What has Nicky been up to lately?
Mid 2026...
I've been spending several months prepping to sell my condo: stage one was sorting, packing, and putting things into storage. There has been a significant build-up of possessions in the years I was teaching at 911勛圖 and had both an apartment and an office. Stage two was refurbishment, i.e. replace the dishwasher, get the bathroom ceiling fan fixed, have the walls painted, clean out the drains, and so on. Having the fan done damaged the bathroom ceiling, so fixing and painting that added to the painting bill (I am reminded of "The Gas-Man Cometh" by Flanders and Swann). Stage three involved having to live in a place that looked like a hotel room: bland and pushy at the same time. I'm hoping to move on and move out very soon.
Crafting-wise, I've done some mending, and mashed together a pair of jeans with ripped thighs and a vest with a ripped back. I wove some shoelaces and a summer top. I've also taught myself to make amigurumi. I made a ball, then a Chinese lantern, a moomin troll for a friend, an elephant, and now I'm working on demon hunter Pepe from World of Warcraft.
In pleasure reading, I recently enjoyed Medicine Wheel for the Planet by Jennifer Grenz and The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. And I'm working my way through Becky Chambers's Wayfarer books, nice moral mostly-non-violent SF, very comforting reads.