Asperger Syndrome Dreamwidth Community

People are creating stories with AI video that are just amazing. Most of them are still in development, and I find myself paying to join subscriptions to help fund their efforts. As I did with the game Star Citizen 13 years ago, I gladly donate money to something unfinished, just because I want to see where the creative urge leads them. Their intended product is exactly the kind of thing that piques my interest.

And those are just the best of the lengthy projects. There are so many more movies where people are learning to use this new media. Zoot Zoots, for example, is trying a variety of scifi/fantasy stories. Other studios (like WAHEfilms and KimeraProductionVFX) were inspired by the 3I/Atlas flyby to create short stories about alien arrival. I'm neglecting the even more numerous shorts out there, such as this bizarre vagabond cat. I also enjoy this demon hunter complaining specifically about the YouTube algorithm. It's an interesting time for creative minds.

(by which I mean, A very bravely ventured back to B&Q again, this time DID get The Goods, aaaaaaaand then discovered that even cut down they didn't fit in the car so they still needed to be attached to the roof rack with ratchet straps--)

we have achieved PROOF that the windows CLOSE when they have ratchet straps slung around both TOP and BOTTOM

we have a house at 26.7°C and an outside world at 26.1°C and it's time to go to bed

[Gru's plan goes here]

-- but hey, maybe at least we'll manage to discourage it from getting significantly warmer in here? and maybe I'll wake up early enough to open the house up usefully while we're still below 20°C tomorrow morning?

Reading. I have... restarted... Polysecure (Jessica Fern), this time having set up some space in my notebook to Take Notes, because oof. I am still at Baby's First Introduction To Attachment Theory, and I am having Thoughts.

(I am Noticing that I procrastinated on actually picking it up until it was in the final days of the loan, with enough of a hold queue that if I don't finish it in the next 36 hours I will either be buying my own copy or sulking a bunch. This is definitely a reversion to employing Deadline Panic to get a thing done.)

Playing. Puzzle! We have COMPLETED the pond and the various rivers are beginning to coalesce. I am definitely having Thoughts about design, on which more soon/later maybe.

Cooking. We wound up with a paucity of broad beans and an excess of broccoli, so I dumped a bunch of broccol in the broad bean kuku and that worked pretty well.

I have managed to process Some of the redcurrants. There are So Many redcurrants. I really need to go and harvest more raspberries so I can make the jam, and am gently cursing myself for not having achieved this before the next round of heat wave arrived...

Eating. So many strawberries. Also we had an excellent date night dinner sat outside at Wagamama, where it turns out I do in fact really enjoy the gochujang tamarind corn ribs.

Making & mending. ALAS FOR US we have not Made The Window Covers, because our local B&Q had the appropriate plywood but a broken industrial saw for cutting it to size, and the next closest B&Q, which we called to confirm did have a working saw, despite its inventory claims did not have the appropriate plywood. Ergo this week we will be once again resorting to the space blankets.

Growing. I... repotted the pineapple thereby discovering that despite Remaining Alive it was NOT Happily Growing Roots in the medium it was in? So. We will see if it survives the relocation.

Observing. A Jersey Tiger!

Yesterday we wandered down via the bakery to the river (dropping off a bike with the local nice bikes autistic en route) and spent a while watching the various waterfowl: a gaggle of awkward teenage ducks; a separate gaggle of awkward teenage coots, still all trying to pile onto the one nest; a bundle of tiny flufflings all following mama duck, one of whom was consistently making a noise exactly like the PLIMK of a water drop in a space that amplifies the sound; and Six Quiet Orbs on the nest down the river, still with one (1) teenage coot tucked into the side of it. It was a very good walk for waterfowl.

Last night my meds box mysteriously contained the 25mg tablet but not the 50mg. It's Just One Night, I think, always, when this happens (... about once a year, to be clear), I've Got So Much Better At The Whole Learning To Fall Asleep Thing, It'll Be Fine.

Spoilers: It Is Not Fine.

It remains genuinely magical to me that at 75mg of amitriptyline I can fall merrily asleep within 15 minutes of starting to try, and without it's... even with the breathing meditation and the working my way mentally through the Pilates sequence and the eventually giving up and playing sudoku at a hard enough level I get bored brute forcing it, it takes hours.

Thanks be for pharmacology, for ever and ever, good grief.

My attempts to recreate Dr Karg's Pumpkin Seeds Protein Thins for slightly less than £19.67 per kg continues. The latest iteration involved instant yeast that was sad and old and unopened, as opposed to sad and old and exposed to oxygen for mumble years, and goodness the texture's better. Still not drying out/crisping up enough in the middles, though, so I think the next batch gets a lower oven temperature and a longer bake time.

I am both shocked-Pikachu about and resigned to the fact that even though they are too soggy my body is going YES MORE OF THIS THESE YES YES about eating the things with cottage cheese (and also whole raw carrots). Because the recipe is not yet reliable I am doing a bad job of iterating when I finish consuming the previous batch; because they're £19.67/kg (or thereabouts) in the shop I am reluctant to spend more grocery money on them. And thus it is that I will go a week, or two, or three, with my primary protein-dense snack being The Yoghurt (~250g of skimmed milk powder to ~2.2l of milk seems to be working out fairly well at producing thick yoghurt I don't need to strain...), and then when I finally get around to tweaking the experimental recipe and trying again I Inhale The Things. Maybe the fresh(er) yeast and clear next steps will mean it won't take me as long next time? FINGERS CROSSED.

By which I mean they have been removed from their stalks and are ready to be turned into jam, but alas today was not a day when the body was willing to cooperate with... pretty much anything.

There are eight kilos to go!

Thus far I have found approximately (I lost count) five tiny snails, and relocated them to the hedge. Who Knows how many more Lurk...

I haven't done anything for Pride month, other than the dive into BL stories on YouTube. I thought I'd pass along this documentary news piece by Kyiv Independent about the legal status of LBGTQ people in Ukraine during wartime.

I learned some things from it. For instance, I didn't realize queer equality is a requirement to join the European Union, because anti-discrimination protections are part of the Fundamental Rights charter for the EU. Ukraine, however, cannot change its national constitution as long as they remain under martial law. This prohibition was intended to maintain democratic stability during unstable times caused if authoritarians (who like martial law) usurped power.

When I watched the 6pm news tonight, the weather in Minneapolis at that time included 41C/106F heat index. That's cooler than forecast, because we developed a thin layer of unexpected cloud cover for much of today. My bedroom air conditioner unit has been running constantly all day long, keeping the rest of the house at a comfortable temperature as the cooler air fell downstairs. Weather sites tell me that the heat index in Austin, Texas, is only 37C/99F.

Enjoy one of the coolest years of the rest of your life.

Reading. Finished Your Inner Fish (Neil Shubin), which was apparently published in 2009 and is definitely showing its age (particularly in terms of talking about organisms being "more" or "less" evolved, but see also some previous grumbling). Nonetheless glad to have Consumèd.

Started Polysecure (Jessica Fern), on the qualified recommendation of my therapist. Currently having to dip in and out of Introduction To Attachment Theory, peeking through my fingers during the in, which is... more of a reaction to retreading this particular ground than I had quite anticipated.

Listening. More Hidden Almanac! Everyone is back from the visit to the traitors' graveyard! I... was semi awake during today's chunk, but only to the extent that I felt like I was following each individual sentence, not to the extent that I... actually have recall. Whoops.

Playing. We have STARTED our FINAL RIDICULOUS PUZZLE.

Eating. ALPINE STRAWBERRIES. RASPBERRIES FROM THE PLOT. So many redcurrants.

Making & mending. Put The Legs Back On The Coffee Table That Is Not A Weights Bench, thereby supplying the Surface for Puzzle. Pleased.

Growing. I have somehow come back from Cambs with nine kilos of redcurrants, which... I desperately need to process but which are currently in the fridge because actually I want to make redcurrant and raspberry jam and for that I need to go and harvest some damn raspberries. Tomorrow afternoon job, hopefully, now that the weather is being a little less ridiculous?

Otherwise: lemongrass Continues; small sad orchid is... maybe perking up a little; and SQUASH are doing THINGS.

Oh! And some PARSLEY has come up in the fig pot!!!

Observing. A couple of mystery birds in my mother's garden, which alas I did not get a good enough look at to ID.

On Very Hot Days, I have been enjoying adding a bit of rose syrup (and a lot of crushed ice) to my horrid protein slurry.

I knew I was doing this in a sort of falooda-influenced way! Today's realisation, though, is that I can prep the liquid portion in the protein shaker before I leave the house for the gym... with! the basil seeds! and then add the protein powder and crushed ice upon my return, immediately before mixing.

Alas I did not actually have this realisation until I was most of the way through inhaling today's protein shake, but I am definitely looking forward to Experimenting.

I had a topic planned for Moody Monday, but I was too exhausted. Summer is supposed to be slower at work, but nearly half of our staff were out sick on Monday or on vacation this week. The increased workload for those who remain has been slightly intense. I hadn't poured any whisky since the last time I mentioned it, so the bottle was practically new. It's definitely more used now, since I poured a glass of whisky and grapefruit juice after work every day this week (Monday-Wednesday, I mean).

Anyway. I'm still tired after hunkering indoors all day yesterday. I ate yummy junk food, watched YouTube, and listened to narrative platforms all day long. I'm definitely feeling better, though. I'm slightly recharged now.