B
oth Mom and my new glasses had come in to the store, so today we went to pick them up. Dad also came along, as Mom has decided he, too, needs a new pair. Unfortunately, the store didn’t have room in their schedule for an eye check today, so they made an appointment to come back.
Then we went to HEMA for lunch, it’s kind of a tradition when we’re at the mall here, and did a bit of shopping. After which they dropped me off at work.
Went to the city this morning with Mom to get our eyes checked and pick out new glasses. It has been quite some time since I last got a new pair, and since it is still 2014, my insurance will still cover it (I’m scaling it back next year). Once at the store we always go to, it turned out that I last got new glasses seven years ago. So yeah, I’m due for new ones. It being seven years ago also meant updating my data, and it’s always fun to see how people react. The dude was very professional and only mildly surprised 😀
Got the full eye check-up done, it seems my eyes got slightly better as my cylinder deviation has apparently gone away. After measuring we picked out frames. I wasn’t, and still am not, completely satisfied with what was available. I wanted something as close as possibly to my old pair: black rimmed, rectangular and not too tall from top to bottom. But apparently that’s out of style, so they are a bit taller now. I’ll get used to it, but it’s not my favourite. Mom found herself a very pretty red pair.
Then we picked out the options on the glasses. I went with extra thin, an anti-reflection coating and a blue-screen thingy so it mellows bright white light a bit and this brought me nicely to the €6 below the max coverage my insurance gives.
Now, I’m back home and focusing my attention for the rest of my free day on the gloriousness that is my newly delivered Warlords of Draenor. Black Portal, here I come!
I ordered a ridiculously large cat tree for my monsters 😀 It’s fantastic, and I think they’re gonna love it!
Wednesday I went to see If I Stay with Ingrid and Nienke. It was a fun movie (insofar a movie about people dying or almost dying is fun). It matched the book well enough, and I liked the actors (especially the parents).
The next day, as if to compensate, wasn’t so good. I felt out of sorts and crappy the whole day, and then when I went home I got annoyed at the darkness (brain: stupid winter), the train (brain: why don’t you leave now instead of on your scheduled time in 15 minutes), the people in line at the Burger King (brain: order faster!) and the people working at Burger King (brain: gimme ma food!).
Luckily, when I got home, I cuddled the cats and made snacks for Friday’s party which made me feel better.
Friday evening we had a little Halloween party with some friends. We’d decorated the house and with the snacks it was all set. To stay on theme, we had Halloween music for background and later watched a Halloween movie 😀
Intestines and feces
Pumpkins and stuffed roaches
Severed fingers
The whole of it
Bought myself some extra plates when I went to IKEA with Eva the other day. I already had four of those sets, two in purple and two in green, but I wanted two more to make it easier to set a table for more people. At first I was going to do another green and another purple, but I liked the blue a lot. And it goes with the other colours well.
I also got some christmas crafty things, a ladle and a big wooden fork. Purely because I have many wooden stirring spoons and it seemed like a fun addition to the collection 😀
I started rereading The Elenium today. I recently acquired both The Elenium and The Tamuli from a second-hand store. My Eddings collection is almost complete now. All I’m missing is the Rivan Codex. I forgot how much I liked The Elenium. The Belgariad/Malloreon are my favourites, mainly because they were the start of my dive into fantasy, but with Garion being just a boy when it starts, and not really having outgrown his boyish tendencies in the second series, it can be a bit too young sometimes. Sparhawk, in contrast is a man around forty (or at least that’s the age I always see him as*) with life experience and a clear view of what he wants and how to go about life.
I expect I’ll be finishing the series fairly quick 🙂
*He is described as being older. He was the Champion of the King, and then when the Princess was born, he practically raised her. Then when she was eight and her father died, Sparhawk was banished. He returns when Ehlana is 18 and becomes Queen. So, considering he must have been an adult when he took over the care of Ehlana, I picture him being around 20-25 then. Now, almost twenty years have passed which makes him 38-43.
I bought this stuffed reindeer head the other day, part of the early get-ready-for-christmas display in the store. I have to keep it somewhere in the mean-time, though, so I hung it from my clothes hook. It fits the room a lot better than I thought it would, I might keep it there instead of moving it downstairs when the holidays are upon us.
We also watched the dogs of Nienke’s brother the other day, a pair of yappy, over-enthusiastic chihuahuas. I love dogs, but I’ll never be a fan of chihuahuas. I prefer my dogs LARGE and furry. They can be amusing, though, the wee ones.
Into the city today with the Mom 😀 First I had to go see the medical social worker again as one of the required parts of transitioning. Most people see her regularly, but I saw her last in January. We’d agreed then that I would contact her around March for a follow-up but I forgot and when I did remember it wasn’t a priority for me as I don’t feel the need. Everything is going quite splendid.
But in May I finally mailed her, and then she maybe lost it or something as I never heard back. On itself not a problem, at least I could say I did my part. But as July came around and the new law about name and gender change came into effect, I needed some form of contact to figure out what to do to get the needed statement. So I mailed again, and now I got a response and we set a meeting for today. And she referred me to another person for the paperwork.
When I mailed that person, I got the auto-mailer informing me they were on holiday but here’s a link with info. Which was nice as I learned how it works. The piece of paper is €65 *gasp*. And if you haven’t been in to see a psych or the social worker in the last six months, they consider you no longer in active treatment and then you have to pay another €250 for a consult… o.O So I was particularly glad I had set that appointment as January is about six months ago…
Anyway, it was a nice chat, took an hour just as before. And also just as before I am a well-adjusted, grounded person with a well developed sense of self and such. I have no problems she can help me with and I feel excellent. With an agreement to contact again after I have an appointment with the Plastics dude (if all goes well I get a referral in August), I left.
Before that, at the end, we spoke briefly about the name/gender change and the paperwork and she put me on the list, which saves me an extra phone call later this week. Unfortunately, not only is the admin person on holiday, so are both the psychiatrists who are vetted to give the required statement… Which is kind of embarrassing for the gender team, and means it will be August before they get around to work down the list. I hope they hurry up then, I need my data changed, especially seeing as how I’ve finally decided on the how and what of going back to school.
Yes, I have 😀 I have been searching for what to do in regards to learning for quite a while now. I wanted to do another university level thing because, even though I rationally know HBO is also very good and offers many options, I’ve done a university BA and half of a Master’s before. And it would feel sort of like settling if I didn’t do it again. Problem then was, what and where. I realised pretty quickly that a regular BA wouldn’t work, what with the new laws regarding how fast you have to do things I can’t squeeze that in to my life after working 36 hours a week. So part-time it had to be, however the official part-time options Groningen offers kind of suck. And what I do like and is available part-time, is all in Amsterdam and such and therefore not doable in terms of travel.
But last week my brain remembered the thing that is the Open University. An accredited university that offers distance learning, lots of online/digital stuff with,if so desired, the option for contact hours and more guidance. So I looked at their offerings and saw individual classes that I liked and then I stumbled upon the Bachelor’s program for Cultural Sciences (Algemene Cultuurwetenschappen). After reading it through, I realised it matches my interests very much, and is also a program with a lot of options for customising. So, I have decided to enroll. However, I first need my name and gender changed to have as little confusion as possible and no issues later on with names on certificates and diplomas.
Oh, and after my appointment, Mom and I then went on to the mall for a wee bit of shopping. Bought some books, some fake flowers and a mail holder for Nienke and we stopped for a late lunch. We had a good time 🙂
I’d asked Mom if she wanted to go to Bedum with me yesterday for groceries and Action. She said yes so we headed there yesterday morning. We decided on groceries first. When we got there I noticed that the shoe store in the same building was having a sale where, if you bought two sale items, the cheapest would be €1. We’re always in for sales, so we checked it out.
Mom didn’t find anything, either for her or for Dad, but I did. First I found a nice pair of black ankle-high sneakers. I had some trouble finding a second item to take advantage of the sale. Not that it was terribly necessary, the sneakers were cheap enough to buy as is, but I kept looking around for a wee bit longer. Which was just my luck as I found a nice pair of grey sporty looking loafers. I’d been wanting a new pair of those for when I just want to slip on something easy, plus these look nice enough to wear as dress shoes, too.
Only then did we go for the actual groceries. I didn’t need much, and neither did Mom, so we were done quite fast. Which brought us back to the car and on our way to the Action a few streets over.
My main reason for wanting to go there, this time, was Warcraft lego, again 😀 I needed only two more sets to have one of every set the Action had available. And Elune was with me, as the Night Elves say, for they had the sets I was missing. I’m now the proud owner of a Spectral Tiger and a Dragon Turtle to complete my Warcraft Lego shelf in the bookcase. I also bought a couple mandala colouring pads and a new mesh cup to hold pens.
Here, have a crappy iPad evening shot to show my WoW Lego shelf 😀
From left to right: a piece of Stormwind with a human warlock, a Worgen on a Gryffin, a Gnome in a helicopter, a Night Elf on the Spectral Tiger, a Pandaren on the Dragon Turtle, a Goblin on a trike, a Tauren on a Wyvern, and a demolisher with a Blood Elf wanting to break down the walls of Stormwind. Behind them is a row of solitary figurines: Gnome, Worgen, Human, Night Elf, Tauren, Pandaren, Orc.
When we got back, I stayed over at the parents for lunch (nom, fries), built my new Lego sets, and left a while later to go home and put away the groceries and such. I spent the rest of the afternoon playing WoW, inspired and all 🙂
The evening was quickly designated movie night, although we ended up going back to memory lane by watching the first couple episodes of Charmed instead of a movie. All accompanied by copious amounts of popcorn and some cocktail shizzle 😀
This morning I slept in, played some iPad games and finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and didn’t get dressed and downstairs until near noon. Only then did I realise I was going to go to Pilates… Fail.
Had some lunch, then read some more, this time Tuf Voyaging. I had started it a while ago but then had to put it away after just a handful of pages so I just started over today. I really like it so far, although I wouldn’t so much classify it as a novel, but more as a collection of short stories/novellas as there is no over arching plot between the “chapters”. Each is a self contained, episode I’d say, in the saga of Tuf and his voyages. Tuf is a fun character, stoic, honest, and prone to taking things too literal. Plus he loves cats.
Around two I had enough of sitting around, and since Nienke went upstairs to study, I dove into the garage to tackle the mess there. It took me about four hours, but it looks so much better now. Just two or so garbage bin pick-ups to get rid of all the crap, a trip to the paper recycle container and the county recycle center to drop off a few boxes of old paper and an old TV.
That only leaves the old kitchen chairs, but they get to stay for now. I’m thinking of turning one into a flower bin with the left over planks from the garden privacy fence. And who knows what I can do with the rest 😀
Then I wokked some veggies in sweet chili sauce, hung out in front of the TV, played on the computer for a bit and put away the dry laundry. And now I’ve been spending the past hour or so typing this up. It would go faster on the computer, but the iPad is more convenient for typing in bed 😀
Night, night, folks!
I came home Tuesday to a new edition of Flow on the door mat as well as next season’s theater catalog. After the first run through, I was on 9 shows I wanted to see.
My Uncle’s birthday was Wednesday so went there in the afternoon.
Then Thursday I had planned to go see The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared after work, but it rained so much I decided against it. Instead I went to the Bruna at the train station and bought books (including The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman). Once home, I watched The Normal Heart (I had recorded it when it premiered on HBO Sunday).
It’s a movie, after the play of the same name, about the beginning of the AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 80’s. Main character is the, gay, writer Ned Weeks. As more and more people around him get ‘gay cancer’ and die from it, he notices that mainstream medicine and the government choose to look the other way. He and his friends form Gay Men’s Health Crisis, an advocacy group to raise awareness and money and help those affected and afflicted by the disease. Ned favours a more aggressive, vocal approach which conflicts with the more diplomatic way the rest of his friends choose. Meanwhile, in his personal life, he falls in love with journalist Felix. The two start a relationship, but then Felix gets AIDS as well.
It is a difficult movie to watch. It is raw and deep and open, quite literally like a festering wound. It is beautiful, intensely fragile and strong at the same time. Watching it left me devastated and in pieces. I will be watching it again, and I will definitely be buying the blu ray when it’s released. And I only buy blu rays of movies I really, really, love.
Saturday: Lounging on the bed with Milo 🙂
The Normal Heart stars Mark Ruffalo as Ned, Matt Bomer as Felix and has, among other, Jim Parsons, Julia Roberts, Jonathan Groff and Alfred Molina in it.
Friday I went to the cinema with Kim to see Maleficent. I liked the movie. The visuals were very pretty, and the back story they gave for Maleficent was nice. The acting was okay to good. Angelina Jolie was good, as was the guy playing her lackey. But the dude playing the king sported the most awful fake Scottish accent. And later on, in a scene at his castle, all of a sudden mid-scene half the men there acquired the same horrible accent… And the ending felt rather rushed.
Back home, I went through the the theater catalog again. Got it down to 7… But am talking with Mom about going to see War Horse in January…
Saturday I played a lot of Warcraft, and I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It’s a lovely, lovely book. It tells the story of a little boy who meets the people who live at the end of the lane, the Hempstocks. And there is something odd about this family. There are no men, and they have an ocean in the garden. And then an old evil manages to enter this world, and he needs the Hempstocks to survive. It has magic and supernatural stuff and all those things you find under the veneer of modern day life (well, modern day sixties life). It is definitely a recommended read.
Also, the new birthday calendar I ordered to hang in the downstairs toilet came. Unfortunately packed, but very, very, pretty 🙂
As per our tradition, Ingrid came today to go to the annual Ascension Day Market in Eenrum with me and Nienke. And this year, we added Kim to the mix. We had tea first, and then drove to Eenrum. And since my aunt and uncle still live there, we had the luxury of parking the car in their driveway which saved us walking all the way from the designated parking area.
I succeeded in my goal, which was to find a mat for the downstairs toilet. It is a lovely dark purple and goes well with the colour scheme I have going on in there 🙂
Other than that, we saw Mellien and Bas, bought candy and I indulged in buying sausages.
When we got back we played some games. Ingrid and I played a couple games of Fluxx, and then we did Therapy with the four of us.
In between, I cast my vote for the Horde bike in the Azeroth Choppers bike build. I am a dedicated Alliance player ( I have a few Horde characters, but no higher level than 20), but the Alliance bike is just too low in the back for me. The winning bike will be put in the game for free, but I have no doubt the other one will be made available in some way as well. There will be too much of a shitstorm if they don’t.
Horde Bike
Alliance Bike
Glorious weekend! Today I do very little except watch some movies or TV, read some, maybe play some games.
Yesterday was King’s Day so I took a stroll over the customary flea market. My first in this town. It was much bigger than I was used to in my previous town, so many kids trying to hawk their wares. I scored some nice bargains. Found a really good condition Settlers of Catan for €7,50 and a Charmed season 7 DVD box for €10 and a Lego game and book about cats to cut up (pretty pictures) for two or so euros together.
In the afternoon I went to the Parents as my aunt and cousin were visiting and I don’t get to see them often. It was nice catching up 🙂
I spent the evening on the sofa cutting up the book and watching Tabletop on the new TV. I’d set it up the night before and, as it’s a smart TV, it can do all kinds of nifty internet things like YouTube, Netflix and Spotify. So I connected all my accounts and even made it so that I can look for a YT video on my iPad and then play it on the TV 😀
Also on Friday, Mom and I went to the birthday of my second-cousin. I don’t always get to go as they are kids, still, and celebrate on the day itself, in daytime. Which is often when I work. But this week I’d switched my free afternoons enabling me to go. I’d made pretty envelopes before we went to put the gift money in. Not just one for the current celebrant, but also for the two we missed earlier this year. The birthday was much fun.