Tina's Walking Journal 🌳🚶🏻♀️🏡
Archive
December 2024.
December 29 2024
Temperature: 54°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: Light from a variable northerly direction
Listening to: nothing
I'm not listening to anything because I'm also making a verbal diary entry at the same time.
I haven't been out for a stroll since Festivus (I forgot to write about it). I pretended to do stair runs over the past 3 days, but really I only did it once or twice and never again. Since I've been hitting the sweets pretty hard over the past week, it's high time to get out here again!
Despite that, I seem to have lost a little weight (not much, certainly not anything worth bragging about), because my overshirt is now able to button all the way down without being tight anywhere! Well, except across the chest. This is a men's shirt and I have C-cups.
It's fun being able to walk through the university campus like this, with everyone being at home for the holiday and all.
There's a hair-tie on the ground over here. The only reason it caught my attention at all is that it looks like the same kind I use. Except, since I've never been this way before, I can reasonably assume it isn't mine.
Thinking about how I was looking for new clothes for me online this month. Despite being so close to Christmas, there are no deals. There are never any deals anymore. What they call a "deal" now is what we used to call a "scam" back in the millennium. This one website even says it's going to use the marketing data it gathers to train an AI process. Well, not THAT site! The prices are high, even on sale; the fashion is fast and will go threadbare after 4 uses; the site is slow, as uBlock Origin keeps swatting down its tracking pixels and it tries in futility to gather even a byte of marketable data. I'm done. It's looking like Goodwill or nothing at this point.
Kids are coming off the sporting field with equipment. I guess after GNYD, we're goin' right back into FUHTBAWL!!!🏈🏈🏈🏈
"Kids?" I'm 33. They're probably 20 or 21. That's the rule, you know—anyone 10 or more years younger than you is a kid. I don't make the rules, I just speak the language.
If I had my backpack and wallet with me, I could go to Walgreens! Fortunately, I don't. I do have my Nintendo 3DS with me though. I doubt I'll Streetpass with anyone, but at least I can use its podometre. It usually takes about 2500 steps to go my usual route, so we'll see how many I go this time.
People were unusually johnny-on-the-spot taking their Christmas decorations down this year. Usually, people leave their wreaths up until January and their lights until well into the summer, but this time, it's all gone. Not so much as a deflated snowman on someone's lawn. Though the Centennial Arch at the university still had lighted garland strung up on it, but I suspect that's because the person responsible for it went home for the holiday and hasn't been by to remove it yet. It's interesting how that works, though. People spend 3 months getting hyped for Christmas, putting up decorations, spreading holiday cheer, all that stuff. Then, Christmas comes, everyone opens their presents or has sex or whatever, drinks some eggnog, watches a movie, and then it all goes away like it never happened. All they wake up to on the 26th is a mess and a hangover. Sorry if I sound a little jaded—I've lived in rural America almost my whole life. That's how it goes down here.
I guess I was hoping there would still be some decorations up. This is the bit I hate about Hanukkah: I'm still celebrating while everyone else has gone back to the grind. It's a little isolating. I try telling myself "Well, at least I'm still having a good time," but it's been especially hard since I quit going to temple. Oh well.
December 22 2024
Temperature: 29°F (wind chill of 22°)
Condition: Clear
Wind: Light from the north
Listening to: "Once in a Lifetime" (Talking Heads; from Remain in Light, 1980)
I haven't been out on a stroll in 3 days. I'd better get out today before I forget how! :P
It's quite light out, about 09:00. It's actually going to get up to the high 50s today, so more along the lines of a late November day in 1998. Doesn't look like it's gonna snow on the first night of Hanukkah, unfortunately... oh well, when was the last time THAT happened, anyway?
There's no one at the university because Christmas break, so I"m actually going to walk through it today, rather than around it like usual. Really, I could have been doing this all month, but this is the first time in weeks I've been out during the daylight.
It's kind of interesting going this way. I've never been this way before. For a change, I can see the other side of the football bleachers. It's sort of unintentionally brutalist, in that you really aren't supposed to spend a lot of time looking at them from this angle. Since no consideration was made for disguising the utlitarian bit of this concrete structure, I'm gonna say it was probably built in the mid-to-late '90s. What is this, Architectural Digest? Incidentally, we're listening to Men Without Hats at this point, but the song's about 45 seconds away from changing.
Sure is empty around here. The fraternities and sororities are empty, you can tell which apartments around here are rented by students because they're empty, there's no traffic, when it's dark, there's hardly any Christmas lights up. I guess all the non-students ended up on my side of the university.
Cutting through the campus like I did, I accidentally synchronised my playlist so "She Blinded Me with Science" would play as I walk by the science building. It's always fun when that happens! I'm easily amused.
December 21 2024
Wasn't feeling very good, so I didn't do anything today.
December 19, 20 2024
Too cold out, I just ran the stairs inside.
December 18 2024
Temperature: 29°F (wind chill of 19°)
Condition: Cloudy
Wind: Light from the north
Listening to: "West End Girls" (Pet Shop Boys; from Please, 1984)
Somebody's got a campfire going, so the entire stroll is being conducted to the smell of wood-smoke, but otherwise a fairly copypaste morning.
Some people around here do that. They live in a weird combination of the past and the present. They do all their cooking over wood fires out in their back yards or in their fireplaces and they use their fireplaces and hot-water bottles to heat the house, but they use electricity for things like radios and televisions. Pretty much only those aged 70+ do this, and even then it's not very common. Of course, some people my age and younger are trying to bring that back: hence, cottagecore. I don't know why they decided it needed a side of fascism with a dash of white supremacy, but that's what we have now I guess.
Anyway, I'm feeling too political this morning to give any proper commentary.
December 17 2024
Temperature: 27°F
Condition: Cloudy
Wind: none
Listening to: "Everybody's Broke" (Herbie Hancock; from Magic Windows, 1981)
I'm considering making a new playlist: "Engraved Bullets" or something like that, to commemorate Mr. CEO Man getting shot to death. It would be various songs about poverty, ultra-leftism, and sarcastic views of conservative politics. This song would be on it; so would "Electric Avenue". Obviously, "Another One Bites the Dust" would go on it. "Beautiful World", "Perfect System", that kind of thing.
The clouds are thin enough I can still see Luna. She's not exactly full tonight, but near enough for werewolves probably. The clouds were more fun yesterday.
How can anyone listen to "Heaven is a Place on Earth" and think, "Oh yeah, that song is totally heterosexual"? Like, she says it right there: "I was afraid before, I'm not afraid anymore". This is a song about a transgirl and her girlfriend and you can't convince me otherwise.
On one hand, I want to go down Numerical here and look at those Christmas lights, but on the other, I like how they look from back here. Those 3 houses' lights combine into 1 by the time it gets to me up here by the sorority house. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to go on a Christmas lights tour when my car died, but it turns out I can walk instead! That's better anyway; not just for exercise, but because I love being outside in the dark and the cold, and I get to pass within 2 yards of the lights, so it's more personal. If anyone's looking out the window, they can see me smile broadly when I look at their work.
I've been saying this for weeks; I NEED to cross Union General Avenue and spend about 5 minutes standing and looking at the LED light display at the crossroads of British and Numerical. Besides, if I get there at a high-traffic time, I can pretend like I'm trying to cross the road but can't because there's a veritable traffic jam of motorists filing past that house. Of course, 15,000 LEDs takes quite a lot of power, so they only turn the display on at certain times of the day, and with rising corporate greed affecting public power, probably they've changed it to certain days at this stage.
It's interesting how each song in this playlist evokes a different image. "Heaven", like I said, is lesbian love song and I imagine a couple girls standing in the middle of an apartment from the '60s kissing under a ceiling fan. "Hello America" here is a road-trip song. I see a dude with a mullet cruisin' down the great barren of Highway 6 with his guitar case in the backseat. For some reason, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" reminds me of commercial offices in high-end skyscrapers. Probably because it's been used by nearly every investment firm in some form or another since it stopped seeing constant airplay. Random, slapped-together playlists like this one are fine for general purposes, but I can understand wanting to make a mixtape of appropriate music for a particular activity.
December 16 2024
Temperature: 38°F (wind chill of 26°)
Condition: Partly cloudy
Wind: Extremely light from the northwest
Listening to: "Working in a Coal Mine" (Devo; from Heavy Metal, 1981)
Rather than listing the playlist (because that's going to get pretty repetitive from here onward), I'll just say what I started out with. Obviously, other songs play, but I started with "Coal Mine" this morning. Fun fact, since I'm here: this song was originally supposed to be on Devo's 1981 record, New Traditionalists (not related to the far-right Japanese political group of the same name), but Warner didn't let them. Instead, they gave it to Heavy Metal. "Coal Mine" and "Mecha-Mania Boy" were the first 2 Devo songs I ever heard that were not "Whip It". Also, Heavy Metal was Rodger Bumpass's first major voice-acting role. You probably know Rodger better as Squidward Tentacles.
It's been days since I saw Luna, because I either stayed inside and ran the stairs, or I went out too late and she had already set, or it was cloudy and I couldn't see her at all. But she was full tonight, so I decided I owed it to myself to go out and see her at last. Also, a bank of clouds came in as I was walking, making her look kinda spooky. I remember writing about that once before.
The only thing I don't like about these morning strolls is that I have to turn my back to Luna for almost half a mile. I know it sounds odd and a little childish, but I love our moon. I appreciate the stability she brings to our lives. She's been in the sky in one form or another for millions of years and she'll still be there long after we've destroyed ourselves. No matter what happens, I know that I can go outside on a clear night, look up, and see the moon. And, as for being childish, I decided early on in my transition that I spent far too long being serious, that it was time to let myself be a little strange.
Is it weird that I don't want any humans to live on the moon full-time? Like, Moon Colonisation has been a staple of science-fiction for literal centuries, and it makes for a good story, but I don't want us to be able to live there. I don't want to look up at the moon some night in the future and think that there are people up there making a mess, advertising billboards, military bases, and police stations with people in lockup. We've made a mockery of Terra; everyday some billionaire industrialist finds a new way to hurt her. The American and Soviet flags can stay (and if any other nation decides to leave a flag up there, they can), but nothing else.
Why am I talking about any of this? Because it's chilly out, there's a light frost on everything, Christmas lights are up, my favourite '80s tracks are playing into my ears, the moon is full, and something smells like spiced tea with milk and sugar. Chuck Tingle's motto, "Love is Real", is tangible this morning.
December 15 2024
Temperature: 36°F (wind chill of 26°)
Condition: Fog
Wind: Extremely light from the south
Listening to: Big Gulp: Mega '80s Playlist (a compilation of all the '80s compilations I've ever made)
For practical reasons, I'm not going to list all 149 songs on the playlist. Besides, it needs to be played on shuffle, because I am NOT spending an hour playing music producer and rearranging these into any kind of aesthetically-pleasing order. It's adequate to provide a unique experience every time I go out for a stroll, and that's all I need it to do.
I'm not sure why, but lately I've been imagining bad things happening when I take walks when it's dark. I imagine watchful old biddies looking out their windows and seeing me walking about in the dark and then calling the police to report a suspicious person. I imagine large dogs jumping over the backyard fence and rushing me. I imagine airliners falling from the sky and crashing nearby, immolating me to ash in a burning ball of jet fuel. The strangest thing was a few months ago when I wondered where I could take cover in the case of a nuclear strike. Today, however, we're imagining someone rolling their car window down and blowing my heart out with a shotgun Criminal Minds style. It's not like this is all I'm thinking about, it's just, like, what do they call those? "Intrusive thoughts"? Does that sound right? It's the occasional flash of "what if this happened", rather than full-on worry that something bad is going to happen.
Anyway, there's a lot more christmas lights on than the last time I came this way... 2 days ago, I think. That means that people were out, clambering about on ladders and roofs, during the freezing rain, which doesn't make a lot of sense, even for this city. Or, I guess, they put them up before the rain happened? Like, I was in this area for about 10 minutes, and there's 24 hours in a day. Still, whenever they got put up, they got put up. I get to enjoy them now.
Going up and down the stairs at home every hour like I do sometimes, I probably see my neighbours' holiday doormats more often than they do.
Come to think of it, it's... kind of desolate around here. All the student housing is, like, empty. I guess it is 10 days until Christmas, 15 days until G-NYE, so everyone is back at home. I'm sure some kids, like me, aren't going back. My extended famiy were all like, "when are you going back? why aren't you going back? you should go back!", and I'm like fuck that shit. I'm done having my time wasted by these dumb-ass community colleges that can't even help me get to where I need to go. That whole semester was so fucking bogus, I was glad to get out of there and never look back. The last thing I did in that stupid town was take my load of dorm supplies through the drive through at Wendy's and get the biggest order of chicken nuggets they offered before hightailing it out of there forever. I'm sure there are at least 5 kids who went to school here this semester who will do the same thing, and more power to them. All the same, I hope S is doing okay these days. There's not much hope for transgirls in rural America right now.
I'm starting to get all weepy, thinking about 2011, and my playlist decides to give me Toto's "Rosanna". How did this even get in here? Well, I guess it's got a synth solo near the middle that's pretty fire.
December 14 2024
Temperature: 31°F (wind chill of 26°)
Condition: Freezing rain
Wind: Extremely light from the south
Listening to: #8's little boy throwing a temper-tantrum
Freezing rain. You couldn't pay me enough to walk on that shit. Well, maybe. How much are you offering?
I like how Mrs. and Mr. #8 are reacting to their 4-year-old's tantrum. They're not overreacting, they're not telling him to shut up, they're not yelling at him; they're letting him vent for a bit, then telling it like it is, "I know you're mad, but you need to put your shoes on." Considering all the parents of extremely young children who've lived here in the time I've been here, it's refreshing to hear people who do it right. Kids are allowed to get mad occasionally, that's part of being human; and the good parents are the ones who recognise that their child is not a toy or a pet, they're a person.
I don't really know what's going on in there and I don't care either. It's not my business. I am going to stop here on the landing and watch the rain for a bit though.
I used to have these really cool ice-treads that I could strap to my shoes that would make me immune to slipping on the ice, but I haven't seen one of those for sale in about 6 years. Not that I go shopping very often. I could probably get a pair online... but buying any kind of clothing or accessory sight unseen is never a good idea.
December 13 2024
Temperature: 14°F (wind chill of -2°)
Condition: Clear
Wind: Extremely light from the north
Listening to: 1980s Onehits (on shuffle)
The Onehits & Cliches playlist seems to be the only one I walk to anymore. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get sick of it eventually. And then I'll make another Onehits & Cliches playlist. I mean, there were a LOT of one-hit wonders and synth/rock cliches in the 1980s, and I haven't even GOTTEN to "Jump" by Van Halen yet. Easily enough material to fill a second 20-track playlist.
One thing stands out this morning... it's COLD. It's not brisk, it's not cool, it isn't even chilly, it's COLD. By all rights, I shouldn't be out here; I should be back at home all snugly on the couch watching SpongeBob SquarePants out of my datahoard. But I decided I gave up too easily that one day it was 17°F. So, here we are. I'm not complaining, mind you; it's just cold.
Also, there's supposed to be half an inch of freezing rain on the ground at this time tomorrow, so I better get out now if I ever want to. Well, ever for the next 3 days. Besides, it's Friday the 13th. Maybe some considerate spud with a chainsaw will carve me up like a Christmas goose and I won't have to live through the reign of Emperor Donald I.
Anyway, I don't think the kids in this house have been outside to play in a couple months. The wagon and bigwheel are still where they were at this time in October. Whenever I left toys outside as a kid, my mum would say that they were getting cold and lonely out there and I should bring them in so they could be with their friends. Since Toy Story was the first film I ever remember seeing in the cinema, I could believe it, so I never left my toys outside. Of course, it wasn't until I was reading parenting books in high school that I realised she was just trying to get me to not leave a mess on the lawn.
I only have my mobile phone with me today, but I still want pictures of all the Christmas lights around here. Dephoning is all well and good until I want to take a picture. Fortunately, Android 9 doesn't do AI image enhancement (aka. the dumbest feature ever to be included on a camera since magnesium flashpowder) so at least I've got that going for me.
There's actually some snow still on the ground here next to the flat from the '50s. It snowed a couple days ago at this stage, but I guess the sun never shines here at this time of the year.
Give it a couple weeks; the christmas lights will be a sight to see here. I'm still thinking of walking down to British Street across Union General Avenue some evening next week to look at the house that always does about 15,000 LED lights. I usually drive down there, but, well...
December 12 2024
I did go for a stroll this morning; around the university campus. But nothing particularly interesting happened.
December 10 2024
Temperature: 25°F (wind chill of 19°)
Condition: Increasing clouds
Wind: Extremely light from the north
Listening to: 1980s Onehits (on shuffle)
I haven't been for a stroll lately, as you can see, but I'm trying to keep myself awake today, so I decided to stop doing boring old stair runs and have a brisk walk in the cold. It's supposed to snow later today, so this may not be possible to do tomorrow. Of course, I'm the one who said I would walk as long as I can see where the pavement is... maybe I just won't walk quite as far.
There's more Christmas out right now than there was Halloween. Also, I've stopped commenting on the state of the malfunctioning security floodlight because, as you might imagine, it's still blinking and flashing like the Red Alert alarm on Star Trek.
I think I've got my earphone cable tangled up in my lanyard.
Yes, loads more Christmas than Halloween. There are 5 houses on this road with all sorts of lights and wreaths and giant plastic candycanes and stuff.
They even decorated the centennial arch on the university campus. And some, like, lampposts or something. I can't actually tell from here.
These are the kind of clouds you only get during the winter. They reflect so much light that it can look like 5 in the afternoon at midnight. Well, maybe not quite that bright, but sort of like that. Rainclouds tend to absorb light while snow clouds reflect it. Science.
Walking along a major arterial roadway during the morning commute. I liked this a couple weeks ago, I do not like it now.
I guess I'm just grouchy because I haven't slept yet. But, I can't sleep until at least 15:00, that way I can sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning and be awake for my appointments tomorrow.
December 5 2024
Temperature: 17°F (wind chill of 9°)
Condition: Overcast
Wind: Extremely light from the north
Listening to: nothing
Okay, I think I've reached my temperature limit. It's cold outside, spuds. I'm just not feelin' it today, so it's stair time.
Nothing good ever comes in the post anymore. Leading up to the election, it was just campaign dreck—"Candidate A is so much better than Candidate B for the following reasons," nothing I didn't already know. At least it gives the postal service something to do while they wait for Trump to bring the axe down on their department.
There's no one home right now, apart from myself and #2. Since their baby was born, at least one of them is at home all the time. That was another thing about COVID measures: maternity leave was just a given because everyone was working from home. You could work and take care of your kids at the same time. But that was decided to be an unfair use of company time, so it's back to the office with you slackers. That's why when I hear about corporate feudalists like Brian Thompson getting imploded under the sea, killed in a car wreck, or shot going into an investors conference, you won't find any sympathy here. They all deserve to die in brutal and cruel ways for all the brutality and cruelty they themselves served.
It's not that I don't like everyone's Halloween decorations, it's just... one wants for variety, you know. I probably see that stuff more than they do, running the stairs every hour. Incidentally, the house across the road and the one I can see through the trees both have Christmas trees up. You can't see them right now because it's still light out, but they're there.
December 4 2024
Temperature: 53°F (wind chill of ~40°)
Condition: Partly cloudy
Wind: Light from the north
Listening to: Atari Supremacy: '70s and '80s synthpop
It's been a really low day for me, so I have to get out. I have no choice in the matter. If I don't get outside and walk, I'll sit in my room and cry all day, so I HAVE to do this. I really had to force myself out the door, but I'm out here, so let's pick a direction and go.
I also have my 3DS with me. The circuit usually takes about 2500 steps to complete, plus I'll have my easiest-to-get-at camera. You know, let's post pics here today. They're pretty lo-fi, so I'm not worried about identifying features.
Since the old science hall's been torn down, there's loads of green space over here. You can seriously see all the way to Union General Avenue from here now that the leaves are gone. I forgot how unreasonably loud Nintendo's shutter sound is when you take a picture with a DSi or 3DS; I guess there's mods you can download from the UniStore that make it quiet, but do I care enough? Well, if I'm taking pics early in the morning, yeah probably.
One of these days, I really do need to go all the way down to Numerical. Not today though. Speaking strictly as a one-time motorist, I would prefer not to encounter pedestrians on that road. There's too much going on in the first place. Does that sound like an excuse? We'll just go my normal route.
I've been whistling along with "Never Gonna Give You Up", completely forgetting about the implications. I remember going to the store on April Fool's day once several years ago and the entire playlist was just this song on repeat. As I recall, they switched to up to "Cotton-Eye Joe" as I was getting rung up.
There was some cool light play on that cloud back there, which would have been great framed by the buildings, but there was someone crossing the road and I didn't want them to hear the 3DS's absurdly-loud anti-lawsuit shutter sound.
I will get this random-ass tarp in the middle of the road, however. And, no, there's nothing under it. A gust of wind blew it open for a bit and I saw nothing underneath the tarp.
Tarps are boring. Christmas decorations are not. Incidentally, this is the same house that had the Halloween decorations. I took all those pictures with other cameras.
It looked more colourful 3 days ago, but it still has that late-autumn look to it. I love this time of year. 🍂☁️❄️
Since I still have my camera out, let me show off my Perler bead mosaics. Not visible is the pink chanukiah I made for mum (because she has it, not me) or the magen David mum made for me (because it's already hanging up). The pink chanukiah is the same design as the green one here, just pink.
December 3 2024
Temperature: having a difference of opinion about that, anywhere from 41°-61°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: Light from the north
Listening to: kitchen sounds coming from #5
Since I decided to make bread today, I'm doing stair runs instead of having a stroll. Every website I looked at for the weather conditions had a wildly different estimate about what the temperature was, so I'm going to say, it's pretty cold outside, so 40-45°F here at my flat. Plainly, the conditions at the airport, news station, and parks and rec department are all different.
Most of the doors in this half of the building have decorations around them. 1, 2, and 8 still have their halloween stuff up (I said once that people who love fun have been celebrating halloween since August and will carry on until Hanukkah), 5 has some plaster urns with little imitation evergreens in them, 10 has a snowman on his door, and I've got a plastic snowflake and blue garland.
Just had a thought about late 2022. I would very much like that same thing not to happen this year, thank you. Of course, I'm 1+ years transitioned at this point, so maybe the effect would be less? But probably not and I don't want to find out, thank you very much. What am I talking about? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Pay no attention.
There's a white van and a red sedan parked in the driveway of the abandoned house on the corner. A lot of work's been done to the outside, but I don't think anything's happened to the inside yet. I remember seeing people in that house 10 years ago, but it turns out 10 years is a lot longer than it seems to be. Heck, the grandchildren they had over, riding their stabilised bikes in the driveway, are probably off at university by now. Oy gevalt, Tina! Enough with the looking backward! Shit, girl, get your head in the game!
The bread recipe is the same as the pizza crust recipe, only in a loaf pan. I said it makes the densest, most comforting, most satisfying country bread I've ever tasted, well I'm in the mood for dense, comforting, satisfying bread, so I'm doing it! The most time-consuming bit of the whole procedure is just waiting. I'm doing a 3-rise dough this time instead of just 2, so that's an extra hour tacked onto the time. If I want it for dinner, I had to start it at lunchtime so it would be able to rise for 3 hours, bake for 20 mins, then cool for another hour. There's nothing complicated about, it's just a lot of waiting around. If you don't have any saran wrap, you can use a plastic grocery sack. Put the bowl into the sack with the handles down, then pin the handles to the counter with the weight of the bowl. Then, you can tape shut any of the little nicks or flippin' great holes that happen in the bottoms of grocery sacks. Plus, the sack has enough stability it won't interfere with the bread while it's rising in the loaf pan. So, you don't need to use any like rice flour or olive oil or any of that cottagecore shite. This isn't a cottage, this is an urban flat in a food desert near a university.
At the same time, I finished the Hanukkah decorating. I left some garland out because I wanted to do something else with it, but I couldn't decide what yesterday, so I just left myself the option. Anyway, I put it up like a stage curtain fringe around the '70s faux wood vinyl-on-particleboard doors to the furnace closet. This is also where I'm going to hang my magen David and the dreidls and chanukiot I made out of perler beads from ribbons (and the tiniest amount of mint-waxed dental floss; urban flat aesthetic, remember).
December 2 2024
Temperature: 31°F (wind chill of 25°F)
Condition: Mostly sunny, partly cloudy, whatever
Wind: Light from the north
Listening to: Real Life Fast Travel
I seem to recall saying once that, despite how counterintuitive it sounds, you build energy by exercising. For some reason, I was absolutely wiped, but I hadn't done anything except decorate for Hanukkah. I haven't got boxes and boxes of decorating, just some garland, some printing, and my mum and I have been making Judaica out of Perler beads lately. All I needed to get out was one small box, hardly worth getting exhausted over. I decided I wasn't tired, I was just wanting exercise and fresh air, so I rather forced myself out the door. If nothing else, at least I would have a reason to be tired after walking for a mile and a half.
I'm listening to my own music today because why not? I like the music I write and I've never listened to one of my own records on a stroll before.
Being it's the middle of the day, I can get a photo of the inflatable Christmas decor that took up where the Halloween decorations were. I'm sorry I spoke of them with such disdain, I didn't look hard enough to see the flat next door was the one with the Thin Blue Line flag. Anyway, the standout piece is definitely Jack Skellington.
It sure is cold around here, I'm kinda starting to regret wearing nothing underneath my sweatshirt.
There's an old lady and a chihuahua getting out of this '90s minivan. I'll smile and wave.
Sure is a lot of activity on the university campus. This after NO activity for the past week.
I'm not sure how, but Real Life Fast Travel fits a stroll in this neighbourhood perfectly. Like, perfectly. More so than any '80s album or playlist. But, I'll be going back to that tomorrow, since I've heard all these songs at least 500 times each.
December 1 2024
Temperature: 25°F (wind chill of 22°F)
Condition: Partly cloudy
Wind: Moderate from the north
Listening to: 1980s Cliches & Onehits (on shuffle) (What else, right?)
Went on the first stroll in about 2 days. I'm not sure what's been keeping me indoors, but I'm glad to get out. This is the kind of weather I like walking in: somewhere on the high side of cold. Basically, my limit is 15°F, but as I recall, I computed that metric based on data from 2014, before the Plague and when I still refused to wear coats. My sweaters provide LOADS of insulation and my plague mask makes a great ad-hoc scarf. I think we'll say my limit is 5-7°F. Well, we'll see, won't we? It's just the wind chill at those temperatures that causes an issue, but that's what pockets are for, right?
Anyway, it's not nearly as cold as that today. Incidentally, the snow we had on Thanksgiving day ended after about an hour and it didn't snow enough to accumulate.
The wagon and big wheel are positioned in such a way to suggest that one of its operators had attempted to hitch the wagon to the tricycle like a trailer on a pickup. It looks like a jumprope was employed in pursuit of this goal; quite inventive. I'm walking around it because I can do that. You do you, little kids, and don't worry about what cynical old hags might say about your toys.
There are a few more cars in the lot for the residence halls. I remember going back to the South Hall that Sunday and walking through dark corridors to get back to my suite. S and C were already back, and C was playing StarCraft with his friend from network security class, so S and I played Donkey Kong Country on C's Super Famicom. I quite like how the light is playing on the street like this, I think I'll take a picture.
Despite the fact that 1st service ended about 30 minutes ago, there's still a lot of activity at the church down here. I guess that's a thing that people do, isn't it? When I was pretending to be a Christian back in the '90s, I couldn't understand why adults insisted on spending so much time at church. It was the boringest, bogusest place you could ever hope to go. Why would you spend more time there than you had to? But, no! Before service was Sunday School, then there was the service itself, then there was Fellowship Hall, then there was Bible study, then there was, then, then, then, then, and before you knew it, it was 18:00 and you had to go home for dinner, police procedurals, and bed. Oy.
You know how I'll never step on that white square of pavement? I'll also never step on this gravel pavement substitute in front of this house's driveway. Like, the white square is gonna launch me into the stratosphere, but this gravel bit is actually a hole like in Ocarina of Time. Only, I don't have the Mask of Truth or a bottle to hold fish or bugs.
It looks like the little free library in front of that house that had the imitation "TRUMP 2016" banner in front of it was vandalised. I guess the banner said "CAMACHO"? Not sure what that means. Anyway, the banner is gone and whatever was in the library is now on the ground next to bits of glass. It doesn't matter who did it, the police will not investigate and we didn't expect them to. This is an anti-knowledge nation, no matter what party the vandal belonged to.
There's someone coming toward me on the pavement here, they're about a block away at this stage. Rather than deal with an unnecessary social encounter, I'll just turn and double back on my previous course. I'll correct it at some point and get back onto this road.
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