vivdunstan

As I say on my profile page I mainly use this blog to keep track of dosage changes and symptom patterns/progression in my neurological disease. Those entries are restricted to family only.

I do post more widely though. Many early entries are friends-locked. If you know me, either in person or online, feel free to friend me.

But some entries will be on more open access, especially those I link to from Twitter.

Have just managed episode 1, but hoping to get through an episode a week together, if not more often.

I’m very relieved to have watched this because ( casting spoiler for season 2 episode 1 ) I also have a sequence coming in episode 3 stuck in my head (( spoiler for season 2 episode 3 )) but I can’t talk about that to him yet! Maybe in a few weeks.

I also considered us starting tonight watching Rings of Power season 2 or Sandman season 2. But the Rings of Power episodes are *so* very long. I'll struggle to stay alert throughout them. And Sandman has a rather glacial pace, which I gather is even more glacial this year. Wednesday at least is a moderately acceptable length, and full of content. It also doesn’t have a huge number of episodes.

For 2 years I've used a Hobonichi Techo A5 journal for my planning. Now trying to decide what covers etc to get for 2026. Navigating my way thru what I like, vs what's Japan exclusive, or even Hobonichi Japan only. Expect to get all from Art From The Heart in Harrogate.

Was going to get a Junji Ito "Tomie" manga Hobonichi cover next year. Then having watched today's many hours preview I favoured something else. Which I now find is Hobonichi Japan store exclusive & ridiculously expensive! Now veering towards something else, very nice, that I can get from Yorkshire.

I'm very lucky to have a good friend in Japan who could help with this. But this time around it's easier for me to get the goodies from the Harrogate shop. Who will charge a bit more than Hobonichi direct and also Amazon Japan, but will save me masses on shipping costs and customs/tax, and I'll have the goodies fast.

Here's my blog post from 2024 about how I use a Hobonichi A5 journal for planning and journalling. My system is self-designed, and established itself really quickly on me first starting with Hobonichi in 2024. I'm still doing things the same way now.

Continuing my reread, and this is one that I could remember well from the past.

( spoilers )

Northern Scotland had some pretty impressive thunder and lightning today. Including us in Angus. Checking our broadband (part fibre) router log, our Internet went down 12 times between 2.54pm and 4.17pm, during the height of the thunder and lightning storm this area experienced all afternoon. I'm so glad Martin was at home today. Key roads around Dundee were flooded, as well as the Overgate Shopping Centre. Martin was home for a dental appointment, and also took loads of books to Oxfam's, and library books back for me. But luckily that was hours before the storm hit. We had quite a lot of lightning he says (I was asleep!), but the main thing was the very loud constant rumbling thunder for hours. Oh and because he'd taken the day off the frequent loss of Internet didn't affect his work.

We also lost broadband Internet connection briefly around midnight/1AM on Monday morning, though that was just before a power cut hit (luckily briefly!) 5500 properties in DD5 and DD7. But yes, been a bit of a week.

Kindle books anyway, the main thing I read now, so I can have a gigantic font to cope with reading difficulties due to my progressive neurological disease. A mix of fiction and non fiction as always. I also have library books and others on the go.

Finding another stash of books that can mostly be donated to Oxfam's. Including several Egaeus Press weird short story collections, gorgeous hardback books, but I no longer need, and am happy passing on. As well as a Little Endless "Delirium's Party" hardback. Keeping some of the other books though.

Time and distance is making it easier to pass on some of these books. And we still have way too many books in house, especially a huge number I can no longer read with my progressive neurological illness. It's very freeing passing them on. Even if book lover me naturally rails against the concept!

P.S. I reread the Little Endless book quickly tonight before passing it on. Quite charming, and written and drawn by someone other than Neil Gaiman. Gorgeous mini Endless comic book art too.

P.P.S. Martin is now going to have an incredible number of books to take to Oxfam later this week!

Still on operation reduce the piles of books around the house, giving most to charity. Managed to find 20 more books to donate in a couple of short bursts this evening and just now. Had set myself that target today. Plus a chunky limited edition OOP Big Finish Doctor Who boxset. Going to Oxfam's.

We still have far too many books I'm not using and won't be able to use even more as my neurological disease progresses. Would like to get some floor space back. At the moment too many places in our bungalow resemble my former PhD supervisor Charles's office, which was filled with book piles too!

Today's book grab was an eclectic range, including book history (journals and academic books), cultural history, roleplaying game books, and comic books. Some alarmingly chunky books among them! Can see a sense of progress in the study. But much more still to clear out. For another time.

We haven't (so far) lost power, though places very near to us have (including hundreds of houses, just a couple of miles away). It's very windy outside, but Martin has been able to work from home. I have been asleep all night and almost all day. Just trying to wake up now! A wind speed of 122 miles per hour was measured on the Cairngorms, to the north of us. Eek! But yup, doing ok here so far. Just staying indoors. #StormFloris

While I slept a printed copy of the 2024 Glasgow Worldcon souvenir book arrived in the post, very kindly sent by a friend. So I have that now, even though the Glasgow Worldcon recycled all their remaining print copies soon after the con. We had attending memberships (incredibly low membership numbers - we were very early supporters!) but couldn't attend in person in the end due to my neurological illness getting too bad.

More fresh strawberries, grown here in Monifieth, Angus, the town we live in on the edge of Dundee. Yum! And lashings of extra thick Scottish cream.