LadyCrimson

Post 1: Those heron's or egrets are still in the street trees and every day I still hear them constantly, sounding like sick cats. I finally sat in backyard and tried to take some pictures. Sadly a cheap 270mm zoom isn't quite enough to cover the distance (eg, the bird shots are cropped some). 500mm would be better. Oh well. Also, I'm badly out of practice re: the big camera, pfft. Perspective: the tree (grey lower right corner is neighbors eave-roof) and one of their nests. You can barely see the nest, but it's pretty big I suppose. A lot of the time the leaves hide them/can't see them at all from the ground but occasionally the perch visibly. I have no idea why the back feathers are up - it was only trying to break off a stick. Maybe it's windy up there. But I quickly grew bored (and my arms tired) of sitting with a heavy camera glued to my face, waiting for them to "do" anything.

Google says you're probably correct - something about the land freezing causing expansion/contraction etc, which causes mayhem to foundations, so they dig deeper to stabilize/prevent such. Dig a little deeper, you have a basement. Possibly for more pipe freezing/access considerations sometimes too who knows. FL's water table in some places seems to be a big reason. I think the general not-having them here is just because they weren't truly "needed" for any architectural reason in most places, and it was cheaper to build without (at least back then?), and then it just stayed that way out of habit. Re: hubby and valley - it was the Visalia area in the early-mid 80's I think - yeah he mentioned nights could be sometimes cooler. It's just the day summer temps were much warmer (and more warmer days) then the Bay. He also lived in Alaska for maybe a year as a kid and he's never recovered from the "endless night" winter blues type stuff. Basically he just hates winter/long nights/temps under 78F, period.

Send me a jar of pickles. If I (or hubby) likes them, can we order a few jars every time you make them? And, uh...today I ate my usual veggie/meat mash mixes. I've grown so tired of them in general (even mixing it up which veggies/ingredients a bit here and there) that I started to toss about half a jar of store-bought pickled "hot!" (as opposed to the "mild!") jalapeno's in each batch. I'm not sure it makes the meals less repetitious, but they are then at least not ... boring. *sweats*

eh, while we don't get 100+ days for weeks or months at a time here I think most of us are aware that typical home A/C does not turn your room/house into a freezer at such temps. Mostly it just takes the edge off so at least you sweat modestly less whilst sitting around in your underwear, maybe still using a floor fan for extra 'breeze.' Hubby spent some years in south central valley - he thinks it's never warm enough or warm often enough in the Bay. I have often wondered why there are so few basements in California in general. Close to the bays I might guess watertable (and building on landfill) could have something to do with it (maybe, I'm no terrain risk analyst or something) but other areas, not sure. And yeah ... I noticed they aren't as strict re: downpayment percent anymore, again, and various other things. Isn't Calif. minimum wage $14 now or something? Won't be long before a double Whopper costs $15 and our fave large pizza is $50. Not that we eat Whoppers. Pizza on the other hand ...

^ Yeah, it's definitely not limited to California/Bay Area. I've seen people say it's getting bad in some places in Canada, all kinds of areas. There are the well known more extreme city/area examples but it's becoming systemic all over, imo. ... hubby's been "predicting" a massive overall (not just housing) inflation spike problem for a while now for various reasons (like lumber costs have skyrocketed for a while now, along with plenty of other things, like ... gpu's - haha) that's only going to make the have/have-not gap worse yet again. I can't say I'd disagree with him.

You inherit, get really lucky in some fashion, or have a top 10-12% household income or something - or share rent with multiple people. It's always been crazy here, but I think the last 20 years it's been extra crazy. Not enough housing, bidding wars, and people no longer looking at homes as very long term forever-home investments but more short-term quick-money get-ahead plans that jack up prices and seller expectations. My parents house: early 1970's, $32k - 2007 or so (I forget), 1.3 million (over 30 years to get that high) - 2021, 3 million (only 14ish years to increase as much again). Our tiny house: 12ish years ago, $575k - 2018/2019, $850k-ish - mid-2021, 1.45 million

That's what air conditioning is for. I mean most of the time I just sit inside and stare at monitors anyway. Fire danger potential is a good point tho, as well as pollution. I personally would rather retire in the middle of a rainy non-tropical forest but there's not a lot of that in California. Typical? Can't speak for Sac. but we're somewhat lower side for our specific area - one of those few "east side" housing blocks that is considered a good starter-home/neighborhood vs. industrial. Most houses are more in 2-4 million range (at the moment). The Peninsula area of the middle W. Bay Area is extra-suburb expensive tho, relative to lot/house size/per foot especially. Atherton, Woodside, Standford U, Los Altos all exist within it, lots of tech giant companies, etc. I went to grade school in Atherton since my parents house was one of the cheaper "middle class" tract house neighborhoods right on Atherton's border, that was probably built to house all the plebs to serve Atherton. Hahaha.. j/k. Kinda. Edit: when I was a kid most of those streets had no sidwalks/were still dirt paths... if you go across the Bay to something like Fremont, it's a little cheaper. Many more (and newer) houses in that 1.5 million range vs. 2.5+ million.

....screw going all the way up to Oregon. Guess where we're going this weekend. ...hubby's company has an office in Sac. and it's much closer to current office if he did have to come down here once in a while ...note, we're not actually all that likely to move but definitely want to check it out, because something that price could be a no-loan purchase for us (eg, we could still rent the 1st house for a year, vs. sell it, in case we change our minds) ...I know someone in Sac. and he's been complaining that all of us "Bay Area ppl" that are thinking the same thoughts, are coming up there and making rent hike up. Probably happening all over in areas a couple hours away from the Bay in increasing cycles. I'm guessing covid/work from home sped it up over the last year, too. I wonder if that's going to bite some in the butt if companies start retracting the work from home promises as covid becomes less of a risk because productivity loss is noted to be too much.

that 3080ti still feels tasty (if you don't already have a 3080 of course), although it would've been even tastier if it was $1000 instead of $1200 (or, I bet, $1400+ for EVGA ftw) ... and if one could get one near that list price any time before 2023. Only 1 more vram than my 2080ti tho, and a lot more power consumption at gaming load. ...I'll just have to console any jealous feelings with the idea that the 40xx or 50xx will even that much better for my (hopefully native/no DLSS needed) 4k/60 gaming one day.

I started (regularly) cutting my own hair because I couldn't stand the way anyone else did it. I'd go to a place, say "just cut a little off the bottom, where the back is a little rounded (not a total straight line cut) and layer the sides" and I'd end up going home and recutting it anyway. I feel like outside of really expensive salons perhaps, layering of hair is becoming a lost art to most average/cheaper hair cutters. So many don't seem to know how to do it at all and think an even hair trimmer use is layering.

Strangely when I think of Robert Pattinson I still think of his role in Harry Potter, which is where/when I first saw him. He made an impression on me then. I hear he disliked the Cullen role so ... good for him for being able to break out into better roles/not getting typecast forever. Edit: The Lighthouse was interesting, but it's one of those actors movies where I feel like it's a film more to be admired than enjoyed. >.> I saw another movie (not USA) on that same topic and I liked that one better as a story.

When you're about to go to bed and quick-check Netflix on the tablet and they tell you that there's a new special by ... Bo Burham: Inside. *squeal* So you don't go to bed. Filmed by himself in his house during "covid isolation", it's not the usual/expected "comedy special" (there's no stage or audience) so much as a one-man concept musical and performance film. Social and internet culture commentary within tons of those Bo-style songs, but also sometimes moody and a bit dark bits and ... well, it's hard to explain. There's the occasional pacing quirk but overall I loved it. But I've always liked Bo's style. "(Welcome to the internet) .... Could I interest you in everything, all of the time, a bit of everything all of the time. Apathy's a tragedy and boredom is a crime. Anything and everything all of the time!" Edit: netflix flagged those videos fast.

Well I for one hope there *is* a gameplay trailer at E3/soon. Doesn't have to be long or extensive or a release date etc, just a little more concept than what we currently have, which is basically nothing. But if there isn't anything, that's all right, I'll live. I also hope the inclusion of a robust creation-toolset kit ends up existing/being true because that could add 300% more interest in the game, for me.

I bought Flowscape, which gives you a bunch of pre-rendered landscapes, skyboxes, objects, animals etc. for your to "paint-brush" an animated fantasy landscape. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1043390/FlowScape/ You can create beautiful, artistic vistas, tea gardens, visual art inspiration! Meditative, simulation-creative, 4k screenshot friendly! But then I saw it had a cat "brush", so ... Imma gonna make a Cat island.

Re: theaters - I do miss the absolutely giant screens, but the other people is not worth the extra size now that one can have a pretty big TV. I suppose a forum full of indoor gaming geeks isn't the best example of in-theater enthusiasts. Mostly I'm hoping the trend of new theater movies being "ported" to streaming very quickly continues. Doesn't have to be one week or something, but maybe one or two months, say ... not 8-12 months (I know disc sales was more like 6 months, but I want streaming access even faster).

Hmm...I'm glad I never dyed my hair "wig auburn/red" because with my skin tone, I don't think it's me. Also, how do people wear wigs without their head/scalp feeling like it's in a sauna after 5 minutes? I feel like I'd have sweat dripping down my neck constantly. I guess wear them only in winter, ha? And why are the bangs like six inches long? I guess one is supposed to "style" their (cheap) wig to fit and look better. Just like real hair. Sounds like work.

Maybe I should shave off the eyebrows again too. Hubby bought one of those shallow plastic storage sheds for rakes/ladders, so today he was out there placing cement pavers (he became really picky re: levelness ), then putting the shed together. If he likes it he'll get another, so two side by side. I can't believe how much they want for those cheap plastic things. $400 or something. That does not include any shelves or tool hooks or anything (it's a few hundred extra for the DLC!). Absurd. But they make good fence-gap/neighbor blockers! Maybe we should get a couple dozen more of them and ring the whole backyard fence with them, so I can run around naked back there all the time (no 2-story houses around here). And a hot tub! Edit: should've put in pics to begin with: ...thanks to my uber photoshop skillz, you can easily see that this would be the perfect spot for a small hottub.

So if you're vaccinated, will you be going back to the theaters? Or did you never leave - (I know one person who kept going to them). Not that I was going to theaters to begin with. But even if I don't personally care to, it'd be nice if they bounce back and start doing well again.

Eh, it's mostly the back of the head. Kind of a dip in the center, if you put both hands back there, it sorta feels like the back of my skull has rounded corners, haha, so my imagination goes wild thinking what it would look like with zero hair. The forehead/front is ok. Anyway, I didn't totally buzz it all yet, it's all mostly maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch long. I didn't originally want white-scalp-syndrome. The trimmer is annoying when trying to keep things even because angle/pressure you keep making thinner/shorter spots etc. I slipped and one side of the neck is near shaved and the other side not and ... am debating whether to actually near-shave all of it so it doesn't look all scrunchy-weird. Pfft. If I do that I'll try to get pick of the back of head or something. Oh and ... why not hand the trimmer to hubby, you ask? Because ... that would not be any challenge fun. Y'know, since my hair was black, it is/would be really hard/damaging to first bleach then color-dye it. So I never did. But now. Maybe time for some of these? Time to Amazon-shop!

Can't cut my hair, so once again, maybe I should just buzzcut my head. Problem is still that my vanity tells me that I would look like some short, broad-faced, oddly shaped-head dude. I don't think I'd be pulling off the "hot bald woman" look. But hair is becoming a PITA. Waking up and rubbing a washcloth over the head now and then sounds convenient. It might be low-neck length by winter again. Hmmm

^ From the title "Old" I thought it might be some documentary re: aging, retirement, something like that. I guess it's not a documentary, but it's still seems to be a film about the horrors of how fast we grow up and how quickly time accelerates as we age.

But are there hot men? *looks it up* ... nah, not re: my personal tastes, seems like. I'll pass. ...I think I noticed that when I was browsing that channel once. Looks like another stylistic, glossy show.

"Oh, that looks cute I might ... oh, turn based, never mind." :/ I know, I'm a heathen.

Well, since Biomutant seems like it's going to be a "wait for 40% off sale" I continue playing 7 Days to Die. I'm unsure why. I always reach this point where I find myself doing the exact same thing over and over: --start new game (heavily self-modded to taste) --build some basic to moderate level base/home in short order because at minimum you need tons of protected area storage space --kill lots of z's and loot lots of buildings so I can make forges, workbenches, motorcycles, and fill 30 storage chests full of "stuff" --grow bored after 12-18 hours of that, from general over-familiarity with the game for years, start new map (starting is the best part) ....still, it's better than staring at the wall. ...although I should play more of the original DK1 campaign for kicks. I only got to Moonbrush Wood and then stopped. Slapping imps to death to make an overkill army of orange robe wearing vampires to stomp on goody knights and wizards is like stress therapy.