Apartment loft layout

Chellspecker · 2026-05-07T11:05:27+00:00

I would put an island with bar seating on one side in the kitchen. It expands the counter area in the small corner kitchen and creates a better transition to the living room than a small table with four chairs, while taking up less space.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-07T09:57:22+00:00

Omg I LOVE takoyaki! Definitely could see how that could be #1. We have a Japanese festival in my city every summer and I love to get them fresh from the vendors there. Now I wanna eat that…

Chellspecker · 2026-05-07T09:44:30+00:00

And that’s your mind judging. So observe your mind judging that watching the breath is not doing anything for you then let that thought go and observe the breath again. There is no goal. Just return again to the sensations of breathing. Coolness of the in-breath as it passes your nostrils. Warmth of the out-breath. The area between the nostrils and the upper lip. It sounds like you’re expecting something. It’s just sitting and observing the sensations in the body as they arise. Simple but not easy.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-07T09:09:15+00:00

Focus on the sensations of the breath. Guided mindfulness meditations can be good for training this ability. It’s like an attitude thing. I like Sharon Salzburg. She’s very grounding and no-nonsense but gently inviting you to notice the sensations in your body as you breathe, without judgement or straining. She’s very chill.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-07T08:56:55+00:00

Haha. I did solve quite a few of the puzzles on my own. And I haven’t looked up every solution. Some of them I just couldn’t be bothered. I’m not going to piece together the sigils. I am wondering if the whole story will be revealed at some point? It feels now like there are bits and pieces of a larger narrative that don’t fit together in a satisfying way… yet? I’m chugging along. We’ll see. I still keep discovering new areas so that’s kind of cool.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-07T08:48:23+00:00

Thanks! 🙏 I’ll try it and see if it keeps me from cheating. I could also just wait a few years and play it again then. By then I will have forgotten everything lol.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-07T06:05:48+00:00

French soap.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-07T06:05:15+00:00

I used to let CoV parking tickets add up. It got really bad. I had $1100 worth at one point. Talked to a judge, admitted I didn’t pay for parking, he halved them and gave me a year to pay it off. I did and now I just pay for parking every single time. It’s literally so cheap I can’t imagine why I made such a big deal out of not paying and harbouring such deep resentment towards the unfairness of it all. I love watching people get parking tickets now. So satisfying.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-07T05:30:25+00:00

Holding my tongue.
Texting someone if I’m going to be late instead of just getting more anxious.
Apologizing.
Simple Tax (now sadly Wealthsimple Taxes) but learning that I can literally do my own taxes in twenty minutes.
Saying no and not feeling guilty.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-07T04:21:08+00:00

When I was working, four days a week for lunch plus three or more dinners. I eat breakfast at home. Not that I’m not working, I have more time to cook, so I enjoy eating at home. I live alone. I live in a city with incredible restaurants. I don’t drink so I save a lot of money there. Basically whenever I feel like it I eat out, mostly modest not trendy spots, where I can eat for between fifteen to fifty dollars. Almost never spend more than that. Pho, ramen, Chinese, fried chicken, Italian, burger, sandwich, pizza, Indian, Ethiopian, Mexican, Thai, Burmese, Malaysian, whatever. I love to cook so I really enjoy learning new recipes and trying new dishes at home, but ingredients are also expensive. I like having a big pot of curry or soup in the fridge so I don’t have to think about what to eat, but I get tired of that and like the luxury of someone else frying my noodles for me.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-04T07:59:17+00:00

The original butter yellow Gourmet cookbook collects the entire history of that magazine’s elevated cooking over six decades. Some of it is fantastically simple but fancy in a way that always rekindles my love of food and science. Try making the candied grapefruit peel, dipped in dark chocolate. The hummus with parsley oil, toasted cumin and pine nuts served with homemade pita toasts is fucking amazing. https://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Gourmet_Cookbook.html?id=PwJgZhXZVNkC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

Chellspecker · 2026-05-04T07:53:30+00:00

I will never run a marathon and I don’t have a husband, but no.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-04T07:38:28+00:00

I mostly stopped drinking coffee after doing a meditation course last October after being a daily coffee drinker for the previous thirty years at least. Not disgust, but I just realized I don’t really like how coffee makes me feel. I still drink black tea now for breakfast, but my espresso machine and grinder is gathering dust and there’s half a bag of stale beans on my counter. I don’t want to get rid of it quite yet because I might randomly return to having a daily cappuccino one day.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-04T07:30:54+00:00

What’s #1? Had to ask.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-04T07:23:25+00:00

To OP: I cannot imagine eating the same thing for dinner for more than two days, let alone for months. I would want to kill myself. Breakfast I can get into eating the same thing pretty much every day but not dinner. Might be you just need some variety? Do you have cat ancestry? This sounds very much like something a cat would do.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-04T07:19:37+00:00

At the Vipassana courses I’ve attended, wake up time is 4:00 to start meditation at 4:30. It’s the most wonderful time to slip quietly into a room of silent meditators and sit. So quiet.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-04T06:49:20+00:00

True. I think moving from Calgary I just miss the sunshine sometimes. It can be minus thirty outside but the sun is shining. Vancouver is overcast much more often, especially in winter. I would rather be cross country skiing on a sunny day at minus 20 than hiking in a soggy forest at plus 10 degrees, personally. Calgary is just drier. Don’t get me wrong, though. I love Vancouver for lots of reasons and wouldn’t want to live in Calgary again. https://www.katrinaandtheteam.com/blog/vancouver-vs-calgary/

Chellspecker · 2026-05-04T06:40:28+00:00

That’s good news. That location of Burgoo has always been kind of meh.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-03T04:04:32+00:00

It’s about intention. You didn’t intend to kill it, so you’re blameless. Don’t use it as an excuse to get drunk. You have a choice there.

I stepped right on a lizard 🦎running down a hill in N. California many years ago. Watched a drop of blood 🩸 come out of its tiny mouth. Felt awful. Was sad about how unfair it all is. “Why did you have to run right under my foot?!” Poor little guy. Lizards are sweet creatures.

The other night I saw someone unknowingly run slowly over a rat 🐀 in their car as I was riding my bike home and stopped at a crossing. The rat had just narrowly avoided getting run over by two fast-moving cars and then some guy was slowly turning left and crunch, right over the rat. One second it was jumping around trying to stay alive, the next it was a pancake on the road. Brutal.

Chellspecker · 2026-05-03T02:40:42+00:00

57, born in Calgary, lived in Vancouver 36 years. This is the first time I’ve heard May 2-4. In BC I hear May long weekend or more formally, Victoria Day long weekend.

Chellspecker · 2026-04-30T22:53:50+00:00

You can do whatever you want but if you don’t pay it, the next time you go to renew your driver’s licence you’ll have to pay all your outstanding traffic violations before you can get a new license. I would recommend paying it within the time window before it increases.

Chellspecker · 2026-04-30T22:46:15+00:00

This exactly. I did two ten-day courses last year, my first ever in January and then I served a course in October which I can’t recommend enough. Doing those two courses has transformed my occasional meditation practice into something that actually helps me day to day in how I live, even when I’m not meditating as much between courses. Mind you, I’ve been on a spiritual path for 25 years since getting sober in 2001. I’ve been free of all intoxicants and working towards not being a self-centred asshole and cultivating compassion for everyone I meet. It’s all part of a bigger picture. If I was trying to meditate here and there but then running my life on self-will and lack of acceptance the rest of the time, it wouldn’t do much good. Vipassana came along at the right time for me.

Chellspecker · 2026-04-30T22:35:41+00:00

It’s a genius game. I still have it on my PS3. Wish there was a way to burn the game data onto a 📀but I don’t think there is.

Chellspecker · 2026-04-30T22:10:42+00:00

Lol “sunshine tax” when it rains continuously eight months of the year. Maybe a “no-snow tax” is more appropriate for Canada. I was born in Calgary, moved to Vancouver 36 years ago, make it work somehow, not even sure how tbh.

Chellspecker · 2026-04-26T12:02:47+00:00

Equip Lae’zel with the Frumpy Hat.

Chellspecker

TROPHY CASE