personal

Picture from Pixabay, because pretty.

Answers to today's questions at http://f.riday5.com/2021/11/05/friday-5-for-november-5-november-rain/

1. What unique behavior, attire, or ceremony element have you seen at a wedding?

I've only ever been to one wedding, about 20 years ago and as such I don't know for sure, but I don't think there was anything unique about it. I think the most unique thing about weddings are that of the people in my circle I would have attended the weddings of, none others have married - either they're single or just live together with their SO.

2. Who’s your favorite piano player? (alternate question: Among people you know, who’s the best piano player?)

The only pianist I can remember is Richard Clayderman and I like his work, so I guess him! (No one I know plays piano)

3. When did rain notably ruin your plans?

Never as far as I can remember. I don't really mind rain. It rains here a lot during the winter months (so, 8-9 months of the year) (or it's otherwise wet because it rained during the night) and often in the summer too so it's very common and I'm used to it. I'd be upset all the time if I minded the rain.

Maybe when I was a kid and we were camping and had planned to do something with my parents or my best friend... but even then I remember loving things like swimming in the ocean while it was raining.

4. What is your going-to-bed ritual like?

I need to read fiction for at least 10 minutes... doesn't matter whether it's something I've read so many times before that I know it by heart, or whether it's something completely new. Just need to read something fictional to relax and get into the sleepy state of mind. Of course, often I intend to read just a bit and then look up and it's three hours later...

5. When did you last give roses to someone or receive them from someone?

I just received roses from my Mom and her SO on Tuesday when they came to visit my birthday! They are the same color as in the pic above.

I can't quite remember when I last gave them - I gave flowers to my Mom in June for her name day but I can't remember whether it was roses or something else. Could've been those roses that come in pots - she likes them in the summer because then she can plant them in her garden.

Picture from Pixabay, because pretty.

Still struggling with iron defiency. I've been taking oral iron supplements for 11 months now and my ferritin levels haven't improved practically at all. It got from 9 to 21 to 18 and then stayed there, and then the iron supplements finally in mid-September started to make my Crohn's Disease symptoms worse so I had to stop taking it. My ferritin should be at least 100 because of IBD to be sure that the iron levels are sufficient. Going to have to talk about this to my doctor in my yearly check-up at the end of November. Ideally I should be given an iron transfusion because the oral supplements aren't effective and I have IBD, but doctors are extremely reluctant just generally to do them; most of them don't even admit that ferritin has any impact on the body and a person's well being. So it's a continuing struggle. I have so many problems (exhaustion that never goes away, daily headache, chronic migraine, memory problems, weakness in limbs, joint pains etc.) that might be helped with getting the ferritin up properly, especially the head pain and exhaustion and I'd like to find out if an iron infusion could help my quality of life.

Otherwise I've been much the same as all this year - same level, lesser Crohn's symptoms since I changed the dose and timing of Agiocur (thanks for the tip, gastroenterologist!) in last November so I'm glad about that. But still daily headache, exhaustion. On the other hand, my sleep's been a lot better (no waking up a million times) and my insomnia is better - I can usually fall asleep now when I go to bed, for some reason - don't ask me why - I don't know! Still sleep about 11-14 hours a day though (without any dent in the tiredness) unless I have to set the alarm because I need to be somewhere. And a few days a month I sleep for 22 hours, only waking up to take my meds during that time. As for my day - I'm usually awake 8-12 hours. It's been like this at least since 2010, but apparently it's normal to be tired and sleep a lot when you have IBD, according to gastroenterologists that I've complained to. I just don't get how I'm supposed to work feeling like this so it's a good thing I've been unemployed ever since I got ill.

I dyed my hair red with henna about a month ago, and that's lifted my spirits :D

Haven't felt much like doing site work in the last several weeks, just haven't felt like it. Also haven't had energy for creative endeavours since the heatwave broke, I guess recovering from it takes its time.

I've been reading a lot this summer and fall and I'm so happy about that! :D I've been reading Minette Walters' thrillers, re-reading actually, some of the oldest of them such as The Sculptress and The Scorn's Bridle (I remember seeing these as tv series!). I've also been reading scifi novels: Semiosis and Interference by Sue Burke and Ancient Night by Elizabeth Bear. Also read two books by Tiina Raevaara who is a Finnish novelist who has written at least two scifi leaning novels. Not sure about her earlier ones, I have them from the library but need to finish Ancient Night first. I'm on a scifi kick again, just wanting to read scifi, scifi, scifi! :lol: I felt the same way last year too for a bit. Then earlier this year I mostly read Ann Cleeves and Elly Griffiths and other thriller/detective novels. I'm only on my 30th book of the year at the moment - last year I made it to 50. But for the first time I don't mind having more than one or two library books on my bookshelf waiting to be read, and that feels good. Back a few years ago when I couldn't read anything new for two years, once that started to let up, for the longest time I could only have one new book waiting on the shelf - if there were more I'd panic and not be able to read any of them. I still can't have more than say 7-8 new books waiting, or I start to panic again, but it's better than it was two years ago. I wonder what's that all about? Books have always been easy for me, a refuge. I used to have like 15-30 library books at any time at home, reading 3-4 at the same time before that weird two years when I couldn't read anything new. I didn't keep a list of books read back then, so I wonder if I used to read more more books in a year back then than I do now?

Picture from Pixabay. Answers to this week's The Friday Five.

1. What is your favorite carnival ride?

Ferris wheel. I haven't been to a carnival since I was a teenager (so about 30+ years)! But I always loved the Ferris wheel. It was still exciting but sedate enough for me (couldn't really do those fast spinning things, or the roller coaster - my head felt unpleasant in those).

2. What is your favorite thing to do outside?

Sitting in a swing at my Mom's backyard and chat with her, as long as it's not too warm and if the sun's out, the swing roof must be so pulled that I'm in shade. That's the only outdoors thing I like that I'm not immediately wanting to end and go inside.

3. What is your favorite household chore?

I don't have a favorite houshold chore - does anyone?? The least irritating is watching my Roomba do its thing, and doing a little tidying oftne so that things like dishes don't pile up in the sink.

4. What is something that you always have with you?

Whenever go out for a longer time than it takes to take out the trash: Lipbalm and sun glasses is the one I always have with me and it's been the longest (40+ years). But now I also always must have my migraine meds and my diarrhea meds with me and of course, also my phone. I usually also always have the gift card to an art supply store with me (unless I've used it up) because otherwise I won't remember to take it with me when I need it.

5. If you could visit any single city in the world (that you have not visited before), where would you go?

That I haven't visited? That's a rather difficult choice! Hmm, I think Paris because then I could go to Louvre. I'd be really tempted by Cairo/Giza too because the pyramids.

I'm having one of those weird days. Alternately being cold and sweating with certain of my Crohn's symptoms acting up somewhat so can't go far from the bathroom and my head still feeling a little left over worseness from the migraine yesterday but also feeling weirdly energetic anyway. All my household chores are done, don't have any vacuuming or washing to do... It's so weird feeling like this. Can't seem to concentrate on anything (even reading which is something I can usually do no matter what) and am sort of feeling like I've been gently wrung out and then left hanging the wrong side out... lying down feels weird, sitting feels weird, walking outside feels good but I've already done that twice today and it's only 10am... So have answers to old The Friday Five questions.

1. If you could design your life exactly how you'd like, how famous would you be?

Not famous at all! I wouldn't mind people recognizing my name in certain circumstances such as a patron of something that people associated with the organization in question would know me, but I don't want to be famous or a celebrity or anything like that.

2. How often would you travel?

Do I still have Crohn's Disease and chronic migraine? If yes, propably not a all. Except maybe for travelling abroad to try out treatments for migraine not available here.

If not and money's not an issue (because I'd have all the money I could want - because if I could desig my life as I like because then I'd be rich...) I'd like to make one long trip (like 6-8 weeks or more) a year to some place I've always wanted to see - like visit the US/Canada and travel across the country cost to cost, seeing places like Niagara Falls, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Boston, Rocky Mountains, and many many more places. These trips would have loose plans and I'd take my time seeing all the places I want. Or alternately I'd make 1-2 shorter trips a year for maybe a week at a time, such as to Cairo or London or Paris, or even just a few days in London whenever I liked. London's one of my favorite places in the world, and I'd love to be able to go there whenever.

3. How many people would live with you?

I'd live alone, but I'd buy a big house and have staff come in to clean and maintain etc. I'd also have a cook so I could eat proper meals every day (I prefer home cooked food, but I don't have energy to cook regularly) and because I feel quilty if I don't eat the food others have made for me (I have problems with appetite, made worse by being chronically tired and too often after I've cooked, I'm too tired to eat and/or am not hungry anymore), especially the greens and vegetables. I'd propably get a dog, maybe. I'd have to think about seriously though whether I could be a good dog mom with my illnesses and tiredness.

4. How often would you eat out at restaurants?

About once a month or every other month. I like eating out (fast food doesn't count here) but more as a treat every now and then.

I'd be likely to do a lot more, is cafes! I don't do cafes now at all really. Like once a year, at the most (and none during COVID-19). They're either much too expensive, or what you get for your money isn't that great. But I'd love to spend money in the few cafes I like, just watching life around me and meeting a friend or my Mom.

5. What new hobby would you get into?

I'd probably want to try many things because I'd have the big house where there's a craft room or two so now I'd actually have the space to do a lot of things I don't have the space for now, or the money to buy materials to just make them for fun, or to just try out without knowing whether I'll stick with it. But it's the lack of space that's the big thing. I'd like to try jewellery making, and making acrylic rings, acrylics coasters and clocks. I can't now because I don't have to space to store the needed tools and materials, or have space to leave my work out to dry etc. I'd also do large versions of the things I can do now: watercolor and acrylic painting. I got to do some woodwork when I was a kid in school (woodwork was for boys, while knitting and sewing was for girls, but boy and girls had to switch around for a few weeks one year to get some experience from the other side), and liked it, so I'd like to try that again. It'd also be fun to learn to make clothes, so I'd pay someone to teach me or take classes or something. I don't own a sewing machine, and when I looked into prices of fabrics some years ago, buying fabric to make a sheet, or a t-shirt or whatever, cost just as much or more as buying one ready-made so it doesn't make sense now to spend money on a sewing machine.

I'd definitely want to own my own (computer) server! So I'd be able to have as much space I want/need for my sites, and still be able to make sure the server is powerful enough to serve the sites fast. So it could be pricier than what I can do now.

Can't believe it's been a month since I last posted anything!

Snagged this from The Friday Five @ Livejournal.

1. Are you looking forward to Autumn (or Spring, if you are in the other hemisphere)?

I don't have to look forward to Autumn - we're in the middle of it :D But yes, I always look forward to the Autumn through a summer.

2. What is one thing that marks this season for you more than anything else?

Cool, crisp air and feeling I can breathe again. Trees are also so pretty when their leaves turn to orange and red.

3. If the months are indicative of your age, with January being your birth and December being the
end of the line), what month are you in?

This is a difficult queston! Depends really on how my chronic illnesses, especially Crohn's Disease advance (there's a higher risk of colon cancer). If I were healthy, I'd propably be in June or maybe July. But my illnesses could make it so that I'm already in August or September... could go either way!

4. Do you welcome the cooler/warmer days or mourn their loss?

I welcome the cooler days!

5. What is absolutely one thing you have to do in the Autumn/Spring?

There's nothing, really. Closest would be seeing my Mom on Christmas Eve and eating Christmas foods, but that's in winter.

About 3 months ago I filled in a website usability test at my local energy company's website. I never win anything so I had forgotten all about it until when in early June I got an e-mail that I had won their main prize: a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner!

I've now been the proud owner of a Roomba for almost 2 months and it's such a life saver :-D I've always loathed vacuuming, and never did it weekly like you're supposed to at least. But especially since I got sick and became a spoonie with daily exhaustion and pain, vacuuming became a really hard task for me because it takes so much of my energy, and makes my chronic migraine worse (there's something about the arm motions and the back/head posture of vacuuming that aggravates my chronic head pain) and so it went down to bottom of things I need to do when I realized I can't do everything as often as I used to do them I was healthy. But now with the Roomba I can get my floors vacuumed every week, or even more often if needed :mrgreen: I'd always been doubtful about Roombas but after just a few weeks I can't imagine my life without one now :-D The Roomba is maybe the best gift I've ever gotten, it's that good!

Now I can't say I never win anything either ;-) 

Also in other happy news - looks like the heatwave is really over! It's been two weeks now of 18-24 degrees (Celcius) and lately it's rained quite a bit, and it promises more of the same for the next 10 days at least. I'm happy :mrgreen:  Weird how 24 degrees has felt relatively cool now, it used to be way too hot for me. I guess this summer calibrated my hot-o-meter somewhat.

Finally was able to buy the TWSBI Eco Smoke Rose Gold. I've been salivating after it since it was released earlier this year. It was really difficult to decide what nib to get. I like M(edium) nibs the best so far, but I also got one Eco in B(road) and I've been liking that more and more this year. So I decided to go with a B nib for the Smoke Rose Gold. Can't wait to get it! Also bought some inks at the same time, mostly notably to me the Sailor Shikiori Yamadori. I got a sample of it, and fell in love with it immediately. It flows and writes perfectly, and I love the teal & burgundy sheen combo :mrgreen:  Teal is one of my favorite colors. Also got some J. Herbin cartridges in that order to use in my two Jinhao x750 pens.

Also got a blue Kaigelu 316A fountain pen on the way from esybuy on Etsy, heard a lot of good things about it and it looks so pretty in pictures. It's shipped from China and the estimated delivery is in September-November. It's already shipped so we'll see how long it'll take! The two PenBBS orders I done during COVID-19 took 4 weeks both, but TheWashiTapeShop.com order took only 2 weeks and all those shipped from China too. I've bought from esybuy once before but I can't remember how long it took to get it - propably around 4 weeks because that's what my orders usually take from China or USA to get to Finland, and I don't remember there being anything unusual about that time.

One pen I'll get at some point is the new TWSBI Swipe because sometimes I need a cartridge pen for ease of use when out and about and I love how TWSBIs write the most. I'm just not sure about the two colors available at the moment - the Smoke looks so much like Go and I don't like the looks of the Gos, and the Prussian Blue isn't among my favorite colors. I hope TWSBI will come out with other colors for Swipe, preferably soon!

The first fountain pen I ever bought was the EU version of Pilot Metropolitan (it and TWSBI Ecos are recced for beginners usually,) with an F(ine) nib, but turned out I hate the feel of that pen in my hand and that I like a wider nib. It wrote really well but I just didn't like to use it. Luckily it didn't go to waste though - I gave it to my Mom who's now been using for about six months! I also gave her one of the little Tomoe River paper notebooks I made along with some blotting paper. She's still on her first cartridge (Diamine Syrah) though because she mostly uses it to list the books she's read this year. She says she used a similar pen but a dip one when she was a kid in school in the 1950s but never one with cartridges/converters. I'm trying to get her to use it for other things as well such as shopping lists etc. where it doesn't matter if the paper isn't that great.