missizzy

Mon, 18 May 2026 01:38:14 GMT

Got my first raid today! Another small streamer whom I raided some time back returned the favor. Streaming BG3 both yesterday and today, if only because I'm going to be out of town come next Saturday, I got a few more viewers than I have on my non-Dispatch streams before them. Though I also got accosted by at least one more non-bot scammer, possibly two.
As I close in on one trip, I'm also working on the next. I booked my flights to San Diego and back just now. Ended up going with United, like in previous years, but one thing that made me raise my eyebrows was they had no direct flights going either way, and when we'd always taken those in the past. (I also looked into Southwest, who didn't have any direct flights either, but they often haven't.) Hope there are some good options for lunch in the Chicago airport. A layover there might not be a bad idea for me if there are, since I can't eat on planes.

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Fri, 15 May 2026 02:14:45 GMT

Between one thing and another, I haven't been playing much of Dragon Age: Origins since I started it ages and ages ago, but I did reach one milestone today: I reached the part where it started requiring more memory to run on a modern computer than it wants to allow itself, forcing me to scramble to figure out why it was crashing and than how to install a mod/patch that would get it to just use the extra memory. Just as well I'm not streaming it right now. Also, I'm pretty sure I've finally started the game's proper plot. I currently have a fluctuating crush on Alistair, who is my main candidate for romancing at the moment, but I probably should meet the other characters before making that decision. Also, the more he and Morrighan snipe at each other, the more I wonder if I should just ship them together instead.
Also, a week before I head down to Atlanta! I've actually joined a discord for people going to the live show, and I might be doing a meetup with some of them at the aquarium, though the plans for that don't seem to be concrete yet. Though this weekend I also feel like I should book my flights to and from San Diego; it's closing in on two months before that as well.

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Fri, 08 May 2026 12:21:27 GMT

And so I have reached the answer to life, the universe, and everything, and meanwhile I have a birthday twin who's made it to the century mark! Congratulations, Sir David Attenborough. I should watch a bit more of his shows at some point. I've taken the day off, though I'm not sure what I'm doing with it. Besides posting this.
This morning I got the second comment on "The Final Afternoon" that was clearly from a scammer, which is especially depressing when the story still only has four hits. Though at least this one made the effort of reading it first. Here's hoping I have more luck with this thing.

Title: All Five
Part: 18: Everyone on Planet
(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17)
Fandom: Star Wars
Characters: Qui-Gon, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Mace, Padme
Disclaimer: Now Disney owns them.
Warning: Off-screen suicide
Note: Sequel to "Growing Up in the Jedi Temple."

( It was a journey that could be done in just under a day if you took the quickest routes and went as fast as it was safe for their ship to go. Just enough time that Anakin had to actively work to keep all his scarier thoughts at bay. )

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More technical difficulties

Sun, 03 May 2026 13:16:33 GMT

I streamed as usual Saturday. I did note from the summary afterwards I hadn't gotten watched nearly as much as I was last week, which felt sad. But it didn't feel like the drop needed a real explanation; viewership still was about at the level it's often been at during the month I've been doing this now.
Then, while preparing for this morning's stream, I took a look at the video, and discovered OBS has suddenly stopped picking up the desktop audio! No wonder my viewership dropped. Honestly, I'm a little surprised I apparently still got 35 minutes worth! I kind of wish one of the five presumably non-scamming viewers who came in and out at various points according to the summary had pointed it out, but they might have even thought I'd turned the audio off on purpose. That's far from unknown on Twitch, though usually the streamer then turns music on.
I was forced to let Windows update Friday morning, and I'm pretty certain that's the cause, and that they turned something off in the settings. Unfortunately, I current have no idea what. I've posted in the OBS discord and hopefully someone will tell me by Friday, although my streaming then was up in the air even before this.
ETA: Figured it out on my own. This time.

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Another ficlet about my Tav

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 15:21:46 GMT

I finished this little narrative prelude this morning, right before I started streaming.

( The Final Afternoon )

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Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:25:17 GMT

I finished Dispatch on stream this morning. My gameplay was terrible, down in the bottom percentage, but I still very much liked it. I also like how many viewers it got my stream. It seems to be a popular game to watch; mostly I've only been getting one viewer at a time, but I got more both last and this Sunday morning. I might play through it again at some point, if only because there are a few alternate scenes I now really want to see, and I'll definitely play through the second season whenever it might come out.
I'm having to play a few games that are new to me. The first one was Little Kitty, Big City, which I started on stream Friday night, and I truly loved it. I'll do at least a few more Friday nights of it, no doubt. (It can apparently be finished in two hours, but I will no doubt take way longer.)
I've also started uploading my past broadcasts to a YouTube account of their own, including some highlights from my test recordings. I might make some other highlight videos too at some point.
Also these past few weekends I've also been trying to record my latest song. I'd gotten some okay recordings, then this afternoon I got one I felt certain I would post right after I finished recording. I got more hesitant after watching through it, but now I've decided to go with it. And hey, a song from from the Hunger Games movies feels appropriate these days:

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Why is there no wait time?!

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:29:18 GMT

In the two days since Hotelpocalypse was announced as happening today and my sister confirmed she can't afford to go this year, I have been thinking about how to make the biggest trip I've ever taken on my own as low-stress as possible. I quickly decided today I would make no attempt at the the biggest hotels, and started debating how many minutes of wait time I would allow before I gave up on any downtown hotel room and just went straight for one in Mission Valley. I really want my room booked and done with today. Especially because this wasn't even the best day for me to take off work.
But there's no wait time. My bar is currently moving, if slowly, but I don't know how long this is going to take, or what's going to be available as a result. Initially I even wondered if the system crashed, but now I'm hearing on Bluesky some people are now getting in.
Being home meant I watched lilsimsie's stream this morning, with the congressman trying to keep EA out of the hands of Kushner and the Saudis. I'm afraid his words didn't leave me all that hopeful, honestly. I signed the petition, though.
ETA: A two-hour Hotelpocalypse! Got a room in Mission Valley in an area that doesn't look like a bad place to spend a free Saturday.

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A second weekend of streaming

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:13:18 GMT

I originally intended to stream Friday night, but I ended up watching the Artemis splashdown instead. I've been following this mission with a lot more interest than I've had in space for a while. I still don't trust the motives of any of the the power brokers in space right now, but at this point we're all taking consolation where we can, and in this voyage we took it. I suspect I may not stream every Friday anyway. It may be contingent on whether I feel up to it.
Saturday, on the other hand, has officially become Baldur's Gate day. (Although the Wednesday I have to take off for Hotelpocalypse, I'm hoping to steam it and check into the Elfsong afterwards. But now I'm at the Sarevok Anchev fight, and I spent two hours yesterday struggling to win it. I finally went and fought the guards separately, and I think with them out, I might be able to win it by putting the party on the side ledge at the start of it. Maybe even skip the dialog and start it with an AOE spell.
This morning I streamed episodes 4-5 of Dispatch. Gameplay wasn't very good, but it was still my most successful stream yet. But I also found myself really wishing I could romance Phenonaman. I'm romancing Blonde Blazer, and that's all well and good, but seriously, I *love* this guy.

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I am now officially a Twitch streamer!

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 21:55:02 GMT

When I first prepared to make my second attempt at streaming this afternoon, fate continued to throw things at me. The OBS acted up and the game capture stopped capturing, though thankfully the display capture ultimately showed it would do. And it was a very good thing that the links I posted in a couple of discords did get me a watcher, since otherwise I might never have noticed the microphone had turned itself off! Some other people came in too, though unfortunately they were all trying to scam me or hit on me. (Actually conversed with the first of them, until the one proper viewer told me not to. I suppose I was still naive enough to assume even the not-bot scammers would make themselves more obvious more quickly.) I need to locate the ban hammer at some point. But all in all, I think things went quite well. The sound seemed fine, I think I kept that one good viewer throughout(which was one more than I honestly thought there would be!), and I think I did well enough at talking for my first time.
Now I just have to find a new video editor, one at least good enough to trip the VOD and edit together the highlights from my test recordings to go up on YouTube, since I can no longer find my code for the video editor I had on the old computer, and I can't seem to find where to buy a new version of it. I may or may not end up paying for whatever I use, but I'd have to think it at least as good as that one.

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Sun, 29 Mar 2026 12:49:47 GMT

I just booked a train to Atlanta in late May, and a plane back. Turns out that while Atlanta has a train station, there don't seem to be many passenger trains going there. To avoid having to fly there I'm going to have to catch the overnight train late on Friday, get there the next morning, and hope I can find somewhere to stash my bag for seven hours before I can check into my hotel. And there were no trains going out the day after the live show. It was endure an airport, or endure 15 hours on a bus, and I'm not up to the latter in my middle age. I booked an afternoon flight just to be able to get the airport as many hours in advance as possible.
I've now done two more test recordings. The second, done after I finally managed to completely disable the audio on the webcam, sounded just fine, aside from my keyboard being very loud in it(maybe get foam to put under the microphone?). But then again, so did the test recording I did before my first disastrous streaming attempt. I'm going to try again this coming Saturday, so I'll have to see how it goes then.

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There were technical difficulties

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 13:06:05 GMT

Everything was going great yesterday-until right before I went online, when I possibly clicked on something wrong, or maybe the problems that failed to make themselves apparent during the test recording just decided to show up on their own. I spent half an hour struggling to get the stream to work. The game audio wasn't playing, and the audio I was getting instead was appalling, and repeating itself at points, or maybe that was just the stream in general, I'm no longer even sure. I gave up in tears.
After venting in one of my discords, something suggest I ask for help in the OBS discord. So I did. They gave me a couple of pieces of advice that helped, probably most notably muting the audio from my webcam. But the game audio is still muting whenever I try to do anything with the OBS, and will almost certainly still do so when I try to do so with Twitch's control page, and their only suggestion for that was that I try to control those remotely, which honestly does not sound realistic. Also their analyzer is still claiming one of my audio devices has a sample rate that doesn't match the rest, and with the webcam muted I can't find any that aren't at 48000 Hz. And while the audio doesn't sound terrible anymore, it's lost volume, and still doesn't sound all that great, and I've heard all too much about how you need it to be good.
I'm tempted to just take today off from trying to deal with it. Go see the cherry trees in DC, maybe, since the ones in the neighborhood are finally blooming. I don't know if I'm even going to try to stream next weekend, but I might aim to make a second go at it the weekend after that.

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Today's the day!

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 14:20:04 GMT

Been making a few last minute preparations, including a little bit of promotions in a couple of discords, though I really don't know if I'll get any viewers at all today. Also looked into monetization, though I'm not doing that for the moment. It took an aggravatingly long time to determine whether Twitch will put ads on my stream or not, but it now seems like they can, but aren't likely to bother right now. After the test recording I did on Wednesday night mostly just to see if the sound quality was okay and also if my game would crash (It ran smoothly for the 50 minutes...) I am currently standing at the front of the Counting House, which I suppose will make for as interesting a first stream. I'll probably be streaming Date Everything! and Dispatch over the next week as well, though I'm less certain what I'll stream when I'm done with the latter. It's all happening over here, starting today at 1 PM Eastern.

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Fri, 20 Mar 2026 11:24:50 GMT

As is my current custom, I watched about two hours of Critical Role last night, ( enough of it to... ) Nonetheless the Schemer's table is going to be a bit harder for me to watch, because it's so reflective of the times we're already suffering through in real life. I've just come up on a scene I am not looking forward to, so I'm procrastinating on watching it by posting this, which I finally finished yesterday.

Title: Habeas for Superheroes
Part: 13: Page versus Stark
Fandom: Daredevil/Avengers
Characters: Matt/Foggy, Karen, Tony Stark, Colleen Wing
Disclaimer: Now Disney owns them.
Warning: Discussion of MCU Civil War events
Note: Third installment in my Femme!Foggy series.

( Foggy entered the offices of Hogarth, Chao, and Benowitz to find much of the firm gathered in their reception area, eyes on the TV. )

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Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:15:30 GMT

I think in the future, I may actually hold off on buying badges for AwesomeCon until the schedule is actually announced. I can't do that for any event I travel to, perhaps, but I don't think this one even sells out like that. If I'd done that this time, I'd have gone yesterday and tomorrow, and my foot probably would've been very grateful for the day off in between to boot.
As it is, the highlight of the event for me this year was absolutely Neil and Devora. Doing a podcast together has made the two of them a brilliant double act. They were playing off each other perfectly even before they had cause to demonstrate some of the practical issues of mocap using their water bottles. But the audience also helped with some of their very creative questions; Devora even joked she might come back to DC just for the questions. One of them was what was the last line each of them recorded for BG3. Unfortunately Devora couldn't remember what she'd done last, and Neil couldn't remember the last line, either, but he did remember and relate the last thing he did for it, which now makes me want to play origin Astarion.
I managed to buy a few things as well, including a cute drawing of Mulder and Scully eating Chinese food. Today I also attended a panel of those searching for any signs of life in outer space, which ended up feeling more like a reminder of just how much we have found in space this century, even if we haven't yet found that.
But I am currently planning for my first ever stream to be in a week's time, so now I must buckle down. I finally downloaded OBS this evening, though I haven't tried to install it yet.

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Thu, 12 Mar 2026 02:22:21 GMT

Our D&D group has moved from Clarendon to Crystal City. At first we tried another gaming bar, but it had the same problems that drove us out of the Board Room; too loud and nowhere for us to sit. We ended up in the semi-outdoor section of a sports bar, where things are actually much quieter. I don't know how it'll do once the weather gets cold again, but these past two weeks it's been nice. Unfortunately we're still having people bail on us, and when once guy couldn't make it tonight we were down to three players as a result. Though as the DM noted when we ended up finishing early, that made things go much faster than they have. It's been a slow investigative campaign so far; the only time initiative has been rolled was in the immediate aftermath of the bar getting fireballed, and that was emergency management instead of combat. We've also leveled up, which is nice.
Last month when I bought my badges for AwesomeCon, I decided for a change of pace to take Friday off and go then and Saturday instead of Sunday. Now, of course, the schedule is out, the Critical Role people are making their first DC appearance on Sunday! But at least I should be able to see Neil and Devora, and that'll be the first time I'll get to see any of the BG3 cast too.

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Sun, 08 Mar 2026 13:23:57 GMT

Did my taxes this morning. For the third year in a row I resorted to TurboTax, and for the third year in a row it was a quick process. I got a modest refund out of it this time.
Next year, I suppose, taxes might become a more complicated process, if I actually make any money on Twitch. But of course I may never make enough for them to actually pay out. I'm not quite sure what happens then. One would think the IRS wouldn't care about imaginary income you never actually get, but, well.
Today the high is supposed to be in the 70s, and I will likely go out in my continuing quest for enough tights that won't rip after one wear to get me through each work week. Around this time last year my sister gave me the name of an online company one of her friends swore by, but one of the pairs I bought from them lasted less time than other tights I'd bought earlier, and the other has vanished completely, possibly eaten by the washing machine. I'm tempted to look for a place to get me hair trimmed, but I may not have the spoons for that. I haven't now for years.

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Now operating with two monitors

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:26:28 GMT

I ended up ordering a new 5TB external hard drive from Staples on Saturday, because they didn't have them in stock. No fancy expensive SSD stuff, just room to put big files in. The guy indicated I'd get it the next day, although by that it seems he meant today. I got home today to it having arrived, and moving those final two files over became a quick and easy task. The old computer is now officially retired. Though I still need to figure out where I'm putting it, as well as the spare mouse, keyboard, etc. I now have handy.
Though I already knew exactly where its monitor was going: it was switching places with the TV, and both monitors are now plugged into my new computer. Got a brief scare when plugging it in caused the sound to stop working, but turned out I just needed to switch the output back. I'm typing this entry on it while I watch Twitch on the other monitor! Once I thought I'd never want a second monitor, but things have changed lately.

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A few bumps

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 15:52:53 GMT

This morning I tested out the new microphone. Once I'm a sufficient distance away from it (something I'm going to have to get used to), the sound quality isn't bad, but I can hear a tiny bit of flickering in the background. Not the biggest problem while podficcing; it will be an improvement there, at least. Streaming with it is another matter. Perhaps it might not even be audible much of the time, but there are times it probably will be. How to get rid of it I do not know. Maybe I should try to figure out this Razer Synapse thing that I ended up installing when I first plugged it in?
I haven't figured out how to get those two pesky final files off my old computer either. Though one thing I am hoping to go buy today is a new external hard drive. I had already started to suspect that sooner or later, I may need it, and if the old computer can register a connection to it, that would surely be a way to move those files.

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Mon, 16 Feb 2026 16:42:03 GMT

The old computer was unchanged this morning. I've gotten almost everything off it now. I forgot one file I wanted to grab, and two of them refused to go onto the flash drives, even zipped, claiming they're too big, and my initial attempts to transfer them by other means have failed; that's probably going to be a next weekend problem.
At least I have now completed one years-long endeavour: by far the longest podfic I have ever recorded. Editing it has been an education in itself. Though even now I'm now much better at getting rid of clicks and such, to remove all the sound glitches from this one remained impossible. I'll actually be testing out my new microphone by recording something a little shorter on it, and if it fixes that problem, it'll be worth it for that even if the whole streaming thing doesn't work out.

Title: In the Closet of Our Discretion
Author: firefright
Original Fic: here (Only viewable by registered AO3 users)
Fandom: Critical Role
Characters: Caleb/Essek, the Mighty Nein
Music: "Made You Look" by Peak & Pitch
Disclaimer: Characters from show. Original fic by firefright. Music isn't mine either.
Warning: Some reference to both these characters' issues. Also some very mild sexual content, enough to get the original fic an M rating.

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Sun, 15 Feb 2026 17:52:30 GMT

This morning I started the day the way I have most days since the beginning of this month, by turning on the old computer and working a certain amount on the Conclave montage I've been working on the past half a year or so, with plans after breakfast to likewise work on the ambitiously long Shadowgast podfic I've been editing for literally years. They're the last two projects left on that computer, since neither is easy to move. My plan was to finish the latter this month and the former next month, before I retire the computer, which continues to occasionally not connect to the internet, though it actually has more often than not.
I came back from breakfast and discovered said computer had suddenly set its screen resolution to 640x480. When, after considerable struggle though apps not at all set up to deal with such an old resolution, I got to the display settings to change it, it offered no choices for anything bigger. I tried restarting, giving in and installing the updates I'd been refusing to do before then, to no change. My computer has decided to make itself nearly unusable at a time when making the effort to fix it is least worth it, but I still had these two projects.
I eventually made Audacity usable again by hiding most of the toolbars. I had less than five minutes left to edit on the podfic, so it is now completed and exported to mp3. I had a bit of a scare when I tried to look it up while setting the metadata and couldn't find it on AO3. I feared it had been deleted, with no indication on whether it was ethical for me to post the podfic or not. Then it turned out I just needed to be logged in. I've called it a day after that. Cover art, full metadata, and posting can wait until tomorrow.
I'm also letting the computer problem sit overnight. The way these things are, it's perfectly possible it'll be back to its old resolution tomorrow. If not, I think I'm just going to move the last of my files over and officially retire it. I was halfway done with the montage, but I think I'm just going to have to do it over.

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I voted

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 11:59:17 GMT

I didn't even know we were having a special election today until last night, but hearing of it then, I was able to go in just now and vote without any trouble. Mom's worried the Republicans will be the ones most galvanized for this one, but we've been a very blue area for many years, and are probably more so right now. I suppose these election results aren't too likely to be overturned either. Still wondering more than ever whether this time will be the last.
Don't know if I've now properly tuned into a skating competition for the last time either. Twenty years I've watched this sport, and I've been angry, disappointed, and heartbroken by it more times than I can count, but I've never been as disgusted with it as I am right now. At this point, well, I suppose if Amber and/or Alysa skate well I'll watch them on YouTube, but I see little reason to bother with the rest. It's not like I really have time to watch competitions any more anyway. I've got other things to do.

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Mon, 02 Feb 2026 22:59:03 GMT

There is still a mostly smooth-topped layer of snow covering our yard, and it has turned firm, but actually isn't that slippery right now. I was worried about getting the trash bins out to the front when I got home from work just now, especially since we didn't get collection last week and they are currently very full, but I was able to walk on top of the smooth snow so easily I felt like an elf! And the bins rolled easily on top of it as well, at least until I reached the more piled up snow on the curb.
Once again, there is a government shutdown, but once again, there is still money in the revolving fund that pays for the library, and even if things don't go as expected tomorrow, it's hard to think this one will last two months. It all felt very undramatic today.
I have gotten a bit MDZSed over the past few days, starting to read the third volume of the serial while watching the final episodes of The Untamed. I watched episode 45 yesterday, and holy shit, the acting in that one, from Yu Bin and Qi Pei Xin especially. I am now reading enough also to spot adaptational differences, and while there are one or two straightwashing ones I must be unimpressed by, I actually think they've been for the better generally.

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Thu, 29 Jan 2026 10:52:40 GMT

Before the snow started falling, I was genuinely worried Trump's government would force us to report to work as normal in hazardous conditions, or at least burn our annual leave to avoid it. I suppose they really couldn't get away with doing so the first two days of this week. But that they only granted us a one hour delay yesterday is kind of telling. I did end up taking leave for that day. But now my street has since gotten a second plowing and the website claims the buses are all running on time. So I have showered as soon as waking up to give my hair as much time to dry as possible, and dug out the black denim I'm pretty sure I can get away with wearing under these conditions, and a full set of long underwear. Hopefully I'll be able to walk to the bus stop without slipping and breaking anything.
I'm not even sure how many people are going to be there. Probably at least someone to mind the front desk, though.

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Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:41:09 GMT

Yesterday, after spending the weekend trying to determine the difference between the various most popular and recommended microphones for Twitch streamers, I ultimately instead went for the one recommended for beginners. Which is a much cheaper one, too, but buying it still felt much like committing. I think I can otherwise start with what I've got already, unless I need something to connect the old computer monitor's up as my second one. I actually still need to look up exactly how one does that.
The website currently claims it'll arrive this weekend, but I suspect it's going to end up taking a little longer than that. This is the second weekday in a row everything in the area is closed. Our road hasn't been cleared yet, though at least one car's made its way through since the storm. We were able to get a young man to come shovel our walk, which is a very good thing, because mom and I have now both lost whatever ability to might have once had to manage that ourselves. He wasn't able to get the bottom layer all up, though, and I fear how slippery that might prove over the rest of this week.

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The cold before the storm

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 19:41:56 GMT

Mom and I ordered our groceries before even having breakfast this morning, which was early enough they should be delivered this evening well before the snow starts. I then waited until the temperature out at least crept up to 20F to done my thermal underwear from my years in Buffalo and run down to the dry cleaners, and also to get Claritin-D. When yesterday something in my leg flared up and left me unable to walk without pain, I was worried that would last into today and complicate that, but thankfully it didn't. If the groceries get delivered and we keep power, we should do quite well. If we lose power, on the other hand, this is going to get bad.
I'm getting near the end of my current reading about the French Revolution. One thing Voices of the French Revolution really drives home is how much actually happened during that time, and how many years were involved. US history textbooks might give you the dates, but they still make it sound like they just stormed the Bastille and then the Terror started the next day. They didn't really convey how that really happened, and how things managed to devolve so badly. They certainly didn't admit that the driving force behind the Terror involved all the other countries' elites that wanted to preserve their own power trying to force France back to autocracy...

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