Mischief below

Hello! I don’t have a great deal to update you with, but I shall endeavour to pad out my goings on with a generous infusion of incoherent wittering nonetheless. Health updates will come after my final send-off, as optional reading material.

I’m currently trying to work out what’s going on downstairs with my neighbour - “Karaoke Girl”. As mentioned in my previous post, her mother and younger siblings are spending the week down there in her one bedroom flat, making as much noise as you can imagine. One of two things seem to be happening: either Karaoke Girl is moving out, and her mother is there to help her empty the flat, or she’s doing some interior decorating and is, alarmingly, here to stay. The evidence I have is that they’ve dumped a lot of furniture downstairs by the wheelie bins, including a sofa, but I haven’t heard any replacement stuff arrive. It would seem strange for one to stay in a person’s home if they’re removing all their furniture (where would you end up sitting and sleeping?), which is why I fear she is simply upgrading her interior. However, I overheard her male partner referring to Karaoke Girl’s mother as “my in-laws”, so perhaps she’s just gotten married and is about to move into a bigger property with her new husband. Oh how I hope this is the case.

Another annoyance is that her siblings misbehave a lot, and their mother’s style of disciplining is to just swear and shout at them. I’ve literally just heard her threaten to “break [their] fucking head”. Charming. This, of course, has no effect whatsoever, so the infantile noisemaking is pretty much constant. I really , really, really cannot wait till they all bugger off for good.

In other news, I tried popping out to the pub yesterday, just to see whether I’d enjoy the experience now that I’m a little more relaxed. Before, I was finding my temper quite short, mainly due to not knowing what was wrong with my body. I was quite frustrated at life in general. Generally, I found myself more chilled yesterday, and didn’t feel the need to drink heavily; however, I did end up barfing it all back up after getting home. I usually don’t vomit when I drink unless I’ve ODd on spirits, so this was quite unlike me. When I was sat at the bus stop before arriving at the pub, I did think to myself: “You know what? I would really be quite happy just sitting in a quiet coffee shop, drinking tea and staring out the window for hours”. I think this will be the plan from now on. Methinks my pubbing days are over.

I’m still soldiering on with the two weighty audiobooks I’m currently listening to: Swann’s Way and Les Misérables. The latter is very entertaining, and I’m finding Victor Hugo’s liberal sensibilities and subversive humour very much akin to that of James Joyce, whom I adore. I only wish somebody had warned me that the main protagonist doesn’t turn up until fourteen chapters in, before which we get a bunch of information about the bishop of a small town who ends up serving only a very minor role in the overall story. I was very confused at first, and legitimately thought I was listening to the wrong book. Even though Hugo digresses somewhat, it all still rolls along at a good pace. Alternately, Swann’s Way is incredibly ponderous, as Marcel Proust often spends the equivalent of an entire chapter (the book is liberally divided into three or so parts, rather than having short chapter breaks) describing inconsequential objects or events, such as a church steeple or his housekeeper’s routine. Nothing of note really happens. It is, however, very amiable, incredibly French and uninhibitedly gay. It’s quite wonderful, basically.

I’ve just been researching which film adaptation of Les Misérables to invest in, although I’m not sure whether to wait until I’ve finished reading the book first. It’s a very long book, so there’s a real chance I may never finish it. The versions I’ve settled on are the 1934 French film and the 1998 Liam Neeson-starring one. The former is supposed to be the best adaptation out of the many, however I do remember quite enjoying a few scenes in the 1998 one when I caught it on television many years ago. Maybe I’ll purchase both.

My ex-girlfriend has been messaging me on Facebook and posting links on my timeline quite a bit this week. She often does it during the day, so I’m wondering whether she’s on long-term sick from work yet again. I’m avoiding any talk of local events and whathaveyou so as not to encourage talk of a meeting, as I feel those days are done. I told her over Christmas that I was fed up with her behaviour and wanted no more to do with her, but she somehow managed to stick around. Who knows what will end up happening. It’s an unknown quantity that slightly unsettles me. Oh well.

I’ve noticed I’ve started playing guitar a little more this week. While I was waiting for medical results etc. and getting rather anxious, I had pretty much stopped playing altogether. But that seems to have been only temporary. I’ve even started practicing in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. I feel like I haven’t done that for ages. I do enjoy being creative, so it concerned me greatly when I lost my passion for doing, well, anything. Let’s take things slow and see if I can keep up my productivity. To what end? Who knows.

Now that I’m done with Will & Grace, I’ve started back up with the Frasier boxset. I wasn’t enjoying it at first, but the series really does pick up around the last disc of the first season (episodes 19-24, I believe). I don’t know what changed. Perhaps they employed some better comedy writers, or the actors simply settled into their characters a little more. But, yes, if you’re a first-time viewer, do persevere for those first few discs. It all starts off a little creaky.

Well, anyway, I think that’s enough for now. I do hope you’ve enjoyed yourselves.

Do stay in touch, darlings.

Toodles!
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HEALTH UPDATE

I’ve just started taking my diabetes medication as of Saturday. I will end up having to take four a day, but my doctor started me on just the one, as the side effects are quite severe. Today is when I up the dosage to two, so I’m curious to see how that will make me feel. The main things I’ve noticed so far are nausea and headaches, neither of which are that extreme, so I’m coping.

One symptom of the illness is light-headedness which, oddly enough, I’m quite liking. I’ve suffered from clinical depression since around the time I hit puberty, so being spaced-out most of the time and generally not caring about stuff is like taking a holiday. The downside to this is that I struggle to concentrate on things and don’t seem bothered about working on my fiction writing, but there’s a very real possibility that this won’t make much of a difference. I was one of life’s great procrastinators before I came down with diabetes anyway, so hey-ho.

Well, all that’s left to say is that I’ve got that nurses appointment tomorrow, where she’ll be coaching me on living with this condition, so that’ll be interesting/upsetting. I shall report back.

Thanks for reading.