Goals for the new year

I don't do new years resolutions not for any real reason I just never have. What I have been doing for the last few years is setting goals for the next year. Is there a difference? Maybe, maybe not but phrasing it like goals makes it easier to do and it allows me to have several smaller ones. This also lets me plan ahead and I can have follow up goals for years ahead.

For 2025 I don't really have any major goals, mainly because I got most of the big things done this or last year. Both my career- and living-goals are sort of on pause until 2026 

Career: keep working on my masters degree. 

Financial: Reach 2 million kronor. This is more of a hope than a goal since it will depend entirely on the stock market. I won't be too upset if I don't reach it, but it would be nice. Since I started studying I have effectively cut my income in half and it's now lower than my average expenses so I will aim to keep these low. As part of that will be doing a series of post about tricks to save money.

Books: Finnish proofreading and publishing my next book. This is a hold over since last year and I have realized that I'll need to do another round of proofreading and fixing before I'm satisfied with it.

Blog: I'll continue trying to get it indexed not that I have much hope for it. It's very frustrating.

So those are my goals we'll see how many of them I get done. 

 

Villains vingettes by Drew Hayes

 In preparations for my Uppsala trip I restarted my Audible account. I didn't actually use it then but once I got home I have been listening on and off. The first book I got was this one. A collection of three short stories set in the same world as Forging Hephaestos. If you haven't read that or the second book then this is not for you. This ties quite heavily into the second book and does contain spoilers for it.

The Plot

The Meta...villain? Spooky Trudy has returned and she has turned a random small town into a Halloween experience. Within the town wearing any costume lets you have the abilities associated with that character. People flock from all over to experience the powers of superheroes and villains alike although in a weaker form. It's harmless fun... during the day at night the town turns dangerous. But staying the night will grant magical boons or even powers especially for whoever wins the nightly battle royal at the grave yard. 

Chloe is adamant that she wants the gifts offered. Tori and Beverly being good friends and roommates tag along to help her and keep her safe. As do their neighbors the superhero team The new science sentries though they have their own hopes for the night. 

However the meta Fashionistadore sees his opportunity to gather powers. He can assume another metas powers if he wears a part of their costume and in a place where all costumes are real this is prime hunting ground.

My thoughts

The Hallowville setting is a nice way to organically contain the story. Fashionistadore is not actually a threat that some of the more powerful characters couldn't deal with instantly. But with Spooky-trudies rules stopping Lode-star from using her power there and the rest unaware he and his grab bag of powers are enough to cause problems. Add to that Beverly, Tori and Cloe are all using borrowed powers and so can't access their own. The question becomes how they can solve this. I personally would have liked to see another solution. 

The problem of is Fashionistadore that bad is one I kept thinking about while listening. Granted we don't know of his final plans this is just to gather power, but still Tori and Beverly at least are villains and even if all the people he stole costumes from died that's still a low death count compared to several other characters. 

I do like how random the powers are. How some people just gets a shitty power and have to make the best of it. It's always a thought with most random powers universes of how useless most are in a non combat environment. This doesn't solve that but rather leans into it occupationally giving powers that are useless in every situation. 

The series has a very large set of characters and I would have liked if this took the chance to explore some of them. Actually that was what I had expected it to be or doing new team ups They are all the ones explored in previous stories. Tori and her roommates, the new science sentries in the first, Ivan in the second, Tori and Ivan in the third along with quick scenes from other familiar characters. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy it and I think anyone who has read the first two books will as well but I expected something more. 

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Vingettes.

Winter is coming and my apartment is cold

My apartment gets cold in the winter. Last winter it got as low as 17 degrees and it mostly hovered around 18 (64 for all you Fahrenheit users). This is far to low to be comfortable so last year I called my landlord about it. They came and checked but since all the radiators are working there's not much they can do and they left again. The reason, I suspect, is a lack of insulation in one of the walls. On google maps it looks like there used to be another house against mine that has been removed. Meaning the wall there is an internal one acting as an external one. This also happens to be the longest wall in my apartment stretching over three different rooms. To make matters worse I get cold easily.

Here I will explain some of the things I have/will do to solve this problem and hopefully give you some inspiration if you happens to be in a similar situation.

Catbed

First thing first. I have to make sure my cats has a warm place to nap. This is rather simple since one of them decided a few years ago that the carrier is her bed. Anyone who has ever tried to put a cat in a carrier will know this for the blessing it is and I don't want to discourage this. So once summer ended I put it next to the radiator and then placed a flat catbed in top of it for the other cat. This will give both warmth. Unfortunately it looks ugly so a cover will have to be constructed. However this will be a post for a later time. This is a larger part of making better use of my heat sources. Last winter I moved my kitchen chair so it was closer to the radiator. 

Prevent heat loss

This is really the key to a comfortable living space. It doesn't matter how much warmth your radiators produce if it just goes straight outside. A common tip is to use thick curtains to stop draft from windows and doors. However I wont be doing that my windows are all modern I can't actually sense any draft. I will therefore keep the curtains I have prioritizing not blocking the radiator and letting in what sunlight there is. 

The wall on the other hand is a problem. But just to be sure I bought an Infra red thermometer to get quick readings of the different parts of my apartment to see where the biggest problems are. Each morning for seven days I measured my bedroom wall and two places on my living room wall. The three places were mostly the same with only a 0.1 degree different. But I can say the problem wall was almost one degree colder than the other walls.

I said the wall stretches over three rooms namely the entryway the living room and the bedroom. The entryway is the first of them but here that wall is mostly covered by wardrobes so not as big an issue. However getting some boxes to go on top of the wardrobes would plug the gap between them and the ceiling. I don't think this will do much but every bit helps and I'd rather have them here than in the attic.

So far I have only put one box up there, filled with my summer clothes, but it lets me test it's efficacy. When I measured the back wall was 19 degrees. The edge of the wardrobe on the part covered is half a degree warmer than the same spot on the uncovered wardrobe. This is more difference than I had hoped for and I will keep filling the space up. 

For the bedroom and living room this wouldn't work so here I'm taking a page out of history. Tapestries were used to not only look nice but also provide insulation during winter. It's like a blanket for your walls. It's also the renter friendly alternative to anyone who wants a mural.I did a small test before I did anything too involved. I have a painting on this wall and measuring the temperature on the painting, behind it and beside it there is definitely a difference. I am going to have to move that painting though.

This is technically a tablecloth but I bought it last year to stop drafts from my door. Only to realize it's not the door that's the problem, instead it will be given a new home on the wall. Unfortunately it's not very thick but every little bit helps. If it's insufficient I'll just have to change it for next year.

 For this I sewed a channel for the curtain rod. Then did a bunch of measuring, both the cloth and the wall to get it centered how I likes it. Before getting the tall ladder from the attic moving the furniture away and putting up the adhesive hangers. It's similar to command strips but a different brand that I like better. I feel command over-promises their carrying capacity. 

Since my cat pulled it down half a year ago it's been showed in the back of the my closet so before I hung it I took the time to iron it. Let's face it if I don't do it now it will never happen. 

Hanging it was fairly straight forward. I'd chosen to center it to the wall which means it looked pd with the bed pushed up to the wall. I've moved it for now and I'll see how I liked it. I might lower it a bit but that's for later. 

Measuring the temperature the next morning and I can rapport that the cloth is half a degree warmer than the wall. Eagle eyed readers will note the extra blanket on the bed. It does make a differences and I have blankets on every chair I sit in.

For the living room I plan to make a new tapestry. But that deserves its own post. Also it will be a project for next year. 

Heat sources

When I write this it's mid September. Outside the temperature has been falling and it's in that awkward state where you need a coat and gloves in the morning and just a thin sweater in the afternoon. However the low temperatures at night still means that it's cold indoors. 19 degrees according to the thermometer on my nightstand. So I contacted my landlord asking them to turn on the radiators. They answered that the radiators are controlled by a thermostat and that they can't turn them on or off. This was not the answer I wanted but it does give me some important information. Since the thermostat is by the radiators it mean that whatever heat sources I want to add should be placed as far from the radiators as possible. I don't want the heat I add to turn them off.

So apparently I'm getting radiators which annoys me. I already pay for heating as part of my rent and I feel like I shouldn't have to pay for the electricity too. Now, I won't say I'd never needlessly suffer to make a point but in this case it will hurt me far more than them (I'll still inform my landlord about the temperature just because). So radiators and with some app controlled sockets I can time it for when electricity is the cheapest. However it turned out the socket I bought requires you to by a hub too. A hub that's far more expensive than I want to pay for a thing meant to save me money. So I'll be using one of the manual timers I already have and a space heater. We'll see how long I'll bother reprogramming it.

Clothes

Putting on a a sweater is a tried and true advice when it comes to temperature. I'm of course going to o that but since I already have several sweaters there isn't much to do. However along with sweaters I would recommend long woolen skirts. 

An advice I have read in a lot of places is Uniqlo Heat tech. Last winter I bought two of differing thickness and honestly they are... fine. One of them is a bit tight in a way that shows of my ribs more than I want but they are just one layer and I will wear a sweater on top. Any claims that they are as warm as a sweater is a lie and I don't really understand the idea that the fabric turns sweat into heat, or rather when you are cold you sweat less so it doesn't seem like it would do much.

What I am going to do though is finish my cape. It has been half done for a while (several years) but I want to wear it when I sit at my laptop to prevent my shoulders from getting cold and stiff. The post where I did this is here.

Last but not least indoor slippers. I started to make a pair last year but before I was done I got a pair for Christmas. These I wore everyday until they were worn out. Now I have the dilemma should I buy new (better quality ones) or finish the ones I started. Bearing in mind that I don't have enough material to finish them like they are and that I might have made them too small I would more likely just re do them. I will mull over this for a while longer and in the mean time I'll just use my thick socks.

Habits

Since I'll be home during the day studying I'll have opportunity to do things differently. One of these things I can do is that rather than buying bread I'll bake it. Letting all that nice warm oven air out into the apartment. I haven't done the math on this but I suspect that the money I save from making my own bread will offset the added cost to my electricity bill. Also fresh baked bread is nice.

The second thing is regularly blow drying my hair. Partially to again add heat but mostly to not cool myself down by walking around with wet hair letting it air dry. 

And lastly pray to the old gods and the new for a mild winter. This has gotten me thinking though. The plan with this apartment was to live her for two years, see if I liked the neighborhood and then buy a condo. However one of the reasons it's cold is that my apartment is old perhaps when I move the temperature is something I should keep track of. Perhaps I should prioritize showings in the winter and bring a thermometer.

What are you best tips for staying warm in the winter leave a comment down below.

A review of Catilina an anthologi by Alexander Andreé

This book is a collection of all... most of the the antique sources that talk about Catilinarian conspiracy. If you don't know what this is I suggest looking it up it is quite a fascinating time. But basically Catiline was a roman living in the last decades of the roman republic. A time of turmoil and civil wars. He was from a wealthy family that had fallen on hard times and his early career was plagued by scandals. Among others things he was accused for murdering his wife and son and for corruption during his time as governor for the roman province in Africa. This might have been the reason why he twice failed to become elected as consul (the highest public office during the roman republic). Rather than try a third time he instead attempted a coup.

He gained support among the poor and as well as impoverished nobles like himself, gathered them into an army under his friend Manlius' command. He also planned arson and assassinations of various senators and the then consul Cicero. The plot was discovered, speeches was had in the senate. Catiline fled the city and joined the army while his supporters were imprisoned and executed. Catiline was killed in battle against the army Rome sent against them. 

The book starts with a description of what happened who Catiline and the writers was. Most of the texts are historical accounts, chapters of books describing the history of Rome. A large part is also the speeches Cicero made in the senate and to the people.

My thoughts

While anthologies are normal I haven't actually seen one like this before. With all the historical sources on a subject combined. I would like to read more books like this about other historical events, though this one has the advantage of having a good amount of sources about it. 

I would like to have heard from his supporter or Catiline himself. With Cicero being his enemy (understandably) and the rest being various historical texts seeking some kind of neutrality in the matter. They are still clearly on the side of the establishment and unsympathetic for the plight of the common man. Sallustius claims that Catiline surrounded himself and won the approval of people in debt. S attributes this debt to them being yo lazy to work and decadent living. I cant help drawing comparisons with the current boomer vs millenials and gen x conversation. This is not really a critique of the book, sources from so long ago are few, but it would still have been interesting. 

A thing I noticed when reading all the accounts back to back was the differences between them. The accounts are all slightly varied. There are details in one that aren't in others, especially when it comes to peoples motivation. One example the description of Fulvia and Curius, they were the ones to inform Cicero of the assassination plot.

In Appianus account Cicero found out about the plot because one of the conspirators Curius bragged about it to his lover Fulvia who then told Cicero. 

In Sallustius account they had also been lovers but the noble woman Fulvia had lost interest since he had money issues. He then brags about the money and power he will get. But also says that Curius threatened her. Here she just told people in general what she knew. Later she is described more like a go between for Cicero and Curius in a way that makes it sounds like Curious was helping Cicero. 

Plutharcos also describes her as a noble woman and says she told Cicero of the murder plot. It does not mention Curius or how she found out about it.

Diodorus has the most details but doesn't mention either Fulvia of Curius by name. In his account one of the conspirators is in love with a girl who doesn't care for him. Same a Salustius he brags about the power he will gain and also threatens her. She then pretends to be interested to get him to tell her more. She then met with Ciceros wife and told her about what she knew. This is the only version that mentions Ciceros wife having any part in this.

Cassius Dio just says Cicero found out about the plot but not how.

This is just one example most parts are like this the broad strokes are the same but the details are different. I didn't even notice this until I had read a couple or accounts and going back and looking for it I found others. 

Just a comment but what is Cicero's deal with sex. I can understand that he would have an extremely negative opinion on the person who tried to murder him, but in the second speech he spend a lot of time calling him and his supporters perverts and whores.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Catiline. As far as I can tell this book only exists in Swedish so far but the original texts and translations of them are easy to find. 

Cicero, Sallustius, Appianus, Plutarchos