#nane liveblogs life

[estelanel]

WHO KEEPS VOTING FOR DANNY ON THESE POLLS? :DDD I'm equal parts mad and laughing my ass off

[estelanel]

taking another stab at knitting socks

[estelanel]

hi mom, it's been almost 5 years and it's still annoying that i'm not able to just call you. weird, huh. anyway life is strange, summer is too long, but i think you would've loved that good omens tv show.

miss you, miss you, miss you.

[estelanel]

Listen all y'all sweet youngins, I'm gonna be That Adult for a second and tell you something that I have been told many years ago by an adultier adult, and I just had this realization of. Oh. That makes sense suddenly.

I was an au pair in Italy for a couple of months in 2012, and my host mum was a phenomenal cook. I told her I wasn't big into cooking, and she was like, well I really only have two principles that I go by. I was like, uh-huh, sure, tell me your Big Secrets about cooking, and she told them to me, and I listened, nodded, and never really believed them - before cooking can be fun for me the Nine Hells will freeze over, I thought back then. And obviously there's more to it than those two things she told me, and I'm still not big into cooking and probably never will be. But those two principles have stuck with me. And as I just finished grocery shopping for the next couple of meals I'm going to cook and thought about how I want to tackle it, I thought of them again, and suddenly it hit me, like. Huh. Yeah. She was kinda right.

So behold, I am going to share with you right now Two Principles of Cooking by my Italian Host Mum:

Clean up as you go. It will save you SO much grief. Put away your mixing bowl while you're waiting for something to start boiling. Clean the knives while the oven is preheating. Fill the dishwasher while your dough is rising. Don't - and I'm going to stress this again: DO NOT - leave cleaning up as a problem to Future You. Future You will hate Cooking You for it, and your brain, which is very good at finding connections and patterns, will now associate this negative feeling with the act of cooking. Especially when you're struggling with ADHD like I do, this might be difficult to implement, but will be extremely worth it.

Make cooking a fun experience for you. Treat it like your quality me-time. Put on some music you like. Light a candle. Pour yourself a favourite drink. Allow yourself to taste-test generously. Make it An Experience. Trick your brain into cooking = fun by creating an enjoyable situation even apart from the actual act of cooking.

Those are, according to my host mum, the two main things that got her into cooking - and I am sharing them with you right now, fully expecting you to listen, nod, and not believe them. Or be like, yeah yeah I know, but [insert actually very valid argument why this is oversimplified or doesn't apply to you]. But you never know. Maybe in 11 years time you will put away your groceries or stir a pot or Idk what, and it will suddenly hit you - oh shit. That Italian host mum... was kind of right. :D

[estelanel]

modern fantasy tempest domain cleric:

a grumpy Northerner who moved to the South, and they are Fine with living there, they are. but also they spend their summers mostly lying flat on their back with wet towels wrapped around their feet, and they will murder you with their look if you go like, ah finally some sun, and they will physically motion at the sky for the clouds to form quicker whenever the wind picks up the subtlest, tiniest bit, and at some point the metaphorical storm cloud over their head just decided to manifest in the physical world.

their holy symbol is a neon green electric hand fan. they don't worship a deity so much as they worship the concept of The Heat Finally Fucking Breaking.

[estelanel]

me: today I think I'm gonna do home office so I can peacefully work on the workshop concept I need to write and don't get distracted by co-workers and spontaneous tasks

my neighbours: great day for home improvement!

the nursery home vis a vis: you did remember today is our monthly live music afternoon, right

[estelanel]

we just finished playing through Curse of Strahd today; what a wild, long, and nice ride

[estelanel]

money cannot buy me happiness.

but money CAN buy me the opposite of sadness, which is a new A clarinet.

[estelanel]

I love when autumn comes and I'm like. fuck I forgot how great a big mug of hot tea tastes. hell yea I didn't remember how good I look in this cozy outfit. yesss all those colours are so pretty. oh my god how could I forget how alive I feel when I'm standing in a cool, light drizzle. ughh I love autumn.

[estelanel]

I'm gonna play a divination wizard with ADHD.

is she having a deep, insightful glimpse into the True Order of the World, or is she thinking about one-pot recipes because that crack in the wall looks like a spaghetti? you'll never know.

she can predict the killing blow of an epic battle against an ancient dragon, but she just absent-mindedly dropped her spell focus into her ale pitcher and now the whole tavern is looking for it.

she used her Scry to get a spell slot back, but she immediately forgot which level it was, so there's a big gamble whether that next Counterspell will hit or not.

[estelanel]

I just did the planning spread for Whumptober in my bullet journal, but I can't decide on a fandom XD

[estelanel]

my toxic trait is that I have not played a single minute of League of Legends, yet I have very specific, extensive opinions on quite a lot of League characters

[estelanel]

in today's practice session of West Side Story (symphonic dances) I

managed to get the fugue section from Cool to a tempo of ~160 bpm by lots and lots of repetition

bumped up my quota of hitting a''' from ~10% to ~55%

massively improved on my orientation throughout the piece by playing along to a recording, to the point where I practically don't get lost anymore and only have to count out very few breaks anymore

worked on intonation of the high parts leading into the scherzo and in the finale

so, honestly, in my book, I had an extremely successful practice session

my neighbours, I guess, would respectfully disagree XD

[estelanel]

the ever-present June-through-September desire to drink iced coffee.

[estelanel]

finished The Unsleeping City.

[estelanel]

so listen. after 17 years of playing the clarinet. I figured out today.

if you have the strong urge to throw your instrument against the wall. it might be the reed.