I've been playing Everquest 2 more often than usual lately. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a new-to-me festival happening in Norrath, the Oceansfull Festival. Opportunities to go to various locations, collect purple shinies and also pry open clams and get goodies. I've already got SO MANY PLUSHIES and other house items to decorate my acorn! I am over the moon. I'm also thinking I may need to move out of the acorn and into a bigger building, probably in Qeynos.

I'm part of the 32-Bit Cafe and there is currently a code jam event, Sites for Social Change, going on which ends tomorrow, August 11. It started July 14th and I've been wavering on whether or not I wanted to do it and what in the world my topic would be. I mean, I did want to do it, I just didn't know what I wanted it to be about. And then I realized that a topic I've been considering working up would fit perfectly with this theme. And I have a vision of how I want the page to look! So I started on this code jam, which began a month ago and closes tomorrow, yesterday. Man, this brings back school memories! Although instead of completely forgetting an assignment that was due, I just didn't get my shit together until the very last minute.

Anyway, my vision requires columns and grids and I'm also trying to be a good coder and make stuff responsive. This particular CSS skill is not something I've worked with before and it's a little frustrating because I've given myself very little time to actually learn what to do. Of course, me being me, if I had more time I would just fritter it away anyway. Probably in Norrath, collecting more goodies.

Listening

I've discovered that I can very easily write out my political postcards while listening to podcasts. The postcard messages are fairly short and simple so it's easy to go in autopilot mode. I just have to be careful that I don't write what I'm hearing! Because of this new-found talent, I've listened to a few more podcasts this week than I usually do.

Reading

I finished the 6th book in the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters, The Last Camel Died at Noon. Once again, you know what you're going to get with these books and it was a delightful romp.

After I returned it and was checking out what else was offered through the Libby app, I noticed a whole new section on biographies. That's not my usual preferred genre of reading but I've read some really neat ones. The best one was about Esther Williams, The Million Dollar Mermaid. If you're at all interested in the Hollywood Golden Age, I highly recommend this book.

Anyway, amongst the titles was one by Richard Marx, Stories to Tell. I really love his song Don't Mean Nothing - it's currently on my iPod - and thought it would be cool to know more about him so I checked it out. Wow! I had no idea he had so many hits other than that one song. And, I had no idea how prolific he was as a songwriter for other artists. This was a quick, breezy read with lots of anecdotes about his touring days and the other artists he worked with and a fascinating look into how he crafted melodies and then lyrics.

Today I just started The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton. I haven't read anything by him yet and this looked intriguing! In a post-apocalyptic world that has been ravaged by a mysterious fog, the world's lone survivors have made a home on an island. Amongst them are 3 scientists, who help keep the island free of fog. But one day they wake up to find that not only has one of the scientists has been killed, everyone's memory of that night has been erased. They have to figure out who the killer is before the fog takes over the island.

Watching

I watched Confessions and Lamentations, season 2, episode 18 of Babylon 5 yesterday. In this episode one of the alien races is affected by a plague and Franklin is racing to discover a cure. I continue to enjoy my rewatch of the series but I will admit that I skipped over episode 15, And Now For a Word. I just don't care for the news/documentary style of TV episodes.

I have a list of TV shows and movies that I'd like to check out eventually and I took the opportunity to check out one of my list items: Robin of Sherwood, a 1980s TV show that ran for about 3 seasons. I'm pretty sure my mom and I both watched it when it originally came on and I think I really liked it. Oh my, it's SO CHEESY. And really wild. First episode we're hit not only with the origin story of Robin Hood and how he met his band but also we have an evil baron who practices black magic. I think this will be a good series to cross-stitch to.

OK, it's 16:30 on a Sunday afternoon and the code jam entry is due by tomorrow before midnight. I've got plenty of time to learn new coding skills and get everything up to speed! If I don't get sidetracked. Which definitely may or may not happen.

When I first started using Zonelets I had Disqus set up as a commenting system but it looked obnoxiously ugly and I ditched it. Some people are happy to not have blog interaction but I'd love to hear from you if you have any thoughts you want to share! You can respond through my guestbook or email. If you found this link on Discord or the 32-Bit Cafe Discourse, you can message me there or leave a message on my Neocities profile page.