I'm too scared to google 'fistpunch evolution'

[st_aurafina]

I seem to have dropped all podcasts except the backlog of Stuff You Missed in History Class, which is fine. But it has this ad in it for another podcast, about futuristic stuff, IDK, and in it, someone shouts out futuristic things I might be interested in, like 'fistpunch evolution'. I don't know what it is but it scares me.


halfamoon has an Awesome Ladies Rec post: Go rec me some fics?


State of the me

Putting this down for my own record.

I put my Pristiq up to 100mg a week ago today, and it's been a bit rocky, mood-wise. I've been super depressed, which is frustrating, since I don't actually take it for depression, but internet research says that desvenlafaxine can cause depression early on, especially in women and especially in anxiety conditions. And I guess I've been too down to be actually anxious about things, so there's that? But it's that really chemical flatness, the 'I really don't see why I should waste time and energy brushing my teeth' thing that I don't usually feel. Bleh. I think I'm coming out of it a bit today? I did some stuff today.

Prednisolone wean is down to 15mg today, and will go to 10mg mid-week, so I've only got a couple of weeks left before I'm pred-free. I'm sleeping better. I'm in shitloads of knee pain though, and I've started wearing my carpal tunnel splint at night. I miss having knees. Everything is so effortful again, and I hate it.

I'm supposed to look out for recurrence of the skin inflammation as the prednisolone dose comes down, and I've not seen that (actually, my wound healing is on the up, thank goodness, because I've still got spots and nicks from the massive allergic reaction that have been slow to heal thanks to the pred) but my asthma is through the roof. I might also have an chest infection? I'm not sure. I'm coughing up a lot of muck. I don't know what my immune status is going to be like after taking pred for so long, so hopefully I haven't picked up some disgusting shower fungus bug. (This is unlikely. I hope.)


State of the Garden
One capsicum! It's yellow-green and I believe it needs to be yellow-yellow before we pick it, but it's there. The other capsicum, a dwarf variety, is remaining very dwarf-like. It's leafy and covered in flowers but so tiny. It's palm-sized. I'm not sure if that's how it's supposed to be or not.

I tied up the tomatoes again, and there's lots of fruit on everything except the Black Russian, which has flowers. But! There has been some kind of baby massacre - something has bitten into the tiny baby green Romas, and spat them out again on the mulch surface. So wasteful! Further investigation revealed some nibbling on the ends of the zucchinis, also. I suspect parrots, or maybe possums. lilacsigil enacted chemical warfare in the form of sriracha and dishsoap in a spray bottle.

I harvested the last of the beets this week. And spinach is over, waaaah. I miss you, spinach! I'm trying to track down seeds for warrigal greens, which are supposed to grow well at this time of year (spinach, for us, is a seed you plant in cooler weather) but no luck yet. I have some spinach seeds which I'll try, if I can't find something more seasonally appropriate.

Zucchinis are go! We've only got two plants this year, which are producing at exactly the pace we need for zucchini in our meals, with nothing left over for bread/muffins/other recipes I use in desperation. I'm a bit sad about that? But also, it's nice not to be picking armfuls and armfuls of giant marrows that are hollow in the middle and full of seeds.

The plants we grew from seed have finally taken off. Leeks are shooting up and starting to look like leeks, a bit. There's button squash starting to turn yellow, and I think the pumpkin has fruit too - either that, or we planted two varieties of button squash? Time will tell. Cucumbers are showing up - still in the tiny, cute-cumber stage, but they're there. And one capsicum that we grew from seed but stayed in the two leaf stage since December has suddenly started growing and growing, so who knows what will happen with that. I threw a seed packet of mixed salad down one end of a bed and it grew and now there's a lettuce patch, yay! I can go out in the morning, pick a bowlful of salad, and have it for lunch. It's very civilised.

A while ago, we planted the ends of our spring onions, and have been snipping them off when we need them. This is much, much better than buying them from the supermarket! If you have the means - a flower pot on a windowsill would do - I would suggest doing it. They grow really well and don't need much care. And it saves money. And they taste better.


Heads up that there's going to be a bit of spamming from me as I catch up fic I've posted everywhere but this journal. Stuff for fandom_stocking, and 100words and yuletide. (And I'm catching up on AO3 comments, too.)

Comments

[out_there]

I tied up the tomatoes again, and there's lots of fruit on everything except the Black Russian, which has flowers

I got halfway through tying up the tomatoes this weekend (why do I always plant too many? Every spring I forget they go crazy in summer, and end up planting a whole punnet. Then summer comes and I promise myself that next year, I'll only plant one. Or two. Like, three at a maximum.) but there isn't much fruit on them. Flowers, yes, but it only seems to the be the cherry tomato that's really going for it.

Zucchini would be a good vegetable to grow. i should try that next year.

[st_aurafina]

I swore last year that I'd prevent the Great Tomato Jungle from happening again, and this time I'm trimming and tying and keeping it all manageable. The fact that the season is running so late - we've got fruit but nothing ripe and it's February ffs - has probably helped.

I split the punnet of zucchini plants with a friend, so we only planted two - it's really hard to justify throwing perfectly good seedlings away, so I'm glad I could share. It is good to grow - it's easy and early to fruit, and it's plentiful but it gets out of hand very fast. Pick early, pick often!

[out_there]

Great Tomato Jungle -- yes, exactly what's happened to us. But we'll get it tied up eventually.

[vass]

Sorry about your body and brain stuff, that sounds pretty miserable.

My Black Russians are also flowering. No capsicums yet, but they are getting taller.

I think I'll get some lettuce seeds and chuck them in my bed. There's room for more plants now the kale has had the biscuit, and picking a bowlful for lunch does sound civilised. It's been great being able to just grab some basil when I want it.

Last night I had this fic idea: Dragon Age/the Hidden Almanac crossover. "On this day in 8:78 Blessed, Maric Theirin was born. He freed Ferelden from Orlesian rule, and would later be known as 'Maric the Saviour'. And it was on this day in 9:31 Dragon that Brother Ferdinand Genetivi was last seen, at the funeral of the Hero of Ferelden. In the garden today, the elfroot is going to seed..."

And then it occurred to me that Hidden Almanac could be in ALL THE CROSSOVERS.

- "On this day last year, Beach City was briefly visited by a hail of cat-themed frozen confectioneries. Science is at a loss to explain this..."
- "Welcome to the Hidden Almanac. I'm Harold Crow..."

[st_aurafina]

I didn't know if the lettuce seeds would work, but I figured, it's a dollar for a pack, it's not the end of the world. I got a mixed pack so there's rocket and mignonette and that curly brown one and cos. It's great! I find that I need to give them some time in a sink of water if I picked them on a hot day, so that they can crisp up a bit, and anything left over I roll up in some paper towel and keep in the fridge for the next day. It is very civilised.

I would love The Hidden Almanac to be the little black dress of fandom! It could crossover with any number of cosy murder mysteries I've been watching, too.

[umadoshi]

I think I'm coming out of it a bit today? I did some stuff today.

I hope so! *hugs* I hope you start feeling better on ALL THE FRONTS soon.

chemical warfare in the form of sriracha and dishsoap in a spray bottle.

That sure sounds like it ought to drive off basically anything!

[st_aurafina]

That sure sounds like it ought to drive off basically anything!

It actually made things smell very tasty! But I think it will be discouraging to any mammals or birds that take a nibble. Hopefully.

[musesfool]

Fistpunch evolution! sounds like a boxing anime, but it's actually about the theory that human hands evolved for punching, and how apparently no other animals do this. It should be (relatively) safe to google!

[st_aurafina]

Hee, it does sound either like a boxing anime or some bad X-Men porn! I am glad to know what it is, though. A bit sad that we had to evolve hands for punching, but glad to know.

[summerstorm]

I've been wanting to up my dosage of lexapro for a while to see if it will help me as an antidepressant, obv, but also to see if it will help me cut back on lorazepam (and alcohol, to an extent), but I've had such ups and downs with antidepressants and side-effects I'm so wary of it... Keep thinking it's not the right time, I have things I need to do, or I have to make money because my family needs it, or I'm not stable enough to deal with it, or. Ultimately I'm just too lazy to go to the doctor because I also know I probably need to... change doctors, or push harder to get a therapist instead of be thrown down the dead end that is psychiatrists & psychologists (I did it once, it made a very bad impression).

My stress has been really something this week but hopefully it'll lessen again on its own now my mom's not around making sad faces.

[st_aurafina]

It's a bummer increasing the antidepressant because the effect is so sloooow, and I am impatient. But I think I'm heading onto an even keel now - I hope you are able to soon, too.

[lurkingcat]

Oh, I hope the state of the you is getting better. Doing stuff is usually a good sign.

The garden sounds lovely. Spinach - so good.

[st_aurafina]

The spinach is finished! I am bereft.

*waits for the pak choy to grow*

[chanter1944]

I have to ask, because I'm dead curious and on the other side of the world. What's a warrigal? Sounds friendly.

[st_aurafina]

Ummm *frantic googling*

So, wiki is telling me that warrigal is an indigenous word for a wild dog (so, a dingo) and apparently applying it to a plant implies that the plant is also wild or undomesticated.

But the plant is a kind of wild spinach, which you can read about here: Tetragonia tetragonioides.

[clare_dragonfly]

Oh man, if I could go pick a bowlful of salad in the morning I would have salad all the time. Someday! When I have my own house!

I'd like to try the spring onion thing but all our windowsills are kind of full--at least the ones where the cat doesn't usually jump are full... I guess we could add another pot to the one where the peppermint plant is, but sometimes we have to open that window and that would be two things to move! Someday, when I have my own house...

[st_aurafina]

It is very nice to pick a bowl of salad, for as long as it lasts, anyway.

The payoff is that we have to live in a place where we have the space to grow things, and hence are quite remote, so think of us next time you drop into a big box store or go to the cinema.

[clare_dragonfly]

But I don't do either of those things! I guess I go to big box stores once in a while, but it's always a bit of an expedition... though maybe it wouldn't be for normal people who live where I do. I long to live in a city where I could walk to things.

[lark_ascends]

Bugger on the depression and asthma and muck. :(

Oh, your veggie garden sounds delightful. I like the idea of a small veggie patch when I get a house, but am scared of ending up with TOO MUCH. Might seek advice before going there. ;-)

[st_aurafina]

Eee, it will be so nice to have a garden - if you start small, you shouldn't be overwhelmed. Tomatoes in a container was where we started. All we had to do was pour potting mix in and keep them watered. (And put some blood and bone on occasionally.)

[lark_ascends]

:-)

[spindle_ella]

I didn't think it was even possible to grow only as much zucchini as needed. Good luck with the med situation!

[st_aurafina]

Right? Two is the magic number, apparently. Two plants and give the rest of the punnet of seedlings to your friends.

[aphrodite_mine]

Stuff to Blow Your Mind! Lots of interesting concepts, but two dudes, and it runs over an hour each episode - lots of side notes about fandom and how concept is portrayed in media. I definitely liked it for awhile, but now it naps me.

[st_aurafina]

That's it! Mushroom messiah! Fist punch evolution!

I definitely have trouble engaging with podcasts that have only male hosts.

[adafrog]

Yay, almost done with the wean!
Hope the rest of you turns out not too bad, though. {{{hugs}}}

I can't believe they spat out all the little roma pieces. You'd think whoever it was would eventually figure out they didn't like them.

[st_aurafina]

Nearly done - I'll be done this time next week, if I don't have to go down in 1mg increments.

I can't believe they spat out all the little roma pieces.

Right? Little bastards. Maybe they thought the next one would be awesome?

[tinny]

Yay, that garden looks (sounds?) great!

Continued good luck with your meds. Meh, health stuff always takes ages. *sigh* It's sometimes hard to concentrate on the good stuff, like "yay you survived it!"