Arguing with an idiot is like playing chess with a pigeon. It’ll just knock over all the pieces, shit on the board, and strut about like it won anyway.
Arguing with an idiot is like playing chess with a pigeon. It’ll just knock over all the pieces, shit on the board, and strut about like it won anyway.
We’re up to our first couple of feet of snow what with yesterday’s snowfall, and then, today’s accumulation, so far.
So this Monday I had another blood test to check my magnesium levels and got a call yesterday afternoon, late, from the pharmacist (as I don’t currently have a family doctor) telling me my level was hovering on the very edge of normal. Which is to say the least, not good. So we both agreed, I need to see a doctor to have them authorise further tests to see what’s going on.
The problem is, it’s not so easy to get to see a doctor outside of having a family doctor. Yes, it’s true the government created a Portal to facilitate access to a nurse, for making appointments. But it works as easy as standing naked in the middle of a road, at midnight, under a full moon, chanting gibberish. The categories and sub categories are limited and don’t allow for leeway when trying to navigate getting said call-back from a nurse.
We sat there looking at the screen trying them all, till we just chose one in order to get the call. This is even before you get referred to an agent to book an actual appointment with a random, free doctor somewhere within the city limits.
The nurse did call within the hour (which in and of itself was a miracle.) I then had to answer 101 questions detailing everything that has happened to me in the last 6 months (information that should by all accounts, be in my records already) and then, when she finally said she was going to transfer me to a booking agent, her computer froze.
Of course, she had to call me back.
Thankfully, it was only a 10 minute wait. Another several minutes and finally, I was transferred to a booking agent who took all of a minute to type into their computer to see which doctor was available and get me an appointment (all which seems dumb, leaving me wondering why couldn’t the nurse do this?) Who knows.
I actually got an appointment for this year, amazing. December 23rd. And, it’s in an easy to get to business mall. This is when the next part of this mini drama starts.
It’s all very exhausting.
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
Another question I got asked for the #WeblogPoMo AMA (Ask Me Anything) challenge was from Annie (yes, another Annie), she wanted to know:
What is a habit that’s either very long-standing or has had a big impact in your life, or both?
and
What’s your favourite time of day, and why?
First up, let’s start with the easier question, my favourite time of day has got to be mornings, early mornings. Especially as I have a habit of waking up somewhere around 5am for a pee. Which in and of itself you’d think would be annoying but … I’ve learnt to turn around what was once an annoyance to a positive. I now take the time to open the curtains and peak outside, and spend a couple of minutes marvelling at the world beyond. Sometimes I give up any thought of going back to bed and, instead, brew a cup of green tea, sit on the couch with a blanket, and either read or just stare out into the dark pondering life’s mysteries.
It’s funny what pops into your head when you stop thinking about anything specific.
As to Annie’s second question? Hmm … I’m not sure I have any long standing habits these days. I think I’ve broken myself of most of the annoying ones a long time since; like chewing my nails till I was 17, sucking my finger till I was 5 and started school, or carrying a stuffed bush baby plushy everywhere I went till the age of 3, till I threw it overboard on a boat.
There was also my habit of watching the news while eating breakfast. But watching the twin towers fall live on TV, one morning, broke me of that habit. In shock, like half the world, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the morning news for well over a decade.
I do, I suppose, have one new habit that stated in the spring of 2019, the year before covid hit. When my partner and I were planning a month long trip to Paris in the fall of 2020, and I needed to get in shape for the trip. It was walking. But, as we all know, covid locked down us and the entire planet, we didn’t go anywhere for 2 years. I did, however, walk with a vengeance. I started walked for at least 5 minutes of every hour every day, for that entire year. Not only did I gain muscle mass, but lost weight too. The upshot of that one year, which continued into 2021 and then, 2022, became my new habit. Now I only walk about three and a half minutes every hour. But still, with everything else I do throughout the day. I walk over 7000 steps each and every day. It really has been one of the best habits and decisions I ever made.
And you, what’s your favourite time of day, and what long standing habits do you have, if any?
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
Hey, @manton my m.b subscription is coming up soon, and I want to know how I change the subscription to Micro.One?
Do I have to cancel my current subscription and then, subscribe to Micro.One? Because there’s no option for Micro.One in the Plans section.
Been a crazy ass morning running around like a headless chicken doing errands and, of course, I had to go see the nurse this morning for more blood tests.
And I’m only now sitting down to my fav tea in my fav mug.
So the wonderful and so very talented Andy Carolan has created a new avatar for my blogs, and social media. Unofficially names Alex Rocket Dog. An homage to the year I was born, and that amazing kick ass little dog that first went into space, aboard Sputnik; Laika, the original little rocket dog.
Please give a warm welcome to little Alex as she readies herself for lift off!
Today, Robert Birming writes about a Swedish tradition of eating pea soup and pancakes on a Thursday (prior to fasting on Friday) a tradition I can get behind wholeheartedly. Especially as, during the winter months with snow on the ground and bitterly cold temperatures outside, I love to make soup at least once a week.
Not only because it’s cheap, filling, soul-warming food but because it’s another way to get the veggies in. And while I don’t do pea soup nearly enough, I do have 3-4 favourites I make in rotation or, when I can grab the veggies themselves.
There’s red pepper and tomato soup, like we had last night for dinner with a country loaf and vegan cheddar. Also leak and potato, another simple easy soup to make. And another one of my favourites, roasted cauliflower soup, which is simplicity itself to make.
The fun thing about veggie soups is you can pretty much roast any root vegetable, throw in some peas, pasta, or pulses for extra body with some good stock and voila, you have an incredibly healthy dinner.
And you, are you a soup lover and do you make your own, from scratch?
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
It’s a gloriously sunny day out there today. Problem is … it’s also minus 15 degrees.
It’s snowing … again … get use to it … I’m going to be saying this a lot … it’s winter!
I turned the heating down earlier, I may have made a grave error in judgement.
Found online and, of course, stolen to share here …
So. Damn. Funny!
We’re enjoying one of those weird wintery days were despite the fact the sun is shining and the clouds are high and light, it’s snowing. It happens when the temperature at a certain level turns any moisture in the air into snowflakes.
Just enough to dust the grass but not heavy enough to coat the trees, yet!
Are you a big spender at Christmas or, like me, are you a frugal re-user of wrapping paper, bows and ribbon, and a repurposer of unwanted gifts?
I take great delight in salvaging Christmas paper, gift bags, bow and ribbons, and why not? If they are still useable and in good nick, I will set them aside and if deemed useable again, will keep them. I’ve even got the OH doing this. Especially with our own Christmas presents, i.e. the gifts we give each other on Christmas morning.
I’m also big on going to the Dollar store to buy their bargain holiday items. And I love their crafting section to make homemade gifts. Nice glass jars get filled with candy, candles, or other silly items. And I love to make stocking stuffers with found or repurposed items. And no, I’m not ashamed to admit regifting presents to someone else who might appreciate them more. I don’t do baths, so what use is an expensive bath-bomb to me?
I like to spend my money on one or two important gifts for the people I love, and wrapping isn’t one area I waste time and money on. I can make a gift look like it came from Harrods with the right addition of bows and ribbon. It’s not about costs, it’s about presentation.
And you, what do you do? Come on, fess up your own secrets. Did you home make those scented bath salts for granny and put them in a $2 jar from the Dollar store? Yeah, I know you did.
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
The first question I got asked for Annie’s #WeblogPoMo AMA (Ask Me Anything) challenge earlier this year, was from Lou Plummer in which he asks:
“If you could work as a tour guide in one of the places you’ve traveled to, where would you pick? And why?”
Of course, for me, there is only one place and that’s Singapore. An island that was a huge part of my impressionable childhood years, those years from 8 through to 11. As an adult I’ve dreamed of and yes schemed to get back there for a visit, though it’s true the island I remember has changed, vastly, in the intervening years. And what was once a place of idyll life for me, is now a roaring metropolis of the 21st century, a tech hub, a tourist mecca, but still … As a tour guide? Hmm …
All those flashy hot spot amid the history and splendour of a place I remember maybe gives me a different perspective to be a Tour Guide. One able to recount the history in a way others cannot. I remember the riots during the 60s, I remember the civil unrest, I remember people being shot at, the undeclared war going on in the shadows between super powers like the US and UK, pushing to influence a people who wanted nothing to do with the colonialism of the day.
It’s easy to be a tour guide taking people to the Botanic Gardens, or to the Raffles Hotel, or one of the latest landmarks … but what about the advance of the Japanese on Singapore during WWII, or what happened at Changi prison? Or that, as a child, my parents and I met the Prime Minster of the day, Lee Kuan Yew.
I wonder if I would be an interesting tour guide or not, given maybe the average tourist probably wouldn’t want to know any of the painful history of this tiny nation island.
But then again, who knows.
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
Sadly, all too true …
Well, we went from minus five on Monday and wintery weather to an almost balmy plus 4 and rain here, this morning.
Rain now for the rest of the week right on through till Monday, they say. Bah humbug!
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
If you want to understand time — which is how you come to befriend life — turn to stone.
Climb a mountain and listen to the conversation between eons encoded in each stripe of rock.
Walk a beach and comb your fingers through the golden dust that was once a mountain.
Pick up a perfect oval pebble and feel its mute assurance that time can grind down even the heaviest boulder, and smooth even the sharpest edge.
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
I want to update and change the avatar on my m.b. account but, micro blog doesn’t seem to want to comply. I’ve tried three different logo/avatars but, m.b. just keeps showing the same 8 year old version of me, even after I deleted this particular image. Am I missing something?
Do I need to update the avatar somewhere different from the Account page, @manton can you please advise?
What is it with shopping regulations that says you cannot buy a perfectly useable stick of dynamite on a Sunday to blow up your ailing/aging washing machine that takes this moment in time to suddenly spew some gunk and turn your nearly brand new crisp white bedding set into a murder scene, as if a mouse got drowned and mangled in the tub!
It’s sacrilege, that’s what it is, sacrilege I tell you.
Does anyone know a plumber?
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
To quote a line from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest …
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
Today I am honoured to be featured in Manuel Morale’s online series: People & Blogs.
If you would like to read my interview, pop on over to Manu’s blog, HERE, and find out what I have to say.
I would like to say a big thank you to Manu at being asked to join such a prestiges alumni, I am truly honoured. I’d also like to say a big thank you to Robert Birming for suggesting me.
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
Today’s most important questions is, “what’s the best way to cut a tomato?”
Is it:
Answers on a postcard… what, oh, okay, answers in the comments please. Thanks!
This run of the mill gangster flick on Netflix was made all the more enjoyable by performances from Pierce Brosnan, James Caan, and Morena Baccarin. However, stealing the show in the single scene she was in, Sharon Gless as the foulmouthed mother in law, got some of the best throw away lines going I’ve heard in a long time.
If you’ve got nothing better to watch, grab some popcorn, suspend your sense of disbelief, and just enjoy the stunts.
Three bags of popcorn 🍿🍿🍿