loganquinn

The electricity at home went out again today. It wasn't even a full minute, but I still had to reset electronic devices when the power came back on again. I wish I could afford a new solar installation with house battery. At least today is my "weekend", so the outage didn't interrupt work.

It sounds weird, but this long period of doing nothing at home has been good for my eyesight. I noticed it again today when I walked to the nearby asian grocery store for fresh fruit and veggies. I've mentioned several times over the years since moving here to the warzone, but the closed window blinds mean that I spend all day focusing on short distances inside the house. When I sometimes go outdoors, then distant things are blurry until my eyes have spent an hour or more of focusing at different ranges. Now, though, instead of watching videos or playing computer games at home after work, I'm just listening to audiobook stories. I gaze unfocused at the ceiling in bed, or I lay with my eyes closed entirely. Apparently that change keeps my eyes from getting "fixed" only on close range focus. Weird. I wouldn't have predicted that outcome.

These short walks also make it obvious that the arthritis continues to worsen. My feet feel the twinge of pain after only one or two blocks of walking. It doesn't get any worse pain level than that, given the relatively short distances involved, but I'm sure that I can't walk miles any more without paying a price afterward. Even my back and neck are hurting more than usual this afternoon. My joints don't tolerate much use any more. That's disappointing. I'm about 13.5 months from age 60, but my roaming range is already reduced. In earlier years, I could walk without caring about any destination. Now, I need to know where I will return, so I don't wander too far away.

I played computer games a small amount this week. Nothing is holding my attention yet. I keep reverting back to listening to stories online, and doing nothing else whatsoever. Within each story, I get a free daily unlock of a few episodes (each episode between 6 to 12 minutes long). When my stories reach a point where all of them are still locked, then I tend to start yet another new story, because they begin with around 100 episodes freely available to get readers hooked on them. It's a strategy that works.

The latest story to get my attention is "[BL] Taming His Dragon Heart". It's a surprising interest of mine now, because I stopped listening to it several times previously. It's set in a magical world that also includes our own world's modern technology. It's a fun mix, seeing humans rely on tech where the other races rely on magic. Humans are the weakest of the races, with the worst physical resilience, magical ability, and lifespan. The story features a recklessly sarcastic young human man who is in a workplace contract of service to a dragon lord in human form. I disliked the slavery aspect, which drove me away from the story several times. The humor, however, kept me coming back for more. The plot eventually gets better.

I wasn't hooked until episode 41 ("Parking Lot Panic"), where the humor that's been building finally reaches an important plot crescendo. It establishes a case of mistaken social realities, a falsehood that the 2 main characters find they must continue to nurture for practical reasons. The "will they or won't they become a real couple" vibe continues onward. It seems that finally in episode 105 ("The Reckless Ethan"), the relationship between these 2 main characters will finally become valid instead of just incorrect rumor... until the next episode 106 ("Of All the Ways to Die") when plausible/practical denial sets in again. The same vibe continues onward. The pattern repeats when a real relationship seems imminent in episode 121 ("Acting Classes and Assassinations"), only to be plausibly denied as a practical deception in the next episode 122 ("Leafy Greens").

The story is currently locked for me at episode 126. It would cost a small fortune for me to pay to unlock through the currently-last episode 431. More or less, it costs $1.10 to unlock a single episode. So this one story would cost about $335 to hear it all completely on my own whim. Much longer stories that have 4,000 episodes are obviously insanely priced. This PocketFM platform is heavy capitalist exploitation in a single app. It's really terrible, especially when compared to the more realistic cost of dvd sets of television series, which many of these stories are worthy to become.

So... I listen daily, allowing a small trickle of free unlocks of new episodes per story. It'll take months or years to complete some of my selected stories this way. I'm poor, though, so here we are.