Archive of ‘personal’ category

That problem… well, eventually fixed itself.

Miraculously, I found out that the trouble I’d been having with my treadmill was due to the belt being loose.

Once I found the right tool for it, tightening the belt was actually extremely simple. From there, I experimented with how tight the bell was to come to a satisfactory setting that kept the belt from moving every time someone was on it but was tight enough to provide some resistance for in terms of exercise. Now all I have to do is attempt to align it so that walking on it is more comfortable (or get used to the incline that… seems to come part and parcel with it). Ideally, I would like to walk on a treadmill that is as close to flat as possible, although I can tell that I may not be able to do that with this one. But at least I have one, am I right?

But I am going to see if I can get the treadmill as close to flat as I can before I plan out any sort of exercise regimen, because the angle at which the treadmill is raised off of the ground will determine how long I walk and how frequently I walk for that length of time. It might also decide how far I walk on it as well since the treadmill does have a neat little gadget at the front that tells me useful information about my walking on it.

At least the issue of “the belt keeps moving while I’m trying to walk on it” has been solved, though…

Seriously, correct me if I am wrong here.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard that the Spanish translators of Supernatural are holding the line and have basically stated that they worked with what they were given… that, in other words, Dean reciprocated Castiel’s affections for him, at least in an earlier script. This wouldn’t surprise me if this were indeed the case though. It’s early 2021 and we still can’t tolerate having queer characters as main characters on television, let alone primetime, and especially without any queer characters being used to advance the plot like “oh, look, we actually wrote in someone who is marginalized!”. Will we ever see good representation in our lifetimes? I certainly hope so. And I intend on doing all that I can to advance that representation. BiPOC (how do you write that out again?), disabled, and queer characters need equal representation in works of media.

In other news, I’d been giving some things some thought. There have been people in my life that I had changed for, or tried to change for, at the cost of being myself — I didn’t dye my hair (even, and especially, unnatural colors), I didn’t have or wear cyberlox, I wasn’t an active member of any fandom, I didn’t feel like I could freely explore religion on my own terms… the list could go on, but those are the high points. And now that I am able to do all of those things, I feel free. Liberated. Like I am never going to go back from this or hide parts of myself like that again. All of this is even better when the rationale of “you’re a parent” comes into play like… hi? I can look how I want, dress how I want, and have the interests that I want separate from my identity as a parent? I am a fully formed person that has my own identity. I’m also a parent. Case closed.

“No shampooing” and the transition period.

I’ve begun to enter the transition period where my hair is a bit slicker than I would like, but brushing it from root to tip has really helped that out, along with cleaning it with water. Based on what I’ve read, it can take several weeks before one’s scalp is used to the fact that the oils on it are no longer being degraded with shampoo, and then everything is happier from that point onward. I’ve just been burned one too many times in the past using “color-friendly” shampoo and conditioner on my hair just to have it leech the color that I actually wanted to keep in my hair. When I have my hair tied back in a ponytail, it actually looks really good, and it’s easier to manage than it would be if I… didn’t. That said, I think I’m going to keep it this way more often than not until the transition phase of “no shampooing” is over and I only make enough oil and sebum on my scalp to manage… well, that. That’s the blog post. My scalp. Waiting for my scalp to normalize, heh.

From here on out, I think I’m only going to shampoo it before I completely dye over my hair, or there’s enough of my natural hair color that’s come in to warrant another dye job. If I can get past the transition period of my hair being… slightly oilier than I’m used to, that’s what I think I’m going to do as a general rule of measure…

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