one, lonely donkey chewing on an electric fence

Cracked open my Battleship dvd, dusted off the dvd player and had myself a movie night. Fuck, I love this stupid movie. The entire cast is fantastic, the plot is very stupid but makes sense if you pay attention to the first 5 minutes, and the last 1/3rd of the film is a legit banger of an action film.

Is the premise stupid? Sure. But it spends 90+ minutes dunking on the mediocre white, male lead while showcasing how fucking amazing the tertiary non-white characters are and even begrudgingly giving wml some growth. And they fridged his BROTHER. I remain assured that this is my favorite trash and I cradle it to my chest in delight. I might reread the novelization. Which I do own.

I've had a couple conversations about food with relatively young humans in the last little bit. It's reminded me how far I've come when it comes to eating, learning about, and cooking food. Big props to annieeats for being a regular new-cuisine companion or introducer over the last ~20 years.

I note any of this because the most recent conversation about food I had was with a young person who has been very limited in what they eat and/or cook. And while they want to learn more, they've got a range of 'safe' foods that it's tough for them to deviate from. Also, they're limited in funds (like most young people and, lbr, everyone right now), so trying or adding new things to their comfy food list is complicated. Food sensitivities and poverty are hard fucking rivers to navigate. Add in that they have limited experience with cooking at all, and I'm thrown back to my early 20's. Woof.

I guess I'm just really kind of grateful to my parents and friends for making food interesting and exciting rather than intimidating. But I'll also give myself some grace and space for being willing to try things I've never eaten before. 20-yo me would be pretty intimidated by stuff I eat regularly now. But good for her for eventually getting here!

I love my girls. I can unequivocally say that they've stabilized my mental health for years. That said, I recently sat down and did the math about how expensive they currently are.

Here is my current regular maintenance budget (per 30 day period) for the girlies:

Wink (wet) food: $150-180
Tea (wet) food: $25
Tea (dry) food: $15
Treats (both): $5-10
Cat litter: $36-55
Meds (Wink): $7

Total: $238-292/30 day period.

With mathing that is fudgy, this is a larger than 10% chunk of my monthly budget. That's not including vet trips or separate purchases or cleaning supplies.

And like, I knew it was a significant portion of my budget, and I'm not actually mad about it? I made the commitment to care for these two in a healthy and engaged way. And YES, Wink's wet food bill is insane, but she's got some medical shit going on (she's almost 16? Is 16? Adopt a rescue for uncertainty!) and tolerates this food and this food alone. Both for her nutritional needs and for her willingness to eat it. Royal Canin wet food owns my ass until this girlie passes and I've just given up and tried to find coupons.

Also, Tea's her own worst enemy in that she has to be deeply drugged if she goes to the vet. Like, it's on her file. Wink's a damn delight (legit, there's not been one regular vet appointment where she hasn't been dubbed 'best behaved'), but Tea Had A Bad Experience and is taking it out on the universe now. Luckily, 3-year vaccines are a thing now, so I just haul her in for an eye-wateringly priced teeth cleaning, and they just give her jabs while she's unconscious. Just. SIGH.

This is 100% me just venting but. *stomps foot* I am definitely not getting another pet after Tea passes. I just can't afford it.

I think I'm finally having some energy? Also, I'm realizing that I'm just really tired of being inside and not doing things. I did need the rest and I'm grateful this health stuff fell during a time where I could take the time to rest and recover. That said, I am wanting to move around.

Some of this is I think I've od'd on reading. While I'm not reading trad pub stuff atm, I have been reading a lot of fic and I've also noticed how apathetic I am to a lot of stuff and I just really need to start to engage with the outer world again. I miss being active and having activities!

Honestly, I'm seriously considering volunteering to do some shifts cleaning park districts. It gets me outside, I get to straighten somewhere up, and I get to listen to audiobooks. I looked it up on the Cook County Park District website and self-directed volunteering is an option! We'll see if I follow through on this. :)

Anyway, I only have one more follow up appointment for my post-op care. According to the doctor, everything looks good and I'm healing up very well. \o/

I had a fun time with my D&D game on Saturday. Yesterday, I got to hang out with my friend, who I have not really seen much since last year. It was good to get out and see her and I need to do that more.

I figure I should talk about them because why not? Writing is good for the brain. Interestingly, they've both been translated works! I am mildly proud of me.

1. Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmeinstan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan by Erika Fatland

( A good slow roll of post-Soviet history in five countries most people can't point out on a map. )

2. Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura

( My recovery read? )

I'm also in the middle of another translated work (whoo!), but it's a Korean novel titled Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop and it's by Hwang Bo-reum. Initially, the form felt similar to Lost Souls, but as I get further into it, that impression is coming up incorrect. So far, it's a quiet exploration of the workers and patrons of a small bookshop. Not my normal jam, but I am having a good time! We'll see how it shakes out. I'm only ~60 pages in tho, so TBD. After that, I have a copy of The Feminist Killjoy Handbook for my wine-moms book club. We'll see how far I get with that one!

I have social plans this weekend and I decided to do something special just for me. Namely, I have plans on Sat and Sun in a similar location ~45 minutes away from me. So, I reserved a hotel room so that I can just stay in the area and sleep in a bit. (Wink wakes me at 6:52am 365.)

Is it fiscally responsible? Not entirely, but I'm hitting a wall with fiscal responsibility. Sometimes, you just need to gift yourself nine solid hours of sleep.

In other news, last year I'd had the idle interest in attending RomanceCon in Milwaukee last year. I ended up deciding not to go - and I'd delayed buying a ticket for day-of - but the second time I checked the website, it seems like a lot of authors had bailed on the event. I just kind of shrugged about it - stuff happens! - but it turns out there was a whole big thing that a Chicago-local Youtuber (Savy Writes Books) did a big video about. I knew none of this! But hey, huzzah for my laziness.

My take away is maybe I should go to Print Row Lit Fest this year. I've had fun in the past!

In other news, I refuse to eat Giordano's pizza ever again. It's good! But the sauce is very actual tomato forward. Unfortunately, my gastrointestinal system has given up the absolute ghost on tomatoes entirely. I have become a philistine and require sugared sauces from here on out. Bleeeeeeeeergh.

Got home and slept for three hours. Might ask the boss to wfh on Thursday of trend continues. Bleeergh. I really want to do some strength training once I’ve healed up some more. I really need to rebuild some stamina.

Back to work for the first time in three weeks! It's... weird. I mean, it's fine (so far) but it's odd to not have the (mental) autonomy to just... go do something not at my desk. I do need to get up and walk around in a minute (yay, for setting good habits) but here I am!

Sigh.

So, had my post-op follow up this morning. Learned some stuff. Namely that the recovery time for this was supposed to be SIX weeks (which explains my continued pain and exhaustion) and that I am doing well, but they’re kicking my return to work out another week. But! My weird little tumor is considered benign, but the pathology was super interesting and I am officially a medical marvel.

This is actually really good as I took two 4+ hour naps today. I am also going to take advantage of the 30F+ weather this week and so some walking around the neighborhood. I am CRAVING red meat like crazy (makes sense), and have decided to walk to a local burger place tomorrow. They have samosa sides!

Uuugh. I should go back to bed.