Now: December 2024

Dec 05

Happenings

It's been a little bit since I updated here! First, there was the hubbub of Thanksgiving, which went really well. The meal came off without a hitch, and we were pleasantly surprised when my husband's aunt and uncle, who were in town, were able to share the meal with us. Otherwise, it's been just resting up, especially since I got a bit sick last week, and doing a little bit of knitting and reading. I do finally feel well enough to start catching up with the daily stuff again, which is good, I always hate how being sick stops me from doing the things I need and love to do. I hope this weekend to bake a nice bread, drink lots of tea, and start getting little Christmas tasks finalized! Oh, and speaking of tea, every year I get a tea advent calender, and this year was no exception! Today's is one called Maple Creme Oolong and I'm excited to try it out!

Current Fever

I decided to take a small notebook to dedicate for ink swatching and got a cute set of stamps to make the process fun. The stamp looks like an ink bottle with a bird perching on it, and I also got some stamps of a fountain pen and a glass pen. I'll add some pictures to show when I get started. I also added a converter to my Safari pen and filled it with an adorable ink from Sailor. The color is Afternoon Tea and I thought it was the perfect first choice for me, since I love tea and it's a nice medium bright brown shade. I started casually bullet journaling with it and it has especially helped me because I do feel a bit sick from that cold and writing what I need to get done keeps me grounded. Nothing fancy though, just a list per day, and no trackers, spreads, etc. I am toying around with an idea for a fancier type of journal for 2025 but I'm still in that phase where the idea is blurry! I want 2025 to be about cycles so I was considering a journal where on a weekly basis I document this:

I want this to be more of a tool to meditate and grow awareness of what my mind and body needs and just serve as a space to explore my thoughts.

From my Shelves

I've not read much >.< but I am continuing Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop and am enjoying it thoroughly! As for Super-Cannes, I have maybe 70 pages left and I decided to read one chapter at a time whenever I felt like it. It's too fucking annoying of a book but I did get this far. I might read a short story by Olivia Dade since it's the holidays called All By My Elf and I usually enjoy re-reading Princess Jellyfish in December so I'm looking forward to that!

On Repeat

I'm not listening to anything in particular lately, though I've been into some playlists labeled as "junglewave" on YouTube. Here is one I particularly like: 🌲 The Hidden Gully 🌳 Junglewave - Vaporwave - Signalwave Music Mix 🌲 but this channel, Deep Sea Current has others of this genre and they're all such amazing lists I enjoy as I go about my day! Also, Spotify dropped their Unwrapped report for 2024 and I am in the top 8% of listeners worldwide 🎉 According to them, I listened to over 37k minutes of music this year and my top artist was Ateez.

On My Needles

I'm halfway through the second Gingerbread Latte sock and I'm super excited to gift them to my daughter's teacher! Once I finish, I need to address the basket full of socks that I have neglected to weave the ends for 😅

Yeongju wanted to sit and watch Jungsuh knit. If possible, she didn’t want to miss the moment the scarf was completed, as if by sharing the moment, she’d be able to escape the emptiness of being alone in the world.
– Hwang Bo-reum (Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop)

Dec 12

Happenings

This week I started listening to something called the Gateway Tapes to meditate every morning. From what I understand, this method was developed by the military to encourage out of body experiences, but many use it because it seems to allow one to reach a relaxed meditative state more quickly. I can only add my personal experience to this, but I did have a good experience. I remember doing meditation sessions in my office pre-pandemic in a group, and it was only around the 50 minute mark that I reached what I call the "soft state". Which I experience as my attention feeling soft, and my soul feels a bit floaty? I'm on the third Gateway Tape and I have achieve the "soft state" halfway through the 35 minute tapes and maintain it to the end. It's too soon to call benefits but I do feel the calming state I was in helped calm down a migraine I had yesterday, which I feel confident say (I am a skeptic at heart), because I have gotten so many of those migraines that I know their exact pattern, and yesterday the migraine stayed at a steady mild headache, intead of getting worse all day. I also feel like time is more... idk, realxed? Before, I would watch DIY videos and get impatient because my attention span has been crap, but for the past few days I can follow through with 10-30 minute videos without checking once how many minutes were left. In fact, when they were finished I would tilt my head, surprised that it was finished so quickly. So I think I will continue on this and see how it goes! I do feel it merits a touch of research prior to giving it a go, because the state they talk you through creates a stillness in the body that could be disconcerting, especially to anyone who has had nighttime paralysis. Also there are conspiracy theories that it's to hypnotize one to be a sleeper agent... but, let's count being secretly Jason Bourne as an entry for the pros column.

I also was excited after watching the Wholesome Snack Direct today. As someone who always enjoyed games like old-school Harvest Moon, this new plethora of cozy games with creative art styles makes me really happy. Like, I appreciate the effort that goes into those big-name AAA games... but I never felt it was a part of gaming that was true to me as a person. So to have so many options of beautiful, emotionally intelligent, healing games is exciting. I hope the trend continues and truly places itself in the mainstream as an established alternative to the AAA titles!

Current Fever

I started to set up my ink swatch notebook! I got an A6 blank Midori and so far have only stamped the ink bottles but I'm excited to swatch! I also finally filled my TWSBI Eco with an ink by Pilot called Irushizuku that I got for my birthday. The color is Tsuki-Yo and it's PRETTY. Like a dark teal? The TWSBI writes beautifully and this ink looks wonderful. I noticed my Safari's Aftenoon Tea ink is running low so I was trying to decide what to use next! Otherwise in my world of hobbies, I made on Sunday a recipe called harvest wheat bread with poolish by Ken Forkish, sent some Christmas cards, and signed up for a snail mail pen pal club. But I got really tired early this week, so I need to be careful about my energy. Even my hobbies can drain me and I forget that and inevitably overdo it all the time.

From my Shelves

I forgot to mention this last time, but I read two of Harlan Ellison's short stories recently! Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman and I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream the latter of which was so bleak I could not stop thinking about it. I read another healing novel (isn't that a cool genre??) called The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi. I KNEW I would cry, yes. Because the book deals with death. But whoa... I was not ready for that last chapter. I cried and cried and cried. And I confess, I am tearing up now as I remember. A healing novel will mend your heart, but sometimes one must wash those heart wounds away with the salt water of one's tears. There is no shortcut to healing and the gentle approach of Japanese and Korean healing novels shows one the beauty in one's humanity. I wish the novella would have been a touch longer and explored some things more, but such a minor complaint in the end for something I enjoyed so much.

On Repeat

I stumbled on Robert de Visée's Theorbo Solos which is really quite a beautiful album! I cannot prophes to understand instrumental music much but I throughly enjoyed it and recommend checking it out if you like classical music. I also have enjoyed something I call "cute music". Not sure what genre it is but they tend to be jaunty little piano pieces that wouldn't be out of place in a happy scene of a k-drama or anime. Here's one I like! [1H] Cute Piano Music for Winter

On My Needles

Christmas knitting is DONE! Now I have to weave in aproximately 5,691 ends! But it shall be finished. Meanwhile, I started knitting some socks for fun. It's nice to make something with no deadline. The pattern is called Daphne and I decided to go for Stroll in Blue Sky, which is a medium periwinkle and quite pretty! It reminds me of a cottage garden. It's a bit of a desaturated tone, so I decided to make a contrasting toe in Horchata (a pinky cream) to add some whimsy!

Anyway, the phrase ‘if only’ meant nothing in life. He was the product of his choices, and that was all there was to it.
– Sanaka Hiiragi (The Lantern of Lost Memories)

Dec 23

Happenings

The month is winding down and we are now in Winter. It definitely got colder here, and I have been blasting my space heater in the kitchen, as I bake a simple red velvet cake, make dinner rolls, and cut green beans. I feel a bit tired as I put the final touches before Christmas arrives. Having my daughter's IEP meeting last week definitely was a big part of my tiredness. It went well, but I had no clue the exact agenda of the meeting (that stresses me out), there were a lot of unfamiliar faces, some frustration from her teacher (I'm sensitive to emotions), and I had to mask a lot to survive it. I am done though. The IEP needed minimal amendments with some extra accomodations, but I was surprised that they will keep her in gen ed for the majority of her days. They did add extra time in the class with her fellow neurodivergent classmates and a more broad definition of support time so they can focus on diferent things depending on what is needed. The way her teacher and the principal were texting us, I truly believed she would be moved to another class, but we'll see. My main goal is that she is comfortable and that she is learning, so I'll have to make sure we continue to get updates.

Current Fever

I made my swatches on my ink swatch notebook! They look super cute with the bird ink blottle stamps haha:

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I'm also on Wave 3 of the Gateway tapes. This one has been odd to me tbh because I keep spacing out as soon as I hit Focus12. I never remember doing the exercise either, but I will trust the process and carry on. The last four tracks have been like this:

I was a bit annoyed because I don't remember the activities part but I decided to not fret about it for now. I'm calmer in general and that is all that matters. The best part is feeling my body fall asleep when I feel relaxed and calm. It feels so deliciously heavy and stable!

I've been gaming too! I've been thoroughly enjoying a game called Graveyard Keeper and one called Broken Sword 2 on my Steam Deck!

From my Shelves

I've been reading lightly lately, especially since my focus has shifted to meditating, my pens/inks, and gaming. I did read two mangas: Last Gender Vol. 1 by Rei Taki and Cells at Work: Lady Vol. 1 by Shigemitsu Harada, Akari Otokawa. I started a novel called A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher which is quite good so far! Oh, and I started one called Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. That one is good but I feel I drifted from it. I do like the atmospheric vibe from it! It's what I expected Super-Cannes to be. I miss reading though and hope to get back on it soon.

On Repeat

Lately I've been listening to some Christmas music. I like all kinds but I steer away a little from the standards when possible. I worked retail for years and I heard those enough times to last me a lifetime! I'm enjoying more classic Latin hits that I remember from my years celebrating Christmas in Puerto Rico. I joke to my husband that we need these songs because American Christmas music is so depressing, even when it sounds happy!

On My Needles

I slowed down with my knitting and am working gradually on the Daphne socks I started a week and a half ago. The first sock came out as pretty as I hoped so I was really happy. I hope to start some gift knitting again after for some friends. Oh, and here are the Christmas socks ^_^

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Homo sapiens is about pattern recognition, he says. Both a gift and a trap.
– William Gibson (Pattern Recognition)