New Weird

[Dina]

Hi everyone!
I am happily working at home today (I had several virtual meetings and I rather do that from home) and that is great because is too hot to commute (33 C right now, but it will probably be better at the hour I would have been returning home). I just made me a lemonade (just diluted lemon juice actually because I did not add anything, not sugar, nor mint or anything else). It was very refreshing. I will do a sugary version for when hubby arrives, I have the suspicion he will need it).

[BugBear]

A squirt of lemon will put the spirit right back in you, it's one of my favorites. It's good to hear things are laid back when the weather is at it's least accommodating. Hope hubby isn't working outdoors, I'm sure he'll appreciate the treat.

The hours just keep vanishing from the days, and if I'm not mindful, those sneak away when I'm not looking too. Even saying that, I'm still surprised about how today is already almost over. Dr Who remains neglected, unfortunately. As well as a giant pile of other fiction that's steadily building.

The sayings lie. Your final death isn't the last time someone speaks your name. It's when you start scheduling your relaxation time to optimize what little of it you have. I will rage against the dying of that light.

[Dina]

Hubby was not working outdoors, he works in an office. He was very grateful of the lemony water, even if it was a tad acid for him.
We had a terrible Friday night until about 5 pm of Saturday. We had a power outage. It happens often when Summer attacks in my country, for reasons I am not going to say here. But we had power now, I just hope it lasts. it has been difficult to sleep without a fan, even when the night was not so hot.

Rage against that! And try to relax about the time.
I've been in a hurry not to break my streaks in several games i am playing online. Some of them are geographical ones. You need to identify countries, things about them, or go from one country to another. i will leave here the links to my favourites, which are from the same company.
https://wheretaken.teuteuf.fr/
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr/
https://travle.earth/

[Regenbogen]

The sayings lie. Your final death isn't the last time someone speaks your name. It's when you start scheduling your relaxation time to optimize what little of it you have. I will rage against the dying of that light.

Oh my. I feel you.
I've been there. I was doing too much. I was just functioning. Rushing from one Thing to the other with barely time to think. My relaxation time (meaning time to read) was at night when I was supposed to be sleeping, during other stuff with audio books, while cooking or (lol) on the toilet.


I kind of woke up when my best friend wrote that she was going to visit home the next week and when we could meet. My best friend lives a 5 hours drive away. We see each other once or twice a year.
And when she called, my first thought was: oh God, not another appointment! How am I supposed to squeeze her in?" I didn't feel any joy to see her again. She just became another chore, another appointment.
This was the moment, I realised, I didn't want to live like this any more, no matter the consequences. I want to be able to enjoy time with my friends. I want to know what boredom is and fill it with nothing. I want to spend more time with my family and friends, that's what life is for.

So I pissed off some people by no longer participating in their stuff. I shed all the unimportant stuff. Left only the necessary ones like work just enough to live well, don't be a member of more than one organisation outside of work. Delegate whatever can be delegated. Don't actively fill your week with appointments that are not immediately necessary.

Wasn't easy and as I said, I made some people angry, but to be honest: those angry people weren't worth my time anyway, so good riddance. They just wanted me to do more and more, but I was already over my limit.

If nothing else but covid isolation was actually good for me. I was feeling better mentally and then, a few years ago I even switched departments to get rid of the toxic environment there.


Now I am actually happy at work. I don't feel exploited and unappreciated any more.
I have finally learned to say no. OK, it doesn't always work, but I try.
And I am grateful to my friend that she unwittingly opened my eyes.


@Dina: oh no, no power for such a long time is bad. Have you tried wet towels in front of your windows inside the room to cool it down, when the fan is not working?
January is the peek of summer? Like the hottest month in the year?
For us it is usually the coldest. But it has become rare that temperatures dropped below -10°C. For a longer period.
Last week we had -10 to -9°C. There was icy rain and everything was caked with ice and extremely slippery. Today it is +10°C and very sunny.



I am still reading the no-romance-novel with the romantic title, we have finished watching Andor yesterday and I watched an Alien film I didn't know yet. Romulus. Was OK.

[Dina]

Hello there!
I've never been that workalcoholic. I did have some periods (sometimes a couple of months) where I could not take the time to breath. Besides what you mentioned about your times of relaxation, I added washing the dishes and taking showers. Cooking was never too relaxing for me but I like washing dishes. That is one of the reasons we don't own a dishwasher. I admit sometimes the pans or cooking plates are difficult to wash, but for the two of us a dishwasher is not a necessity. Anyways, I hated those periods but we (hubby had to supported me) endured it because we know they were temporal. And now I have less work (and less money) but it is worthy for my mental health.
That said, last week has been a little stressful because I wanted to finish some things before my leave. Which will officially begin tomorrow.

Yes, January is our warmest month and it is quite common the we have power outages. Some years we ended booking a night or two in a hotel because if my building has no power, the pumb that takes the water to the roof tank does not work, so eventually the tank empties and we have no water. But luckily that was not the case this time.  And no, we did not added wet towels but we wet our face and arms, it was enough to feel comfortable enough to fall asleep, at least for a while. It was not the best of the nights but it could have been worse. We also were lucky this time. Our building has 2 separated phases (I mean, connections to the electricity source). So the halls of each floor had light. They also had a socket were we could recharge our cellphones and I could recharge my laptop, so I managed to do some work. And when the natural light was enough we did some cleaning and house chores, so it was a quite productive, if not relaxing day.

Well done, Regen. It was a great call you did.

I do not like Alien so I did not watch Romulus but I did like Andor. On a related note, I finished Skeleton Crew. I liked it, it is SW for children, and I support that. That is what made us love it when we were children and that was what cemented our love for it now that we are adults. That reminds me one of these days I will take a picture of something I want to share with you Weirdlets. An old wedding souvenir.

We watched Fargo, the old movie, yesterday. We had never watched it before.  I liked it!

Today we had rain and the temperature dropped so we are quite happy 

[Regenbogen]

Today we had rain and the temperature dropped so we are quite happy

Yay!


Tomorrow is my husband's birthday. But he won't throw a party yet, because it is Monday and he is not that well. Also probably because I don't have much time to help prepare for a party this week. So he would have to do all by himself. Maybe he' reschedule in February.


We found a new German series on TV. It's called Hameln and it is about the fairy tale of the Pied Piper, which also influences modern Times. Mystery or horror. There have been some apparition of ghosts or zombies already. And one blind girl seems to have visions. Seems interesting

[Dina]

I hope he had a good birthday, even when party is coming weekend.

I do not like horror shows or movies but I admit that sounds interesting.

My first official day of holidays, another power outage (shorter, from around 11 to 18:30 or something like that. So, I could use natural light, no need for candles or flashlights. Problem was my computer was half battery but luckily my kindle was charged so when my computer turned off I could read.

Luckily Tuesday has no lack of power so I am happy.

I watched an old movie (Before sunrise, with Ethan Hawke). I liked it and I was amused by a few things that were quite different in the 90's. Like people smoking in trains and restaurants. I am planning to watch the two sequels, so no spoilers, please.