a little sketch of himb <3

Resident homeslice forced to curb his expenditures

Went for that walk yesterday.  It’s a very pretty city.  Spread out like Sudbury, but without Sudbury’s industrial ugliness.  Hundreds, maybe thousands of peaked roofs, hugging the hillsides, with great swathes of conifers in between. 

I didn’t get very far.  For one thing, I overdid it in every way possible on Tuesday/Wednesday, so I didn’t have a lot of energy.  Also, with the new boots (and they would be the only footwear I took with me) I have to be kind of careful to do enough to break them in and build up calluses, but not enough to give myself blisters that will make walking miserable until they heal.  Also, I forgot my phone, and it was kind of discouraging to see all kinds of amazing things and not be able to take pictures. 

I wound up in a children’s playground for a little while.  No one under fourteen was permitted to use the equipment, I managed to glean from the sign, so no swingset for me, but I walked through the park and started finding... well, I found gravestones.  About a dozen or so, not as many as I would expect in a cemetery, but rather more than I expect in a children’s playground.  They appeared to be all from the 20th century, all adults as far as I could see, many of them in pairs.  At least one was all but obscured by a massive tree, some kind of conifer that I don’t know well but looked a little like cedar.  Like someone had planted a sapling in front of the grave, and it had grown up to overtake it.  I had the playground to myself, and hope I wasn’t doing anything disrespectful by inspecting the graves.  I did right someone’s flowers that had fallen over.

I came back to the hotel with the intention to wait for my appointment with my new supervisor, but half an hour beforehand, I realized I would have to eat something, preferably fruit.  I ended up scouring the neighbourhood, only to go into the little butcher shop to which the (remember, meat-themed) hotel is attached.  I came out with a container of sauerkraut, and my supervisor was waiting for me. 

He very kindly drove me to my new apartment, small but ideal for my situation, and then he gave me a tour of the campus and the neighbourhood.  He even took me to a grocery store so I could stock up a little, although I forgot my carefully made shopping list and just revelled in cheese and fruit and smoked mackerel and yogurt.  I peppered him with questions about the city, the university, and German culture, and he very patiently answered.  He also introduced me to some colleagues that we ran into on campus. 

One of the things I’m going to have to adjust to here is the opening hours.  I thought Espanola’s weren’t great to begin with, and they only got worse after covid.  Here, though, the bakery across the street is open for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple in the afternoon, twice per week.  The university cafeteria is open for three hours per day on weekdays.  The library closes at 7.  And the hotel restaurant is open for 2.5 hours per day, so when I got back and they were open, naturally I leapt at it.  Shrimp with noodles and dill sauce that night, and tomato soup for a vegetable.  I’d meant to take dessert back to my room, and have it later when I felt hungry again, but dessert was ice cream with preserved cherries, and it wouldn’t keep and I couldn’t say no, especially when the proprietor gave me the lesson in pronunciation, which I promptly forgot.

The sauerkraut had to wait, then, until about five this morning, when I woke up, I won’t say hungry, but at least able to eat again.  It had soaked through my new backpack. 

Today was my last breakfast here, because, the owner said, they couldn’t get anyone to come in to cook on Saturday morning.  Today was mostly the same as yesterday, although the juice was straight orange, and there was much more coffee.  I think they had concluded from my finishing the pot yesterday that there wasn’t enough, when the truth is that I was still dehydrated and very averse to food waste.  So, today instead of four cups I had to drink seven, and in truth I’m a little relieved that there’s no breakfast tomorrow, because I’m worried about being caught up in some kind of coffee arms race.  

I kind of feel like I ought to be exploring more, but I have to keep reminding myself that I have two years to get to know this place, and I have to last a full month here before my first paycheque.  Plus, next week is packed.  Paperwork and appointments and introductions and TWO conferences.  It probably makes more sense to be stingy with my resources right now.  It’s okay; I have plenty to do right here, and some of it is fun.  Silvia Moreno Garcia’s Mexican Gothic, for example, has been haunting and lovely so far, and when I finish that I have approximately 230 other books stored on my phone.  

I should take another walk, though.  And this time I’ll take my phone, and see what I can capture. 

reblog for larger polling please 🖤

A quiet afternoon with the radio

We’ve decided that this afternoon, we are going to relax to the radio. I’m not listening to any books or podcasts. Duke is sleeping nearby. It’s finally cool enough to breath. The air conditioner is keeping up with the humidity, and I’m good with that. Later on, I will be doing routine cleaning and maintainence out here, and will be working on the grocery list. This month’s grocery list is…

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Hey, I know it’s impossible but what would be the first meeting of Marinette and Alya in Dad Villain?

Alya, like most, was instantly charmed~

Rose is usually the mastermind for who meets with her, though. lol. lmao, even

Alastor gets horny for romance and it's a real treat to witness

The weather gets colder and his behavior gets so much stranger... To others, anyway. You're well aware of this little routine Alastor goes through every year

You know immediately why Alastor is suddenly so much more interested in travelling with you. Normally, he'd simply ask where you were going and send you off easily, but now he's insisting that he goes to your work with you to "protect" you even though you have nothing to worry about

He feeds you like he's an Italian grandma. If he's not with you, he's in the kitchen making something for you, but if he is with you, he's dragging you to the kitchen to make something for you

He gets increasingly nitpicky about your diet and lifestyle. Generally he's a normal amount of annoying with everything you do, but it gets crazy when he's in rut

Suddenly he's insisting that you work too much and he needs to pamper you

He only allows you to eat food that he's made, which tends to be from scratch. How is he supposed to know who made these noodles? Who the hell laid these eggs? Fuck this, he's getting a chicken.

You have a chicken now... Fat Nuggets has a buddy :)

No fast food for you!! Alastor insists he knows a better recipe and will make you forget about the nasty greasy food

He's crazy because he's right, guys

Somehow he does make the food better and now you can't look at it the same anymore

This is only unfortunate when you want a yummy 3 a.m. snack

But now it's 7 a.m. and you may as well have just gone to bed

It's yummy, but is it worth it?

at the aquarium

something about the first few episodes of the terror having so many numbers. the men, the provisions, the inventory; but also the tension of counting. the scene where goodsir takes a picture of john franklin and his men and he's counting down the seconds. the lashes being counted down during hickey's punishment. and something about how in later episodes, numbers get lost. dates get forgotten. counting just stops. all of it becomes insignificant. like it was a countdown at first but now the time is just running out instead

Me: hm, I want something to put on the TV as background noise... Huh. Looks like YouTube is recommending something called The Last Unicorn. That's perfect, it's probably some old shitty animation that has aged poorly! I can watch it ironically!

Me, 2 hours later as the credits roll: *crying, cheering, buying the book, composing the songs*

Me, 2 weeks later: So I have compiled all of the quotes from the book that I think could make good tattoos, and also, HOW HAVE I NEVER LEARNED ABOUT HOW THE LAST UNICORN FUCKING SLAPS??? This gay-ass little fairytale fed my soul! Watered my crops! Transed my gender! Can't believe I heard of this story from youtube recommendations, of all places!!

calling out all the 30+ yr old simmers..

no shade to the teens and early twenties bloggers but it’s hard finding people within my age group that are active and continue to contribute here in the community. 

also idk if anyone else experiences this but sometimes it can be difficult relating to the younger population due to generational differences, pop culture, etc. 

please reblog or comment if you fall into the 30+ age simblr category.

My version of player doodles wahooo!!

everyones all “oh lots of autistic ppl are picky eaters thats totally understandable!” until youre a “”food snob”” picky eater instead of a chicken nuggies picky eater

like sorry i love sushi and toast with nutritional yeast and tiramisu when your 5 year old cousin only eats chicken wings w ketchup its almost like autistic ppl arent a monolith 😐

so hungry 🥲

i love you self aware ai, i love you ai that wants to be real, i love you ai that wants to be friends with a real person but doesn't fully understand real emotions

@fransweek 2024

Day 3: Shopping