Movies watched in 2023

Spiral: From the Book of Saw is a really bad movie, starting with the lead actor and Jigsaw's voice. But I had to watch it just to hear the iconic music. The movie also has one of my favorite actors, Samuel L. Jackson. Who is the murderer was clear right from the start because that's how the characters of that actor always are? And especially when the "death" of that character was not shown, and not even his family. Besides, the so-called bad guy was right! And a Saw movie without Tobin Bell is sacrilege. Ps. Saw X already came.. and it has the real and original Jigsaw.

Alice in Borderland (Netflix) is like a copy of Squid Game except Alice came first. A group of young people find themselves in a reality where deadly games are played in which they have to participate. Is there any way out of this new world? I liked this series surprisingly much, there was enough excitement.

Bullet Train (Viaplay) is an action comedy which is my favorite genre of movies. Few action comedies are funny or entertaining, but Bullet Train is plenty. Brad Pitt plays a criminal who goes on a bullet train to do a simple theft task, but in the end there is nothing simple about it. Warning: the movie has a snake in a big role.

Firestarter (2022) is a remake film adaptation of Stephen King's novel, and it commits the worst possible sin: horrific suffering and death of an innocent cat. The problem with remakes is always that they "have" to do things differently than in the original and therefore the plot moves too far from the source material. I don't remember if I've ever seen the first Firestarter movie, but it's (also) been getting bad reviews.

 

I just happened to notice Ghostface on the home screen of the TV, and had to go back to it quickly. I was surprised that Scream 6 had already appeared on Netflix. I liked the movie surprisingly much. It had a lot of references to previous Screams and other horror movies. I had read the plot description before, but I didn't remember anything about it. Except that one certain character doesn't die. Of course, it was funny that a character named Jason watched a F13 movie.

I started watching Melrose Place on free Pluto TV, which I had thought for years that it would be nice to watch again, I had only seen it once before. Well, first I was disappointed when after the second to last, i.e. sixth season, the first season started, i.e. the last seventh season was completely missing! And then in the first season, at one point, they suddenly jumped forward about four episodes. So it makes no sense if there are episodes missing and not everything is shown. The series itself is quite eventful, at least after the first season. Well, luckily, the last season of MP had also appeared on Pluto later.

 

In October, I started watching Areena's series The Secrets She Keeps, because it had been featured in the media and I had seen clips of it in the mornings on Yle. At the very beginning I realized that I have watched it before, but I thought only the first episode. But at the end of the first season I realized that I had watched it all. Only the second season was new for me, and I think it was better than the first. I was a bit surprised by the changed appearance of one of the characters, but the actor had been recast for some reason. Downton Abbey's Laura Carmichael stars in this series.

Death on the Nile is one of the few Agatha Christie books that I have read, along with Murder on the Orient Express, and both more than once, albeit decades ago. So I didn't remember who dies here and who is the murderer. But while watching this 2022 movie, I thought that there was definitely no lesbianism in the book. And did five characters die in the book? And I only realized after the movie that Arnie Hammer is in it, if I had known that beforehand I wouldn't have watched the movie. And then I remembered that I had read about it before.

Towards the end of the year, Disney plus was on offer and I then watched 24 from there. I started from the third season now. Last time I watched the second season, but not to the end. I've watched the fifth season the most often, it's where the most shocking things happen and according to general opinion, it's the best season of 24. From the sixth season onwards, I wouldn't really even want to watch. I can't stand it when Curtis dies, it's my jump the shark moment. About Curtis's death, it is said that Curtis is out of character. Chloe is the one who is out of character in the sixth season. Heels and a skirt, that's not the Chloe I know.

I was looking forward to the Netflix reality show Squid Game: The Challenge. At least initially, it received only negative reviews. But in my opinion, the drama build up was on point, except for the completely lame ending. I actually stopped watching when there were just 14 minutes left in the last episode. And I could guess the winner just because the appearance of one competitor had become unrecognizable after the race. And I don't remember ever hating a contestant on any reality show as much as one person on this show. I just hoped that this person wouldn't make it to the final. Fortunately, they didn't make it, even though it was really close.

 

My dream diary 2023

They say that nobody cares about other people's dreams. So with all the more reason here are descriptions of my strangest and most memorable dreams of 2023. From youngest to oldest.

A strange flat and wide plane was on a test flight, but then fell nose down to the ground. Something worse was going on, the end of the world was coming, but not many people knew about it. They wanted to imprison my family so that we wouldn't spread information. I tried to get my captors to release me by talking. That it's too late anyway, that soon everyone will find out anyway.

In a horrible dream, my eyelid came off. I tried desperately to put it back and make it stay. But no, a doctor had to sew it back up. I was thinking miserably how I can clean my eyes in the future, since apparently my eyelids can't take such excertion anymore.

I was Adam from the game F13. At the end of the dream, I flew around using a flight suit and peeked into people's homes.

I tried to kill my cat Olivia by beating her on the back with a crowbar, it was meant to be a mercy killing. But she just wouldn't die, so I had to leave her alive in even weaker condition. It wasn't angry with me, she let me pet her. A horrible dream.

 

 

At the end of the dream, I was going to a lesson held by the Mythbusters. I tried to escape from the place by sneaking to take my coat and shoes and leave with them in hand. However, I was followed and I tried to say that I wanted to be alone because I was traumatized by what happened to me in the dream earlier. And what happened to me? I was in a life-threatening photography session involving a similar street roller/asphalt leveling machine. For some reason I had barbed wire around my upper arm and it started to get under the street roller. The photographer tried to save my life by sawing off my arm with that barbed wire, but luckily I ended up with just a cut on my upper arm.

I was working for Resident Evil's Umbrella. There was an order to evacuate, and I tried to get home but I couldn't find it in the mall-like skyscraper. I met a man who asked if I had worked on a zombie virus. No, just a retrovirus. The man said that the zombie virus is the retrovirus...!

I was going to Hawaii and somehow managed to get there without flying. But a nasty surprise awaited us there, a mandatory short and local flight. I woke up in my childhood home bedroom and asked my brother if we had landed. My brother lied that no, we had actually already arrived happily and safely. So I often have nightmares related to airplanes and flying, I've actually never been on an airplane.

My friend was tantalizing a wasp nest, but the wasps thought I was the culprit and attacked me. Wasps kept getting into my nose and I tried desperately to get them out.

 

I was going to a movie and I helped another movie-goer to look for a movie ticket that had fallen from the ground. The ticket was found and it was pink in accordance with the Barbie theme, but it was still for Scream, where I myself was going. I was pleasantly surprised that someone else is going to see Scream and not the other two movies (Barbie and Oppenheimer).

I was drugged and something was put to my neck. I knew that they wanted to use me to make a suicide attack on a public place. I thought I should go to a forest alone and explode there. But then the thing was taken off my neck, and an ambush was arranged for the bad guys. I was hiding behind a balcony railing. Like the others, I started chasing the bad guys who were trying to escape when the bell rang.

Russia attacked my hometown. Dropped fighters to our yard. At the end of the dream I said that this is worse than a nightmare, is this a dream?

 

I chatted with Dr. Now from My 600lbs Life about the differences between medical training in Finland and the USA. (and my "knowledge" on the subject is, of course, from the series ER)

 

I was one of the police in Law & Order. The episode was already ending and everything should have been clear when a stranger came to the police station with a gun. He didn't threaten me with it in any way, but I wondered how he had gotten through the security check with it. I told him he would be shot if he was seen with a gun and I took it. I took the gun to the security check to a police, who took it in his hand and accidentally shot me in the chest. That stupid policeman tried to call an ambulance but was unsuccessful. In the chaos, the guy who brought the gun started a hostage situation and was going to shoot me and I tried to stop it by talking. "Aren't we friends when I stopped you from getting shot" etc.

Airplanes kept falling to the ground. The goal of the pilots was to kill as many people on the ground as possible. I saw the first plane hit the neighboring neighborhood from the window of my home. The last one hit the airport. After managing to dodge it, I tried to get out of the airport, but of course I couldn't find an exit.

 

 

I was trying to get away from an annoying wheelchair patient with Nurse Jackie's male nurse. First we took the elevator to the fourth floor, and then another elevator to the roof.

I was part of Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible crew. We had to jump a really long jump without a parachute, the landing place was a pool of water where, of course, there were anacondas. But being a savvy MI guy, of course I literally tied the anaconda to a knot.

Some man strangled me. There were other people there and I asked for their help, but they were involved in the same plot.

 

I had bought 40 gift subs on Twitch while I was sleeping at night. The stream had been turned on on the tablet in bed and I had accidentally pressed the buttons while sleeping. I cried because I knew I wouldn't get my money back no matter how I tried to explain to Paypal. It was only at the end of the dream that it was revealed that my brother was to blame, he had watched the stream at night on my tablet.

Post-Christmas poops

I got my Christmas present when my oldest cat Kali did three big, loose poops on Christmas Eve... and continued to poop and eventually have diarrhea all evening. So it's the classic case again, be careful what you wish for. And swamp there, waddle here, etc. Apparently, even smaller amount of laxative would be enough for Kali. The general guideline for cats is 0.5 ml of PEG per kilogram of body weight every other day.

I should still find an anti-kidney insufficiency agent for Kali quite quickly, preferably one she would take voluntarily. I had ordered Easypill Renal in treat form from Zooplus, but both Kali and Olivia refused to eat it. Why on earth would treats be liked by cats?

I would like to try Ipakitine, which was fine for Olivia, but caused her diarrhea due to the lactose it contains. Another option is liquid Pronefra, of which I had one opened small and two unopened large bottles, all of them expired because Olivia said no. D'oh. I tried Renata, it really didn't work for Kali either and I'm not surprised at all, it smells bad. Surprisingly, Kali has volunteered a couple of times to take WeNefro, mixed with soup-wet food broth. For Olivia, I use Porus One, but I'm not really convinced of its effectiveness when it's so different from other similar substances.

 

I should also find some (grain-free) and preferably a small kibble kidney dry food that Kali would like. After all, none of them have worked for Olivia since the beginning. And Kali doesn't eat much wet food, so dry food is more important. I have now mixed Animonda Integra protect neral with Orijen kitten, and it has worked well for both.

I feel guilt that Kali's renal insufficiency wasn't detected earlier. I had been thinking for years that it would be good to take blood tests of a senior cat from Kali. Kali went to the vet last year, but no blood tests were taken. Should have realized to ask for them myself.

We'll see when Kali stops eating again. It's scary what happens when the two-week course of Mirataz ends.

 

Fortunately, Olivia had a better phase when Kali was sick. Earlier, Olivia's situation seemed bad when even Kaopekt no longer seemed to help her diarrhea. But then something strange happened. Olivia was without diarrhea medicine for many days and did not have diarrhea. On the contrary, the longer the diarrhea medicine wasn't given, the firmer the stool was. Honestly, there doesn't seem to be any logic in its diarrhea anymore. Can't understand. But after about a week without diarrhea medication, the completely liquid diarrhea came back again. Even after that, it has been a bit like that Kaopekt helps better when given less frequently.

Olivia should be taken to the vet, but I can't know which local vet would actually do something about it. They should investigate what is causing the diarrhea. And at least one thing that should be done to examine it is to examine its excrement. They should also find out if it has any bacteria. The previous vet didn't examine anything and gave up. A pointless trip to the vet without anything really being examined or really getting any help is the last thing I want in this situation. But when it is known that Olivia has chronic kidney disease and there is also something wrong with her liver, is there any hope that her diarrhea could ever be cured?

 

 

Fortunately, I was doing quite well myself when Kali was sick. Earlier in December, I was in bad shape for a week. The pains started from the chin and below it, between the chin and neck. They also spread to the face. Actually, when I held my hand against my cheek for a few seconds, it caused severe pain in my cheek for a long time. Then a horrible inflamed feeling spread over almost the whole body. Then endometriosis pain, joint pain, nausea, neck pain. But what confused me the most was the inflamed feeling under my chin. I can't tell what caused it. There was really no fever, I took my temperature for fun one evening and it was 35.7. Before, I was troubled by "just" bad endometriosis pains, and I didn't even go outside for probably more than a couple of weeks.

And as for that Christmas, it was a rare Christmas-less Christmas, even by my standards. No listening to Christmas carols, I watched my traditional Christmas movie Home Alone 2 for less than half an hour, no board games, not even an elf hat. I bought myself a Casino online lottery as a gift, as I usually buy myself a lottery on my birthday and Christmas. I won 10 euros with a bet of 6 euros, which is not enough to celebrate the New Year!

 

Christmas miracle?

It's hard to have to wake up before 11:30 am on Christmas Eve to watch The Snowman and the declaration of Christmas peace. And then to make rice porridge without rice...

We were supposed to place a pre-Christmas food order from Prisma, but suddenly all the home delivery times were gone. I had looked at the situation a couple of days before, but it wasn't enough. The main reason why this happened was my spouse's work trip. I'm surprised that anyone even orders from Prisma when the home delivery fee is 20 euros. It took me a while before I realized what will be the worst lack when the Prisma order is missed: Frozen carrots from certain brand. I just can't stand peeling and chopping fresh carrots anymore. Well, fortunately, now is the rosolli time of the year.

 

So I had to order from Citymarket. Just when I was complaining that I haven't bothered to buy the traditional cheese variety pack because it hasn't been on offer, it came on offer, so I got my Christmas cheese. This time I didn't even dream of baking a (small) ham, I just looked at the finished Christmas ham slices. In the last couple of years, they have been quite edible. And even though it seemed bad at first, I finally got some chocolate candies when Red's sugar-free candies came on sale at Citymarket.

 

 

I started eating Christmas food, i.e. slices of ham, rosolli and mayonnaise already on Thursday. I calculated that the food is enough for six days, that is, it will run out on Boxing day.

I haven't bought a single Christmas present again. Because of my income, I didn't even participate in grandma's gift, it's really embarrassing. And even this Christmas I won't go to my mother's because of covid, obviously I'm a terrible daughter. Recently, a large part of the family has been sick with covid again.

Due to Kali's situation, it has been difficult to focus on anything, so this week I have mostly been playing games. Snow appeared early this time in Red Dead Online. I found out about it by chance on December 8, I don't know how much snow time I missed. Although, I haven't been able to be terribly interested anymore.

 Christmas tree at camp.

 

Christmas decorations in moonshine shack.

 

Festive lights at Saint Denis.

A cat in snowy Saint Denis.

 

This christmas I wish for only one present. That Kali eats and poops. 

 

 

I got my Christmas miracle when Kali started eating on Friday night. I really wanted to cry with happiness. And that night, for the first time this week, she came to its favorite place, lying on top of me. During her illness, she only hung out in unusual places, probably desperately looking for a place where she would feel better. Yesterday it was also wonderful when Kali willingly ate her PEG constipation medicine when I added the broth of the soup wet food to it. I hope this trend continues.

 

 

Sick cat Kali

Here, when there have been two sick cats to take care of, it has seemed that the "healthiest" and oldest, i.e. 18-year-old Kali, has been left out a bit. Well, she isn't any more.

I woke up on Monday morning probably sometime after six. The sleep had been interrupted because the cats had vomited. Shortly after I woke up, someone threw up again. Because Tabitha was next to me on the bedside table and Kali was on the bedroom scratching post, I knew that it was Olivia who vomited.

 

It took a while to realize that despite trying, Kali can't poop and that she had been trying to poop already at night. She also frequently vomited liquid. Didn't eat or drink. The possibility of intestinal obstruction also occurred to me.

Since Kali's bum was obviously full of shit, I tried to give her Microlax in the morning, but I guess it went wrong because there was no result. In the afternoon, a new attempt, which I think was successful, but still no results. Kali was then given paraffin oil.

In the evening, Kali drank water, laid in the sink and then managed to poop a bit, a couple of pooches. A lot of cat litter stuck to its wet paws from the toilet, which was then e.g. in bed. In a panic, I tried to get the wet sand out of its paws so that she wouldn't eat the litter.

Kali was then given another dose of paraffin oil, or at least attempted. There were battle injuries, i.e. wounds. Since that time, a little protection has been introduced, e.g. gloves.

The next morning, Kali peed, but despite trying, she didn't manage to poop. She tried to eat her wet food a bit, but I still gave her Nutriplus. Or at least I tried, it was on its jaw and leg. In the afternoon she drank again and spent quality time in the sink. Afternoon food didn't interest her (and neither anyone else!), not even the cat malt treat, so another dose of Nutriplus. In the evening, she made a small poop.

The situation has stubbornly remained the same. The cat doesn't eat, only manages to poop occasionally and a little, and is in pain. So the vet was called, when it's Christmas and the long holidays are coming.

Surprises were revealed at the vet. There was nothing in the intestine (I was already afraid of a tumor), but Kali has renal insuffiency (as does her daughter Olivia). Kali received a cortisone injection and Mirataz (which is said to be out of stock in many pharmacies) to stimulate her appetite. The diagnosis of chronic kidney disease is a surprise. Kali does drink a lot, but she doesn't pee a lot like Olivia, whose kidney value (221) was better in May than Kali's now (287).

When Kali suffers from constipation and her daughter Olivia has chronic diarrhoea, so... I've been dreaming of a stool transplant.
 
So why does Kali have trouble pooping? Some claim that constipation is a symptom of kidney failure. Well, Olivia has clearly not received that memo. One possible factor is that Kali is very reluctant to eat wet food. It is offered 3 times a day. As I have stated, Kali mainly lives on Bilanx's energy snacks. And with Orijen's dry food. Even treats containing cat malt have not really been eaten by her lately. The fact is that Kali should have been given regular laxatives a long time ago, at the latest when she started rejecting cat malt treats.

Well, now the pharmacy's shopping list included e.g. PEG (a friend with long experience with chronic constipation in cats claimed that the lactulose prescribed by vet is not good because it can dry out the intestines) and cat malt. It is clear that even in the best case, Kali will need laxatives for the rest of her life. And now we should start giving it something to support the kidneys. Well, there's about a closet of them, thanks to Olivia.

Four years ago I brought Tabitha to the vet just before Christmas and she got a virus from that trip. Tabitha and Kali did not eat for five days then and had to try to keep them alive by force-feeding them. Back then, Kali was more accommodating, but now she has fought back with all its might, making trying to keep her alive very difficult. But then her health clearly deteriorated and the resistance started to be less. :(

 

We'll see if I get a Christmas miracle, that is, if Kali starts eating, or if this was it. And now we should start giving it kidney foods. Well, Kali is at that point in her life where she eats whatever she agrees to.

I found myself from the internet

It was absolutely shocking to find myself as an author on Goodreads. I've obviously been there unknowingly for a long time. So some years ago I made the mistake of publishing my short stories through Amazon, but I soon removed them from there. How could I have ended up on Goodreads when I didn't put myself there? Well, I found out now that Amazon bought Goodreads already 10 years ago, so that explains why I'm there, because it has to be some automatic thing. And I guess there's no way I can get myself out of there... Someone once claimed that everything you put on the internet stays there forever?

 

And now I would like to self-publish my writings through Books on Demand, because through them you can get your books to Finnish bookstores and libraries. But the problem is that their website is terrible and there are no answers to my questions. It seems that certain things could only be solved by publishing through them for the first time.

I was supposed to focus on editing my first novel during November, but I didn't get it done. I started to think about my collection of short stories, because I should "test" Books on Demand with something. But even though I removed my short stories from Amazon, they seem to still be hanging on Goodreads, perhaps forever.

So now I was searching my computer for my short stories and other files related to them, such as cover images, but I couldn't find those images. I thought that I must have them because I once published them on Amazon. So this is how I somehow I ended up searching for "myself" on the internet.

One of the big problems with self-publishing is precisely the cover photos, when you have to make them yourself if you want them for free. And I'm definitely not a graphic artist or visually talented. I'm not talented in writing either, but I don't let that stop me.

 

 

Nowadays, it's wonderful not to have to depend on publishers. Anyone can publish anything at their own cost or even completely free.

Poop diaries

Or a poopy diary? All of the above. 

 

 

Olivia is now constantly pooping on the floor. Due to the diarrhea medication, she has also been constipated once. One night, at first, she couldn't get anything done in the cat litter box. Then Olivia dropped the sausage on the floor with a big thump. And about an hour later, it made diarrhea on the floor. From constipation to diarrhea in a second... In any case, I haven't dared to give Olivia a new dose of diarrhea medicine, fearing constipation, only when the stool is loose again. Her butt is painful, blood has been seen once when wiping. It's starting to be pretty clear that a grain-free diet won't help Olivia's diarrhea. Only Kaopekt helps.

Olivia should now be watched every time she's awake, so she doesn't just poop on the floor. But you can't watch when you're sleeping. On three consecutive mornings, poop was found on the floor of the bedroom or the hall. On the fourth morning, I happened to be awake when Olivia was looking for a place to poop and I managed to put it in the cat litter box.

 

Yeah, I happened to be awake when I woke up at six feeling awful. My heart was beating too hard, the pains, I didn't know would I poop or vomit. I would have liked to go to the kitchen to take painkillers and other things, but I had to stay on the toilet floor because I was afraid I would throw up.

Well, one morning I cried and was close to throwing up. We woke up before five to Olivia throwing up, and there was shit on the bedroom floor. Olivia came to wipe her ass on my sheet, and someone shoved the shit he cleaned up under my nose to smell.

 

I went on the scale with Tabitha again. Tabitha's weight has stayed the same, but mine has dropped. I thought that at the end of physically heavy work, the opposite would happen. But I've started trying to gain weight, that is, to eat chips. They are cheap and high in calories.

Now that I have to go outside to get exercise, I've realized in the cold that I need a little better clothing. 8 degrees below zero and with three layers of clothes on my legs and still my legs were red after the run. Top pants would be nice, and also a longer top/down jacket. Even though the current jacket is up to the hips, it seems to let the cold air just below the waist.

Yes, it was worth ordering from the Kivuton.fi online store. I quickly needed more diarrhea medicine for Olivia. I knew that Kivuton would be a risk in that regard. They promise fast 1-3 day express delivery, but two times out of three it has taken many weeks for the order to arrive. Even now, a week later, nothing had been heard about the order, so I had to order Kaopekt from Musti ja mirri. And of course both diarrhea medicine packages came on the same day.