mx. tozka's notebook

Life

A bummer of a week, as the poor elderly kitty I'm catsitting had to be put to sleep (locked post) after vets discovered a tumor in her colon. I housesit so many elderly cats that something like this was bound to happen at some point, but it was unexpected for THIS particular cat, who had just had a check-up before I started sitting here.

I'll still be here in Bend for the rest of the month. I decided to go down to southern California to visit my parents for a few weeks before my next sit in northern California, as a sort of vacation.

Media

📖 Didn't do much book reading this week, but I did go to the zine library and swapped out old loans for new loans. Read a really good one about doing a "screen free summer"-- basically de-emphasizing your phone for 3 months as a break from social media/constantly being online.

One tip I particularly liked is instead of immediately looking up actors/movie info/etc. while watching a movie, write down your questions/topics and then research them later. I've gotten better about focusing on movies when I'm watching them BUT I constantly feel the itch to look up IMDB facts. Physically writing down my questions for later seems like a great idea!

🎮 Been playing HOURS AND HOURS of Elden Ring (the Convergence mod version). Probably too many hours, so I've taken a break from it this weekend to refresh myself! But it's a lot of fun and only a little scary.

📺 Watched several good movies this week!

The Substance (2024); don't usually go for horror movies but this was so cool, a retro style body horror with lots of practical effects.

Dune Part 1 (2021) and Dune Part 2 (2024); I thought these were great, though I liked part 1 a bit more than part 2. Loved the costumes, and I don't remember enough about the book to be offended at what they cut/changed/etc. Looking forward to Part 3 this winter.

Also watched a few episodes in Severance season 2, which probably wasn't the best idea for a week where I was already on an emotional roller coaster

Web

• DW: Posted an amazing electronic hurdy-gurdy cover of Daft Punk's Veridis Quo at onesongaday
• DW: 🎶 Iceberg: a soundtrip from Arctic to Mediterranean
• Pixelfed: Some activist anti-ICE posters I spotted while walking around town

Life

Went thrifting twice this week and picked up a few things: a Tupperware herb shaker thing, one book (Cairns by David B. Williams), a ball of wool blend yarn, a mosquito net (which needs repairs), and an Amazon Firestick (which I got for messing around with tech purposes as I already have a Roku stick that I use). Total: $10!

Media

📖 Still slowly making my way through a few nonfiction books: How to Shit Around the World which I wrote about last week, and also Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish, which is a memoir about growing up during the Great Depression on a farm (more or less). I'm like 3 chapters in and I've already been horrified several times by things the family did and/or went through but the POV of the author is that it was a) fine and b) strengthening and not shocking or depressing, so I'm trying to keep that in mind lmao

🎮 I finished The Outer Worlds! I still think it's an enjoyable game, but it's somewhat weak in the story department. See last week's notes for more complaints about that.

As a break between story-driven games, I picked up New Pokemon Snap and photo'd some Pokemon for an hour or so. The whole thing about this game is you need to go through the same sets over and over again to spot certain Pokemon, or snap certain actions, etc. and I just don't want to go through the same underwater location 15 times trying to photo a squid Pokemon. But it's nice for a "pick up every once in a while" type of game.

📺 Several major updates: finished Fallout season 1 (good, will watch season 2), and started Severence season 1 (also good!).

Watched a few movies: GoldenEye (1995) (a rewatch; wow they obviously had a huge budget for explosions), Superman (2025) (loved it!), and The Batman (2022) (good, but it's 3 hours which is SO fucking long lmao).

Web Updates

• DW: sea lit, tag push, bunnyrom
• DW: 5 books on my library holds list
• DW: weird vintage books, solar powered coffee, tree rights
• Pixelfed: Seen but not bought at the thrifts

Life

Am currently in Bend, Oregon! On a catsit, of course. The kitty is an elderly little lady who has a sensitive stomach, but is otherwise very friendly. I'll be here through mid-August and am enjoying having central air con. The sun is VERY bright here, and it was in the high 80s/low 90s for most of the week. We even had a heat advisory on Monday, and a burn watch on Saturday!

Media

📖 Read quite a few zines this week! Bend has a zine library and I've been taking advantage of being near it. Most of the ones I picked up are 10+ years old, some even 20+ years old! Of course that means that many zinesters are no longer active, and a lot of them don't have websites, but I did manage to find links for nearly all the ones I read this week.

This week I read: Mezcolanza 17, Rocket Queen 2, Rain Barrel 3, Everything is Fine 6, and the zine version of the book If Nothing Else the Sky by Dave Roche.

As for books, I'm slowing making my way through How to Shit Around the World by Jane Wilson-Howarth, which I got from a used bookstore here in Bend. It's funny and interesting but also I have to take breaks between chapters because there's only so much info about bowels and worms and bacteria I can take at one time.

🎮 Currently about halfway through The Outer Worlds. This'll be my second time through! I keep wanting to do some other build than ranged weapon/sneak-thief combo but I just really love sniping alien monsters and rooting through safes, soooo. This time I DID beef up my Science and Medical skills so I've gotten a few new dialogue options, which is fun.

I do like a lot of things about this game, but I'm frustrated how some choices don't matter at all despite the game making you THINK they matter-- they don't change anything in the game except maybe your reputation with a particular group, and that doesn't matter THAT much. Like, at one point I blasted an anti-slug pesticide over a whole area that supposedly would kill the parasitic slugs and save the people they were attached to, but even after doing that there were still slugged-up people running around and attacking me. So what was the point of making the pesticide, except for some XP?

📺 Started watching Fallout (season 1) and am trying something new: I am NOT binge-watching it! I'm doing one episode a day and so am currently on episode 4. It's a little more gory than I'd like, but it's pretty good so far and seems like a decent adaptation of the games (most of my knowledge is from Monster Factory episodes, to be fair). I can definitely see why everyone went crazy over the Walton Goggins ghoul character the last couple years.

Also watched the last episode of Widow's Bay, which I very much enjoyed and was only a little scary for me, a wimp who avoids most horror media. It helped that it was more a comedy-horror than horror-tragedy. I'm looking forward to season 2!

Web Updates

• DW: eco-friendly electronics, 615 recipes, farm books
• DW: caturday for june 20th (includes 3 icons)
• Pixelfed: 2 books I bought from a thrift store

Also redid my journal layout! Changed the whole thing and updated the colors for a more summery feel. Yay!