Saturday, February 4
Feb. 4th, 2024 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Lovely weather for this time of year. Sunny.
I didn't feel too tired, though I didn't sleep that much last night.
We did go to the city today.
I had two bags of things to donate today at a REAL thrift store that directly supports a women's addiction treatment center. I didn't have time to shop there before it closed, but at least I got rid of some things to a good cause. I donated a fair amount of nicer costume jewelry (I bought it around two years ago on Marketplace, and ended up not really feeling it), and wanted it to go to a good cause.
I was texting back and forth with a guy via Marketplace about having him come to our place tomorrow, to pick up some old wooden chairs I thought I would fix up but never have, and maybe the stack of reclaimed and still usable laminate flooring, since it doesn't look like we're going to use it in this house. I made sure my husband was aware that he might be coming, and maybe there are some other things he could take that we don't need any more.
Hopefully he is able to make it, that he finds a use for some of these things, and we get a bit more space.
We stopped in at an animal feed/supply place, and then went to the tile store.
The woman who helped us was great, and we were quickly able to find nice tile that should look good with the wood stove, and no drama, and no "let's go to six other stores".
I think it helps that we DID go to six stores last time to look for tile, because we now know that this store is likely one of the best options in the city, and they were good to work with last time. Once you know that, you don't have to feel like other stores might be better.
Then we stopped in at the bead store that is still selling it's stock, and now what's left is 80% off. I didn't see anything in particular that jumped out at me, but there were some small bags of "bead stew" that I got very inexpensively.
When I got home and was able to have a better look at what was mostly an assortment of freshwater pearls, I was disappointed to see that many of them were very scabby and not usable, and I don't know why they were in there. "Bead stew" is meant to be a big mix of beads that are often from broken strands, bags of seed beads that get opened, that kind of thing. They're not supposed to be defective.
I feel like I did okay value-wise given that it was so discounted, but man, would I have been unhappy to pay the full original price for them.
After that we did go to a Goodwill since they're open later than other thrift stores, and I found one or two things, and my husband really scored by finding a couple of nice art books for me.
Then we went for supper at a place we've been to before. It's a vegan/vegetarian place that's been there for over 30 years, though has had new management for the last ten. It's so strange that we've only started eating there recently.
We got chatting with our server, and then the General Manager, as it was very quiet and no other customers. They had an hour or more before closing time, but it was just a funny moment that we kind of "broke the fourth wall" with people who worked there.
The General Manager was a big, burly guy, but he also had a huge smile and a nice demeanor. We got talking about "The Expanse", since we watching it and I'm reading it, and he loves the series as well.
I mentioned to the Manager that when I saw him, before my husband and I were talking to him, I thought that he reminded me of the character Amos, if he lived to be an older guy, and that I could see him running a restaurant.
It was meant to be just a funny, offhand statement, but I think I ended up being far more accurate than I realized.
He kind of got flustered, but in a good way (luckily). He said "I'd never thought of that before, but that is actually incredibly accurate".
The character of Amos is basically someone with a very rough past, who struggled to be a better person throughout the books. He is a very compelling character.
I'm really not sure why I chose to share that, but thank goodness it was well-received.
Then we came home and watched an episode of "The Expanse".
The Philippines, being a larger land mass and much closer to large countries that are global powers, have a lot more going on than the other island countries I have been learning about.
The Philippines are considered to be South East Asia rather than Oceania. It still consists of many small islands that were built by volcanic activity on the rim of the tectonic plates beneath the ocean.
Because of this volcanic activity, they have a great deal of minerals, and have a lot of gold and copper deposits that are only beginning to be developed.
The nation is considered to be newly developed, transitioning from farming to manufacturing, and is a very populated nation.
Though this is a gross oversimplification, between the years of 1565-1946, the Philippines was back and forth as a colony of first Spain, then England, then Spain again. Spain worked to establish Christianity there, and it seems to have stuck. Very little of this period was peaceful, with the Spanish taking many people as slaves, ongoing wars with France, England, and so on, uprisings from the native people, and on and on.
During WW II, The Empire of Japan invaded and occupied the Philippines, committing many atrocities and war crimes, re: The Bataan Death March.
When the United States drove Japan out, the process of granting the Philippines independence began, and was recognized in 1946.
This country is considered "Megadiverse", with many endemic species of plants, mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles that are unique to this region, and considered one of the most important places on Earth for conservation.
They are also vulnerable to climate change and rising ocean levels.
They are a Democratic country with an elected president, but there is considerable corruption that comes of a culture affected deeply by Spain with it's culture of "patronage" and there is still great interference/influence from the Catholic Church/The Vatican.
As you can imagine, my brief forays into these countries is not very thorough, and mainly I am trying to pick out things that might stand out for me as some way to remember them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines
Lovely weather for this time of year. Sunny.
I didn't feel too tired, though I didn't sleep that much last night.
We did go to the city today.
I had two bags of things to donate today at a REAL thrift store that directly supports a women's addiction treatment center. I didn't have time to shop there before it closed, but at least I got rid of some things to a good cause. I donated a fair amount of nicer costume jewelry (I bought it around two years ago on Marketplace, and ended up not really feeling it), and wanted it to go to a good cause.
I was texting back and forth with a guy via Marketplace about having him come to our place tomorrow, to pick up some old wooden chairs I thought I would fix up but never have, and maybe the stack of reclaimed and still usable laminate flooring, since it doesn't look like we're going to use it in this house. I made sure my husband was aware that he might be coming, and maybe there are some other things he could take that we don't need any more.
Hopefully he is able to make it, that he finds a use for some of these things, and we get a bit more space.
We stopped in at an animal feed/supply place, and then went to the tile store.
The woman who helped us was great, and we were quickly able to find nice tile that should look good with the wood stove, and no drama, and no "let's go to six other stores".
I think it helps that we DID go to six stores last time to look for tile, because we now know that this store is likely one of the best options in the city, and they were good to work with last time. Once you know that, you don't have to feel like other stores might be better.
Then we stopped in at the bead store that is still selling it's stock, and now what's left is 80% off. I didn't see anything in particular that jumped out at me, but there were some small bags of "bead stew" that I got very inexpensively.
When I got home and was able to have a better look at what was mostly an assortment of freshwater pearls, I was disappointed to see that many of them were very scabby and not usable, and I don't know why they were in there. "Bead stew" is meant to be a big mix of beads that are often from broken strands, bags of seed beads that get opened, that kind of thing. They're not supposed to be defective.
I feel like I did okay value-wise given that it was so discounted, but man, would I have been unhappy to pay the full original price for them.
After that we did go to a Goodwill since they're open later than other thrift stores, and I found one or two things, and my husband really scored by finding a couple of nice art books for me.
Then we went for supper at a place we've been to before. It's a vegan/vegetarian place that's been there for over 30 years, though has had new management for the last ten. It's so strange that we've only started eating there recently.
We got chatting with our server, and then the General Manager, as it was very quiet and no other customers. They had an hour or more before closing time, but it was just a funny moment that we kind of "broke the fourth wall" with people who worked there.
The General Manager was a big, burly guy, but he also had a huge smile and a nice demeanor. We got talking about "The Expanse", since we watching it and I'm reading it, and he loves the series as well.
I mentioned to the Manager that when I saw him, before my husband and I were talking to him, I thought that he reminded me of the character Amos, if he lived to be an older guy, and that I could see him running a restaurant.
It was meant to be just a funny, offhand statement, but I think I ended up being far more accurate than I realized.
He kind of got flustered, but in a good way (luckily). He said "I'd never thought of that before, but that is actually incredibly accurate".
The character of Amos is basically someone with a very rough past, who struggled to be a better person throughout the books. He is a very compelling character.
I'm really not sure why I chose to share that, but thank goodness it was well-received.
Then we came home and watched an episode of "The Expanse".
The Philippines, being a larger land mass and much closer to large countries that are global powers, have a lot more going on than the other island countries I have been learning about.
The Philippines are considered to be South East Asia rather than Oceania. It still consists of many small islands that were built by volcanic activity on the rim of the tectonic plates beneath the ocean.
Because of this volcanic activity, they have a great deal of minerals, and have a lot of gold and copper deposits that are only beginning to be developed.
The nation is considered to be newly developed, transitioning from farming to manufacturing, and is a very populated nation.
Though this is a gross oversimplification, between the years of 1565-1946, the Philippines was back and forth as a colony of first Spain, then England, then Spain again. Spain worked to establish Christianity there, and it seems to have stuck. Very little of this period was peaceful, with the Spanish taking many people as slaves, ongoing wars with France, England, and so on, uprisings from the native people, and on and on.
During WW II, The Empire of Japan invaded and occupied the Philippines, committing many atrocities and war crimes, re: The Bataan Death March.
When the United States drove Japan out, the process of granting the Philippines independence began, and was recognized in 1946.
This country is considered "Megadiverse", with many endemic species of plants, mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles that are unique to this region, and considered one of the most important places on Earth for conservation.
They are also vulnerable to climate change and rising ocean levels.
They are a Democratic country with an elected president, but there is considerable corruption that comes of a culture affected deeply by Spain with it's culture of "patronage" and there is still great interference/influence from the Catholic Church/The Vatican.
As you can imagine, my brief forays into these countries is not very thorough, and mainly I am trying to pick out things that might stand out for me as some way to remember them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines
