Posts from January 2021

2021-01-01: 🐶 Photo post: The consummate NYE guest, and the cat who was very unhappy to see him back again after a six month absence 😾
2021-01-03: 🎮 Micro post: Considering I’m notoriously bad at platformers and I died on the tutorial like 10 times, I feel proud that on my …
2021-01-03: 📚 Book review: The Orchard of Lost Souls by Nadifa Mohamed (★★★½)
2021-01-04: 🖥 Micro post: Found out that The StoryGraph has undergone a revamp (and officially launched) and got a lot of new useful features! I …
2021-01-04: 🐱 Photo post: Here’s one of Viv’s and my friends in the neighbourhood. His name is Timmka and he often waits in his front …
2021-01-05: 🐱 Photo post: This accursed cat decided to stay out very late last night – something she never really does. We went out calling and …
2021-01-05: 🐱 Photo post: Trying to avoid a repeat of last night’s antics, I brought Gidget in at 7:30 seeing as I knew where she was then. …
2021-01-06: 🎮 Micro post: Yesterday I discovered this amazing free(mium) browser game, AI Dungeon. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a …
2021-01-07: 📰 Stray Thoughts on the Storming of the US Capitol: It seemed like it would be remiss of me to post today without mentioning the day’s biggest news: the storming of …
2021-01-08: 🗒 Micro post: When people say they’re “useless until I’ve had my morning coffee”, they’re referring to …
2021-01-08: 🖥 Experimenting with Gemini: Gemini is a relatively new internet protocol, aiming to offer a much lighter-weight, text-oriented experience than the …
2021-01-09: 👩🏻 Photo post: Since Melbourne’s first lockdown I’ve been growing out my hair (not just because hairdressers were closed, I’d also been …
2021-01-10: 🖥 Tracking My Reading: One of my major hobbies is reading. I was a fanatical reader as a kid, and while I’ve definitely gone through …
2021-01-11: 🏏 Micro post: Interesting article here by Usman Khawaja on the hostility of Australian cricket to aspiring players from immigrant …
2021-01-11: 💬 Micro post: A linguistic pet peeve of mine: people saying “all X are not Y” when what they mean is “not all X are …
2021-01-11: 📚 Book review: The Burning God by R.F. Kuang (★★★)
2021-01-12: 🐱 Micro post: So, Gidget loves hot weather. Give her a heatwave and she has the time of her life, snoozing outside in temperatures of …
2021-01-13: 🐱 On Gidget Not Wanting to See Guests: Gidget is an indoor-outdoor cat, but we (try to) keep her in between dusk and dawn (which is even the local bylaw, …
2021-01-14: 🐶 Photo post: I realised I’ve been slacking on the photo posts lately, so here’s Gizmo a couple of weekends ago. It was …
2021-01-14: 🖥 Owning My Content: One of the reasons I started this blog is that I’d come across the concept of the IndieWeb and really liked it. I …
2021-01-14: 📚 Book review: All Systems Red by Martha Wells (★★★★)
2021-01-16: 🐶 Photo post: We paid a visit to this little guy (and his humans) yesterday. Although he was excited when we got there, he later …
2021-01-16: 💻 Site update: It’s actually ridiculous how much time I’ve put into this, but after posting the other day about wanting to …
2021-01-17: 🗒 Micro post: For anyone curious about COL in different cities – I found this neat tool that compares it in selected cities around the …
2021-01-18: 🐶 Photo post: The dog beach was the place to be yesterday! Beautiful weather, and many many dogs. Gizmo certainly enjoyed himself 🐶
2021-01-19: 🏏 Micro post: Sometimes I almost wonder why they even have reviews of LBW decisions… the bar to overturn a decision is ludicrously …
2021-01-19: 🐱 Photo post: Gidget likes to shepherd us humans off to bed when it gets to 10 or 11, then watches us like a hawk to make sure we go …
2021-01-20: 📚 Book review: Amnesty by Lara Elena Donnelly (★★★★)
2021-01-20: 📛 Political Labels on the Left: If I ever asked you to describe your politics, the exact word you’d label those politics with is a lot less …
2021-01-21: 🍺 Photo post: It was a warm day today, so Viv and I took a late afternoon walk to our local beach. On our way home, we ducked into a …
2021-01-23: 🍃 Photo post: Today Viv and I drove out to the Dandenong Ranges on Wurundjeri land to do the Eastern Sherbrooke Forest Walk. We went a …
2021-01-25: 🇦🇺 Micro post: Tomorrow (26 January) is a public holiday in Australia, marking the day white colonists arrived at what’s now …
2021-01-26: 🐱 Photo post: When the cool change came through yesterday, my heat-loving cat was not impressed. She was immediately demanding that I …
2021-01-28: 💬 Dabbling in Language-Learning: In recent times, I’ve been tossing up whether I should try to learn some basic German. The thing that’s …
2021-01-29: 🐱 Photo post: Fun fact: while Gidget loves arid heat, she ALSO loves heavy rain. She likes to sit under cover and just watch it fall. …
2021-01-29: 📰 Micro post: Here’s an important article on how the Left must get ready to deal with deplatforming by Big Tech. It’s all …
2021-01-29: 🎮 Micro post: So here’s a neat online game: The Royal Game of Ur is a FOSS implementation of a game first played in the ancient …
2021-01-30: 📚 Micro post: A couple of days ago I read Vylar Kaftan’s short story, The Weight of the Sunrise (read it for free on the …
2021-01-31: 🥥 Recipe: Lemongrass and Coconut Soup: A sweet, sour and spicy soup drawing on Thai-style flavours, packed with fish, fresh vegetables and rice noodles.
2021-01-31: 🫑 Recipe: Chicken Jambalaya: A delicious smoky and slightly spicy dish inspired by the flavours of Louisiana.
2021-01-31: 🍗 Recipe: Chicken Stew: Made in a pressure cooker, this is a traditional rustic stew full of poultry and veggie goodness. Pears, herbs and a …
2021-01-31: 🍱 Photo post: Just sharing a photo of the chicken tacos I made the other night, cos they came out very photogenic 😅 (and delicious! 😋) …
2021-01-31: 🌶 Recipe: Chilli Con Carne: A delicious, hearty stew of minced meat, tomatoes and peppers. Served here with rice.

Jessica Smith is a left-wing feminist who loves animals, books, gaming, and cooking; she’s also very interested in linguistics, history, technology and society.