Sunday

[alterkrmn]

Thinking about TikTok

These days I have been thinking about why I dislike TikTok so much and also that I should probably write a post so I can get it out of my chest. But I need to organize my ideas first.

Chores, routines, the weather

It's been a couple of weeks of rainy and cold weather, the hurricanes don't give us a break... And I'm aware that my state isn't affected as much as other regions of the country (or other countries), but still, the flooding in the city, the countless potholes in the streets, the propensity to get sick... there are many things that are accentuated by the rains.

But in the matters of my daily life, rain also has an impact.

I tend to have a low body temperature and have a hard time getting warm. So the constant cold and humid weather makes me sleepy ALL THE TIME. I sometimes joke that I'm a reptile and need to lie in the sun to get warm... And maybe I'm not really a snake or a lizard, but the rest is very true.

That makes doing stuff very hard. I struggle to get up (the dark season doesn't help either) and move. I have to wrap myself in layers and layers of warm clothes to be able to move. It's a bit ridiculous, considering that this region isn't even that cold. We don't even have snow here.  But our houses don't have central heating.

But housework has to be done.

Today I didn't want to get out the bed. But I did some laundry, went to the supermarket and even cooked today's meal. Very productive day, despite everything.

I also finished my Chinese handwriting homework. 

I ate mole with rice today and it reminded me of the experiment I want to do: mole filled mooncakes, inspired by the mala paste mooncakes Neon (I don't know how to mention users, maybe I will find out half an hour after posting this lol) mentioned on fedi during Mid-autumn festival. I hope I am not commiting culinary heresy or something.

Books and sadness

Now that I finished reading The Sign, I can continue reading Global Examination. And it's such a fun book. Qin Jiu and You Huo amuse me a lot.

I was also going through the list of books I've read this year and I'm a little depressed by the fact that there are so few. And it makes me a little jealous too seeing people read one book after another.

I make a living out of reading all day every day, but it feels soulless, mechanic... And even though I learn a lot about different subjects, it isn't a joyous activity at all.

I try to tell myself that this is not a competition, that it doesn't matter that everyone reads so much interesting stuff, not only books, but also articles, short stories... but at some point my brain just refuses to read. It is easier to watch something, to listen to music...

Maybe, if numbers were all that mattered, I could count every course I read and edit as a book on my list, lol. But that's not the point.

I can't even join reading challenges anymore... it's just a lot and, honestly, I have a lot on my plate all the time, ha. And at the beginning of this year I left a book club with a group of friends and acquaintances from outside the internet because honestly the level of discussion was not what I expected and the selection of books was not to my liking.

Sharing my thoughts about the novels I read on fedi has worked, but I always feel like I could do more, read more instead of watching a show, but we circle back to the exhaustion and my brain refusing to cooperate. Sometimes I miss being young and being a voracious reader. But life happens, I guess.

My goal for this year is finishing Global Examination and maybe one more novel.

Now is time to go to bed, being warm and maybe dream about the fic I started writing at some point when I started watching The Sign. That is exciting. Hehe.
 

Comments

[alterkrmn]

I'd love to read your thoughts on TikTok.

TikTok is... a lot and there are things I like, but the way it works it's too much for me, sensory wise, for example, but there's a lot of rage bait and just, I don't know, the speed is overwhelming. I spent a couple of months there seeing stuff and now I'm cured, but there are people that keep sharing TikTok videos with me, lol. I am going to try to write the post :D

I hope the floods subside soon. *hugs*

Me too... I know we need the rain, but everything smells musty already and my old bones hurt a bit ToT

And mole filled mooncake sounds interesting! I'd love to try~ You can mention usernames by doing @/username (remove the slash)

I am pondering some versions for the filling. I think the next batch will be my test for that. Hehe.

I tried doing that for the mention and didn't work. I will try again later. Maybe I had a typo or something. But I'm very proud because in my last post I successfully used the tag bwhahaha. So I will master DW-posting some day XD

And yes! Qin Jiu and You Hou are so delightful together <3

I am enjoying the story so much. I love the different scenarios (even the one that scared me) and how they slowly discover what's going on.

Mm, I don't like joining reading challenges, and because my reading is so variable (time + energy + mood), I hardly ever join reading groups either (lol at my failed attempt at trying to stay at a reasonable pace for Mist, and also my attempt at Copper Coins did not keep pace with my reading partner at all because the mood didn't align).

Yeah, I don't know, reading challenges seem a bit frivolous to me, honestly. But if people enjoy them, that's fine. I like reading solo, at my own pace, but it's a bit lonely sometimes, especially when it's a read I enjoy and would like to be able to share my enthusiasm. I still have to try joining one read along like the one they're having on Fedi for TGCF or organize one myself like the Terry Pratchett one I thougth about some months ago. See if it works for me. But my attention keeps drifting elsewhere. Not that it's bad in itself, it just happens, oops.

What level of discussion do you prefer? You're reading danmei I've read, so we can talk about it!

It depends on the book. Some of them don't make me want to talk a lot, others make me go bonkers lol. But definitely not just "it has a pretty cover" kind of comment.

But in that book club, the discussion was definitely not interesting.

I like to look up stuff I read in the book, learn more about the context, the meanings, not full literary analysis or anything, but I just like to know things about the stories. But the discussions were always lukewarm, there wasn't really any passion and maybe it was because the books weren't shared interests. Each member proposed a book according to a pre-established theme, then we voted, but sometimes the proposals were just boring. And they orbited towards self-help books or just books I didn't have any interest in.

We read a couple of Japanese novels and most of their comments were: "ah, that's very different from how we do things here, I don't understand and I don't like it". There was no curiosity, at all. And I have learned to question why I like or I don't like some stuff I read, and I like talking about it, even if it's in a very casual way. Maybe fandom has changed the way I interact with the things I read or watch, or maybe it has to do a bit with my background, but I'm not sure.

I enjoy the interactions we've had on Fedi about DVAWTK and now Global Examination. I am going to try to write more about what I read here, it makes me organize my ideas better. I am getting used to it and I enjoy it, but it definitely requires more energy and focus than posting on Fedi. I could try writing something about Global Examination when I finish reading it. *thinking*

[geraineon]

Ah. I know I don't really prefer visual social media, and much prefer textual so I bounced off hard places that are more art/videos. Never really got into TikTok, but I have heard people say similar things regarding the sensory overload.

Hm, can you describe what happened when you tried to use the @/username? (btw, it doesn't actually alert the user, unlike other social media places. it's just a way to link the journal. idk if that's the issue you encountered, but it just occurred to me that that's one big difference between DW vs. other places - that you actually need to private message people if you want to make sure they see something, or reply to their comment/journal post).

Global Examination spoilers: cut in case passer-bys do not want to be spoiled

Yes! The double amnesia <3 slowly realizing things about each other <33 and these two never changed. XD just breaking the scenarios all the time.

Hm, that just sounds like a pretty bad book club to me, but maybe I expect a lot more from a book club, having never participated in one properly.

<3 take your time with the post and feel free to tag me on fedi if you wanna chat about Global Examination anytime!

[alterkrmn]

Hm, can you describe what happened when you tried to use the @/username? (btw, it doesn't actually alert the user, unlike other social media places. it's just a way to link the journal. idk if that's the issue you encountered, but it just occurred to me that that's one big difference between DW vs. other places - that you actually need to private message people if you want to make sure they see something, or reply to their comment/journal post).

Oh, it just showed the @/username, but it wasn't as link. But I was seeing it in preview, I don't know if it could be that *thinking*