Rae Roy's Blog

On Monday, I began the living room part of the reorganization. I figure that a little bit each day will get me there without completely exhausting me. I was already low on spoons, so I postponed my grocery run.

I watched the first two periods of the Vancouver Goldeneyes vs Seattle Torrent game. It was a later game, so I was too tired to watch the rest. Vancouver was up when I went to bed and they eliminated Seattle from playoff contention. Maschmeyer did an excellent job keeping pucks out of the net and increased the probability that another Canadian team would get the remaining playoff spot.

Wednesday was taxes day. I hate taxes. I feel like it has been a deliberately over-complicated system. They know what we made. We can download that information into our returns these days. The interview questions are often gnarly instead of just asking basic things like, “Hey, did you give to any charities this year?” I’m not getting a lot back, but at least I’m not paying. And it feels good to have it done. One less thing on the giant and ever expanding to-do list of life.

Anyway, I also deposited the check from the softball league I won’t be joining now for health reasons. I’ll probably go watch some games though. They play orthodox and it’s exciting to watch. I’ll go watch some of my old league’s games also when I’m not busy and the weather is right for it.

I’m in a lot of pain on the regular and my appointment with the specialist isn’t until the end of June. At least I have one, but given my track record with reactions to medications, it’ll probably take time to find the right one. I have an anti-inflammatory, but it gives me stomach pain, so the doctor prescribed a proton pump inhibitor, but I’m allergic to the PPI. Fun.

At least I think I may have figured out what I’ll do fitness wise. An old activity can be adjusted to be OK for me. And I have friends there already, so that’s nice. I also contacted my dance school and found out that the form of dance I like best should be OK for me too. Otherwise, I’ll do some careful weight-lifting to strengthen my muscles and help better support my joints, tendons, and ligaments on the bad days. I’m glad to have a new plan, but I’m still mourning what I had already planned.

On the weekend, I got three doors done and installed in my kitchen, but the paint on one isn’t sticking very well. I think I’ll have to take my palm sander out to do the other six and be sure I’m not just wasting my time. I’ll look at fixing the other one later on. Maybe I can just touch it up and seal it and make it work.

I’ll also deal with the ceilings later to fix the spots where the teal got on them, but that’s a really minor thing.

Painting the doors has been an easier task than the others I need to get on with soon.

That’s a wrap on Week 16.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

Ottawa seems stuck in a freeze-thaw-cycle as of late. My friends and I would love to be able to turn off our heat, but it gets too cold at night! I did hear chirping baby birds recently, so I know it will end someday soon. My hands would like the warmth too.

I spent some time with a friend for much needed venting and gaming this week. We played Catan. It had been awhile since I last played it. By that, I mean about a decade. We got caught up in the venting and didn’t finish, but perhaps another time we’ll actually play it. I’m cool either way.

For much of this week, I haven’t had the energy to do much other than make plans. I figured out how I want my living spaces to be, but moving the furniture around to get there involves so much work. I’ve been barely making a dent. I know I’ll eventually get there, but it feels like such a mountain this week that it may be quite awhile before I reach it.

I did get another coat of paint on my upper cabinets this week. They needed at least one more to be done. Thankfully, I was able to get that last coat done this week as well.

That put me in an excellent place to move on with the project next week. Yes, there will be some touching up of the teal later, but the area I needed done is beside the stove since that is where the new lower cabinet will go.

But I’ll also be doing some reorganization in my future office and my living room to get my home in order. I had been holding off because of the eventual stove move, but I decided it could go where I currently have a large cart, which is on wheels. This location is on the other side of the wall from where it lives normally. Who knows? Maybe the cord will be long enough for me to still use it. I doubt it, but one can hope. That location also shouldn’t cause any issues with my other plans.

I did manage to get all my books back on my shelves on Sunday. I’m really tired after all of the painting and the rest, so I will need at least a day to relax and recover.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

I received terrible news this week that amounts to me having to give up team sports for medical reasons. I’m not dying, but I can’t do things like run or use a ball glove, so I have to make changes in how I stay active.

I didn’t choose to bend this finger like this. That was at the worst. It’s more often around 30 degrees. The other hand has had it happen some too, but my dominant hand seems less affected for now.

I suppose that I will be able to sell much of my sporting equipment, which will reduce my clutter. I’m keeping my golf clubs as I’ll be able to do that, at least.

It’s a huge life change for me, but if I’m truly honest, past age 40, lower impact exercises are better for women anyway due to perimenopause and increased risks of bone loss issues.

What is extra upsetting for me right now is that I can’t even cry it out. I’m flaring so bad that I can’t produce tears to at least feel some relief from it all. I’m also worried that we won’t find a medication my body tolerates since most medications give me hives or worse. Of course, this could be a result of my immune system struggling rather than an actual allergy too.

Cue waiting for the specialist appointment to confirm exactly what it is and what to do about it, because this isn’t Sjogren’s. Sjogren’s is almost always secondary to another autoimmune condition and we think it’s likely Rheumatoid Arthritis.

I’ve spent this week grieving many of my plans for the year, but despite all of this, I think I can still have a pretty good life once we find what calms my immune system down.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

Awhile ago, I got myself a little calendar that has a cool feature. Each week, a couple of layers are peeled back to gradually reveal a castle. I feel like it adds something to my desk. I hope I can find other ones like it for other years.

I began Monday morning with some renovation work. I used the last of some cement for part of the large cabinet area as it had to be the same level as the rest of the old tile for future flooring needs. It wasn’t a lot. It took very little time now that I’m not distracting appeasing a little digital bird. Once the cement has hardened reasonably, I can move onto some painting on the upper cabinets and then assembly and installation of the large lower cabinet. After that, I’ll be able to be sure of the measurements for my countertop. Backsplash and more flooring can be done while I wait for that to come. There IS a method to this madness.

On Tuesday, I got more testing done. I’ve noticed there is an unusual bumpy area in my palm below the finger that I’m having the most problems with. Hopefully, it’s not long before I hear from the doctor and can get him to feel it. It’s not on my other hand.

In the evening, I watched Leonard Cohen Hallelujah, A Journey, A Song. Indeed it was. I still miss Leonard Cohen. He gave so many songs to the world. Hallelujah was one he wrote somewhere between 150 and 180 verses for. His secular version was covered by John Cale and that is the one that Jeff Buckley made famous. Nina Simone and Tori Amos also did covers of his songs along with many other artists.

Wednesday was an errand day. I got some needed items including my hair dye. I had a hair appointment later in the week and wanted to refresh my colour before the weekend as I had some events. I brought some items to donation. Later, I found an interesting article about how clutter is viewed in Finland.

I enjoyed watching the Montreal Victoire beat the Minnesota Frost. It’s always good to have Canadian teams win.

Thursday was a much needed haircut followed by a dye refresh. I’m really enjoying the fuchsia colour from Natural Essences these days with short hair that doesn’t take much to maintain.

In TV this week, I caught up on all things Dexter and I’m now patiently awaiting season 2 of Dexter: Resurrection. This particular series took things in a new direction and I’m looking forward to what happens next. After that, I began a rewatch of Yellowjackets. That one is about a soccer team. There’s actually very little soccer in it. They end up on an island and it becomes rather like Lord of the Flies, but with teen female athletes. There are other twists, but that’s the basic essence of the story.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

Part of me realizes it’s March, so it’s entirely natural to still have snow happening. The rest of me is screaming that winter needs to release its icy grasp and let us get on with Spring! I want sunshine, beaches, nature walks, warmth, rollerblading, and softball. Enough of the cold, wet, dark, and damp!

OK mini rant over. I’ve heard there have been Cobra Chicken (a.k.a. Canada Geese) sightings, so Spring IS coming. Part of me wants to rant about the state of the world at present, but it’s too distressing and depressing. And I can’t do much about most of it. I feel like we need The Doctor to come and fix the timeline!

Early this week, I unlocked the last characters in the base game for Disney Dreamlight Valley. I plan to finish all the questlines before getting the first expansion. I have no idea how long that will take. There are 12 characters to rank up to level 10 and likely quite a few more quests to do yet.

I also fixed the last bit of wall paint in the kitchen at the start of this week. I still had some other painting to do before I could install the lower cabinet, but it felt good to be getting closer. I did have a small hiccup; the can of paint wasn’t closing properly. Enter duct tape. I had very little painting left with that particular colour, so I hope that will keep it good until I can do the last little bit by the stove. The mess this reno has brought is frustrating me immensely at this point, so I’m focused on making progress this week despite the hand pains.

We lost more actors this week. Chuck Norris passed. As a martial artist who used to play World of Warcraft, I have complicated feelings about him. Chuck Norris jokes were part of the culture of that videogame. Several comments sections were full of jokes like, “Chuck died years ago, but Death was too scared too tell him.” His politics were often very different than mine and he was certainly no friend to the rainbow community, but I appreciated his skill as a martial artist.

Buffy fans, already reeling from the cancellation news, lost Nicholas Brendan on the same day as Chuck Norris. Nicholas played Xander Harris. He was not one of my favourite characters because he continued to pursue Buffy for years after she told him she only saw friendship with him. His character did many other things that weren’t great like cheating on Cordelia with Willow who he had previously put in his friendzone. As for the actor himself, he struggled with addiction and violence for a long time after the show. He was working hard to be a better man before he died though. Another one to have complex feelings about. Nonetheless, at 54, he was young and should have had more time.

A friend got me hooked on The Good Doctor. I guess I’m on a medical kick right now with my television watching. When I returned some items to the library on Thursday, I took home Dexter Original Sin. It’s an express item, so that meant I had to finish it in one week. I don’t normally pick up express items, but it’s a good reason to try one. It also forces me to take a walk during the day.

On Saturday, I visited the Museum of Nature with friends for the Butterflies exhibit. There were so many beautiful butterflies and I never knew that some have different colours on either side of their wings. These blue ones had iridescent blue on one side then almost a wood look with an eye on the underside. What a cool adaptation.

Speaking of adaptation, it was nifty to see the evolution of creatures in the fossils area. I could see how many dinosaurs were a smaller form that came after the classic ones. They became smaller with each new one. A rhino like creature originally had two protrusions that eventually became one horn.

I also learned that scallop sushi is not for me. The taste and texture is just not something I enjoy.

On Sunday, I finished Dexter: Original Sin before continuing my watch through of The Good Doctor. I began season 4. In between episodes, I did some cleaning and gathered some items for donation, which helped with some of my frustration.

After the Ottawa Charge beat the Montreal Victoire in overtime, thanks to Rebecca Leslie, I began feeling like I was coming down with a sore throat. Not my preferred way to end the weekend.

This week, I deleted the Finch app. I found myself spending way too much time trying to accomplish whatever the app thought I should instead of just working on my home environment. I feel like a burden has been lifted and like I can focus on the important things.

It’s technically Spring now, but I live in Canada and we keep getting more snow. Hopefully, it really will be here soon.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

This Monday, I took care of my work tasks quickly during the afternoon before seeing the doctor. He’s checking a few more things, but also prescribed an anti-inflammatory to help with the pain in my hands while I wait for an appointment for some other testing. My inflammation levels were high last he checked anyway, so hopefully it helps.

On Tuesday, I finished catching up on The Pitt. In a lot of ways, I prefer Grey’s Anatomy, but The Pitt is a solid medical drama. It’s also more graphic than some and one should be prepared to see some peens. Speaking of Grey’s Anatomy, I am now catching up on it. I was very sad to learn of Eric Dane’s illness and passing. Fifty-three is too damned young. With James Van Der Beek also leaving us recently at an even younger age, it’s been a sad 2026 so far.

Wednesday was predicted to be an ice storm in the Ottawa region. My building lost power the day before and I hoped that everything was truly good and stable for the days ahead. I made yummy noodles for dinner with plenty of veggies.

Saturday’s Ottawa Charge game made me happy. Goals from Fanuza Kadirova, Sarah Wozniewicz, and Rebecca Leslie brought us the win. Leslie got the final goal in OT. She is one of the strongest young players on the team and one of our leading scorers. She’s also from Ottawa, which makes it all the sweeter.

Halfway through March and the only thing really on my absolutely must do list was to spend time with friends and meet their beautiful baby girl. We had tried to plan this for awhile, but scheduling becomes so much more difficult as adults and it had to be postponed. I briefly got to meet her during the martial arts meet up, but there was a lot going on, so not much time was spent just with them or their little one.

When Sunday finally arrived, I was worried because I awoke with quite a lot of pain, but some Pepto, a shower, and some food got me on the right path. A friend and I would be stopping by IKEA first as our friends live near it and neither of us do, so it is good to get it in when we are in the area. I didn’t take the anti-inflammatory med because of the stomach pain I started the day with. The pharmacist had recommended not taking it every day anyway. I was quite frustrated by it all though. I know it’ll be better soon. I always feel better once the sun comes out and the snow leaves, but that feels like a longer wait every year.

But I got the shopping I needed done for some future art projects and the base for a Kallax unit. I’ll be making some changes in my bedroom soon though my focus is back on the renovation as I try to get my home environment into a less chaotic state.

My friend’s little one had a tough start in life, but she’s doing so much better. She’s absolutely adorable and is already frustrated that she can’t quite figure out crawling. She’s a bit young yet for that anyway, but she has already started rolling, so it’s coming and I suspect she may get there sooner than some of her peers. It was so good getting to hold her and see her doing so much better. I’m so thankful my friend is also doing better as there was a lot of scary stuff before, during, and after the birth.

Writing wise, I’m a bit upset with myself. Not necessarily about my word counts as of late, though that is a piece of it. I replaced some names and it messed up other words. I did it awhile ago, so I couldn’t just undo it. I do have backups, so all is not lost, but it’s an extra barrier to getting on with the story. And I wanted to just add a change to a scene, but I couldn’t find it, which had me wondering if I actually got the scene out of my head or not. Writing can be very messy sometimes.

I was also sad to learn that Buffy: New Sunnydale wasn’t picked up after all. I was looking forward to it. Though perhaps it is for the best. Sometimes the revivals are a let down. But we’re getting an animated Firefly continuation, apparently.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

It was so good to start this week out with half a Monday. It was during that time that I figured out that Liquid IV was what I was needing to complete the health hiccup I’ve been going through in recent months. I had begun drinking a lot more plain water, which was depleting the water soluble things in my body. Not fun while already dealing with the insufficient Vitamin D levels. I was so frustrated because any movement made my muscles feel like I had massively overworked them. One packet and most of my muscle pain was gone the same day. This week was already looking like it would be better than the previous one in just a couple hours of it. This may be more an issue for me because of my autoimmune condition.

What did I do with my half day? I blogged and I watched some TV. I finished The Dollhouse as it was another show I had missed when it aired. I also took the last hour of my half day off to read. Reading fiction is a much preferred way to start the day.

I was quite tired for much of the week, though I was thankful that the lingering pain was mostly reducing. I figure some sleepiness is warranted when repairing one’s body.

Tuesday’s Montreal Victoire game against Toronto was a battle. Both had their second string goalies in net and it was fairly evenly matched. Marie-Philip Poulin was back though and she made a clutch goal during an extended shootout to get the win for Montreal.

The Ottawa Charge game on Wednesday started an hour late due to ice issues after the rug for the ceremonial puck drop got stuck to it and damaged the surface. Thankfully, Ottawa eventually won and it was on home ice, so even better.

I only watched part of the game on Thursday as I really wanted to get back to Warframe. I have no idea what to do with my character spec most of the time, but I’m killing things well, so I’m not sure it matters. Also, people change tennos anyway to best fit them to whatever mission, which makes sense though I wonder if I’ll get overwhelmed by too much choice. Anyway, I’m on Venus now. Earth has been saved. Many planets are left to go.

This week, I also got nearly all of the base game characters unlocked in Disney Dreamlight Valley. With just Lady and the Tramp left, I felt pretty good about where I was at. I will level all the base characters to 10 before I get the first expansion. Not sure how long that will take, but there is something nice about running around with all my childhood characters. And Minnie is a little bit of a surprise goth. She likes horror movies and is often a bit of a weirdo. I didn’t expect that from someone who likes polka dots as much as she does.

Also on the weekend, I watched The Pianist. It’s a Roman Polanski film about the camps in Warsaw, Poland during the second world war and one piano player who managed to survive. As it’s a true story about Władysław Szpilman. It’s left me with a feeling of how the heck are we back to similar conflicts today? Did we learn nothing? As my parents were born in 1943 and 1944, it was interesting to learn about the world they were born into. But man, he survived partly due to luck in some instances. Not being chosen to kneel and be shot at some times. Some of the instances came down to who he knew before. One man pulled him out of the line headed for an extermination camp and told him to flee. In the end, what saved him was the piano. A German Captain found him in a home trying to open a can of food and had him play for him. Others helped hide him previously, but this German loved music and brought him food after and updated him on the state of things. Soon after, the allies arrived and saved everyone. Szpilman lived to age 88.

And I finally got back to the renovation on the weekend. I finished the wall painting, though I was a bit scared that the final bit wasn’t going to dry well as there was a bit of water left in my roller from the day before.

It was also time change weekend. I abhor the time change. There are so many bad things connected to it. British Columbia is making this their last time change. There are pros and cons to choosing to move permanently to standard time, but I’m a bit envious that they won’t ever have to do this crap again. I hope the rest of Canada eventually follows though I think one is more natural for circadian rhythms than the other.

Sunday’s Ottawa game was a loss. I’m not sure what happened, but hopefully the women figure things out and crush New York next time.

As I’m still having some pain in my hands and the muscles in my forearms, I booked a doctor’s appointment for early next week.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

My energy levels were still fairly lackluster and my knuckles were sore in a way I have never experienced. They were not achy, but sore like wounds. And the amount of muscle pain I had from 8 minutes of tai chi later in the week didn’t make sense. This heightened pain seemed to resolve with Liquid IV. Drinking plain water wasn’t keeping me properly hydrated.

Despite that, I made gradual progress on my condo declutter. I’ve gotten some furniture moved around and I’m slowly moving towards having a space for my workout equipment. Considering I was completely exhausted after a lunchtime outing to two stores on Wednesday, I think it will be awhile yet before I’m fully back to myself and able to work out regularly, but if I can keep making progress on getting the area ready, it’ll be there when I’m able to use it.

A weird thing I’ve noticed is that I often feel ravenous since beginning supplementation. Prior to vitamin issue being discovered, I was struggling to eat. I had no appetite. Now, the need to eat feels urgent. I guess my body is trying to get back to its normal. There are some people who get far lower than I did before it is discovered. Sometimes, this particular vitamin is sneaky and you won’t feel any symptoms until it’s very low. I’m glad that wasn’t the case with me because I already felt like I was hobbling towards death.

This week I decided Duolingo is only good for less serious language learning. Because they have restructured everything in recent years, it would take 23 years for me to learn French with them. Even if I had a paid account, their lessons are too often the same thing over and again. I don’t need that level of concentrated repetition. I’ve moved to Babbel for my serious language learning. I invested in a lifetime membership after having one French lesson because I could tell they actually want me to learn the language rather than keep me there forever. Ironically, that model will keep me there to learn other languages because they are actually giving me what I need to succeed. They put me at A2 level. Did I understand every word? No. But I could figure it out and easily check it. I was exposed to new words in real scenarios. It’s not gamified and I don’t want it to be anymore. It doesn’t punish me for making typos. It tells me, “small typo, no big deal.” I felt like I learned more in one lesson than I have in years on Duolingo. The only thing that I feel needs improvement are the speaking exercises. It seems to have difficulty hearing me properly or doesn’t give me enough time to say the words. I’ve mentioned it in a review, but I may try to submit feedback somewhere on that.

Also this week, I also got my computer desk cleaned up and reconnected all my hardware. I had been working from bed for a bit because I didn’t have the energy to get up and go to my desk when I was at the height of the vitamin issue. It feels good to have it in a better location. My living room has better flow now. When I can, I really need to look at my balcony door as there is a draught somewhere and I am rather stymied by it. I’m beginning to wonder if the issue maybe be behind the trim because I recall that when I moved in, they had replaced the balcony door and didn’t insulate or anything underneath. I came home to see that the frame was on shims, but open to the outside world. So it wouldn’t surprise me if there are other parts of it that weren’t fully insulated.

I booked four of the five Monday mornings that exist in March off. I had two days left of vacation and it felt like a nice way to use them up without hunting around the department for coverage. Mondays are my least favourite days of the week, so having less Monday is a solid plan. On the fifth Monday, choir begins for the spring session.

I finally made it out to the library to renew my account, update my contact information, and unexpectedly get a new card. I chose the cool new black design. I’m working my way through the music documentaries they have for now. I grabbed a beginner to intermediate bass course that I’m looking forward to getting into over the next couple of weeks.

On Thursday, I did a first tai chi exercise. It was only 8 minutes, but I think it really helped loosen my body after working from a desk all day. After that, I got some dinner into me and read while I awaited the return of PWHL. I wondered if Marie-Philip Poulin would be playing or taking a night off to help recover from the Olympics as I hadn’t seen anything about her status in the news or on social media and this kind of thing is usually everywhere. Perhaps it would be a game time decision. As I figured, Poulin would not play in the first game back. I think that was a wise decision. Erin Ambrose is out long term as well. The team came out on fire and scorched New York 4-1. I had some difficulty paying attention as I had scalded my left hand with pasta water. I truly could’ve done without that. Luckily, I had some first aid items in my car.

Post game, I organized my writing projects some. I realized that the second half of one book may not be as far off as I thought. It’s two drafts behind, but I thought it was far worse. On another book, I’m half way through the vomit (first) draft. And I have two screenplays I’ve barely begun. More than those, but there are two I’d like to focus my efforts on for this year. I think it’s time for a re-read of some screenwriting books.

I finished Twin Peaks this week. I may be branded as a goth heretic for saying it, but I don’t think The Return needed to exist. I enjoyed the first two seasons. The final one set 25 years later lost the charm the first had. I suppose it may be that I’ve just never really connected with Lynch’s work. I agree that he influenced a lot that came after, but I still don’t find much of his work gives me what I want from a film.

Friday was my monthly scriptwriting alumni chat. It went pretty well. We’re all at different stages in our projects with some on hold for life or industry reasons, so sometimes we just chat generally about films, the world, etcetera.

After the Charge loss on Saturday, I tried a Rolife kit. I hated every second of it. Warped parts, terrible glue, broken pieces, and poor instructions. I threw it out. Never again. I saved myself some future dusting. There are other art forms for me. I’ll leave miniatures to Bridget McCarthy and Nerdforge. I’ll stick to the ROKR kits in the future as well.

My gluten free noodles arrived a day early:

I capped this week off with a friend visit for dinner on Sunday. Excellent conversations were had and plans for future hangouts are in the works. After everything lately, it was just what I had sorely needed. It gets terribly lonely being single and living alone sometimes, so I’m so very thankful for the good people I keep in my life.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

For my first day of staycation, I watched the Women’s Ice Hockey Olympic semi-final games. It played out how I figured it would. Sweden lost to the USA though many wondered if they would upset things because they had 20 years ago. Canada took Switzerland in a closer match up. A big part of this was due to Captain Clutch, Marie-Philip Poulin, who got two goals and overtook the record for goals scored at an Olympic games. She did this despite having some sore moments with her knee. The rest of the team really needed to step up more during this whole tournament and Chloe Primerano absolutely should have been rostered. She is one of the most promising Canadian defenders.

A scathing article came out against the IIHF this week. It delved into the differences in how they talk about female athletes and teams. If it doesn’t bother you, it should. Female athletes should be treated with the same level of respect as male athletes.

Tuesday began with watching the copy of Wicked I got for Christmas. It’s my first 4K film. Sometimes a rewatch of a film is better than the first one. When you know the story, you can pay more attention to the smaller details. The dancers, colours, outfits, acting, and set design all come together to make Wicked the modern masterpiece that it is. Funny thing, the cardboard cover for the film case fell at the moment Elpheba launched the coin.

I also played some Hytale. I hope the game improves. I’ve spent weeks trying to find sallow logs to level up my farming bench. It’s as if there isn’t any more available anywhere. They need to respawn those trees. Imagine a server with hundreds of players and only a handful can level up their farming work bench. It’s not going to work. It makes me just want to play any other videogame. Palm trees also don’t grow into a useful wood. And there are other tree related bugs with other tree species not growing properly. They are pretty good about fixing things, so I really hope they’ll get these tree issues sorted out.

Later, I made Shepherd’s Pie. That was a lot and part of me wanted to nap after that, but eating it was preferable. I watched some episodes of The Studio. It’s pretty fun, but I think I like Loot better in some ways. I think The Studio needed a bit less Seth in favour of Catharine.

On Wednesday, I watched Wicked: For Good. I didn’t see a lot of difference from the first one. It ended how I expected it to. In the evening I watched Real Steel with Hugh Jackman. It’s about a robot boxing circuit and he develops a relationship with his estranged son after the boy’s mother passes away.

The Thursday hockey games began with frustration for me. I couldn’t get it to function reliably on either TV via HDMI, so I could only watch them on my laptop screen. Great fun. CBC needs to develop a Gem app for TVs, Playstations, etc for the future because other people in my condo building were also watching via a tiny laptop screen. Everything is better on a bigger screen. Or hell, play the games live on your YouTube channel and make it easy to find the stream there because there are YouTube apps on these devices.

I was cheering for Sweden in the Bronze medal game. It went really well. They fought so hard and ultimately it came down to one goal by Alina Müller, who is a top scorer on the Boston Fleet. Honestly, I think Sweden should be proud of how far they’ve come. I wanted them to win, but it just didn’t happen. The thing is that the teams were so closely matched. I can’t wait to see what Sweden does at the next Olympics because they were amazing in every game they played.

The gold medal game also came down to one goal in over-time. Canada was so strong at the start. Both teams played fast and gave their all. We had more injuries and penalties and this let the USA get into our d-zone too much. Hopefully, we see a different ending at the next Olympics in four years. It was a heartbreaking loss and something has to drastically change in our game to catch up to the Americans.

Our Canadian Women’s Curling Team, took home Bronze.

Unfortunately for me, I spent much of Saturday in the washroom either due to food poisoning or a case of Norovirus. This messed up my non-Olympic plans for the weekend. I watched a replay of the Women’s Biathlon and wondered why we had no Canadians in the bunch. It’s a ski race with periods of shooting and I think it’s odd that we don’t participate in it.

Our Canadian Men’s Hockey Team had a very similar game to the women and also took home silver. It’s not the result Canadians wanted, but most of us are taking it gracefully. Hopefully, it goes differently in 4 years time. A lot can change in far less time.

And I’m happy I live in Canada rather than the place who won gold.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

This week was partly about getting some crucial things done at work because I was counting down the days to a staycation. I absolutely plan to get back to my renovation during that time. I’ve been holding off and letting my health improve since one cannot paint in small increments and ladders don’t go well with bouts of dizziness. With two coats left, I’m looking forward to being beyond that part of this deficiency. I read that it can take 12 weeks to really feel better. I’m not looking forward to the backsplash work, but I do want to get on with my life.

Choir registration opened for the spring session. It begins at the end of next month. Something to look forward to along with weather that became milder this week.

On Monday, I learned my former grand sensei passed away in his sleep. A peaceful way to go, but his loss leaves such a hole in that community. He gave so much to those arts in the Americas. Many students likely wouldn’t have been able to afford to grade if not for the seminar he ran. He and his group fundraised to bring sensei over from Japan and this resulted in growth of the arts across North and South America. I’ve met so many wonderful people and developed life long friendships because of one man. Rest in peace, Kim Taylor Sensei. We’ll all miss you.

On Tuesday, I woke up with a solution to one of my problems. I knew I needed to move some other things around, but I hadn’t figured out where. One of my small storage units was being used for my gaming items. I realized it was perfect to relocate into my crafting area where my bin of weapons was since I was always planning to move those. The only problem was that the bin of weapons was rather broken. But, I had a ridiculously large container for paper and cardboard recycling. I decided that would become the weapons bin and it was time to get something more appropriately sized for my recycling.

I began that move on Wednesday morning before work. Just before lunch, the fire alarm went off in the building. I decided to take a bit of a walk while they sorted that out. It was better than standing around waiting to be let back in. It felt good to get a little bit of exercise in.

I’m absolutely not OK with the gun violence that occurred this week in BC, at Kitigan Zibi, or in Ottawa. For those who aren’t aware, a school shooting happened in Tumbler Ridge, BC. It’s not that this never happens in Canada, but it’s incredibly rare. It shouldn’t happen at all, anywhere. There shouldn’t be a part of the world where drills need to happen for shootings, bombings, etc at schools. At a nearby reserve, Kitigan Zibi, a father committed a murder-suicide. He killed his two children before killing himself. My heart goes out to all of the families this week who are connected to these tragedies. Another shooting happened in Ottawa. It was our third homicide of 2026. The police have someone in custody at least, but holy crap Canada, this isn’t like us, so please stop it. A lot of things aren’t ideal right now, but this is not the way to fix anything.

I continued watching CSI New York this week. I was on the final season. Detective Mac Taylor is dealing with Aphasia. I figure this is part of the way they decided to end the series. My father is dealing with this currently and it’s a frustrating thing.

I felt like I was fighting a war against my home with a near empty fuel tank on Thursday. I fought hard to move my storage ottoman into my bedroom because the chair I planned to use was so damn uncomfortable, that I knew it could not be the chair I craft in. I’ll ultimately need a different seat here because this one is too long and too low, but it’s not bad to have it out of the way for now.

This week has been a long one and I was glad to be heading into a staycation for next week. I canned my Facebook dating profile. Too many suggestions had nothing in common with me or were located in the US. I rarely saw anyone local and if I did, they were half my age. Now, I don’t mind some gap. I’m not ageist, but there’s a limit.

I got my computer desk moved on Friday out of sheer stubbornness, but my living room is coming along so slowly in some ways that I’m unsure when I’ll be able to really make use of it again. I have too many boxes of who the hell knows what to get rid of. Still, the layout is improving, so I’m hopeful.

The Olympics continued with more hockey games on Monday. Italy vs Japan went about how I expected it to. France managed to force overtime, but they were ultimately eliminated from the tournament by Germany. As expected, USA beat Switzerland, but I was busy watching Canada vs Czechia. Marie Philip Poulin, Captain Clutch, suffered an injury and was out for the rest of the game. Instead of deflating the Canadians, it energized them. They scored several goals and showed Czechia why Canada usually makes it to finals. When I saw Poulin get hurt, I was very angry. Hands off our Captain!

Japan faced Sweden on Tuesday morning and Sweden took it. No surprises there. Italy vs Germany was one of the more equal matches in the games, but Germany took it in the end. Canada did very poor against the USA later on in the day and a lot of people are suggesting it’s the coaches, or the lines, or the age of the players, or Hockey Canada’s antiquated methods, etc. I think there are several reasons and those are probably some of them. The bottom line is that they just didn’t perform nearly as well as they should have. The team is full of skill. We see the members perform very well regularly in the PWHL. So I don’t think it’s talent or age. Whatever the cause, I hope they fix it before the medal rounds when it really counts. I didn’t watch Switzerland vs Finland since it was on at the same time. Finland took it though. Since they’re advancing anyway, I guess their positioning in quarterfinals may come down to point spread. Time will tell.

It was odd to have no games on Wednesday, but the previously rescheduled game between Canada and Finland happened on Thursday. Canada thankfully won despite it being another game without Captain Clutch. Opinions are split on whether or not she should play in Saturday’s game against Germany or be saved for the medal rounds.

Friday held the first elimination games. Czechia took on Sweden and Sweden won. I figure Czechia getting ousted is retribution for them deliberately injuring Poulin. It’s time they learned to play a cleaner game.

Italy initially started off strong against the USA, but the USA plays so well that every team has been struggling with them. Italy was also eliminated.

Saturday’s games were also quarterfinal games with Canada taking on Germany in the morning. Not that early morning though. The days of the 6AM Eastern games were thankfully done. It started at nearly 11AM, which let me get some things done around the condo.

Finally, Switzerland beat Finland and shore up the last spot in the semi-final games.

It was a tough week for many and I hope things get better from here on.

Rae