A bed of roses

Today, I wrote zero words for nano and I'm fine with that. I woke before my alarm feeling I had much more energy than when I went to bed - yay for sleep! Like last night, just thinking of putting up the Christmas deccies (which won't happen for about 6 weeks!) felt exhausting - this morning I was able to think, 'yeah, I can do that - when the time comes'. So, I was ready to make some words - but instead I watched Rex Sterling's live stream for Silent Hill 2...

This evening, we ordered take away so I wouldn't have to run around the kitchen trying to get tea done in time for me to go to my course - but the food turned up after I was supposed to leave the house, so I scratched that. Then I had a choice - write, game or watch Lincoln Lawyer. The telly won and I've just watched FOUR episodes. I did have to force myself to turn the telly off, though. Damned cliff-hanger episode endings!

Work was fairly relaxed today, which I was grateful for. Stuff to do but no mad rush on any of it.

And fireworks ALL BLOODY NIGHT!!! The worst was between 7-9pm but they're still going now.

Right, time for bed and then a chilled day tomorrow. When I will write, game and watch some more of LL :D

I played a LOT of FFXVI today. It took three goes to get through a fight with a particular dominant (hint - he's a prince!) but I got there in the end. I also tracked down another hunt that I needed for a quest for one of the engineers. I was quite miffed because I thought it was in a location I couldn't access, which seemed like the game trolling me - but it was actually in an area I could reach. Doh!

My memory tells me Jill spent about 90% of the game in sick bay, but actually she's spent at least 60% of the game at Clive's side, so far. When I was running around getting stuff for Mid, I tried to make different choices than on my first playthrough - which meant leaving Jill at the Hideaway. But it was a nice little bonding episode with Tarja.

One of the purposes of the replay is to get a firmer handle on just how emotional the game is. I remember being a complete wreck by the end of my first playthrough, but I wasn't sure how much was the game and how much was me processing the previous 9 months in RL. I'm finding there are actually a lot of emotional scenes, but I'm not dissolving into a sobbing mess with all of them this time. Conclusion - the answer is somewhere between the two extremes. It is an emotionally charged game that came along at just the right moment for me.

Husband made scrambled egg on toast for our breakfast, which was VERY nice - both the gesture and the food :) Before his memory loss, he'd taught me how to make scrambled eggs in a frying pan, but that seems to be one of the things he's lost because he made today's batch in a saucepan, which is much harder to clean!

And I made my home-made fat balls for our feathered friends. I hope they enjoy!

I'm aiming for an earlier night, tonight. I may be on leave, but I don't want to stray too far from my normal routine. Also, a normal bedtime means longer in bed because I can get up later :D

Despite being annoyed by my parents yesterday, it's been a good weekend.

The reading in church was the start of John's Gospel - 'In the beginning was the Word...'. We were asked to discuss what part of the reading had jumped out for us. It's such a familiar reading that it's hard to actually listen to it! The person I was sitting next to quoted, 'he came to his own but his own did not know him,' and we chatted about how the Church remains silent on injustice - specifically around Israel/Palestine, which they know a lot about. They said Palestinian Christians tend to be wealthier and better educated, so they're more likely to leave. And on reflection, what's more uncomfortable than being a minority within a minority? If you can get out, you're going to.

When I got home, the husband was having a nap so I took advantage of the opportunity to do a bit of tidying up in the garden. The son appreciated me sweeping the damp leaves off the steps :D My three brave little snowdrops are fully open, now - they are such darling little flowers. For consideration this year is moving the camellia back into the shady corner - it didn't bloom at all last year, which I think is a combination of being in a pot and out of constant shade, even though the 'sunlight' is literally tiny streaks through the gaps in the fence. It'll mean moving my miniature rose but that would probably appreciate more sun than it's getting. Also, a couple of the shrubs that are currently in pots could move into the 'bed' that runs down the side of the steps because there's a big space that just gets filled with weeds every year.

A couple of definites are a new solar fountain - the old one lasted 3 years, which is pretty good - and digging up the grass/moss/weeds in the middle and planting meadow flower seeds. The latter is going to take several weekends because I'm NOT going to be gung ho about it and try to do it all in an hour. First of all, though, I need to make sure I've got the seeds!

In the afternoon, I played some more R&C:RA. I'm getting used to switching between weapons and using them strategically. I particularly like the one that electrocutes several enemies at once. There are also some interesting ones in the shop that I just haven't got enough cash to purchase. I started on 45%, so I must be past half-way by now. One of the sidequests is to collect some treats for a dragon, whilst flying ON the dragon - but it's a real pain to steer. I think it will have to remain hungry. At the end of one of the battles, I couldn't get the next bit to trigger. I thought I was missing something so tried jumping off the platform, which ended in a death and the next bit triggering automatically. Something similar happened in a previous battle, so I think there's a bit of a glitch somewhere.

On telly, we watched a couple of episodes of The Traitors, Australia and Dancing on Ice. A traitor I really didn't like got their comeuppance, and the judges on DoI seemed to be watching a different set of performances to me - but the right person left.

So, a really full day, which means I feel very rested and ready for another working week :)