing
- the junk in the garage
- the junk all over the kitchen how doe this HAPPEN
- all my social obligations (except dinner with Alyce on Monday and my holiday in December)
- the next five weeks of work that I have to get through in order to be on holiday
- the necessity of Christmas shopping
- the additional twenty or thirty kilograms I am currently carrying
- my period
- the elusive sense of dissatisfaction that is causing me to write this list


BLAH.

Oh, and I should get my brother a graduation present of some sort. Maybe an EB voucher. Maybe a book on staying organised for university with an EB voucher in it.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/530124.html || comments

The funeral was yesterday, and it was nice enough. It was at the church next door to where Mum and her sisters went to school. Mum mentioned everything about Oomee that I thought was important, so I was satisfied. I didn't cry at the lectern doing my readings, just at every other point during proceedings, which is okay by me. Oopee seems to be doing okay, although I am about to call mum to confirm that.

I did about two thirds of a day's work today, and spent the afternoon reading On Writing and scribbling vaguely on a whiteboard until I had a vague idea of the overarching plot of Lesbian Zombie Wedding. The forecast for the next thirty or so days is 'tasteless' with the possibility of LOL.

Having called Mum, apparently my aunt was on the phone haranguing Oopee about Mum and Chris being in the front row at the funeral. Which upset Oopee all over again, because he defended mum and how much she's been doing, and how much Chris has been doing, and had to deal with the fact that his middle daughter is a stupid, selfish bitch again. He hasn't slept in weeks, is hardly eating, and has a weak heart. Let's upset the poor man further the day after his wife's funeral! Great fucking plan, Auntie Diane. You stupid, stupid bitch.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/529664.html || comments

She passed away last night, ostensibly in her sleep. The funeral is on Thursday. I was fine up until I started calling around to Dad's side of the family to tell them that she's gone, and now I am slightly a mess. If I did not have to actually say the words to people without SMS, it would not be so much of an issue. I can retain composure while I type. I suppose it's silly to attempt to, though.

We have to go shopping so that we have something to wear, but that really ought not to happen today.

But I am avoiding the real issue, which is this:

Oomee was amazing. She was, in many ways, the perfect grandmother. She baked, she crocheted, she knitted, she cooked amazing meals and had warm, enveloping hugs and loved her husband and her children and her children's children, and their children, and delighted in all of us. She did silly funny things like give me full blocks of chocolate for my birthday and then complain about how "mungie" (moon-jee) my legs were getting. She and Oopee were and are the original amazingly embarrassingly in love couple, and have been as long as I remember.

I have a blanket that she made just for me; it's lavender and purple and mauve and pale pink and pale blue, with tassels on both ends. Everyone in the family has one, in different colours, except for my brother, because by the time she got around to people of his age, the dementia had already stolen her ability to make them.

I'm desperately sad that she never got to see me as happy with Darrin as she has always been with Oopee. She would have rubbed his arms appreciatively, because that is what she did, and she would have fed him food so delicious that nothing I ever made could compare. And she would have been glad that I'd found someone I loved, because of all the people in my family, she and Oopee knew (and know) that that is the important thing, regardless of stupid social rules.

She was awesome, you guys, and I didn't spend enough time with her because she and Oopee lived a long way away. I'm not guilty about that, because neither of them needed their grandkids around to have a good time. But I'm sad I didn't spend more time in her presence.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/529583.html || comments

Went to see Oomee again today; her colour was better, and the nurses are now saying she may last weeks rather than days (although how she is going to manage this without any food or water is beyond me). I spoke to Dad this morning and he said something that Oopee later echoed; you get the feeling if it were a ten year old in there dying there would be a lot more racing around. That it didn't seem like they were trying to save her. She's only on very low doses of morphine apparently, and I understand Oopee's frustration at the lack of food/water she's getting. I'd like to think they know best, but that's a hard thing to trust to complete strangers.

I've been exhausted for the last two, three weeks -- haven't been exercising because I just feel like I need to sleep whenever I get the chance to sit down, and crying over Oomee whenever I think about it hasn't helped with that.

NaNo is in a week, and F&F is nowhere near finished; not much past where it was a month ago, in fact, because I just haven't felt like it. I'm bored of it again. I want to finish it, but I'm bored. I've solved all its problems, I've figured out its plot, and now there are no enjoyable puzzles left to solve during the writing, I can't be stuffed writing it. Story of my life. Hoping that outlining and writing a bit of Lesbian Zombie Wedding will help.

Hoping I will still have something to celebrate on Wednesday, but if not, I have a date with the QI crowd on October 31 which I am very much looking forward to.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/529335.html || comments

They've taken Oomee off food and water; she is now driven entirely by morphine. I sat with her today, along with mum, my aunts, my vagrant uncle, and Oopee.

He realised that his wife of sixty plus years was dying, really dying, at about four o' clock this afternoon. I think it is appalling that adults feel the need to apologise for crying while preparing for and dealing with a loss like this, especially adults as passionate and gentle as my grandfather.

She doesn't know or even really see any of us, but she still recognises and visibly calms when she hears his voice.

I don't expect her to last more than a few days. I hope her sister makes it to her bedside in time. I'm not sure whether to hope Oopee is with her when she goes or not, but I suspect he wants to be.

How long he wants to be anywhere after that is anyone's guess.

[EDIT] Mum asked me if I wanted to sing at her funeral. I want to, but I'll shatter, but fuck anyone who thinks I shouldn't.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/528907.html || comments