[healthwork, diarish] ... they... lost my blood again?
Jan. 29th, 2026 11:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberettOr at least I assume that's what the call I missed because [reasons this margin is too small to contain] was about, based on (i) the voicemail that said They'll Call Back Tomorrow, and (ii) the continued absence of the relevant test results in the NHS app.
I... think I am going to suggest that they ask my GP to issue a bloods request form, for me to pick up from the surgery and take up the hill to phlebotomy. Because! this is ridiculous! blood loss remains my job!!!
Other things today has contained include: TOKEN RIDICULOUS PUZZLE; Very Picturesque Bread; the Child assigning us all Pronouns and Genders and Sexualities more-or-less at random (from an LGBTQIA+ sticker book); PAKIDGES many and various Including another book on pain and box sets for the last two seasons of Elementary; lots of ridiculous windows in the general vicinity of Bank. I am very tired.
some good things
Jan. 28th, 2026 10:34 pmkaberett- The second attempt at a present for my mother has arrived Several Whole Days before I am next going to see her! Hurrah! (About ten days after I'd received a notification that the previous attempt was ready to ship, and I'd be hearing more from the courier Drekly, I... realised I had heard nothing more from the courier. Apparently the parcel evaporated, but the company sent the order back to the workshop as a priority job...)
- I successfully exchanged blood for a bowel prep kit! The blood results have not yet shown up in the NHS app, but fingers crossed for them coming through... drekly.
- Allotment! Post-bloods I took myself to the plot to empty the compost pail, and accidentally did a whole pile of weeding, thereby establishing that the garlic chives have overwintered successfully (thus far) even if they're looking a bit bedraggled; that I do in fact have a lot of garlic I failed to harvest last year that's coming up merrily now (which I am contemplating redistributing in aid of maybe getting bigger bulbs out of it...); and that there are going to be So Many Beetroot. (Largely self-seeded.) (I did accidentally eat some of the garlic chives, Contra Bowel Prep Instructions, because apparently I Ought Not Be Trusted At The Allotment when I'm on a low-residue diet, BUT I successfully did NOT eat ANY of the spinach or rocket or lamb's lettuce.)
- I consolidated enough of my Book Piles to unearth the coffee table! AND THUS we have begun a puzzle, which I am greatly enjoying.
- Tinned pears. Tinned pears are always a Treat that is a Small Luxury, and they are especially so this week. ...it is possible that I am going to go through my entire stash.
Civ VII reactions
Jan. 28th, 2026 05:02 pmjack* Having three ages with only some things carried over between them actually works really well. If you do well on the victory tracks on one age it helps in the next age, but it's not impossible to catch up. And it's meaningful to pivot from science one age to conquering in another age to economics in another.
* Adding hexes to cities is simpler and meaningful, but confusing to people used to earlier Civ games. Each tile has a natural yield. When you grow the city (when you get a new pop) into that tile, it gets the appropriate improvement. Hexes adjacent to city tiles (within 3 of the centre) don't produce any yield but count as controlled by the city. (That's where you can expand into) Placing buildings also grows the city. Building count as urban hexes, they all need to be contiguous with the centre.
* Gaining influence spent for diplomatic actions works really well. It makes investing in diplomacy meaningful, for warlike civs as well as friendly ones. It makes a difference which civs you butter up, but you can't infinitely butter up a civ that doesn't like you. And influence is used during war to influence war exhaustion, so a more/less popular war makes a real difference.
* There is a soft cap on the number of settlements which I like. It's less runaway victory/failure than how many settlers you can build. But it's less dramatic when building a settler isn't A Big Deal.
* Independent powers make a bit more sense. There are villages which can be hostile (like barbarians) or can be befriended (when they become city states). Late in the age you get auto-hostile ones who act like barbarians. It feels more organic.
* I like mixing and matching leaders and civs, and mixing and matching different civs appropriate to the region between ages.
* They got rid of rock-paper-scissors units. But overall the balance of military seems fairly good. I really enjoy it when I have good unique milirary units, like horse archers (just always OP), or elephants with machine gun mounts (Siam FTW) 🙂
* Some of the victory tracks are really fun. In modern age, economic requires connecting a rail network and processing factory resources. In exploration age, military/expansion track rewards settlements in foreign lands, extra if conquered, extra if your religion, so it can reward a variety of play. But some feel more unfinished, just "do X amount of Y".
( Read more... )
vital functions
Jan. 25th, 2026 09:59 pmkaberettReading. ( Scalzi, Tufte, Duncan )
Writing. Introduction continues to take shape. Word count hasn't gone up much, but that's partly because I am doing a reasonable job of Whacking Down A Bunch Of Words and then reassessing and deleting...
Listening. More of The Hidden Almanac. I continue to fret about not keeping super great track of it, which is in part because I seem to be extremely prone to going to sleep if it winds up on in the car...
Playing. We are finding an Exploders Inkulinati run alarmingly straightforward. Learning Continues.
Sudoku also continues to eat my brain. :|
Cooking. Dinner tonight included: another attempt at the Roti King cabbage poriyal, this time with more coconut, which I think has worked v well; a... loose attempt at a generous interpretation of Dishoom's gunpowder potatoes (no lime, no spring onion yet, no leaf coriander, not new potatoes...); and some pomegranate molasses-tamarind-yoghurt-chaat masala goop to sit some paneer in.
Earlier in the week I ticked a couple more things off the Cook (Almost) All Of East project (kung pao cauliflower; mushroom bao); this evening I have also had a first stab at recreating the Leon spiced tahini hot chocolate, which was Very Acceptable.
Eating. Finally managed to get a meal at the Viewpoint restaurant at Whipsnade (we keep not going at a time when it's open); mildly disappointed by the sourdough pizza, probably because I have a vague memory of a previous incarnation having aspirations to Fancy Restaurant, which I think the current set-up doesn't. Still v pleasant to eat food I didn't cook sat looking out over the Downs, though.
Exploring. ZOO.
Growing. I do not understand where the sciarid flies keep coming from but I am so, so, so over them. I am SO over them. WHY is the lithops container SUDDENLY FULL OF THEM.
That issue aside: lemongrass continues to have Leafs! If (if!) it keeps going like this I'm going to wind up needing to dispose of a bunch of plants via Freecycle/Freegle, goodness. Physalis still not doing anything visible. Ancho chillis almost but not quite All The Way Ripe.
It is almost certainly time to start sowing More Things but I think perhaps I will hold off until after I've had a chance to apply some nematodes...
we went to the ZOO
Jan. 24th, 2026 11:32 pmkaberettfor a Treat. and we saw (highlights edition):
- the baby white rhino!!! three and a half weeks old, nose still not pointy, ridiculous little ear tufts; at one point got startled and did a tiny canter, and at another point was subsided into the straw pile with its eyes closed and its ears doing intermittent sleepy waggles
- the baby giraffes!!! two of them, both with TONGUES and both (obviously) much much taller than us
- ostriches doing A Gentle Jog, and also flapping their wings about a bunch
- The Pygmy Hippo (who also at one point got startled and GALUMPHED about it)
- the New Tapir, who is not a Common Hippos
- a CHEETAH (who then decided everything was Too Loud and it was going to slope off to the private paddocks thank you very much)
- The Flamingoes, who were almost all asleep; majority were on two legs not one, and it was Immediately Apparent from watching the one-legged sleepy flamingoes swaying enthusiastically that this was on account of The Wind
- Medium Elephant once again became Very Startled, made a Loud Noise With Her Face, and needed reassuring by All Her Grown-Ups
- baby giraffes (again)
- wolverines go LOLLOP, and
- A Penguin Pedicure (and lots of porpoising)
(Many other good things included Running Creatures, a very muddy tiger, the sleepy bongos, a baby monkey bum, the ponies labelled Lesser Rhea, a selection of sheep, and a sleepy African Wild Dog.)
The weather was extremely cooperative. I am very very glad we managed this outing. (And then I fell asleep listening to The Hidden Almanac in the car on the way home...)
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Jan. 22nd, 2026 10:56 pmkaberett- Saw the Child! Was given a Very Important Solar System Biscuit.
- Successfully slogged through a Whole Entire Exercise Routine, thanks be to company, and only tried to fall over for balance reasons rather than presyncope reasons. The Socks Continue Good. (We shall leave aside the part where my watch firmly told me I should start winding down for bed right before I began it...)
- A has indulged me to the tune of staying up late (post-wiggles and once we have finished our takeaway, which we have) so that the bread I did not manage to bake earlier in the day will be Ready To Be My Breakfast.
- Brain was willing to put down sudoku and actually read some book today! I am a bit closer to finishing a reread and embarking on the new thing!
- It feels like I might actually be able to fall asleep in reasonable time today. Goodnight. <3
[food] parsnip risotto, redux
Jan. 21st, 2026 11:11 pmkaberettBack in November I made a ridiculously overengineered parsnip risotto, as a way of dipping a toe into my next cookbook project. I said at the time that it was very tasty, and also I was unlikely to ever make it again.
Ow
Jan. 19th, 2026 09:54 pmazurelunaticI have a battery of tests aimed at me for the leg weakness, in case it's neurological.
And my primary care is leaving (again) within a few months. They said last time that I would be assigned to someone in the same practice. That was inaccurate. They're saying it again this time, so I will prepare for battle.
Cats are nice and warm, and extraordinarily heavy on the knees.
svpromptstables | arrowverse & smallville prompt tables
Jan. 18th, 2026 09:46 pmflareonfury posting in dw_community_promo
svpromptstables is an Arrowverse (*coughs* check out it's multiverse *winks*) & Smallville Prompt table challenge, with prompt tables options ranging from 7-100 prompts. Low stakes, no limit on how much you can "claim" (and anyone can "claim" the same things), only a minimum of 100 words and no deadlines.Tables | FAQ | Claim & Claim List
vital functions
Jan. 18th, 2026 11:07 pmkaberettReading. Small progress on Index, A history of the (Dennis Duncan); quite a lot of Wrangling My Terrible E-mail Situation feat. skimming geochemistry abstracts; flipped through some of the latest batch of Alex Was Sad cookbooks; also some more poking to see if there's, like, An Official Formulation of CBT-(for-)I(nsomnia), and came to the conclusion that the reason I can't find it is that there isn't. Exactly.
Writing. Alas I have not made sufficient progress this week to announce that the number at the front of the wordcount of The Putative Book has got bigger, BUT I have spent a bunch of time tinkering with ideas and asking you lot things, so. Maybe. Maybe this will be the week the second complete reworking of the introduction actually takes shape.
Playing. I continue with Squardle (via vass) and, despite its shortcomings, Metaflora (via ewt). Sudoku remains The Special Interest Of The Moment.
Cooking. It has been a Weird Week for food because A and I have mostly not been eating together (because A has been unwell and mostly not eating), but: another dal variant for my breakfasts (thereby also ticking off another item on the Cook The Cookbook project list), and lots of minor variations on Leon's ~superfood salad~ from days of yore.
Making & mending. Technically progress on glove and learning continental knitting; in practice I'm probably going to frog it and have Attempt #3 At Tension.
Growing. Lemongrass is germinating! Lithops are germinating?????
At home: the overwintered bell peppers and ancho chilli are turning Ripe Colours. The overwintered jalapeño is extremely unwell and I should... do something about that. Both orchids continue Determinedly Making Flower Stems.
At the plot: I MADE IT TO THE PLOT, Project: Bulk Up The Spinach Seed is progressing, and I have done a tiny bit of weeding and infrastructure (mostly taking down last year's growing supports...). At some point I will want to kick the things that are currently in the propagator out of the propagator in order to sow the next batch of seeds, but they'll get a little longer yet.
And more saffron keeps appearing in the various places it's planted on the patio, though I sincerely doubt any of it will flower...
Dreams of Dead Stars, Part III, ch. 22: Making Time
Jan. 18th, 2026 02:20 pmelynne( Read more... )
[eyb] you continue magnificently helpful!
Jan. 17th, 2026 11:01 pmkaberettThe context for yesterday's frivolous low-stakes question was of course indexing for Eat Your Books, where I've been stalled on my current cookbook for... a while... for ...reasons... including but not limited to needing to ask for a bunch of new ingredients to be added, and then having a social anxiety about ever touching the work-in-progress again.
And then I did touch it again! And a recipe where I'd requested the new ingredient "mixed leaf salad" had instead... been given the ingredient "mixed greens", synonymous with the base ingredient "mixed lettuces".
The cookbook in question is The National Trust Cookbook; The recipe is Goat's cheese tartlets with pickled cucumber; the headnote to the recipe includes
Serve with a home-grown asparagus, pea and broad bean salad mixed with baby salad leaves.
The ingredients for the salad, helpfully listed under the subheading "To serve", are:
12 spears of English asparagus, woody ends trimmed off 55g/2oz podded broad beans 85g/3oz fresh or frozen peas 70g/2½oz mixed leaf salad with rocket leaves 3 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed or olive oil 1 tsp runny honey
So I am reassured that the breakdown of opinions falls almost entirely along side-of-the-pond lines, suggesting that the reason I'm going "this is neither of these two things??? if EYB told me I needed mixed greens for a recipe and turned out to mean mixed leaf salad I'd be extremely annoyed??? if a recipe told me I needed mixed greens for a recipe and turned out to mean lettuces--" because, yes, I think "mixed greens" are a thing that need cooking (probably referring to brassica but I only roll my eyes a little at pre-packaged bowls that decide that various forms of pea, broccoli, and leek also count), and "mixed lettuces" is a strictly narrower category than "mixed leaf salad".
I had absolutely no idea that this might be a point of US/UK confusion, and thank you all for providing me with Data!