Very happy holidays to you and yours for this year! I had a very mellow holiday time and just spent it here in the Bay Area with friends - we did Chinese food on Christmas Eve and then mac and cheese on Christmas Day. We did not really exchange gifts in this friend group. I had to mail gifts to family so I did that for gifting. 

I am experiencing some mild cold symptoms - sore throat at the moment so I checked online and that is an omicron thing so I am going to get another covid test this week and see what I have. I need to make sure it is just a cold and not covid. I am bummed that I might be getting sick with a cold so I hate to be getting anything and really hope it is not covid. I will make sure though. I have the test on Wednesday at the City of Berkeley site. That will be a bummer. Omicron starts with cold symptoms so best to be sure. 

It could be just a cold and it is hard to know so got to get tested. 
Ugh - life during a pandemic. I really don't want to be sick with anything - I have enjoyed not being sick at all these last two years. 
So waaaaaah! 

Hope you are doing better than I am! 
Love to you! 

  Poof, like magic this is cross-posted from - Dreamwidth! Please comment where you prefer.

 I just made this icon I am using because I am rewatching Stranger Things on Netflix again. I just love that show. The ensemble cast and the storyline - it is just so good. I really hope they don't ruin it. It is such an amazing show. Anyways. Here is Hopper finding the bug in his house. LOL. All the characters in this show are amazing. Winona Ryder is especially good as Joyce Byers too. Just love her. And the kids. Just good on so many levels. 

So I am finishing up work for the holidays next week. We are done at noon on Wednesday. I have been having knee issues - having pain there and went to an orthopedic surgeon (referred by my doctor) and he wants to do an MRI next week. I am getting that done on Wednesday afternoon. Trying to get this done before the holidays. The ortho (a very handsome man) said I likely don't need surgery so that was good. He will know more with the MRI. I cannot do much with this knee - it hurts to walk any distance at all. So it is impeding my life. Kind of sucks. 

I am doing another pandemic Christmas this year. Not going anywhere - no East Coast trip or anything like that. Staying put and doing not too much. I feel like things are getting bad again with covid and it is better not to risk a plane trip right now. So better not to do that. My dad is in the rehab place recovering from a fall (broken bone) and it just seems better to stay here. So going to do that. I hope to go visit next summer 2022. 

Work is hard to predict. I do all these lectures - not sure if those will actually happen or not - given the pandemic. I saw that Robert Reich just posted that he expects to be teaching remotely this spring - and he teaches at Berkeley - so that is an indicator of how things might go. I have to see what January looks like. So will see. If I have to pull the plug on these lectures - I will do that. Have to be safe. If things keep going this way - I don't think people will want to be in a room with 100's of other people. So there is that. 

So that is all I have. Hope you are doing well there with your holiday preparations. I am looking forward to the turn of the year. Bring on 2022. Let's do that and let this all go. On to better things, I hope. Be well and comments are welcome. 

PS - not sure I have time to do the fiction swap this time. I have to see. I hate sitting out but I have a lot going on with work.  Poof, like magic this is cross-posted from - Dreamwidth! Please comment where you prefer.

Looks like I missed a night here on the journals - I skipped night 6 but here I am with night 7. Sorry about that. I thought I posted and must have forgot. I am posting a few places so I must have missed it here. All the pics look the same - anyhoo. Here is tonight's menorah pic - night seven - more light! It just looks so cool!



I have a bonus pic for you too - I put up and decorated my Christmas tree today too. Here is a pic of that. I grew up doing Hanukkah and having a Christmas tree - I love Christmas decorations - but I don't really observe Christmas in any religious sense. It is just a very pretty holiday - I think there are pagan roots to all that stuff anyway.

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Here I am with another update - I am off work right now so I have time to update here. I also started a bullet or dot journal as we are calling it in my circle so I am in the mood for writing entries. I do an entry every day in that. A co-worker gave me the journal so I thought I would make use of it. I got some stickers to put in it to make it cute and fun. It feels really good to get back into journaling in all these different ways. Who knew I had so much to say.

I worked on the story (MSV - Slashy Valentine) and I now have 2005 words on that. It feels like it is in good shape. I got it to a good stopping point today and I need to think about where it goes next. So a natural pause and think. I don't write with an outline really - I just write the story and see where it takes me. That always works for me. So it is going good so far and I hope to keep writing each day.

Today, I took a nice walk with my friend J***. Both of us were feeling lazy but we did a good 45 minute stroll down College Ave in Oakland. We did not go in any of the stores - we stayed outside with our masks on. I feel like outside activities are safer and it is risky going into places. We kept outside and avoided people on the sidewalk and did a good long walk. I felt better after so it was good. I had coffee at home after - trying to minimize my spending and not get coffee out so much. It is $5.00 a pop on that and it adds up to a lot if you get a coffee every time. My coffee is good enough. It hit the spot today so it worked for me.

I probably have not told you all this but my Mom, who is in her 80's, has Alzheimer's spots on her brain. Her neurologist is not overly concerned and basically says she has the brain of a person in their 80's. The one thing I notice is that she has trouble finding words. She wants to say something and cannot find the word. Her memory is very sharp and all that. It is just affecting her language recall a bit. So that has happened. They want her to work on her balance and do some PT so she is doing that.

Anyhoo - this is pretty much today's update. I did do something funny - I got annoyed because the local radio station stopped playing Christmas music right on Dec 26. So I wrote them on their website and old them I thought they could give us a few extra days of the holiday music. Technically, Christmas goes all the way into January so a few more days would be nice. I am sure they won't reply but it felt good to write it.

The other thing I did today was write all my representatives in Washington about the pathetic legislation they just passed. It does a lot of things but it sure does not help the American people very much with direct help. So I told all of my people - Senate and House - my feelings on that. If you live in the US and are so inclined - I suggest doing the same - it is very easy to go on the Congressional website and find your people and send them a message. You will feel better. I know I do.

So I did a lot of writing today - feeling super productive. Hope you are doing well there and staying safe. Poof, like magic this is cross-posted from - Dreamwidth! Please comment where you prefer.

So I have made a good start on my Slashy Valentine story today - I wrote 1632 words on it and it is moving right along at a good pace. I hope it keeps on at this rate. Please let it keep going like this. I kind of like it too so that is good. It is rare that I get going this good on a story so I am hopeful that this will go well. Yes. I hope to get most of it written during my vacation and getherdone.

I am feeling good about this Christmas and the staying safe thing. I feel like it is important to not congregate or mix with other households and so I am not doing that. This is just one year and we will have other years so I can live with this. I hope other people are doing the same. I really do. From what I can see most people are. So that is good. Hopefully there won't be another surge after this holiday. California cannot take much more - we are pretty much at hospital capacity and I saw today that LA hospitals are running out of oxygen. That is how bad it is getting. Out of oxygen. Hope they figure that out soon.

I am limiting my news right now. I feel better when I don't have CNN on 24/7 here. It gets me all stressed out and agitated. I am ok with reading the news - but watching it is stressful. I have this nice Yule Log on the TV and I am watching that. I hope that is on for a while. I really like it.

Keeping on here. Poof, like magic this is cross-posted from - Dreamwidth! Please comment where you prefer.

Making it through the quarantine Christmas. Opened presents on my own - got nice things. Had a nice Christmas Eve meal of take out Thai food last night and will have the left overs today for dinner so that is not too bad. I was going to get Chinese food but there was a huge line at that place and was not in the mood to deal with that. I do believe the Thai restaurant is actually better so am very pleased with the food. No problem there.

My family did a Zoom call today and that was kind of fun. We actually got my parents on Zoom and they are in their 80's. Amazing that they can do the new technology - my Dad was totally with it and rocked it. My Mom was really glad we did the Zoom and it made her feel like we were all together when we could not be. So it all really worked. This is what you do when there is a global pandemic happening. It all worked.

I have been drinking coffee all day and I watched the new Wonder Woman film (WW84). I have HBO Max free with my phone service. I love the Wonder Woman franchise and I hope they do more of these films. We need films with female super heroes - so I loved the film -flaws and all. It was a pleasure to watch.

It is raining here today so it is a day to stay in the jammies and watch movies or programs and drink coffee. Seems ok.

Hope all is well with you where you are and Merry Christmas to you. Stay safe and healthy! Poof, like magic this is cross-posted from - Dreamwidth! Please comment where you prefer.

So in the post-Hanukkah thing - which is really Christmas and New Year's - my family is adjusting to the pandemic scene. We are trying to coordinate a Zoom get together for all of us for Christmas Day so that we can all see each other and hang out for a little bit. This presents a challenge getting my elderly parents with the program but I put my brother in charge of that. He has to set them up with Zoom and a webcam. We will see how this goes. Getting my Mom to even agree to it was the first part - she is very anti-technology so that was something. She is actually excited about the Zoom thing so hopefully we can make this happen.

I finished up work for the year yesterday and am so glad. I know I work from home but I really need a break from things and it is nice not to have to track emails and be on the computer all day. Less stress. Today, on my first day of vacay, I woke up at 5:30 am and could not get back to sleep. Not sure what that was. So I got up and made coffee and put the Yule Log on my TV and just hung out. I have things to do today so I just started the day. I hope I will be able to sleep in some during my break. I guess I am an early riser anyway but it would be nice to sleep in til 7:00 or 8:00.

So I signed up for Slashy Valentine and got my assignment. I don't anticipate any problems but I am waiting for inspiration to hit me on it. Ye newe idea. I would like a nice short story burst to get this done. I even opened MS Word and put a working title in the doc but nothing came to me. So technically I have started. LOL. Wish me luck. I will keep you updated in the usually Slashy manner. Hopefully not too much pain and suffering this time.

I want to wish everyone on my friends list Happy Holidays - I hope you are celebrating safely during this time and keeping healthy. Much love to you! Poof, like magic this is cross-posted from - Dreamwidth! Please comment where you prefer.

Hey all - I am posting in for the holidays early as next week will be very busy. I have failed this year so far in my intent to post more regularly but I hope to make up for that in the new year with weekly posts. I did do my Hanukkah posting so that is something. Here is the upshot of what is going on - I am doing well with maintaining the weight loss. I am keeping up with the WW thing and I go to my weekly meetings and still track every day. I think that is important for now and mean to keep that up. I like to go each week and just weigh in and stay on it. I am sure I will always have to watch things and I cannot ever go back to how I used to eat before. I feel better eating this way and love how I look. So that is going great. I need to get back on my work outs. I took a long break from that so I signed up for the Workfit classes in the new year and will get on that.

I am bored at work but doing ok with that. I am steady on with it and I have a good job. I am casually looking for something new and had nibbles on my resume when I applied for a few things. Just that the salaries were too low. Like 20K too low so I could not do it. That would have been nuts. I am going to see what I can do to make my job more exciting. Go to trainings and take classes. So see what I can do on that. I need to not relax so much and be boring. Some of that is on me. So I am cleaning up my office and organizing my files and getting ready for a nice new year.

I am spending Christmas with my family on the East Coast and my brother will be home for deployment and my mom is making Christmas cookies so it will be fun. I am looking forward to seeing some old friends and just hanging out there. We are going to see A Christmas Carol and possibly Aquaman. So that should be fun too.

So I vow to be more around in the new year. I signed up for Slashy Valentine this time around too so you will see me moan and groan about that too.

Happy holidays to all of you there. Happy New Year too. This year can just die already. I am looking forward to new things in 2019 and Trump being impeached in 2019 too. I still hate him. So he can go too.

Merry Christmas to all and have a safe and happy holiday season!
Love from me to you!



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Poof, like magic this is cross-posted from - Dreamwidth!
Please comment where you prefer.

Very happy holidays to you and yours this holiday season! I hope that you are having a great time celebrating this season with family and friends.

I am not traveling this year and am staying here in Berkeley to hang with friends. I have the week off between Christmas and New Years and have some projects I would like to get done. I also need to rest off the computer as my shoulder hurts - strain from too much time on the computer and so I am hoping to rest that. I might go get a massage this week and get the kinks worked out.

So I am looking forward to time off, getting things done and relaxed times. Yay!

Merry Christmas
Happy Hanukkah
Happy Kwanzaa
Happy New Year
Happy Solstice

All things combine to make this a great time of year!

Here are some graphics from laurahonest



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by laurahonest at livejournal

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So far, so good. Having a great time. khylea is here. She arrived right on Christmas Day and we have been hanging out. We went out for Chinese Food last night - it was totally crowded but it is one of my favorite restaurants - King Yen on College Avenue - so the food was good. They ran a limited menu for the night but it was all good. We had a bit of a wait for a table and the service was slower than usual but we were not in a rush. Then today we went to see The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies together and that was totally fun. I love this movie more each time I see it. I find it sadder each time too. This time I got weepy at the end. So tragic.

Tonight we went to dinner at Cafe Trieste in Berkeley and had pasta - used this Group On that I had before it expired. Yays. The food was good and I had the spaghetti and meatballs. Rib sticking kind of thing. Tomorrow we are going hiking at Wildcat Canyon Regional Park so that will be good and then out for Indian Food. I think we are going to go to the Oakland Zoo one of these days and do more local sights.

Having a great time and relaxing. Getting lots of rest.

I want to thank everyone for the wonderful Christmas cards. I am really enjoying those.

I hope you are having a great holiday time with friends and family.


by yishui at livejournal

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A very joyous holiday to you and yours. Love and peace!


by yishui on livejournal

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I met a comic book artist - Babs Tarr - yesterday at my local comic book store - in Berkeley - (shout out to The Escapist on Claremont!). She is very cool and she is the artist for the latest Batgirl run at DC Comics. I have been really getting into comic books lately. I have been reading Dr. Strange, Black Widow, The Walking Dead and some others. A newbie really but it is fun and the art is really cool. Here is a cover from Babs Tarr on the Batgirl run. She animated this on her blog.



In other news - I got some Christmas shopping done yesterday and of course I bought myself some stuff. One for them - one for me kind of thing. I did not blow my budget and I just have one gift card left to get and then I think I am done for the season. I have presents under my tree which is cool.

While I was Christmas shopping in the Elmwood District of Berkeley - a protest rolled right in there and blocked up the area. They were really pretty cool about it and did not take up any side walk space - they were just in the street and their goal was to tie up the intersection which they did. My car got trapped by two buses but it was liberated by the time I really had to go and get to the artist thing I wanted to go to. So that was cool. I could keep shopping and enjoy the civil unrest. Works for me. It was part of the nationwide protest yesterday.

Anyhoo. Work is winding down and I am finishing up projects for the year. I am kind of done and want to be finished. I don't finish up really until Dec 23. So that will go on for a while. khylea comes in on the 25th so that is cool.

Can you guys believe The Hobbit comes out next week? Hurrah! I am going the first night, I think. I cannot wait. Yays! And then it will be over and I will be sad.

Anyhoo. That is all I have. I am trying to post more often. Doing ok with that. I love comments. So comment here and I will respond!



by laurahonest at livejournal

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It gets old - we are on our 4th night of protests here. I am sympathetic - I really am (and I think we need some reforms on Police procedures) but living right in the middle of the protest zone is getting old. Helicopters over head, roaming bands of anarchists, looters and pillagers. It is very chaotic and very stressful. It is at the point where the average person does not want to be on the street after dark because of their personal safety. We keep getting alerts at the Uni about what is going on and early release time so that we can get home safely before the protests start in the evening.

Last night they blocked the 80 freeway - a major artery through here - they stopped an Amtrak train and they closed the Berkeley BART station down. I guess that would mean they are being effective since they are getting national coverage. But living here - well it gets old. It is weird seeing your town covered on the news all the time - in real time - live and up close.

I think with a major storm coming in tomorrow night - that will shut it down. Protesting is a fair weather activity.

Anyways - that is all I have - got some Christmas shopping done - all online - woot. And I have sussed out some gifts to buy from some local shops - so I am in good shape here with my holiday cheer.

Tomorrow is my holiday party at work and then I am going to see Yo Yo Ma at the local theatre - he is giving a talk on art and culture. Should be interesting. I have been into this speaker series the the Uni lately - broadening my mind.

Anyhoo. That's it for me. Hope all is well with you!



by yishui on livejournal

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