Nyanko's Basket

I've noticed that over the past few weeks I've been spending much less time on Discord, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, Masto and Bluesky than I used to. Part of it is because I've been busy at work and at home organizing and sorting, but I also wonder if I'm feeling kind of burnt out on social media in general.

And they have been some of the happiest years of my life.

I'm so grateful that I met Harper in 2015 after I moved to Sacramento in 2014, and then became friends with her. She had a major health scare and had to be in hospital for quite a while followed by a long period of physical therapy, but her friend Elizabeth and I continued to visit her and reassure her that she wasn't alone.

I invited her to live with me as a housemate in 2019. It was a new and at times uncertain experience for both of us as we'd lived by ourselves for so long, but we figured out what worked best for each other and ourselves and got to know each other better. One thing led to another and by the beginning of 2020 we'd definitely started to be more than just friends.

And then Covid happened.

Covid upended a lot of things, but it also brought us closer. I was working from home, so I was at home every day and went out much less often than I had previously. We spent a lot more time together and watched TV shows like Midsomer Murders. I played the piano for her and she told me how much she liked my playing.

We were together for both good - the 2020 Presidential election, the Covid vaccines - and bad - Elizabeth's sudden death from a malignant brain tumor 3 weeks before her 63rd birthday, Harper falling ill and having to undergo physical therapy - and I have drawn closer to her and been more comfortable sharing more about myself with her.

Harper, I love you so very much and I am so blessed that you are my partner. This year is the first Christmas that I won't be there with you physically (being in Australia at the moment after meeting my family and cousins for the first time in a long time), but you are and will be always in my heart.

I'm here! Figuring out what I want to do with my LJ - it's still around, but (a) I haven't posted much and (b) I think it might be time to move on from there.

Today is the 3 month anniversary of my moving to Folsom and starting a new job at Intel. The work atmosphere is interesting and challenging in the right ways, and I get along quite well with my colleagues. I'm also slowly exploring more of Folsom and Sacramento and figuring out what artistic activities there are - I've already seen a few plays, including AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie, which I liked greatly - I have a weakness for her stories.

I also went to the Dickens Fair in San Francisco a few weekends ago, and words can't describe how wondrous an experience it was - the closest I can come to is that it was like being in an 1830s cosplay where everyone was completely immersed in the experience!

Some photos of the trip

Since then, I've also gone to Houston to watch several of my friends perform in two ragtime concerts and I have some photos on my Flickr as well.

Other than that, things are going along fairly well. I'm missing Seattle, still, but at the same time this is also an opportunity for me to explore new places, make new experiences and meet new friends!

No, not the song from Portal. But... it's good to have (or rediscover that you have) a semi-private space sometimes, where you don't have to worry about whether something you post gets enough 'likes' or 'comments'.

It's been a while since I've posted (more than 3 years, according to the preview button), and more than that since I really wrote down anything really personal. I figure now's as good a time as any to start again.

I haven't posted in a while - more than 2 months. Part of that is because I haven't been good about remembering to update, but it's also because of ( being quite busy )

I'm leaving on a week-long vacation tonight, which will take me to Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis:

- I'll be meeting tanyad in Chicago and hanging out with her. While I'm there, I need to try some authentic Chicago pizza (sorry testing4l, but Pizz'a Chicago in San Jose is probably not the real thing) and check out the city - would you believe I've never been to Chicago before, even thouigh I've passed through O'Hare several times?
- On Friday afternoon, I'll be driving down to Peoria for the Old-Time Piano Playing Contest. It's my first time taking part, and I am a bit nervous about it, particularly since I'll have to play all my contest entries from memory! Fortunately, most of them aren't a problem since they're ragtime pieces I'm familiar with - the only one that might be difficult is Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me", which is the required non-ragtime entry. The other pieces I'm performing are "Queen of Love" by Charles Hunter (who is probably more known for "Tickled to Death"), "Kitten on the Keys" by Zez Confrey, and "Swipesy Cake Walk", "Peacherine Rag" and "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin.
- I'm meeting a friend in Carbondale on Monday, and will head back to Chicago to arrive on Monday evening. The reason is...]
- I will be taking a train to St. Louis! It's the first time I've taken a train since I took the Acela in 2007 (from Boston to New York), and it'll be nice to enjoy the countryside without having to deal with traffic or rest stops. :D
- I'll be spending an evening in St. Louis and have several places in mind to visit (thanks to some suggestions from reannon) before I fly out the next morning.

I'm going to miss Belle and Lillian, but I have a cat-sitter coming over to feed and play with them daily, so I hope they won't be too miffed when I return. Speaking of Lillian, I uploaded some new pictures on Flickr of her on the harness - she seems to like it more than she used to!

People and places I want to visit this year:
- samurai_ko and her hubby will be moving to Seattle, so I will definitely need to visit them more often.
- saraphina_marie and reannon - the best way to meet both of them would probably be at a con, but I also have an invitation to have breakfast with saraphina_marie at a Pfunky Griddle in Nashville. This makes me happy. :D
- I might drive to Vancouver to visit my aunts- I've been putting it off for the last 3 years, for no reason in particular, but this year is as good as any.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of this year!

14/02/2010 12:32:59 <&basket> YUO, lava|droid?
14/02/2010 12:33:00 <PyRC> basket, bayoab, we do exchange hosting at work. *no* droid user who has called us without that data plan has been made in modern gunnery.

I also owe tanyad an entry with my thoughts on the iPad, and will write that up soon.

It's a bit slower compared to handwriting but it can recognize my writings pretty well!

I haven't tried going out with it yet but plan to sometime soon. It has a SIM card slot for 3G access too.

For some reason I've been feeling particularly tired these few days. I hope it's nothing serious.

The Semagic UI isn't very touch friendly though.

ETA (via the keyboard as I'm sleepy): Happy holidays, everyone!

Here's the official announcement.

Now I can finally talk about what I was working on publicly for the last year and a half :)

(edit: Fixed the link)