vivdunstan

Jotting down some thoughts about this. Mainly a note to self, but sharing here too in case it's of interest to others.

We have very little time to watch TV series things together. Often just one episode's worth a week, total, given how heavily sedated I am, including typically having to go back to sleep between dinner and supper. And that's after being asleep all day before then ... It really is phenomenally restricting.

However making plans! And as top priority I hope to rewatch the Fifth Doctor Peter Davison era of Doctor Who, now we have almost all the Fifth Doctor Blu-ray remastered season collections, and will get the last one in late March. I've seen very few of these episodes again since original broadcast back in the early 1980s. Martin has seen very few (he didn't have a TV at home when he grew up). So it will be fun to watch/rewatch. Plus watch some of the bonus extra features like documentaries etc on the new Blu-ray season boxes. I will also be referring throughout to the hardback copy of the latest Celestial Toyroom annual Martin got for me for Christmas, after I dropped an unsubtle/heavy hint. This year's annual looks back at the Fifth Doctor era, including writings about each story. The Lulu-printed hardback version of the annual is *gorgeous*.

Before then though we need to finish our watch of the BBC 1988-1990 Narnia TV series. We are almost through the first story, and will go on to the other two after (Prince Caspian! Tom Baker!). Martin has seen BBC's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" before from a video copy we had long ago. But he has never seen the others. It is all a rewatch for me. There is also a very in-depth new documentary on the new BBC remastered Blu-ray Narnia box. Will watch that too.

Once that is out of the way we will be able to return to our once a week Babylon 5, as well as starting the Fifth Doctor stories. We are now in early Season 3 of Babylon 5, and approaching some big episodes. Very much looking forward to more. I constantly reassess my favourites, though often end up with the same results. It all feels comfortably familiar. I have lost count of how many times we have rewatched this series.

We also need to watch The Rings of Power season 2, preferably before season 3 airs! Although we will probably be slow getting to the latter. Still have to watch Sandman season 2, but me managing to get through episodes of that given how heavily sedated I am may be very tricky. And we will definitely prioritise watching the Good Omens final wrap up, when that airs.

Almost forgot: we still have to finish watching The War Between the Land and the Sea, which I haven't even managed to stick to an episode a week pace, even outside the Christmas period. Frankly it's very very talky, and often I don't feel up to watching more. But we will finish it. Hopefully soon. 2 episodes to go.

There are probably more things, but that's enough for us to be going on with for now.

Setting up my last spare brand new iPod Touch - bought new from Apple in 2022, on the day they discontinued the iPod Touch. An iPod Touch is like an iPhone without phoning, and has been perfect for me for many years, given how bed bound and mostly asleep I am now. But the device can't run newer than iOS 15, and its total battery capacity is poor. My previous model now needs recharging 2 or 3 times a day. So it's time to pull out the last spare. In future I'll have to switch to an iPhone, but that's for a few years down the line. Meanwhile iOS 15 does what I need. And a new model should run for some years yet.

Pleased to manage stuff between neuro illness sleeps. Prodded usefully at academic journal paper final rewrites, making notes in the Word file of how to rework paras. And just now finally framed a LOTR art poster (Jimmy Cauty) in a huge poster frame with a newly arrived mount to make it look spiffy.

And now for more sleep ...

2.5 weeks ago I learned that Pocket was going to shut down imminently. I used it regularly, for many years, and still had 1461 unread saved articles waiting to be read. I’m pleased to say that I have now read them all - rather miraculous, given that I am asleep literally most of each 24 hours. I am now fully switched back to Instapaper, which I used long before. It also has the advantage of working better with my iPod touch - my main device when resting in bed for so much time - which can’t go newer than iOS 15.

“13.5 hours total sleep on a day I didn’t feel totally kiboshed is rather a lot!” Me just now to Martin. Luckily I didn’t need to do much today 😜

That was a run of 10.5 hours sleep through to 2pm, then 3 more hours 4-7pm. Aarrgghh! On plus I am awake now, at night!

These have been on hold since Christmas, as I've just slept so much, and have been phenomenally wiped out as my neurological illness flares again. Then I had to focus my extremely limited awake time and energy on a time critical academic journal paper revise and resubmit. But I think I can restart these fun things next week. I enjoy doing them a lot. Initially I plan to alternate the two weekly, so a Benny audio listen and review one week, a Sherlock Holmes short story reread and review the next week, and repeat. With luck I may be able to switch both to a weekly rate again, but this initial alternating plan looks more sustainable for now. I will be resuming with the "The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk" story from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, and Bernice Summerfield Big Finish season 6 story number 3 The Lost Museum.

Have reached that stage of Christmas Eve where I'm turning the kitchen upside down, to check on cooking timings for everything tomorrow, so I can draw up a cooking plan! Luckily we can use the same list/plan again in a week's time. We will be having our Christmas meal very late. I'm unlikely to wake up before 4pm, and we couldn't start cooking it then. But looking forward to it. All the best to everyone from us both for the festive period.

I'll be blogging about this properly on my academic musings blog. But I've just finished watching my final catch up videos from the Cymera 2024 Edinburgh festival of fantasy, scifi and horror writing. Here is the list of things I got through - a rather impressive total of 18 events. Rather stunned with that, given how asleep I am constantly, and I have been mainly watching them just before bed at night. And not every night. And usually taking several nights to finish each one! These and other Cymera videos have been available for me to watch online from early June until tonight at midnight.

• From Dr. Who to Star Trek: New Stories with Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson and Una McCormack
• The Power of Books with Gareth Brown and Mark Lawrence
• Eldritch Gods and Other Uninvited Guests with Mark Stay and Charles Stross
• There’s Been A Murder with Amy Goldsmith, T.L. Huchu and Frances White
• Arctic Horrors with C.J. Cooke, Tim Lebbon and Ally Wilkes
• In Search of a New Eden with Oliver Langmead, Ken MacLeod and Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Time Travels with Poppy Kuroki & Nigel Planer
• Cassandra Clare in conversation with V.E. Schwab
• The Pleasures of Reading
• The Secret to a Successful Partnership with Megan Bannen and Gabby Hutchinson Crouch
• Many Shades of Darkness with Elle Nash, Kaaron Warren and Johanna Van Veen
• Creating Legends with Kate Heartfield and Sophie Keetch
• Past, Present, Future with Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, William Letford and EJ Swift
• Dark Encounters with Em Reed and Lorraine Wilson
• Writing the Future with Rachelle Atalla, Dan Coxon and Una McCormack
• Thrilling Futures with Lauren Beukes, Nikhil Singh and Maud Woolf
• Retellings with Joanne Harris, Lucy Holland and Shona Kinsella
• Unleashing Chaos with Jane Flett and Kelly Link

Been having a bit of a time travelling afternoon, rediscovering a whole load of bumf from the SHARP Antwerp book history conference I spoke at in 2014. I even found my husband's lanyard with wifi details on the back! He was accompanying me, free, as my wheelchair pusher/helper. Happy memories.

I gave a talk about Doctor Who and its fanzines, which was very well received, and entertained the audience immensely. Otherwise I slept a lot, on alternate days, and saw a bit of the conference, and some of Antwerp. Martin explored while I was sleeping. My over riding memory is of old buildings and cobbles. The latter are not fun in a not high tech manual wheelchair! But we had a marvellous time.

Slept for nearly 12 hours, albeit with a fever like dream - that even kept going after brief awake bursts. A cross of doing historical research in an archive - a totally fictional archive that I made up, seemingly in Kelso though, which had loads of records re some of my ancestors there. And then morphed into a mix - still in the archive mainly! - of Robin of Sherwood and Doctor Who. The archive had a display of upcoming Doctor Who DVD and Blu-ray releases 😜 And then I was flying through Leela’s brain, trying to fix something, involving lily pads and miniature aliens. Bonkers!