Pigments & Pigtails

Did only minimal day job Thursday and Friday. Not none, but not enough to make my SR count 0 either. I did use the time though for HA4H and for an away mission to the grocery store, both of which went well.

On Friday I got dressed in layers of warm clothes and walked down to the grocery store. It’s easy for me to forget how, when I did have the right gear and I wasn’t in a survival situation, I do like being out in the cold and just being able to wander around with moment to moment goals or responsibilities. It’s easy to forget because there were many, many times when I did not have the right gear, or where walking was a survival strategy not a chance to relax, and so my brain wants to just forget the whole topic.

But this time I got to pick the clothes I wanted for this particular situation, and to change them as my situation evolved, and to go back in whenever I wanted, and to walk only as it suited me and not to keep warm or to keep distracted or to slowly trudge toward someplace “safe”. And so I got to enjoy it, being warm and comfortable and feeling the cold on my face. The contrast in temperature is visceral evidence that my past survival decisions were correct, because I can feel them working right now. I am prepared, or at least as prepared as I wasn’t to be, and so I can zone out and enjoy the cold.

We got Dog a wagon and he seems to fit, but it will take a little training to get him to sit still while being pulled around. His leg pain makes training harder though, both because he doesn’t want to move and because he can only lay comfortably in certain positions. But I think he’ll get it with some practice, and we’ll be able to get him back out to the park.

No robots this week, now that they have canceled school. Which frees up some time but also makes me sad. It’s going to be a while until school is back on (end of April at least), and I’m going to miss the people and the projects.

I dyed some socks today, in service of many goals. I want to feel like I can have clothes in exciting colors, and not just the 2 old man colors that clothes my size ¹I have trouble even with socks. My calves are huge, which makes many socks not fit. I’m also pretty sensitive to socks in a sensory processing sort of way, which makes me picky. come in. I want to do clothes are projects and doing color is a good way to start. I want to do arts with Shanda, and this one is good for her because it has a recipe. The recipe won’t make you less nervous like you hope, but it will change the way you think abiut the project and make it easier to get started. It mostly worked, and the socks came out great. Also used the leftovers to give a paler color to a couple of Shanda’s things.

His Majesty’s Dragon is about the oppression of young people, but framed in the context of powerful dragons so it doesn’t feel so hopeless as with children. Technically it’s about the journey of a privileged dude who imagines himself as good while participating in and benefiting from oppression, who uses dragons to eventuality see both his contributions to and harms from oppression. Often that PoV is difficult to take, but it isn’t really how this book works – he’s not the hero here, he’s the idiot used to play out our lessons. Worth your time. I’m excited to read the whole series. If you’d like to try something smaller start with Uprooted, her most recent book, which is self-contained.

ZiB

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Sent from a phone.

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