I stitched a tiny bit and I have a bit of a Netflix rant (that isn't so tiny)

I think, with an extra day off this weekend, I just got too bored of watching nothing on TV and needed an outlet, so I ended up stitching a bit on Monday. My arms got really tired, really fast (and I had a lot of trouble focusing), but at least I did something. It's kind of amazing how hard it is just to pick up stitching after a long lapse...it is more physically strenuous than most people give it credit for. I worked on Faces of Faery 167, by Jasmine Becket-Griffith:

I left off here on March 11 of 2018:

I made it here after a few hours of work:

It does look like I did a lot more than I did now that I can see the two pics side-by-side, but it is a VERY small piece (it will only be 7x7 when finished), so it was hard to tell while I was working on it that I was even making any progress! But as you guys keep telling me, something is better than nothing, right?

We'll see how the week takes me and I'd like to say I'll keep going with stitching, especially since I have COMPLETELY exhausted everything on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime there is to watch as of now, so I should have the time to stitch. I need a good stitching show, aka something that can run in the background and I don't have to really watch, just sort of listen to (usually because I've watched it so many times already). But I don't want to go back to "Once Upon A Time", "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (AOS for short) or "Supernatural" because I'm trying hard to curb my OCD tendencies and those are my worst triggers and I get stuck in those loops for months on end. I cleared season 3 of "Riverdale" between Friday night and Saturday morning, spent the rest of Saturday watching two seasons of another show called "Very British Problems" (and yes, it confirmed that I am indeed British and not Southern, despite my area of birth and living), I watched horror movies on Sunday (as is my typical Friday night practice, but "Riverdale" distracted me), and I watched so much crap on Monday, I literally couldn't tell you what most of it was. I have now hit the dregs of all streaming platforms and was just grasping at the proverbial straws trying to find something good to watch and I can now confirm I have literally "seen it all", or at least all in the genres that I typically watch.

Now I need to rant a bit (or at lot, depending on my mood)...despite Netflix's constant urging, I will NEVER watch "Friends" or "Grey's Anatomy" and now, their newest recommendations, various zombie shows and Asian subtitled movies. I would sure LOVE to know how how these streaming services' algorithms work, Netflix being the worst about it. A viewer, who only watches horror (but NEVER zombie movies), action/superhero adventure-type movies, the occasional fantasy genre, and yes, a teen romance or two (or a dozen), would somehow love those particular shows or movies? Sometimes, and this REALLY gets me, they recommend "Riverdale" or Once or even AOS, which I already watch and they have record of it in my viewing history, so why not keep it in the list of "shows you've already watched" or "watch it again" list...why move it to the "recommended for you" list? I've gone back and made sure it was still in my viewing history just because I was questioning their practice on this, but yep, all views still there...so what the literal bloody hell?

Yes, I watched Once and AOS, which are both ABC shows, so that qualifies me for Grey's? Just because Disney owns ABC, doesn't mean ABC gets a free pass, even in my book. Right now, AOS is the only ABC show I currently watch because everything else kind of sucks now that Once is gone. There is no Disney or Marvel-related anything really left on ABC right now, so I don't spend much time on Hulu except for AOS. And, when it comes to Grey's, do they secretly know I own all 15 seasons of "ER" on DVD and, if so, how? It is the only American medical show I ever watched (and only because I was obsessed with Anthony Edwards back in the day and then Shane West), but I work in the medical field and I don't want to go home and watch it on TV, even though I work with a lot of people who watch every medical show on TV for some weird reason. I want escapism, not more of what I spent all day dealing with. Plus, I'm not a fan of procedural anything (unless it's British), because I also work in I.T., which is constant procedural everything. Not all medical shows are created equal, and "ER" holds a special place in my heart because I literally watched it on TV from the beginning to the end (as I did Once), besides, "ER" is on Hulu if I wanted to watch it streaming, so Netflix you're out of luck and I would never watch Grey's anyway...I am not a fan of most of those actors and I'm also not a fan of unhappy endings (which that show has a lot of).

I don't ever watch situation comedies (at least not American, and Netflix doesn't have the British ones, those are on Hulu and I have them all on DVD anyway), so why recommend "Friends"? I hate every single main actor on that show (a recurring theme with me apparently) and have rarely watched a single movie with one of them in it (if it did, it was by accident and I always delete it from my viewing history just to keep further "Friends" recommendations from popping up on other streaming sites). Matter of fact, I rarely watch a comedy film either. As close as I ever got to "Friends" was "Coupling", a British show which is often compared to "Friends" for some strange reason (which I own on DVD and, as far as I know, I've never streamed), but I see them as two completely different beasts, so what would give them the idea that "Friends" is a good fit for me? This horror-loving, America's Ass-worshipping, teen-angst driven, British comedy-watching viewer? Good question!

I watched "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" (more than once...well, probably more than high double-digits, but still) and it had a lead actress who is of Asian/American descent as well from a book series that was written by the same, but how does that constitute suddenly bombarding me with a plethora of Asian subtitled-language films? It also stars an Italian American, but I don't have any Italian recommendations (at least, not yet). Yes, I do watch the occasional French subtitled film, but that's FRENCH, not ASIAN...not that there is anything wrong with Asian or Italian films, they just aren't my cup of tea and, are they saying that all foreign films are the same? I think not. But again, the same thing happens every time I watch a French film, all foreign films suddenly get added to my recommendations list, all languages BUT French, that is. Amazon Prime has the same problem confusing French and Bollywood films. I have never watched a Bollywood film on Amazon, and yet, after watching one French film, I suddenly got bombarded with Bollywood recommendations to the point I had to clear out my history just to stop it (and no, I don't typically watch musicals either, so it couldn't have come from that). Again, nothing against Bollywood films, they just aren't for me (and yes, I've seen a few in my day). I like French films because there was a time I could speak it (sort of), I can watch one without reading the subtitles (most of the time unless their accents are heavy) and they tend to be extremely moody and dark, especially with their horror.

Speaking of which, when it comes to the big "H", I'm EXTREMELY picky about my horror...ghosts/hauntings and demons/possessions only, with vampires and werewolves only in the context of teen romance, so why recommend zombies when I've never even hovered over anything zombie-related? I'm even careful to stay away from too many apocalyptic movies for the same reason, they confuse the two quite frequently (even when one usually has nothing to do with the other). Do I suddenly have zombie recommendations because there were zombies in season 14 of "Supernatural" and I just finished it a couple of weeks ago? Or is it because Rose McIver (Tinker Bell) and David Anders (Dr. Frankenstein) from Once are in "iZombie" (which was also created by Rob Thomas of "Veronica Mars" fame, which is another one of my shows) and they are linking apples to oranges? But since I've never streamed "Veronica Mars" other than the digital copy of the movie, which I own, then how do they know that is one of my shows? Or are they just connecting dots? I don't think gore is scary...again, I work in a path lab, I see "gore" all day long and it doesn't bother me. As as a matter of fact, I tend to find gory movies quite funny because they never get it "right" and who is going to be scared of a creature that walks slow and constantly declares it wants to eat your brains? No thanks.

Then there is the alien side-effect...shows like "The X-Files" or any "Roswell" variation (both old and new) will automatically put every single alien documentary on the planet in a viewing queue for you on EVERY streaming site. I am watching FICTION here people and now you think I'm interested in documentaries? Yes, I guess one could surmise that most of those alien documentaries are "fiction" anyway, but still, I watch Mulder/Scully and Liz/Max for the romance, not the alien part of it. Yes, I do watch documentaries, but they tend to be of the historical/ghost/artistic nature, never on aliens. But alien shows are often also considered zombie horror for some very weirdo reason (although a case could be made for some episodes of "The X-Files", at least in the horror category, I will NEVER understand the zombie connection to ANYTHING alien). Me personally? I categorize it as fantasy/romance, but that's why I gravitate towards those two shows in particular. Maybe aliens should have their own category?

And, as an aside, and this is being really picky, but I do find it annoying that they keep recommending all the DC shows mixed in with everything else superhero/action. They should be able to tell that I'm obviously a Marvel girl and, like horror, not all superheroes can be categorized the same, so I do cringe when I'm looking for a Marvel movie and I have to dig through a huge list of DC shows and movies I'll never watch (even if Shane West is on Gotham now...yes, I'm aware, just disappointed he went with the "other side"). Just because they have the "because you've watched..." and it's Marvel-related, doesn't mean I'll watch anything DC. Yes, there are some DC exceptions, but those are few and VERY far between and, as best as I can remember, never on Netflix.

So, here is my letter to the recommendations department of various streaming services:

Dear Netflix and Amazon Prime (Hulu gets a pass for reason listed below),

Please stop with your stupid recommendations based on what you probably pay the most for and what YOU want me to watch and actually consider my past viewing history and what I might actually want to watch! Or, here's a thought, give us a chance to deny a recommendation as a "I would never in a million years watch something like that, try again" kind of thing, and modify your recommendations accordingly. Learn from your mistakes, correct them, and make actual recommendations that are helpful, give me choices I might actually pick from, and NOT make me spend long periods of time searching for movies by "remote typing" in the search box (and no, I don't want to have to hook a keyboard up to my TV, thank you very much).

As a general rule you can go by, I don't do American comedy or American drama without the benefit of horror, fantasy, superheroes, or teen angst or teen romance, I only do foreign films if they are French, I hate movies that make me cry and don't have a happy ending (unless it's a horror movie or certain notable exceptions which can be counted upon one hand), fiction genres shouldn't lead to documentary recommendations, not all superheroes are created equal, and last, but surely not least, I don't do zombies EVER. Most of your self-produced, over-priced shows I don't watch since your Marvel defection (although some of your teen romance movies are quite good, so keep those up), and are CERTAINLY not worth the price increases you keep inflicting upon us, so you might want to watch out when Disney+ comes out (although Hulu doesn't have to worry much since Disney owns them) because most all of your content will be leaving for both of them and you just might be in trouble! I checked, and most everything I've ever watched is either Disney or Fox, as well as most of your content I don't watch, so you better have a few new aces up your sleeve or else you're going to lose a customer that probably logs more streaming hours than any other full-time employed person on the planet and, as far as she knows, probably holds the viewing record for the most streams of "Once Upon A Time", despite owning the Blu-Rays!

Oh, and Netflix, please stop forcing your ads for these self-produced, over-priced shows on us, or at least allow us to turn them off, for that matter, allow us to turn off all the ads/trailers overall. Allow us the option of watching them like Amazon does. And Amazon, please stop forcing us to watch your ads and trailers for your self-produced, over-priced shows ahead of some other thing we've picked to watch. If we wanted to watch those trailers, we would have chosen to watch those trailers.

Thank You,
An annoyed, but still loyal (as of now), viewer of all three streaming services (but anxiously awaiting Disney+ behind your backs)

Road Trip Pics

As promised, here's a bit of a look at the remainder of the devastation that is still visible from Hurricane Michael. To be honest, I was kind of surprised to see this much trash still sitting around since October, especially down such a wide birth of coastline. I have been going to the coast since I was a kid, seen many a hurricane come through and they always seem to rally in such an amazing way to at least clean up the debris, even if it takes them longer to rebuild. I guess it's a sign of how bad things are in this country that, even after 9 months, this level of ruin still remains. I didn't take a lot of pictures at all, but the full album is here for those who would like to see them.

But before we get to the bad, here is the good that is St. George. It was EXTREMELY crowded, and I guess I kind of figured out that I apparently have never been to the beach during the summer before! All my previous trips have been during the off season! Thankfully the crowds tend to congregate together, so there where gaps where the beach was clear (thankfully).

I have NEVER had to fight my way through these kind of crowds just to get to a bit of peace and quiet, but I've also never been during a time when there are tide pools, so I guess it was some give and take on that front because I LOVE tide pools!

My obligatory feet in water pic:

Now on to the bad ju-ju. I didn't take a lot of pictures of it, because it was basically the same thing for hundreds of miles, but you'll get the idea, from the towns to the forests, it was pretty much the same all the way down the coast:





I didn't get a chance to pick up a lot of shells because we weren't at the beach very long, but this was my haul:

And there you have it! My weekend to the coast! I think, after my trip to Arizona, I'll go back in the winter and see how they are doing on the cleanup. I just hate that it looks so bad down there right now and I wish there was something I could do.

Still no stitching, but I did go back to the beach (with a caveat)

If good intentions were dollars, I'd be rich by now! I keep meaning to stitch, other things just keep distracting me. Weekend before last, I spent it scanning in old photos so I could have them digitally and I didn't finish (nor have I scanned any since). At some point, I will have to spend the time in Lightroom cleaning them up, but that's a project for another day.

Last weekend, I went to the coast on another one of my world-wind road trips. I went with a school friend who had never seen the ocean and has been asking to go along. I always have this idealized vision of taking someone on this amazing journey to a new place, single-handedly being responsible for changing someone's life by showing them something they have never seen before...but it never seems to work out that way (and yet I keep doing it, the very definition of insanity). Maybe because my first trip to the ocean was life-changing for me and I think everyone will feel that way. One of these days, I'll learn to just go alone since I'm the only one that seems to be as moved by it as I am. Plus, I keep taking people who don't get the concept of how I travel, despite ALL my warnings. If I've heard "that sounds amazing, can I go?" once, I'd heard it a million times, so I let someone tag along and it's always the same old thing! I explain, in extreme detail, the rules ahead of time because I've been through this so many times, and yet, it's always the same old thing. The rules are ALWAYS as follows...

***I leave between 1 am and 3 am, depending on how far I'm going (because we have a long way to go), so go to bed early because sleeping in a car is NOT restful and you'll have a headache.

***Bring drinks and snacks because I don't stop for food *unless* I manage it make it back through Biloxi in time to stop at Wentzel's.

***If you want to see "pretty" gulf water, we have to go far into Florida which means we won't get back until somewhere between 3 and 6 am on Sunday, so prepare to be in the car for 30+ hours.

***I take the Supernatural approach to music - driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole, so whether you like Take That or not, prepare for 30+ hours of it because it's my road trip music and I sing along.

***I have the bladder of an elephant and I HATE gas station bathrooms (plus, I'm usually just too chicken to stop unless I have to get gas), so unless your eyes are yellow, don't expect a lot of bathroom stops and, if we do, I'm old school and I prefer rest areas because THEY have armed security guards.

But alas, every person that goes with me, despite the warnings, doesn't sleep ahead of time (thus sleeps in the car and gets headaches or leg cramps or whatevers), broken records of "when do we eat, when do we eat, when do we eat?", complains about the lack of scenery since I have to drive the "quick" way to get to Florida (which means straight through the nothingness of Alabama), even though I take the scenic coast road back (which they are too tired to enjoy), and complaints about my musical tastes (although no one has complained about my singing...yet), and then there is the constant begging for bathroom stops at gas stations, ugh! My least favorite thing? My passenger playing with their phone at night! The screen hurts my eyes while I'm driving and it's a distraction I don't need! And yet every companion I've ever had does it because they get "bored".

Ummm, I just took you through five states and various kinds of landscapes, major cities, small scary hick towns, to the ocean, down the coast and back down a completely different route through more cities and towns and completely new scenery for a total of 1500 miles in one day. You rarely been out of Arkansas and you just saw more in one day than you have in your entire life, why aren't you impressed? Why, prey tell, are you bored? Maybe because you are playing with your phone instead of looking outside? I always see something new, experience new things, and NOTHING soothes me like the ocean does. Months and months of work stress gone just in 40 minutes of walking on the beach (yeah...I only got 40 minutes this time because my companion got tired), but still, it was enough and it will probably last a couple of weeks at least. Let alone, it's a major feat that I'm able to do this at all...even going to Target to buy the snacks was extremely hard for me, and yet I can drive to the coast, go figure! I am really wired funny!

There are a lot of amazing little surprise places in this country, some far away, some just around the corner, but I'm always amazed that rarely anyone ever ventures out to see them. Yes, I'm lucky enough to not be tied down so that I can just practically jump in the car and go wherever almost whenever I want (I do have some monetary restrictions, even a coast trip costs a couple of hundred bucks in gas, so it's not something I can do all the time), but I don't understand why more people don't want to go out and do the same! Even as a kid on road trips, I was looking out the window at scenery and, as I got older, taking pictures out the window because I was fascinated with the world. People today are too busy playing on phones or watching movies on screens built into headrests. Everyone has to be kept occupied with something 24/7 and the world isn't fascinating enough anymore (at least, apparently, for anyone else).

A lot of people tell me how much they love travelling, but the more I question them, the more I find out they flew to their location, took taxi's everywhere, rarely left their hotel or saw many sights (because they only planned to be there a couple of days and did no research), and then flew home. I find that sad because technically they didn't "travel" anywhere but a plane and a hotel. Maybe I just watched too much Travel Channel as a kid and have an idealized view of this country, but rarely ever am I disappointed in where I end up and what I see (even if sometimes parts of the journey there isn't the greatest). Obviously, travelling outside the country is a different beast, but still, America has a lot to offer for those willing to try! One of my favorite sites is Roadside America, because there is always weird little things to find on roads you might find yourself on (or places just around the corner).

But I think I got a couple of good pictures, especially of the hurricane Michael damage (that is still quite prevalent, even 9 months later), so I'll get some of those up as soon as I get them cleaned up for you guys! Hopefully, if I can get these pictures done and the others scanned in, I can get back to stitching!

Needless to say, when I decide to go on my big road trip to Arizona, I am DEFINITELY going it alone, scary or NOT! The more I look at some of those Arizona and New Mexico roads, the more horror movies I can think of that they remind me of, but I'm still up for it! I've found dozens of places I want to see (and several places I'd like to go, but know I can't stop at on my own, so they won't make the list), so maybe I'll do that around my birthday sometime when it gets cooler in that part of the country! If anyone lives between Northeast Arkansas and Meteor Crater in Arizona and knows of some great visiting spots, let me know! I'll add them to my list!

No stitching this week

Yeah, I suck. I didn't even try to stitch. I kept saying "toward the end of the week", but then I ended up with a massive headache, one bad enough that I even ended up leaving work early (which I NEVER do for a headache) and then I just never got around to it. I ended up cleaning my house for the first time in forever and doing other things that ate up the rest of the weekend. I did get through all of Roswell, New Mexico (I like the original show better) and the 14th season of Supernatural (yeah, now I understand why Jared and Jensen are ready to let go...even I, the most diehard of Supernatural fans had trouble liking that season except towards the end), so it wasn't a total wasted week. No need in talking about how many times I also watched The Kissing Booth and To All The Boys I've Loved Before (or read each book in the the series)...another OCD thing I'm going through right now.

But my Sister reminded me that I haven't posted a pup pic in a while (probably because they do nothing but eat and sleep nowadays since they are getting older). I do take pics of them all the time, they are just random pics like the ones below and I figure no one wants to see them. She was apparently scouring my blog last week looking for one to show a co-worker because they had a Shih-Tzu too and was thinking of getting another and she wanted to show her co-worker how different mine were even though they were the same breed (rescues, what can I say?) and she said she had to go back so far it was driving her crazy so she went to my texts and had the same problem! But I did feel bad about leaving out my kids, so here they are in their lazy glory!

I called the groomer in plenty of time back at the first of April, but she doesn't have an appointment until June, so they will get worse! Here they are tucked up under my butt where, for some strange reason, they like to live when I'm watching TV:

So there ya go Sis...random lazy pup pics just for you!