Sherlock Holmes: 60 for 60

Well, today was not at all what I wanted it to be.

I woke up with drainage, which is not unusual for this time of year and which cleared up within a couple hours of being up and about. But I also woke up with a headache-- also not unusual for this time of year but this one was a little more stubborn. For the hat trick, I'm on my period and the lethargy hit me today, all day. None of these issues were too bad on their own, of course, but they made one heck of a team.

Anyhow, got hardly any cleaning done. Did not feel up to the DMV but I did get my bank statement taken care of and went ahead and filled out the application online. No appointments were still available by the time I decided I'd take the test tomorrow instead, go figure, but I was already looking at not having an appointment. My sister might be able to drop me off or pick me up from there tomorrow, she just can't commit to both because of her own appointments. We'll see. I ended up not going to my brother's since the party he's attending got rescheduled and there's not as much of a time crunch on his costume. I will be going some time tomorrow but I took advantage today to instead nap off the last of my headache.

Tbh, I could've scheduled this whole week better, today especially. No point worrying over what I could've done, though. Tomorrow's gonna be kinda stuffed, since it's the last day before my trip. Driver's knowledge test, costume stuff, cleaning. I also need to pack and go get my flu and covid boosters at some point. I don't usually have much of a reaction to vaccines beyond a sore arm, so at least I don't have to worry about that bogging me down, lol.

So, first day of costume-making with my brother did not go well. In fact, it was basically a waste of a few hours. I feel badly enough about it that I'm almost sorry I greed to help at all, ngl. Ah, well. We're better prepared now and ready to give it a second shot tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to the tedium of the sewing for my own costume now-- at least it'll be better than dealing with All That Nonsense, lol.

What I'm not as ready for is my driver's license application and knowledge test, alas. Turned out there were no appointments available for tomorrow and so I'm not sure how long it's going to take. I have to go and get a bank statement for proof of residency as it is. If not for needing to make that extra stop, I'd tell my sister never mind and order a ride for Thursday instead, since there are appointments slots open then. I don't want to have to pay to go that far out of my way, though. Bleh. I guess the thing to do is just to get out of the house early. I don't expect to be going over to my brother's place again until about three anyway and we'll probably only put in three to four hours of work. My bank opens at nine and the DMV will be open before then, so that gives me plenty of time to get done there and still do some cleaning at home as planned.

Got a bit later of a start today than I'd hoped but it was a good enough start that I can't be too miffed. Not having to worry about work meant I could do my Monday workout when I got out of bed and that plus a nice shower went a good way towards waking me up. I spent some time reading, then got to cleaning the kitchen. I had planned to do the dining room, too, but got caught up with some smaller detail work and then my sister came over. I can deal with the dining room when I move onto the living room tomorrow, though, no problem. Then I'll be good to hit the guestroom and main bathroom on Wednesday and my bedroom and bathroom on Thursday. The new tank stand should be here on that morning, so that works out well.

The leaves I ordered for my costume arrived and, gotta say, they're a lot smaller than I realized. I'll see what I can do with them but I'll almost certainly need more. I'm going to crochet the net skirt I'll be sewing them to in between cleaning tomorrow. Or maybe I'll do it while I'm at my brother's place to help with his costume, Idk.

Speaking of crochet... I don't think I like my (still sleeveless) sweater. It doesn't look bad but it's not quite scratching the itch. I think it'll probably look more like what I wanted once I've got the ribbing on the bottom but I don't really want to go through the trouble of adding ribbing if I'm not sure I'll like it, y'know what I mean? I can't decide if I should trust the process and chug along or if I should back up a dozen rounds or so to start my decreases sooner. I'm leaning towards the latter but the thought is not a pleasant one.

My sister's fiancé got the day off and so she was able to get out of the house for a little bit sans children. We decided to celebrate with auspicious occasion by going to a movie. Our choice for the day was The Black Phone 2.

We didn't know what to expect since neither of us had seen any actual promo and The Black Phone didn't really seem like it needed a sequel. I know, I know, what else is new. Still, we both loved the first movie and were curious to see how they'd expand on it. The sequel turned out to be... disappointing. I'm not sure I'd even say it was bad but it fell far short of the standard set by the original.

The cinematography was almost as good, at least, and there were some strong performances. Aaand some not so strong performances. I've gotta be honest, though, I think it was more to do with the script than the actors. A lot of the dialogue came off clunky and the pacing was inconsistent. A lot of the movie moved along fine and there were some really well-done scenes but then other scenes felt like they went on too long. The best I can figure is that these instances were an attempt to build tension but they didn't really feel tense so much as just unwieldy.

As for the plot, it had some very interesting concepts at its core. Unfortunately, the most interesting of these felt out of place with what we saw in the first movie. So much so that I was half expecting some kind of twist that never came. The inconsistencies even stretched to some of the character writing, in particular the main kids' interactions with their father and the way they talk about their late mother. Add in the weird turn partway through into Nightmare on Elm Street territory, which I can only assume was an attempt to one-up the supernatural aspects of the first movie, and it ended up feeling like a lot more style than substance. Don't even get me started on the completely unnecessary and underdeveloped love interest, who is also the never-before-seen sibling of an important character from The Black Phone.

I'm making this sound worse than it is, lol, but the sad fact is that the film's failures simply have more to them than its successes.

I've been home for a few hours now but it's only just hitting me that my vacation has technically started. I have nine days that I don't have to be at work. True, almost half of those are just the weekends, which I wouldn't have been working anyway, but still. They're all in a row! And I have so much freedom within those days! No serious travel concerns for my trip this time either, since it'll be by car instead of by plane.

This is not new information, of course, but it's one thing to be looking forward to something and another to be in it. And, yeah, okay, this is also a new experience but I think this feeling just goes to show much much it was needed, lol.

I hate automatic updates so much. I don't know what's going on with Phil exactly but I had to delete a bunch of messages to be able to get a text. Then, after getting two texts back, I got the same message and had to delete a bunch more. Haven't had any more trouble so far but...

Anyway, finally went ahead and ordered that SD card.