Fri-Yay #20

I redesigned the website. Well, I changed themes/templates. I was going to learn how to do all the stuff and build from scratch but I was down so much from migraines that I did the normal thing instead. 

I quite like this one, it's more compact but brighter. I was going to make everything dark because that's my normal mode but I do like the color scheme. Anyways. 

Listening: 

I've downloaded quite a few new podcasts. I've given two a whirl. I'm still on Spotify and they've changed things up again. I can't get rid of the episodes (it's on "all episodes" instead of "un-played") which is quite annoying. 

​The one I finished was older and already famous. It's called Cold; the first season is about a missing woman named Susan Powell. It's a really horrible and sad murder case. In short, Susan marries a man named Josh Powell and their marriage falls apart. It's a truly unhappy marriage and while the podcast covers how Josh abuses Susan (especially financially) it also covers the insanely creepy actions of her father-in-law. Susan begins the process of divorce and then one day disappears.  She's never been found, and is assumed to have been murdered (by Josh). Josh had a legal fight for the two boys that he and Susan had (her parents requested full custody), and while on visitation he locked the social worker lady out of his house and killed his children and himself. The father-in-law was unknown to me until I watched a Dateline episode (and it's covered in the podcast). He has delusions that Susan was in love with him (she was not) and he was very creepy towards her, eventually telling her that he loved her. There are a lot of video tapes from Josh and his father, and a few from Susan. The podcast spares no detail and is disturbing. As they've never found Susan, her family and friends are channeling their resources into domestic abuse causes, which is a lovely thing for them to do. 

​The second podcast is more unusual for me. It's called Wind of Change. So it begins with the introduction of a German band called the Scorpions (I know them from "Rock You Like A Hurricane") and their song "Winds of Change." That song was really popular in many European countries at a certain time (like when the Soviet Union collapsed and when the Berlin Wall came down). Patrick Radden Keefe, a writer for the New Yorker, is the host and investigative reporter for the podcast. He hears from a friend (who is connected to people who may or may not be CIA operatives) that the famed song was written by the CIA, as part of a psy-ops mission. Keefe explores several subtopics as he tries to find out if there is any truth to this rumor, so I learned quite a lot (including where the phrase "We can neither confirm nor deny" originated from).  Keefe talks to people from the USA to Russia, from CIA operatives to the band itself. It's honestly fun but I'm a cynical person so I don't think the CIA wrote it. Did the CIA pay songwriters in Europe/America/Asia as a soft power play? They could have! My guess is they throw money at a lot of things. 

I really enjoyed the Keefe's exploration. He's a great host. I didn't know much about him but when I looked him up and he's the writer behind Say Nothing. Um, brilliant (for me, as I bought that book). His newest book seems to be about the Sackler family. The Sackler family can suck a bag of dicks. 

It's a bit rambling but great. I don't think there's really a resolution. I guess it boils down to how Machiavellian and devious you think the CIA is. Also, a lot of really off the wall things would have to fall in place. 

So both podcasts were good. Keefe's was my favorite but only because poor Susan's story was upsetting. "Cold" was well done but ultimately sad.  

Watching: 

I've started the second season of Shakespeare and Hathaway. I have both Acorn and Britbox so I watch from those (I have no idea if it's anywhere else in the US). It's a British show, set in Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's hometown) following Frank Hathaway and Luella Shakespeare. Hathaway is a private investigatory who use to be a police officer, he's a bit schlubby in the first season. He meets Lue Shakespeare, a hairdresser, before her wedding and helps her solve a murder. Afterwards, Lue joins up with Frank and starts studying for her private investigator exam. The office assistant is named Sebastian and he moonlights as an actor and tour guide. He's a delightful character. 

It's cozy, sometimes farcical in reason, but well acted. The characters of Frank and Lue seem to be on track to stay partners and not a forced romantic relationship, which is great. Some mysteries are better plotted than others of course, but it's an easy watch and overall enjoyable. There are three seasons, so that's quite nice. I haven't really been watching much TV...I get way too distracted. So it's just be reruns. 

Well, that's not entirely true. I did start a new show. It's time for a confession. I've never actually seen a single episode of the Golden Girls. I know. I know!! I just never caught it at the beginning and never sat down to watch it. I'm really not great at watching things when they're on or even when they've been on for awhile. I only watched Friends from the beginning when it was on Netflix. The Golden Girls are on Hulu though (I have all the subscriptions) so I watched the first episode. I think I can slowly binge it and really enjoy it through the summer. I really liked the first episode, which is great as not every pilot is good. 

Reading:

Well, I gave in and put the overdrive app on my tablet. I didn't want to do it because I have a huge TBR and I KNEW I would download library books. Which I did. Because I have no self control. 

I read some Georgette Heyer (only some of her romances were available) and then I downloaded some of the recommendations from the front page (those were hit and miss) and then I saw that Janet Evanovich has changed publishers. I read her Stephanie Plum series until I just couldn't (it was the giraffe wandering around Trenton). There's just a level of absurd that I can't deal with and I guess it was the giraffe. I also don't really get the appeal of Ranger (I've dated men like that - run girl, run!) and I don't like how Stephanie doesn't seem to get her shit in order. The story has changing seasons but everything stays the same, there's no development with characters and I hate the love triangle angle. I need something! Anyways, her books were on the library app and I thought I'd give them another chance in the hopes that if she changed publishers maybe she'd capture my attention again.  

I started reading where I left off and I'm up to #24 and I'm not too happy. #23 was okay but #24 has Diesel in it. Diesel is a character from the holiday in-between books. Those were too fluffy for me at the time they were published so I'm not thrilled he's in the main book either. It's not coming together so far and I'm back to grumbling about giraffes. 

I've given her other series a change. The Fox and O'Hare one should be right up my alley but I find it's really dry and lazy. Like, it's okay but it was really disappointing. I mean, the first couple she wrote with a writer from Monk. Maybe it's the screenwriter quality I hate (it's very much like a television script flushed out). I do love Monk but it doesn't work. Maybe if the Stephanie Plum gets better, I'll give this one another shot too. 

​I just wrote a lot about how I'm unhappy. Whoops. 

Buying:

I bought the Hatch alarm clock. It was the most expensive alarm clock I've ever bought, but I'm really loving it. Especially since my last alarm clock went nuts and I was being awoken to demented bird song on acid. I got the restore, which has access to their library and inhouse network (I haven't used it). I just use the sleep mediation that's free and listen to a sleep story from calm (or if I'm having a migraine night, I put on Psych because I can't concentrate on anything new). In the morning, there's a whole sequence of events like light hues to wake you up and types of sound (I have rainforest birds right now). The control is with your phone, which is different but so far it's been easy. 

It hasn't gone through hurricane season yet so we'll see how that goes. What I do like, is that the light can go through several colors for reading. I have it on green, as I've discovered (through my other green light) that green doesn't hurt my eyes. It's actually a relaxing feeling. So that's a lovely little migraine bonus. I don't know if it's the right level of color or anything, but it is green. 

​

My normal bathroom tray broke. I tried to fix it and when that didn't work, I brought it to a friend that had better tools than me (and they mostly fixed it up in their spare time) but it wasn't looking as good so I bought a new bathtub tray/caddy/book holder. I changed it up and got an acrylic one. It's more or less this one. I hope it's decent looking in person. I hate buying some stuff online. If it looks nice, it'll be on Insta soon. If not, I'll superglue and staple my old one back together. Come hell or high water. 

I'm not above looking for scrap wood on the side of the road. Why is everything so expensive?!