Walking stick with a carved amethyst cat head topper with green demantoid garnet eyes. The band joining the head to the cane is guilloché enamelled with gold rings at top and bottom, a purple background, and gold wavy motif. The cane is a deep brown hardwood.

I come across a lot of interesting, amazing, wonderful things in my tiara quests. This was one of them. I just had to share with you all because it is so ridiculously magnificent. This walking cane is French, from the late 19th century, and features a carved amethyst cat head with demantoid garnet eyes. The band between head and cane is guilloché enamelled and the cane itself is a deep brown hardwood. I really feel like I need to step up my cane game. Available at the Mayfair Gallery for a mere £35,000 (or, just over $47,000).

Hip surgery will be on Monday at 7:30 am (with a 5:30 am check-in time - argh!). Can't eat or drink after 10 pm (except a sip of water to swallow down meds). The surgery itself is usually between 1-2 hours and then recovery is usually a couple of hours. Hopefully I'll be home before the evening.

I've done just about all I can to prep for surgery and recovery. I didn't get meals premade and frozen like I was hoping but I do have stuff in the fridge that can be easily prepped and some frozen meals so I think I'll be OK there.

My living room furniture is kind of low and soft and too deep for me (my feet dangle in the air if I sit all the way back). I bought some extra cushions to sit up higher and a frame that goes on top of the cushions to act as armrests to help push me up so I think I'll be able to sit on it after surgery and, more importantly, be able to get back up again. I also have a foot stool because the recliner doesn't have a lever to get the footrest back down, you have to push down and back with your legs and I don't think I'll be able to do that for a while. If that doesn't work out, I guess I'll be spending time in the computer chair.

And there are some other things I got which I thought would be helpful. I hope so!

Listening

Well, I tried listening to podcasts this week but I've been falling asleep while listening. I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping at night. Sleeping while trying to listen to something I want to, sometimes even while cross stitching? That, apparently, I can do. Hmmm... maybe I should try listening to the podcasts in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. I wonder if that would work!

Haven't really been listening to music much this week, other than when I'm in the car and then it's iPod time. One of these days I'm going to have to go through it (or set up the Surfans) because, while it's got some newish music on it, I've acquired a lot of tunes since the last time I added music to it.

Reading

I spent the week reading There is No Antimemetics Division by qntm. It was recommended to me by Best Son and, wow! I can see why there's a lot of hype about it. I went into it without knowing anything about it. How can you fight something you can't remember? It's really good and I highly recommend it.

I finished 2 novellas by Maria Schneider, Ghost Town and Hidden in Time. The first one is described as a "cozy, romantic fantasy" but it's super light on the romance. It's mostly about the fantasy. Features a Western-ish town, a scrappy town librarian with a secret, and a stranger in town on a mission. I liked it! It's a standalone but the second book has the same setting. It has one short story and one very short story, both of which were enjoyable.

Not quite sure what my next read will be. I have 3 more novellas on my e-reader left to read from when I went on a mini-Kobo spending spree. I might pick up a mystery from one of the series I'm reading/rereading or maybe I'll start another The Black Company trilogy.

Watching

It's been a long time since I've been into watching any kind of talk shows so while I knew who Stephen Colbert was, I never watched his show. I have since become fascinated with his "Colbert Questionert" segments and have been watching a lot of those. If you don't know about it, he asks guests a set of 15 questions. I originally thought this was something he started when he knew the show was going to end but he's been doing these for years and the questions have changed a bit. In the more recent ones, the questions are:

  1. What’s the best sandwich?
  2. What was your first concert?
  3. What is the scariest animal?
  4. Apples or oranges?
  5. Have you ever asked someone for their autograph?
  6. What do you think happens when we die?
  7. Favorite action movie?
  8. Window or aisle?
  9. Favorite smell?
  10. Least favorite smell?
  11. Earliest memory?
  12. Cats or dogs?
  13. You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life: what is it? (You don't have to listen to it continuously but any time you go to listen to a song, it will be this one)
  14. What number am I thinking of?
  15. Describe the rest of your life in 5 words.

Honestly, I am particularly interested in #6 because I personally don't fucking know. I'd like to know to be prepared and I'm interested in what others have to say. I guess this is where having a religion comes in handy because your book/leader/tradition tells you. I've had a contentious relationship with religion over the years and currently I would describe myself as agnostic but, dammit, I want someone to put my mind at ease because the thought that everything just ENDS terrifies me. I think about this more than I should and I have all my life. I've even had a couple of experiences that would lead me to lean towards one way of thinking but then I think, well, what if that was just garbage that my brain was spewing out for some reason? But, even if a burning bush appeared before me and gave me all the answers, I would question it and still not believe it because that's just how I am. Too many questions and too little faith, I guess. Anyway, I probably shouldn't be looking for validation of any sort from a late night TV show segment.

Even though I haven't found enlightenment, I have found the answers fun.

Link Lagniappe

OK, that's it for this week! I might or might not have a tiara post this week - it all depends on how I'm doing after surgery.

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.