They’re baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
Um, okay, you can come out from behind the sofa. It’s not Poltergeist, y’know…
The Monday Meme is back! I’ve actually missed this, so I’m happy to see it return. This week, Berry is asking about New Year stuff.
How did you spend New Year’s Eve?
Sappily, cuddling Daros on a couch in Second Life. I’d far rather ring in the new year with my best friend than spend it crammed into a pub that has so many drunk people in it that you have to either keep your drink raised or lowered, because you simply can’t bloody move your arm or anything else. Been there, done that on many a NYE in the past. Maybe I’m getting old :p
We cuddled, and I watched the London fireworks, then switched channels to watch Jools Holland’s always-awesome Hootenanny. Tons of live acts playing, and it was as brilliant as it always is.
Did you keep any new years’ resolutions?
As I wrote in a comment on Berry’s blog a couple of weeks ago, I don’t make resolutions as such any more. I choose instead to focus on one aspect of myself that has been bugging me and that I feel I need to work on. Last year it was my constant physical tension and lack of spiritual direction. I took up meditation, and that’s helped me immensely with both of those things.
For 2014 my focus is my godawful habit of procrastination. I’ve stuck Post-it notes in various strategic places around the house, with things written on them like: DO IT NOW! and TAKE FIVE MINUTES AND DO THAT THING YOU’VE BEEN PUTTING OFF! ;-)
What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
Last year was kind of a flat one for me, to be honest. I don’t feel that I achieved anything that might be regarded as standing out. However, I stuck with the meditation and that’s still ongoing. To me, forging a new habit is an achievement.
Oh, and starting this blog! My Flickr posts were getting longer and longer, so I guess it was time I started rambling my nonsense in a venue that was more appropriate for it *g*
What was the best thing you bought?
The smallest thing, actually: an air purifier. It cost me about £20 and it’s been a godsend. It uses simple tap water to purify and ionise the air in the house, and I can add essential oils to it (or Olbas Oil when I’ve got a cold, so I can breathe at night). I’m asthmatic, so that £20 was a good investment.
What do you wish you’d done more of?
Building in SL. I’ve let that slide over the past few months. I guess the well of inspiration ran dry and I had to refill it. In real life, I wish I’d slept more! My alarm clock, as I’ve mentioned before on this blog, goes off at 4am. In order to get eight hours of sleep that means I should be in bed at 8pm. Yeah, it’s almost 9pm now, so… (Hey, that’s what I get for reloading the tabs on my browser one last time before bed!)
What do you wish you’d done less of?
Wasting time online! I’ve got a couple of personal projects that I really should be working on, but instead I find myself faffing around for hours on the internet. It’s a huge timesuck for me, but if I don’t start work on the projects the minute I get home, I’m doomed. If I open my browser, bang goes the project XD
What was your favorite movie you watched this year?
Y’know… I haven’t seen the inside of a cinema in several years. I don’t think I’ve even watched a current movie in 2013. Bad Skell! So instead I’ll talk about my favourite TV series (and I rarely watch TV either) which was Hannibal. I came to it after the series had finished. Some kind soul *cough* made available *cough* all the episodes for me, and I mainlined the entire series in one day. Talk about a shock to the system, but holy SHIT son, that series was mind-blowing. I fully intend to watch season 2 as it happens.
What did you do on your birthday this year?
I didn’t work. My god, I sound so fucking old and boring, but that’s exactly what I did. I managed to wangle the day off work, and that was enough for me. I lounged around the house in PJ bottoms all day, ate bad stuff, drank not-quite-so-bad stuff, worked my way through a couple of short ebooks on my Kindle, and generally chilled the fuck out. And it was fabulous :-)
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned.
To keep in touch with the elders in your life that you love. I lost my wonderful little Nan last year, at the grand old age of 96. I miss her like hell, but I have so many warm memories of her (and my Grandad, who passed away several years ago) and I’m glad that the very last thing I said to her was, “I love you.”
What does 2014 hold for you?
Less procrastination, continual decluttering of my home (multiple moves have left stuff in boxes in the loft, plus remaining detritus from my last relationship), those personal projects, continued meditation, lots of music and books. After that, I’ll let the Universe lead me where it will :-)
Um, and yeah. I’m going to bed now. I’m only an hour late! :p
I absolutely fell in love with Hannibal, like I can’t even describe the immense love I have for that show. It totally scared me half to death and it messes with your mind so much. I cannot wait for it to start up again.
Also, I love the fact that your post-it notes yell at you.
I’d intended to take my time with those hoarded episodes, to watch one a day. After the first one, I just had to know what happened next, and from there I watched the entire series in a single, emotionally-exhausting day. I was slightly shellshocked by the end of it all; so much death and twisting manipulation.
My hat is off to Bryan Fuller for coming up with all of those inventive ways to bump someone off. They were all incredibly gruesome, but I think the oxygen chamber is the one that sticks horribly in my mind. It was the only one where I literally had to cover my eyes for a moment, but goddamn was it ever a beautifully-constructed bit of plotting.
As for my Post-it notes, they believe in tough love ;-)
Hannibal I’m guessing not good to watch during my lunch breaks, but ya’ll make it sound so tempting! thing I love about post it notes is that after I line them up across the top of my laptop (cause thats where my lazy arse is anyway), I crumple each one as the task written on it is completed.
Nothing more annoying than having 20 neon colored postits screaming, “do your chit,” on my monitor.
I’d definitely suggest not watching Hannibal if there is food in your immediate future (or immediate past), but I definitely recommend the series in general. Interesting fact: exquisite cooking forms a decent proportion of each show in the series – Hannibal is a gourmet, after all, and the kitchen scenes are beautiful – but it’s not the kind of meal you or I would fancy sitting down to ;-)
I enhance that crumply Post-it feeling by striking through each item on the note first, before I do the crumple-and-aim-at-bin thing. That works for lists, but is slightly less effective for long-term reminders.
Please immediately disable the Ionizer. You are destroying your lungs. I used an Ionizer too before I learned it was dangerious because Consumer Reports sued Sharper Image over this con scheme. I have been using air purifizer for a very long time. Ionizers are bad for you. Let me explain, Ionizers create Ozone. Ozone is like bleach in the air, in large quantities it does in fact smell like bleach, and it kills all biologics. You wouldn’t want to live in city with high pollution (Ozone), right? Don’t put it in your home willingly! There is one positive thing you can do with Ozone, “Shock a room” to sterilize it all biologicals. If you are serious about getting really nice purified air, try the Consumer Reports on the best models. That’s what i did. I got great results! READ MORE about ionic purifiers here: USA Enviromental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html#are%20ozone%20generators%20effective%20in%20controlling%20pollution .. WIki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_ioniser
p.s. You don’t want to be in your home or in your car when you “shock” it with Ozone. It’s deadly. But this method does work to remove smoke orders. One of the few things that does work.
Not to worry, Devin. The ioniser is a separate part of the unit, and I don’t actually use that part; I only use the simple water purifier part. I mentioned it in the post because that’s one of the things the unit can do, but I don’t make use of it.
I know what ozone does to the lungs (my asthma always gets worse whenever I’m at the coast) and I’m very way of it being in my immediate vicinity. I frequently have to work with strong hypochlorites and often in a humid atmosphere – all of which are asthma triggers for me – but since I’ve been using the purifier (in combination with a dehumidifier at home) my lungs have been a lot more settled.
In short, worry not! I’m not using an ionising unit with a HEPA filter or an ozone generator; this unit simply pulls stale air in through a vent in the back, passes it through a spray of tap water, then pushes it out of vents in the front. It’s very simple, and no worse than standing in the bathroom with the shower running :-)
ok, Good to hear. ^^