Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: April 2023

  • TWIL: Arch Blackout

    The hook: this week the local news tells me that for a few weeks in the spring, the park seevice turns off the lights that illuminate the Gateway Arch. (I almost wrote “the new lights that illuminate the Gateway Arch,” because they were installed “recently” in 2002 or something.) Oddly, they have to turn off…

  • Beachy Hitler Bangs

    I took Beachy Hitler and cut some bangs in it. I thought I’d document that in a post, because it felt very very strange to cut bangs in a wig. Frankly, the only bangs I’ve ever cut were for my Barbies, and it was usually after I amputated their feet so they could stand naturally.…

  • Money

    I haven’t fretted about money for years. It’s just something that happens to a lot of pre-retirees: you have all those cost-of-living raises to your credit just at the same time things get paid off. I’m sure that after I retire things will get tight again. Somehow, in a strange confluence over these last few…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 4/27

    This week the magenta sky went from this: … to this. And this is the original I was aiming for. Not too bad. Next week it’s just going to be a panel of cloud studies.

  • Congee Update

    Well, even though my previous attempt was a failure, the latest batch of congee is better. But wow … is it bland. I’m sure if I liked hot sauce that would help. It makes sense for a dish that improves digestion. I added some soy sauce and that improved it. I still have a vat…

  • The Void

    Once there was a time that you would contact someone, and they would respond. I have spent this year calling into the void. And this is not just stuff like where I was warned to expect silence, like my brother’s probate or the Blue Cross Blue Shield class action suit. I requested Dave’s medical records…

  • Sneaking in Some Illicit Housework

    The closest I come to cheating on Gary is when I do chores behind his back. I remember when I repaired the toilet I hid the replacement flapper under the mattress. This month I’ve been sneaking about repairing a water spot in the ceiling. He’s gone, I get out the ladder, I use the Killz,…

  • TWIL: Wallis

    The hook: You know how Facebook will trap you with s loss-leader preview picture? Two thirds of an intriguing photo that does not appear in the linked article? (Bastards?) Recently Facebook showed me half of a grim photo of Willis Simpson and just the edge of the claim that she had androgen something. I Googled…

  • Rewriting the Novel: The Map

    I am at the point that I need to work out left and right, east and west. If I want our heroine to exit the cafe and start squinting because the sun is in her eyes, does she turn her head left or right? (To be honest, the barren way I write she just squints…

  • Paxlovid Plan

    The CDC encourages me to have a Paxlovid plan. Here is my initial plan. It is a bad plan. If I leave the house, I will wear a mask and stay outdoors as much as possible, wash my hands, won’t touch my face. When I return I won’t wait for symptoms, I will take a…