Some Things I’ve Been up To
I went out dancing the other night. We headed out at eleven and came back shortly before sunrise. I didn’t even know I was still capable of all-nighters. But somehow, I survived.
It’s funny, I never really enjoyed nights out when I was younger, but now clubbing with friends is something I eagerly anticipate. I put part of it down to living in a city that has actually nice places to go and spend an evening at. Part of it is I think I’m a happier person now.
In a more mundane venture, I visited a garden centre to get some flowers for a hanging pot. I love British garden centres and all the weird grandmacore tat they tend to sell. This one had a restaurant which gave out toothpicks with their food. That’s something I’d never seen before, but I am told it is a thing.
To be clear, please never actually use toothpicks to clean your teeth after meals. It will destroy them.
Just as I was writing this, the postman knocked on my door with some more books from my sister. I believe I’ve mentioned this before, but once a month or so we send each other a book to read along with film and music recommendations. This time, I sent her Things That Disappear by Jenny Erpenbeck (which I quoted in my recent post about memory), and she’s sent me Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo. So I’ll probably be reading that over the next couple of days.
Speaking of books, I recently found a proof copy of The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville in a charity shop. I have no idea if it’s a good book (seems like an action sci-fi from what I can tell, which isn’t often my thing), but it was too interesting not to pick up. I wonder if it previously belonged to some book-toker?
I’ve also been working a lot of my glitch art. I came up with this glitch the other day (you can see a higher definition version on my Pixelfed account), which may be my favourite one so far:
I’ve also been trialling different ways of creating glitch art from the command line. Expect an incredibly geeky post on the subject in the coming days.
Elsewhere, I’ve been watching a lot of studio Ghibli films. I thought they might make for some nice comfort watches. Clearly, I forgot they can also be absolute horror shows.
While I’ve seen many of these films before, I’d never seen Kiki’s Delivery Service. It’s a good film, but there’s this part where this bratty girl bad mouths her grandma, and for whatever reason it totally broke me. Like, I was practically bawling my eyes out. I’m not sure why.
I’ve also been watching a lot of cult 90s/00s TV. Stuff like the X-Files, Xena, Buffy, CSI - all the nonsense I loved as a teenager.
Like many older TV shows, these programs were designed in such a way that viewers could tune into any random episode and not need much of any prior context to enjoy them. They’re usually formulaic, with each episode serving as a self-contained story (later Buffy being the notable exception). For better or worse, we’ve largely lost that type of television.
In any case, they’re all noticeable ‘un-bingable.’ I mean, I can’t imagine watching more than a couple X-Files episodes in a row without Scully’s eternal scepticism getting kind of grating (no matter how great her business wear fashion may be). Point being, these shows only really work if you’ve got a decent rotation (of other awesome 90s/00s shows) on the go. Which, of course, I do.
This is all making it sound like I watch lodes of TV. That’s not true. I’m really super-cultured and outgoing, honest!
I’m sure there’s other things I could talk about, but they don’t come to mind right now. I think my life is actually fairly boring, but in a way that I actually kind of like.
I said to a friend the other day, I never really saw myself in any MC’s or heroes growing up. I always wanted to be the old wise person who - following a dramatic turn in the adventure - hands them something like a pot of stew and says, “eat this, it’ll restore your strength,” and then sends them on their way.
Maybe that’s a little too weirdly specific. I don’t feel particularly wise in any case, and I’m not that old yet. I do make a damn good vegetable stew though.
Till next time,
Quinn <3