Long time no see, happy new year!
Jan. 1st, 2024 03:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Hi, everyone! I've been a bit absent from DW (and other places like Discord) for a while - for some reason, for a few months there, I just lost any desire to start any social interactions. I did begin going to skating lessons again, so I was talking to people and leaving the house, but I didn't feel like going to board game nights or opening my Discord. Still not sure if anything in particular caused it - I also lost a lot of interest in writing at the same time - but I've been trying to start getting back into things and catching up on the comments I never replied to on AO3 and all that.
The skating lessons have been going well. I'm not going to the current session of group lessons, because right now they just start too early, but I'll probably start going again during summer when it shifts to a little later, and I'll be doing private lessons still. My spins are slowly getting less bad, and I can sometimes kind of sort of do the world's smallest waltz jump, something I've had a real mental block on. And I also finally figured out how to actually train my turnout muscles, so I can do a t-stop on my bad side now! I even had a hastily put-together solo in the localChristmas Holiday Skating Show after we learned I could have one a month ahead of time :D I didn't do perfectly, but I had fun. Just need to figure out how to cool down the adrenaline a little, because about two-thirds of the way through, I noticed that my hands were 100% pins and needles, so I couldn't feel them at all.
I visited my parents for Thanksgiving, and Z and I visited for Christmas as well. Z has now seen about all of the [local extremely rich family] houses that are now museums, so next time I promised we'd do something different xD I made some carrot jam with rosewater and cardamom for my parents and a folding double-sided organizer for Z, who has been on an organizing kick these last few months. Z got me a set of Avatar Nation-themed tea cups (they come with cute little bamboo covers to help keep your tea warm!), and we shared a lot of chocolate and other treats.
While we were there, I also got a new camera, spurred by my desire to take better photos at Worlds and a lot of very, very helpful advice from R, who is a professional photographer. I used it to take some photos at one of the museums, and while I still need to learn a lot about how to use it, I'm already pretty happy with it. My mom is now saying she needs me to bring it along to document her next field trip. She just needs to figures out where she wants to go now that China is no longer a very good option (I am personally rooting for Bhutan I get to tag along).
My mom and I also binged a lot of Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty over both of those visits and will probably watch some more when she comes over before we head to Worlds in Montreal. I definitely recommend what I've seen so far if 'mystery-solving officials in the Tang dynasty with good character development' sounds like a fun time.
Happy new year to everyone; I hope it's a good one. And happy public domain day as well, which Z and I celebrated by watching Steamboat Willie.
The skating lessons have been going well. I'm not going to the current session of group lessons, because right now they just start too early, but I'll probably start going again during summer when it shifts to a little later, and I'll be doing private lessons still. My spins are slowly getting less bad, and I can sometimes kind of sort of do the world's smallest waltz jump, something I've had a real mental block on. And I also finally figured out how to actually train my turnout muscles, so I can do a t-stop on my bad side now! I even had a hastily put-together solo in the local
I visited my parents for Thanksgiving, and Z and I visited for Christmas as well. Z has now seen about all of the [local extremely rich family] houses that are now museums, so next time I promised we'd do something different xD I made some carrot jam with rosewater and cardamom for my parents and a folding double-sided organizer for Z, who has been on an organizing kick these last few months. Z got me a set of Avatar Nation-themed tea cups (they come with cute little bamboo covers to help keep your tea warm!), and we shared a lot of chocolate and other treats.
While we were there, I also got a new camera, spurred by my desire to take better photos at Worlds and a lot of very, very helpful advice from R, who is a professional photographer. I used it to take some photos at one of the museums, and while I still need to learn a lot about how to use it, I'm already pretty happy with it. My mom is now saying she needs me to bring it along to document her next field trip. She just needs to figures out where she wants to go now that China is no longer a very good option (I am personally rooting for Bhutan I get to tag along).
My mom and I also binged a lot of Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty over both of those visits and will probably watch some more when she comes over before we head to Worlds in Montreal. I definitely recommend what I've seen so far if 'mystery-solving officials in the Tang dynasty with good character development' sounds like a fun time.
Happy new year to everyone; I hope it's a good one. And happy public domain day as well, which Z and I celebrated by watching Steamboat Willie.