2024 - Week 12

It's hard to believe that the first quarter of the year is almost over. 

Arts & Crafts

I currently want to craft all the things at once. I'm so excited by all the projects on my to-do list that it's hard to focus on just one. I finished PWHL Scarf. It seems like it may be too short for me. I need to block it before I can join it together and be sure on that.

My weekly queer craft group was a good place to be while I am dealing with all that I am. Well, until my arm really started to hurt and I had to stop, but the conversation was good. 

Decluttering & Minimalism

One of the things some people get wrong about minimalism is that they think every space needs to be devoid of everything. Sometimes it's more about making an improvement to your space that makes what you already have function better for you. This week, I got new chair wheels that don't get clogged up by things like carpets and blankets. I was spending way too much time fighting with traditional caster wheels and got these rollerblade style replacements.

It's wonderful not having my blanket caught in my wheels anymore! A couple of things to note on them are that they do make the chair sit a bit higher naturally. They also move so easily that I may need to swap back to the rug I had down before or get a set of triangular bit to tighten them. I'm keeping the other wheels in storage for now. I'm not sure if I will put them back into the chair when I'm getting rid of it someday or not, but I'm loving the new wheels and will want to keep them. I can likely swap in new rollerblade style wheels if I ever need to, which makes this purchase more environmentally friendly.

I've boxed up things like my rollerskates and ice skates to go into storage soon. I'm hoping to carefully make that happen next week.

Gaming & Streaming

Diablo IV on Monday was a pretty standard stream experience. I completed the quest line involving Taissa. It took a lot to fully exercise that demon from her. After all she's been through, I doubt we'll see her again. 

Also on Monday, I finished putting together the mystery puzzle that was begun on the 16th. There is a bloodied yellow oar that has Hitchcock written on it; a bird cage with two yellow birds; a bag of potatoes with metal items that may be propeller parts from a boat; a chef's knife, a grandma wig in a bun; a men's tie; a fish in brown paper; and two taxidermied seagulls. What does it all mean? I won't know until I read the 12-page story that goes with it. Given PWHL events on Saturday, I won't be able to stream crafting for a bit unless I do a pop up stream.

Lifestyle & Sports

My RR Curling team had a bye on St. Paddy's Day, so there was no curling for that league this week. With the 31st being a bye for everyone due to Easter, there were three games left for my team. But I'm fairly certain that I won't be in shape to play in them.

Tuesday was one of three sessions left for GSL Curling. It was heavily suggested I not play until I've seen my new physiotherapist and gotten exercises to rehab my muscle adhesion issue. Basically, the perfect storm of ADHD stimulants, injuries, and playing sports likely with my autoimmune disorder had me in a state where I didn't know I was overworking my muscles and then I wasn't able to heal at a fast enough rate, so I have scar tissue that needs to be busted apart. The ultra painful deep tissue massage I had on Tuesday prior to a queer boardgame event had me dealing with an endorphin high while trying to socialize. That was less than ideal.

I'm hoping this can be resolved soon and I consider myself lucky that I was only on the meds for about six months. It sucks that I got injured a second time, but I may be in worse shape had I continued to play without knowing I was doing myself harm. 

Last year, I put a date in my calendar for when I needed to start allergy meds. It was supposed to be May 1st. Instead, it has begun with the start of Ostara. Happy Spring Equinox to me! Ugh. But it also means we're one day closer to the start of the softball season! Registration happened on the weekend and I'm looking forward to catching up with friends, meeting new people, and getting to know my new team in April. Hopefully, I'll have no lingering muscle issues by the start of the season in late May as not playing sports has me quite sad. Watching just isn't the same even with wonderful friends.

I had a lovely catch up with a friend who is in town for a short time. It was just what I needed as there have been other things going on that I could only talk to her about.

I enjoyed watching Team Canada a.k.a. Team Homan dominate in the BKT Tires World Women's Curling Championships this week. I wish I had remembered it was going on a bit sooner, but life has been a bit hectic.

PWHL Ottawa took on Toronto at TD Place this weekend and it was an excellent game to be in the crowd for. I ended up sitting with friends rather than in my own seat alone. It was slow to get going and it looked bad early on. Toronto got the early goals. But Ottawa found a way around the wall that is Campbell and came back fiercely to not only win the game, but break Toronto's 10-game winning streak. Looks like those recent trades may have been exactly what Ottawa has needed. There were a couple of people cheering on Toronto nearby and I made sure to cheer extra loudly for Ottawa in their direction. One of my friends called Toronto the Leafs, but I think that's unfair until they choke in the playoffs.

After the game, there was a season ticket holder event, which I intended to go to. As we waited, I walked around the arena and scoped out areas I would prefer to be in for next season if I'm able to change seating. I want to be in a higher up row to avoid the tripping hazard of climbing down so far, but also because I think the view of the ice is better for me. I ran into a friend and caught up with her and caught her up on my injured status. The event began, but I got hit by a wave of fatigue and decided it would be better for me to start on the journey home. Once I got to my home bus stop, I was quite sore, so I absolutely made the right call.

Writing

This week saw no progress outside of my head between all of the events I attended and dealing with physical pain. It's been harder than usual to write up this week's blog post as the pain led to fatigue, which had me going to bed earlier than I normally do. Have no fear though, as I'm on the mend and have a lot of next week available for writing.