Friday Five: Dating Yourself Edition
Apr. 29th, 2026 08:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crystalpyramidI'm not a member of ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thefridayfive, and it is not Friday, but these questions seemed kind of fun.
These questions were written bynondenomifan.
1. What decade did you attend/are you attending high school or college?
2. What clothing fashion from that time are you glad/do you wish went out of style?
3. Do you still listen to the music from your high school/college years on a regular basis?
4. What hairstyle/hair color did/do you wear during high school/college?
5. What was/is "the cool thing to do" while in high school/college?
thefridayfive, and it is not Friday, but these questions seemed kind of fun.These questions were written by
nondenomifan.1. What decade did you attend/are you attending high school or college?
the one with Y2K in the middle of it
2. What clothing fashion from that time are you glad/do you wish went out of style?
3. Do you still listen to the music from your high school/college years on a regular basis?
I do not regularly listen to music of my own choosing, but if I remembered, I probably would. The best college music was the 80s music that was played at parties/dances.
4. What hairstyle/hair color did/do you wear during high school/college?
My long wavy hair either down, in a braid, or in a ponytail. No styling products except conditioner because I didn't really understand that those were allowed until I was working full-time. In college I experimented with dying a streak blue and then dying it black when that faded to uncomfortable blonde. I liked how shiny the black dye made my hair but otherwise I'm pretty attached to my natural hair.
5. What was/is "the cool thing to do" while in high school/college?
I learned at a high school reunion after we'd all finished college that the "cool thing to do" in high school had been wild parties at the apartment of the kid whose parents had moved back to Florida and left her all by herself. However, when I was in high school, I was completely oblivious to this and thought the cool things to do were stick paper googly eyes on the history teacher's faux marble pillars, write my younger sibling's silly short stories on all the blackboards in the school, and fold the glossy college flyers into unit origami that I returned to the college counselor. Fortunately he was enough of a math nerd to appreciate the transformation.
Journey to Bad Vibes Mall
Apr. 29th, 2026 10:06 pmcimoreneToday I finally made my expedition to the mall with rancid vibes! The plan was: 5 min. walk ➡️ 33 min. on bus ➡️ 10 min. walk to suburban shopping center.
Right away, on the way there I missed my bus stop and had to walk back a kilometer from the next one. The signs pointing the way to the mall just petered out when the huge fortress came in sight, and so did the sidewalk; and having never approached it other than by car, I couldn't see a way in. I ended up hiking around half of it and walking into the parking garage, and I arrived overheated even though it was cold and so windy my eyes kept watering behind my sunglasses.
At the mall I did find the main things I was looking for, but I also got confused trying to say my phone number out loud in Finnish and could only recover it by writing it; and also later got flustered and went to a café with mediocre baked goods instead of the bakery I had been planning to eat at. There were TWO sets of charity facers camped out in the main intersections of the mall, too, which added random anxiety that the day didn't need.
When leaving I found the route back to the sidewalk, which requires walking through the grounds of the apartment block next to the mall. (There's a taxi stand on the opposite side, so you must be able to reach a sidewalk there, but that's useless for my bus route.) My hip and knee both started feeling slightly stiff as I was walking back to the bus, something that has never happened when I was out walking before, and I had to slow down a bit because I couldn't stop and do range of motion exercises there. And then I got lost trying to follow the map to the bus stop, and ended up at the wrong bus stop and had to look up directions from there, and missed the bus, but that all took so long that by the time I got to the right bus stop the next one was less than 10 minutes away.
The part of the edge of Turku where this mall is has very little pedestrian infrastructure - it's highways and overpasses and no shade and parking lots. It does have paved sidewalk/bike paths beside the road, but they are plainly a grudging afterthought. It FEELS hostile there. In future if I need to go to a mall by bus I will definitely take the hour trip to downtown Turku instead, even though that will mean lots more people around. (And if you're going by car, Mylly is a much nicer mall than Skanssi.)
Right away, on the way there I missed my bus stop and had to walk back a kilometer from the next one. The signs pointing the way to the mall just petered out when the huge fortress came in sight, and so did the sidewalk; and having never approached it other than by car, I couldn't see a way in. I ended up hiking around half of it and walking into the parking garage, and I arrived overheated even though it was cold and so windy my eyes kept watering behind my sunglasses.
At the mall I did find the main things I was looking for, but I also got confused trying to say my phone number out loud in Finnish and could only recover it by writing it; and also later got flustered and went to a café with mediocre baked goods instead of the bakery I had been planning to eat at. There were TWO sets of charity facers camped out in the main intersections of the mall, too, which added random anxiety that the day didn't need.
When leaving I found the route back to the sidewalk, which requires walking through the grounds of the apartment block next to the mall. (There's a taxi stand on the opposite side, so you must be able to reach a sidewalk there, but that's useless for my bus route.) My hip and knee both started feeling slightly stiff as I was walking back to the bus, something that has never happened when I was out walking before, and I had to slow down a bit because I couldn't stop and do range of motion exercises there. And then I got lost trying to follow the map to the bus stop, and ended up at the wrong bus stop and had to look up directions from there, and missed the bus, but that all took so long that by the time I got to the right bus stop the next one was less than 10 minutes away.
The part of the edge of Turku where this mall is has very little pedestrian infrastructure - it's highways and overpasses and no shade and parking lots. It does have paved sidewalk/bike paths beside the road, but they are plainly a grudging afterthought. It FEELS hostile there. In future if I need to go to a mall by bus I will definitely take the hour trip to downtown Turku instead, even though that will mean lots more people around. (And if you're going by car, Mylly is a much nicer mall than Skanssi.)
Nut brittle
Apr. 28th, 2026 09:00 pmcimoreneAnybody have a favorite recipe for nut brittle? I guess I'm just never going to be able to buy it in a store again and making it would be much easier than ordering it from far away.
The cat separation dilemma
Apr. 28th, 2026 07:47 pmcimoreneJust imagining talking to a new therapist or new friendly acquaintance, like...
"Oh? Why do you think you've been in that depressed rut for so long?"
"Well, I haven't been in the same room as my wife in two years because of our special-needs cat."
(I have been, but not to sleep, and usually not for more than half an hour or an hour at a time.)
This situation all happened a bit at a time and seemed reasonable all along, like the boiling frogs. But taking a step back and looking at it every now and then is disorienting (and even more depressing).
"Oh? Why do you think you've been in that depressed rut for so long?"
"Well, I haven't been in the same room as my wife in two years because of our special-needs cat."
(I have been, but not to sleep, and usually not for more than half an hour or an hour at a time.)
This situation all happened a bit at a time and seemed reasonable all along, like the boiling frogs. But taking a step back and looking at it every now and then is disorienting (and even more depressing).
Gratitude Journaling
Apr. 23rd, 2026 12:19 ami_like_the_stars posting in journalsandplannersFirstly, hello! I'm new to the comm.
Nearly three years ago now, I stumbled upon an Instagram reel that suggested you write down one good thing that happened to you every week on a piece of paper, and collect them in a jar. I thought this was such a lovely idea, so I naturally took it one step higher: I was going to write down one good thing that happened to me every day, in a journal.
Surprisingly, I've maintained this consistently for over two years, since the start of 2024. I'm the queen of never following through with my ideas/ambitions.
Naturally, the idea has evolved into its own thing. I generally write down something that made me happy in the day, if even just a little bit. I typically ask myself, "what am I grateful for today?" The answers don't have to be deep or philosophical, they can be (and often are) as simple as "the weather was nice."
On the surface, I know the sound of "gratitude journaling" can sound corny and even useless, but this has genuinely become an important part of my daily routine. It feels even cornier to admit that, when I truly reflect on it, this has positively affected my thinking as a whole. Apparently taking a moment to reflect on your day and pick out the happier parts does, in fact, do something!
A quick sampling of "answers" I've written down:
* Finished book, found a really cool sonic comic
* New intern was at work
* Had a BOMB ass nap
* The sunset was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
* Got on my computer finally and did some Tumblr editing
* Dinner was yummy soup & grilled cheese
These are all short ones. Sometimes I list a couple of things if my day was eventful.
I find that on more "boring" days, I struggle to find something truly "good." Since on these "boring" days I typically have done nothing out of the ordinary. On eventful days, I have a plethora of things to write down. I even find it easier to find something to write down on crummy days, since the happier parts are more shiny and sparkly against a backdrop of grey.
I want to leave this off with an encouragement to try this for just one week to see if it works for you. I started it because it sounded fun and very, very simple—and it is! I also had a journal I needed to do something with. I wasn’t considering the positive impact it would have on me in the long term—so don't expect this to be some miracle ritual, if you're anything like me. Anyway, try it out and see if the routine fits comfortably into your schedule.
Nearly three years ago now, I stumbled upon an Instagram reel that suggested you write down one good thing that happened to you every week on a piece of paper, and collect them in a jar. I thought this was such a lovely idea, so I naturally took it one step higher: I was going to write down one good thing that happened to me every day, in a journal.
Surprisingly, I've maintained this consistently for over two years, since the start of 2024. I'm the queen of never following through with my ideas/ambitions.
Naturally, the idea has evolved into its own thing. I generally write down something that made me happy in the day, if even just a little bit. I typically ask myself, "what am I grateful for today?" The answers don't have to be deep or philosophical, they can be (and often are) as simple as "the weather was nice."
On the surface, I know the sound of "gratitude journaling" can sound corny and even useless, but this has genuinely become an important part of my daily routine. It feels even cornier to admit that, when I truly reflect on it, this has positively affected my thinking as a whole. Apparently taking a moment to reflect on your day and pick out the happier parts does, in fact, do something!
A quick sampling of "answers" I've written down:
* Finished book, found a really cool sonic comic
* New intern was at work
* Had a BOMB ass nap
* The sunset was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
* Got on my computer finally and did some Tumblr editing
* Dinner was yummy soup & grilled cheese
These are all short ones. Sometimes I list a couple of things if my day was eventful.
I find that on more "boring" days, I struggle to find something truly "good." Since on these "boring" days I typically have done nothing out of the ordinary. On eventful days, I have a plethora of things to write down. I even find it easier to find something to write down on crummy days, since the happier parts are more shiny and sparkly against a backdrop of grey.
I want to leave this off with an encouragement to try this for just one week to see if it works for you. I started it because it sounded fun and very, very simple—and it is! I also had a journal I needed to do something with. I wasn’t considering the positive impact it would have on me in the long term—so don't expect this to be some miracle ritual, if you're anything like me. Anyway, try it out and see if the routine fits comfortably into your schedule.
Search maintenance
Apr. 22nd, 2026 09:19 am![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
mark posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceHappy Wednesday!
I'm taking search offline sometime today to upgrade the server to a new instance type. It should be down for a day or so -- sorry for the inconvenience. If you're curious, the existing search machine is over 10 years old and was starting to accumulate a decade of cruft...!
Also, apparently these older machines cost more than twice what the newer ones cost, on top of being slower. Trying to save a bit of maintenance and cost, and hopefully a Wednesday is okay!
Edited: The other cool thing is that this also means that the search index will be effectively realtime afterwards... no more waiting a few minutes for the indexer to catch new content.
(no subject)
Apr. 22nd, 2026 07:27 amclaudebMy dream machine is working well again after a long while. Last night I had the kind of dream where you're watching a movie but you're also sort of there. It was a very loose adaptation of Starship Troopers, except written more like a classic war story. A rag-tag band of soldiers gels into an elite fighting force and goes on to make a difference. Due to budget constraints, most of the action took place at night, and power armor got limited screen time. It was supposed to look xenomorph-like, except angular and metallic. I think not everyone was supposed to have it, either.
Should I have cleaned out my bookmarks before? Yes, but now's not the time!
Apr. 21st, 2026 04:20 pmcimoreneI finally got around to reinstalling Linux Mint on my laptop last week so that I could back up the last two years of photos. Going through the photos of 2024-2025 was wild. Wax and I have both been in such a fog of depression that we sometimes barely remembered the things in them, and it all feels vague and like a long time ago. Haha, great.
Anyway, the process of updating my laptop didn't go as planned.
First Tristana threw the external on the floor while it was in the act of copying, thus more-or-less bricking it (a computer repair store MIGHT be able to recover the data). It's possible that there wasn't very much on it that we don't have elsewhere, but I'm not quite sure without taking apart both desktops to access my hds from Wax's to check.
And then signing into Firefox went wrong and it failed to sync my bookmarks, even though they're all there still in the mobile version. The backup of my ff profile that contained the bookmarks was on the external but had not copied before The Incident. So I need to try removing and reinstalling the browser before I have to give up and move them manually, because apparently even though sync refusing to work is a not-uncommon issue, going by the support threads everywhere, they actually removed the "export bookmarks" button! ( Read more... )
Needless to say, I did consider switching browsers, but that feels like too many more steps to tackle at the moment.
Anyway, the process of updating my laptop didn't go as planned.
First Tristana threw the external on the floor while it was in the act of copying, thus more-or-less bricking it (a computer repair store MIGHT be able to recover the data). It's possible that there wasn't very much on it that we don't have elsewhere, but I'm not quite sure without taking apart both desktops to access my hds from Wax's to check.
And then signing into Firefox went wrong and it failed to sync my bookmarks, even though they're all there still in the mobile version. The backup of my ff profile that contained the bookmarks was on the external but had not copied before The Incident. So I need to try removing and reinstalling the browser before I have to give up and move them manually, because apparently even though sync refusing to work is a not-uncommon issue, going by the support threads everywhere, they actually removed the "export bookmarks" button! ( Read more... )
Needless to say, I did consider switching browsers, but that feels like too many more steps to tackle at the moment.
Nature
Apr. 19th, 2026 08:21 pmysabetwordsmith posting in journalsandplannersSpring is a perfect time to start a nature journal. I've been talking about it with some friends so I wanted to share some resources here. It doesn't have to be fancy. It can have text, art, photos, pressed leaves, whatever you want to include. There are different approaches; all of them are good. Grab a blank book with plain or lined pages as you prefer, something to write or draw with, and head out to your yard, garden, or a nearby park.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Green pants (trousers) saga
Apr. 17th, 2026 12:09 pmcimoreneHere's another fun ADHD story. I bought a pair of pants that are a lovely jungle green over two years ago from Freddie's of Pinewood (no longer there; they were limited run) (sorta-splurge, because they're "slow fashion" + customs fee from England). They close with a button but not a hook, and I immediately ordered a hook to sew in them, but then I didn't get around to doing that for the last MORE THAN TWO YEARS because I never planned an occasion to wear them. (They aren't dressy occasion pants. They're just cotton twill.) Today I thought to myself, "I might as well sew it in, or I'll never be able to wear them once I decide to."
Then I looked in my sewing kit, my spare needle and thread and button case, the sewing table in the living room, and the little basket full of embroidery tools, which was all the places I could think of where it might be. But no luck. I can't find the hook&bar. I'll have to order another because there's not a sewing shop in town (you can buy mending materials like thread, patches, low quality needles etc including regular hooks and eyes and zippers at supermarkets and the Finnish equivalent of K-Mart, but the larger flat hook and bar that goes on waistbands is apparently less in demand).
I am planning a trip to the big mall with rancid vibes next week, because Wax wants more fun socks and you can't get those locally; but I'm afraid I'm unlikely to find one there either. The last time I ordered from an online shop that would carry them was less than a month ago, because I finally started knitting socks to give to Wax's family next winter! But of course I had no memory of the issue then.
This is obviously not just an ADHD tax, though; it's also hardly having left the house in that time (burnout, depression?) and putting these pants on a pedestal (what a distracting metaphor... pant pedestal) because I'm so jazzed to have found pants in such a great color. And feeling that I don't have any tops that are as good, though I now know what I want to knit to go with them (a striped zigzag or ripple tee something like this, with lavender and green and blue).
Then I looked in my sewing kit, my spare needle and thread and button case, the sewing table in the living room, and the little basket full of embroidery tools, which was all the places I could think of where it might be. But no luck. I can't find the hook&bar. I'll have to order another because there's not a sewing shop in town (you can buy mending materials like thread, patches, low quality needles etc including regular hooks and eyes and zippers at supermarkets and the Finnish equivalent of K-Mart, but the larger flat hook and bar that goes on waistbands is apparently less in demand).
I am planning a trip to the big mall with rancid vibes next week, because Wax wants more fun socks and you can't get those locally; but I'm afraid I'm unlikely to find one there either. The last time I ordered from an online shop that would carry them was less than a month ago, because I finally started knitting socks to give to Wax's family next winter! But of course I had no memory of the issue then.
This is obviously not just an ADHD tax, though; it's also hardly having left the house in that time (burnout, depression?) and putting these pants on a pedestal (what a distracting metaphor... pant pedestal) because I'm so jazzed to have found pants in such a great color. And feeling that I don't have any tops that are as good, though I now know what I want to knit to go with them (a striped zigzag or ripple tee something like this, with lavender and green and blue).