Books and rings and other things

First off, boy howdy did I have to dig down into my photo archive to find the featured image. More on it in a second.

The other thing is that now I remember why, last time I was trying to micro-blog on the daily, I wound up just giving posts the title of the day. How can I come up with a great title every day if I have to put the title up before I start writing, and only in writing do I figure out what I was going to talk about, and what I talk about is what makes the title?!

Fortunately I was planning on just complaining about putting these books together for the Sam’s Study, and natter on about my eternal quest for an activity tracker that doesn’t look like a shackle.

Marie said something on my post yesterday; “kits are for blind followers ; or we can see them as a starting point” and that struck a chord. I’d been feeling like I was doing it “wrong” because I didn’t like the kit 100% the way it is, and that’s not something I have to feel bad about! I don’t have to make the kit like everyone else. Do I make Kraft Macaroni and Cheese exactly like it says on the box? Fuck no. Less milk, more butter, extra cheese, throw some veggies in there. So why should I make a kit exactly like how it says on the box? If I want to repaint the furniture, repaint it! If I want to use a different floor, use what I want! I have dollhouse supplies, I don’t have to use only what came in the box. Especially if my cat barfed on it and I can’t use it any more, lol.

I did want to give putting the books together a fair shot, though. Turns out it’s just as torturous as I thought it would be, but I do like the end result better than I thought I would. Especially since it’s not at all solid. First you cut out all the little book things. Then you fold all the little book things. Then you glue all the little book things into what, if it’s upside-down/sideways, looks like a little basket. Basically the back of the books doesn’t exist, you’re making a shell that looks like a stack of five or six books.

They don’t look …. TRULY awful when you’re done… There are something like 45 of these sets, and then some individual books where it’s just the covers and they get glued around little pieces of wood, so you can set them face out if you want. By the way, that shelf above was yellow/orange, and I painted it brown.

But here’s my thing… It’s a book store, right? Even though it’s called a Study? Because all the subjects are labeled (real book nerds wouldn’t have to label categories at home, we know all the categories and what is where) and there are “sale” signs and whatnot? If it’s a store, why is there a piece of luggage you have to put together? Why is there so much art, and why do the instructions show most of the art glued to the bookshelves, blocking the view of the books? You wouldn’t do that in a store, you’d do that at home when you have a lot of clutter (trust me, I know). ANYWAY my point is that if it’s a store, I want some actual books that look like real books with real titles. I’ve seen printables for sale on Etsy and read tutorials on how to make your own book covers (photograph the book, high quality color printer at a high DPI and a small size, glue the cover to a piece of poster board). I guess what I’m saying is that I want some different books on the shelves that have actual titles. Even if they’re not real/readable.

ANYWAY

The other thing; I sent out a call the other day asking if I know anyone with a fitness tracker that’s a ring. Long time readers will remember how much I didn’t like the FitBit, how much I loved loved loved that Bellabeat Leaf, and how pissed I was when I found out it wouldn’t sync with my Google Pixel phone. So I switched to the free Samsung Watch they gave me when I upgraded from a 6 to a 7 when my 6 just up and crapped out on me one day… and yeah, I hate it, thanks. It’s just a hair bigger than my wrist where it’s comfortable to wear a watch (like where my Leaf is in the Featured Image I used in this post) so if I want to wear it on my arm (I don’t) I have to wear it, like, mid arm. I tried wearing it as a necklace… I had to keep it in my shirt or it would get in whatever I was doing, and when I did that, it would get stuck in my bra and my boobs would call whomever I’d recently been texting with (sorry if you got a boob call from me) (or, sorry if you didn’t). Now I wear it on a strap around my ankle which is mostly fine other than it looks like a home monitoring device, lol.

I’d really like to go back to the Leaf. All I want to do is get an accurate step count (something I can’t do with my phone since about a quarter of the day it’s plugged in and charging, I swear any phone I’ve ever had gets great batter life until I start to use it). I don’t want to be notified about text messages and emails and whatever on my WATCH. If I’m wearing a watch, all I want to know is what fucking time it is. I really loved the Leaf, but these Rings (Oura, RingConn, whatever) seem interesting.

After searching high and low for about four days, I finally found my old Leaf. I reinstalled the BellaBeat app, and I’m going to wear it for a couple of days to see if it’ll sync or not. I’m hopeful, but not holding my breath. If it doesn’t work, I might look into getting a ring. But probably not Oura, because I don’t want to buy a thing and then ALSO pay for an app to use the thing. What a racket. Even though Oura does seem to be the better ring out there.

Or it’s about time for a new phone… maybe I’ll go back to the Samsung family, which will (allegedly) sync fine with the Leaf.

I really did like that Leaf.