Showing my gratitude weekly has become something of an enjoyable routine for me. The Ten Thing of Thankful blog hop has this mood-lifting effect, both from trying to find your own ten grats' for the list and from reading everyone else's.

You can find all the other participants or chose to link-up yourself at the link-up.

Ten Thing of Thankful #13

First — I was very productive in the area of writing this week.

And editing, too.

I am proud of myself because I think I wrote some really cool things this time, and they're all a bit different. I removed one passage from the SSC&B story that described Aurelia's building. I actually liked it, but it slowed the story down a bit...

For those interested:

The building that she had been calling home ever since she moved to this weird country five years ago with its Renaissance Revival architecture, iron fire escapes, mansard roof and ornate relief panels that she had loved from first sight, loomed over her, seemingly whispering, welcome home, little writer-like a lover who had been left on read.

"Ahh," Aurelia grunted to herself as she climbed the seemingly endless stairs to the tiny studio that she had been renting, just enough for her extravagant needs—which essentially amounted to the existence of a bath, a tiny kitchen nook with a wine rack, a bed beside her writing area, and built-in bookcases fitted into the narrow spaces beneath the eaves—but the damned climb through the rather narrow, dark stairwell at the back of the building was not something she particularly enjoyed.

Second — the SSC&B

This is the one thing on my blog that has been completely out of my comfort zone, but I am so happy that I accepted the walk-on invitation.

Also, under Denise's post for this week, there is a very helpful comment directing new readers to the correct blogs if they want to indulge further in the storyline

Third — the POETICS prompt from dVerse

I think I wrote one of my sweetest poems in years for this prompt, and I didn't even know I could still write something like this. I am so happy that I took part in the blog-hop because this is truly one of the most beautiful poems that I have written in a long time.

For those who read it already, yeah I did change that one verse a bit because I read it again the other day and felt it ruined the flow a bit...

Fourth — music.

There is no list without music. I found a few new things***new to me, at least***that I want to share.

First of all, I found a project that has given a voice to one of my favorite Russian poets, Sergey Yesenin, and to some of his most beautiful poems ever.

Although the second one here was written while he was staying in a psychiatric ward, shortly before his suicide, I have always found it hauntingly sad, yet beautiful...

The two songs I fell in love with are by СДП: Какая ночь! Я не могу and Не гляди на меня с упрёком. They are actually created by using the help of AI... Sorry...

Secondly, I would like to know how I did not know of this thing existing... the Lost in Forest album by Aoki Yutaka. While, yes, I did not listen to his music nor neither of the bands he was in when he was alive, I did listen and know the few featured artists on this album…

I think this will become my writing music for the scarier stuff, lol. I have been listening to Lucas King on repeat while writing some of the stories (helps me get into the mood and he has a lot of moods. Btw... the Dark Piano ones from 2023 are my favorites)...

Fifth— the weather.

The weather is cold, rainy, and the skies are so damned grey that every time I see someone post a picture of a beautiful summer, I get into a fit of jealousy, but...

I have been sleeping, binge-watching documentaries on YouTube, and creating a lot... not once feeling guilty for not leaving my bed... I even found a good piece of wood to use as a table for my laptop as am writing...

Sixth — YouTube.

While talking about music, I miss Tidal, but I changed to YouTube Music as it's included in my Premium subscription, because I am currently not working… then… on YouTube itself... I am binge-watching a lot of shows on there… many on the Second World War and some rather sad topics from the time, and then a lot on life in the Tudor, Victorian, and Edwardian eras…

Seventh— Coffee.

My relationship with coffee... things that people find weird about me:

1. I drink 4-5 cups a day at least.
2. My cup is tiny... it only holds half a liter...
3. I don't mind it getting cold
4. No sugar or sweeteners
5. Unless it's a latte or a cappuccino—then I use syrups.
6. But mostly, I drink café crème—the black one. It tastes kinda similar to espresso.
7. I detest the taste of white sugar in coffee
8. I can drink it before sleep

Eighth —Am feeling better today.

I had a scare of getting ill. My head still aches a bit and my eyes feel weird when I move them... or the sockets... and I have a runny nose, but at least I'm keeping food down now, and hopefully I can visit my Tallinn family soon… I actually wanted to go this week, but I kept putting it off because I wasn't feeling great... it's like getting ill but not ill ill...

Ninth — The Six Sentence Story prompts.

Besides writing for it I have found a few Authors I absolutely love. I love reading... And the community that comes from it being a blog-hop... I can't even put into words how happy I am to have found this place...

Tenth— dVerse Poets.

Though I did mention the Poetics prompt this week, I have also found some really awesome poets there… I have been reading a lot… I could perhaps link some of my favorites, but then I feel like the participants may feel they owe me a link back or something like that (they wouldn't I just overshare if I fall in love with something) and others might feel bad if I don't give them a shout-out…

I love them all... lol… so... sorry... go find your own favorites at the link-ups... lol... plus...you can find me fangirling in some of the comment areas... hehehe...

There's more of my work:

If you like short stories I have them scooped up into one category (including the six-sentence stories).

The Nervous Poet at the SSC&B can be followed here.

There is also poetry.

More personal entries can be found at the Blog.

There's also the IT studies blog in Estonian and "Chaos in Spring" on YouTube, Spotify and other streaming services.