July update: Health, Work, and Entertainment

[kylaraingress]

July felt very quick. Not a lot happened, but more than I remembered. More under the cut.


The heat wave has continued. Most days, I do the bare minimum in order to keep cool, and my energy levels are down.

Work has been same old. We had another virtual conference. This one was a lot more frustrating, though, as the person 'planning' it didn't get speakers until the week before (and two the day before). And, of course, they wonder why they didn't have much attendance. The only positive is that it gave me incentive to create a promo video for my organization. (But watching it over and over and over and ... made me realize it needs some tweaking. Once it's tweaked, I'll share on social media.)

Additionally, the one day I decided to go in had me potentially exposed to COVID. Fun. Thankfully, the test came back negative.

On the health front, I finally saw my new doctor. My old one decided to betray me and move to northern California, and I used the one she recommended. I did not like him, but he's good enough for now. I'm still trying to find a therapist.

Kate had another eye appointment: she's doing well there.

Also, as some of you already know, she went into the hospital for some elective surgery. No need to worry: it's actually something she was going to have done last year, but then the pandemic put a moratorium on any non-urgent issues. She was actually able to go home the same day, but is out from work until August 23. She's somewhat mobile now, but gets tired easily.

We ordered her a Windows Surface that she named Tabbi. She's had it for a couple of weeks now and is enjoying it. She loves the pen and tablet side of things, and has actually started doing art again.

We also had to get our car worked on: it was showing some warning lights. Our regular mechanic had changed owners a little before the pandemic started, and the one we ended up with did a good job.

We were both out on July 5 due to the holiday, and took the day to go to the Huntington Gardens. Most of the insides were still closed, but still plenty of pretty to see. I'm hoping to get the photos organized and uploaded to my Flickr this weekend.

On a marketing / social media front, I posted my first TikTok. I also changed the name of my Facebook group to It Takes All Kinds (the name of the website I had for my slash back in the early 2000s) and changed my geeky newsletter from "Geek Out Los Angeles" to Geeky Los Angeles.

As for what I've been watching, I've actually been pretty busy on that front and if I had the energy, would be writing up reviews like I used to.

I enjoyed In the Heights and finally caught The Hitman's Bodyguard (for Ryan Reynolds), The Courier (for Benedict Cumberbatch), and Bohemian Rhapsody (I prefer Rocketman). For new stuff, I thoroughly enjoyed both Black Widow and Jungle Cruise (although how much of both was due to being in air conditioning, I'm not sure ). In fact, I'm going to try and write a review of Jungle Cruise. And having watched that the day after I gave Gunpowder Milkshake a go made me realize I might be an unintended Paul Giamatti fan. Finally, I fell head over heels in love with Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar. It oddly reminded me of Hudson Hawk in the 'wtf' factor.

In terms of television, Prime had two seasons of Travel Man we hadn't caught. I also kept seeing billboards and ads for the third season of Miracle Workers, so I gave the first season a try - and ended up binging the first two seasons in a couple of days. I may write up a review of that as well. We also binged Masters of the Universe: Revelation, which I enjoyed far more than I was expecting. I also finally decided to give Orphan Black a go, and am about done with the first series. And, of course, Leverage: Redemption. I was nervous about how they were going to handle no Timothy Hutton and ignore how the original Leverage ended, putting Noah Wyle 'in charge'. That was thankfully not the case, and the new series has been a delight.

Speaking of nerves, I am biting my nails on the whole news about Jodie Whittaker leaving Doctor Who. I've been mostly whelmed by her run, but not sure how much of it is due to the writing. I'm also worried that if they go back to a cis white man for the Doctor, the idiots will be like 'See? We told you!' and consider her run a failure.

Finally, on a creative front, I actually have a story idea I've been kicking around in my head. I'm still working out the details, but may give it a go.

So, we're now onto August. Not much on the schedule other than tomorrow. We're going to Puppet Up! on the Jim Henson Studios lot, and spent the extra money for the VIP treatment, which includes a tour and our very own puppet. Have a great month!