I guess we are lucky that our lives were affected as little as it was. My work is essential, so life went on as usual for me. Some of my classes were converted to online lectures, that's all. I'm not particularly social by nature, so I kept seeing my usual little circle of friends when I have time. Since the Swedish gyms were never locked down, we kept training as usual.
Mr. Igor however has a little IT business and works in search engine optimization, and he works with clients dealing in luxury goods. He got so few orders this year, I couldn't even be bothered to ask him to pool his money with mine for the household. Yikes. I actually feel very ambivalent about this: On one hand, I find it absolutely barf-worthy that there are people out there that can and will spend more money on a single, unnecessaryluxury item than I make in one year. On the other hand, destroying this niche industry doesn't affect the rich people who buy the items, it hurts the people who carve out a living in a niche created by capitalist demand.
Luckily, we do just fine on my salary alone and haven't had to cut down on anything. Others aren't so lucky, so we feel privileged we have that option.
I think the only thing that really, truly was different, is that I was supposed to have has my foot fixed by now. By this point in time, I should have been through the surgery, through the 3 months in a cast, done with the 3+ months in a boot and probably more or less done with rehabilitation. I have no clue when it might be in the future. It's frustrating. Everything was planned out with work and school.
Also we were supposed to go see the ballet Swan Lake back in.... April? And it has been pushed ahead like 7 times now, with the current date set to May next year. What a weird year.
But the important part is, that no one we know got sick and no one we know have died. Since Mr. Igor's mother has both a lung disease and an immune system disease, we count ourselves lucky.
But this has been a weird year for sure. I don't think anyone will miss it.
So... I've been doing a post like this on and off for some years, so here goes...
Best reads
I have always loved dinosaurs. I thought I would "grow out of it" at some age, but nope. Still love them. My favorites are the massive sauropods for also appealing to my geeky side: How did they manage to grow so massively large? How did the meat machine work with such heavy weight? And for that matter, how did they even manage to get enough nutrition to grow that large? How did they keep from overheating?
This book is everything I ever wanted about sauropods. Seriously. I can't recommend it enough!
/Geekgasm
Worst reads
Nuking the moon. This book baffles me. How do you take a bunch of events like this and just make it... Boring?
Listverse, The Chive, Bored Panda etc. can do it, why can't this book?
Am I missing something? Is the authors way of expressing himself just completely incompatible with my humor?
Best TV
I honestly can't chose: The Boys or The Expanse.
The Boys managed to take one of my favourite comic books ever and just make it way, way better.
The Expanse managed to take one of my favourite books ever and just make it way, way better.
Nope, can't chose. I love both.
Worst TV
Watchmen. Yikes. So, I can basically say the same about the Watchmen movie as I said about The Boys: It managed to take one of my favourite comic books ever and just make it way, way better (Going for an Occam's razor/Chekov's gun and framing Dr Manhattan as the enemy, since he was going to leave earth anyways was just brilliant) So naturally I was interested in the series. But nope, couldn't even get through the first episode. And that was after getting the Dr Manhattan twists spoiled and being genuinely curious to see it pulled off. Nope. Boring.
Honorable mention
Some times it can be a huge disappointment to revisit a childhood favourite. Because, obviously, you were a child back then, and your taste have developed and refined.
But not always.
Swat Kats is still freaking awesome. Two seconds into the intro guitar and I feel twelve years old again, and everything is awesome because Swat Kats is on Cartoon network playing on the Blu-ray.
I loved this show. I still do.
Back then, I wanted to be Felina Feral, capable action-girl. Instead I have ended up more like Callie Briggs, equally capable, just minus the action part. Heh.
(I also might have wanted to learn to weld just because T-bone looked so damn cool doing it in the season 2 intro. Don't judge)
Dishonorable mention
Some times it can be a huge disappointment to revisit a childhood favourite.
Some times your changing world view also changes how you see a show.
I think I was like... 17? When I first encountered Daria, and thought it was the smartest show on TV. I idolized Daria. I wanted to be her.
Now?
She's a mean person. A pseudo-intellectual female neckbeard. Really awful to people who are trying to be nice to her. An disloyal friend. A slacktivist of the worst kind: Expecting everyone else to fight her battles for her while she makes mean comments hidden behind a book. Judgmental to people who don't actually deserve it. 3edgy5me.
Basically almost everything I hate in current year, rolled up in an entitled little package.
Some times you change and grow, some times the times force you to grow.
Luckily, I borrowed a friends collection before buying it myself, otherwise it would have ended up as 2020's worst purchase.
Best purchase
I got the Plantronics Poly BackBeat FIT 3200 for the gym, but they have basically become my favorites for everything non-commute related. These are really good, and the little charging station/holder is a convenient one too. I like that I can have one in my ear and the other one charging, instead of the massive headsets I usually wear.
I replaced my old phone with the Nokia 8,3 and have been really happy with it. It's just a good, nice phone. But hey, it get's a coolness factor point for being a Nokia instead of the Samsung's and Apple's that everyone else seems to have.
Worst purchase
Probably the tickets to the Swan Lake. lol. Once we actually get to go, I will probably have forgotten about them.
And one last styling product from the Schwarzkopf Christmas calendar.
I sat down to write this post to complain about this being, first of all, a styling product and second of all, a sad 8 gram of product. That's 0,2 ounces for my non metric readers.
But googling for the ingredient list showed me that not only is this the full-size product, it is also shockingly expensive for such a tiny little product. Like, shockingly expensive.
The cheapest I found was 160 SEK, which is 15,6 Euro, 15,2 £, 18,9 $ and 24,1 Canadian dollar. Damn.
So I guess they intended to end this on a high not, with a real Christmas gift that would have been a treat to anyone but a niche customer like me?
Today my hair turns 19! It's so weird to think about. I know my ends aren't physically 19 years old due to all the trims I've had over the years, but still. Weird.
Another 100 ml styling product today: Schwarzkopf Osis+ Session Label Super Dry Fix strong hold hairspray. I will of course not be using this.
Schwarzkopf Osis+ Session Label Super Dry Fix strong hold hairspray ingredient list Dimethyl Ether, Alcohol denat., Aqua (Water, Eau), Octylacrylamide/Acrylates/Butylaminoethyl Methacrylate Copolymer, Aminomethyl Propanol, Parfum (fragrance), Linalool, Hexyl Cinnamal, Benzyl Salicylate, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Citronellol, Benzyl Alcohol
The Schwarzkopf Christmas calendar had a scarf today, and I'm mildly confused. Is it a special hair scarf? Or is it just a regular scarf? Am I supposed to use it on my hair? And for that matter, when did Schwarzkopf start making accessories?
Winter solstice should be around here for my location.
For Copenhagen, the sun rises at 08:37 and sets at 15:38. That brings the "day" (If you can call it that) to a super depressing 7 hours and one minute long. It's nice to know that it turns around from tomorrow and the day slowly goes longer again now.
The Morocco Method has it as a day for root work, so if I had planned a trim, I would probably have done it today.
Todays Schwarzkopf Christmas calendar had a hair mask. One of only three conditioning products this year. Booh!
Schwarzkopf BC Bonacure Fibre Force Mask ingredients
Another styling spray in todays Schwarzkopf Christmas calendar. I complained about this last year too, but it really annoying me that the styling products are 100 ml, where the hair masks are only 30. This year I did get one amazing, full size leave in conditioner, but even then, the styling products are obviously larger.
I must say though, this is the shortest ingredient list I think I have ever seen?
I'm so happy to see they decided to follow the same pattern as The Boys and release three episodes at once before continuing with one a week after that. Good choice!
I love the books and I love the show too, so I'll be stuck on the couch to watch and rewatch this today.
Todays Schwarzkopf calendar had a styling product: Osis+ Soft volumizing powder. It has a funny smell that reminds me of some sort of candy. This will also go to a friend.
Another shampoo today. Schwarzkopf fibre clinix tribond volumize shampoo. I haven't been able to find an ingredient list for this online, and I'm honestly too lazy to type it up myself for a 50 ml sample size shampoo that I will give away anyways.
I found lots of pompous descriptions of it online though:
Fibre Clinix is the new fully modular hair care regimen harnessing cutting-edge science with customisation targeting multiple hair needs. The C21 & Tripple Bonding Technology offer Schwarzkopf Professional's most advanced and powerful repair performance.
TRIPLE BONDING TECHNOLOGY The advanced bonding technology, which is based on 10 years of research and strengthens the hair structure from within. It features a trivalent ion that builds new bonds through the creation of a 3-dimensional network inside the hair fibre. The Fibre Clinix regimen increases elasticity, resilience and leads to hair that is up to 10x stronger.
C21 TECHNOLOGY Virgin hair is protected by an outer layer of 21 hydrocarbons called proteolipids, a combination of proteins and fatty acids. Damaged hair loses this protective layer. The C21 Technology restores the C21-Lipid chains, which is more than the previous C18-Lipid chains. This brings the cuticle closer to natural perfection for improved shine, manageability and natural movement.
It's one of those updos where I'm not completely sure if it counts as a separate updo, or a hybrid of Chinese, cinnamon and something else. I mean, there is only so much you can really do with hair, especially when it comes to coiling it around itself.
The Schwarzkopf calendar had a styling product today, but one that actually sounded interesting. This is a texturizing hairspray, but it's based on sugar.
I'm not an expert on styling products since I don't use them, but a sugar based styling product sounds interesting to me.
Would sugar as opposed to salt be better or gentler for your hair and scalp? Does anyone know?
My leave in conditioner did not hold up well over night? It got more messy than usual.
Not a big problem though, since the cute messiness works pretty well with the megaRoyal bun.
Especially now when it's hat season, I like really flat buns.
The Schwarzkopf calendar had another Mad About Waves product today. For a second, I was happy thinking it was a leave in conditioner spray, but to turned out to be a texturizing spray.
The Rituals advent calendar had a Overnight Hydrating Hair Mask. I didn't expect any hair products from Rituals, since it doesn't really seem to be their thing, and last years calendar also barely had any. So this was a welcome surprise!
I mean, I get it. This is Rituals. They are all about the nice scent and the destressing, relaxing experiences and all. That is their brand and their selling point. But still. Damn.
Eight (8!) ingredients with the main purpose of adding a smell to this product. I think this might be a record?
It also has some questionable extracts:
Phyllanthus Emblica Fruit Extract, Acacia Concinna (Fruit) Extract and Moringa Oleifera Seed Extract.
I don't like extracts in my products. Legally, you can do almost whatever you want to when "extracting" an ingredient. There is an episode of The Snailcast where Shell of Holysnails talks about how a supplier to her webshop offered her ruby extract to add to her products. Which is completely nonsensical, but explains a lot of what extracts can be. I try to stay clear of them, but it's not so easy.
Too bad though, because otherwise this is a pretty good conditioner! It has some 'cones, which I like: Dimethicone and Dimethiconol.
Cetearyl Alcohol is the second ingredient after Dimethicone and is an emulsifier, which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing
There is Panthenol which maybe-maybe not penetrates and strengthens hair.
It has Glycerin which is a really good moisturizer and humectant. On top of that, there is and Ethylhexylglycerin, which is a glycerin derivative with the same safety rating as glycerin.
The conditioner also has some interesting oils: PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Argania Spinosa (Kernel) Oil, Camellia Japonica Seed Oil and Helianthus Annuus Hybrid (Sunflower Seed) Oil. I especially like the camellia oil and wish it was easier for me to get a hold of it in pure form.
It contains some protein too: Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein PG-Propyl Silanetriol. I thought it was really interesting that they have two kinds of plant based proteins like this, so is Rituals Overnight hydrating hair mask maybe vegan?
The conditioner even has a sunscreen ingredient: Benzyl Salicylate.
In total it has 36 ingredients, and I think this would have been a way better conditioner if they had cut it in about half. OR at least removed the last 8, which were basically just fragrances.
The Schwarzkopf Christmas calendar had a leave in conditioner. And a big one! 75 ml. This is actually a full size product! This was a welcome surprise.
It even has a sort of warm smell that I like.
So far every other product I've received has gone into my semi-packed travel bag since they are travel-sized, or they have gone to friends if it has been styling products or shampoos. But this one will go on my hair-products-currently-in-use shelf!
Schwarzkopf BC Peptide Repair Rescue Sealed Ends Aqua ingredient list
Argh, no. The Bodyshop calendar held the Banana Truly Nourishing Conditioner. As someone who hates bananas, this sucks. Not only does this thing stink like banana, it's not even a tolerable kind of banana-stink.
I got the hair mask version of this one last year, but at least last year I got a set of the strawberry products instead. Booh.
I actually did try this one before, and luckily the stink doesn't linger. But I might also have rinsed extra, extra thoroughly to make sure I got rid of it...
The Body Shop Banana Truly Nourishing Conditioner Aqua/Water/Eau, Musa Sapientium Fruit Extract/Musa Sapientum (Banana) Fruit Extract, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Parfum/Fragrance, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Lecithin, Mel/Honey/Miel, Panthenol, Propylene Glycol, Linalool, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, CI 19140/Yellow 5, CI 15985/Yellow 6.
COSDNA analysis here, but it's not great. Some acne triggers, irritation triggers and red ingredients. Good thing there is too little to use it for anything other than my ends? Benzophenone-4 is a sunscreen ingredient though, so that's good.
This product is of course way too small for me (30 ml) to use for anything else than an overnight ends-conditioning, so I guess I don't really mind?
I'm considering doing statistics on how many repeats the Schwarzkopf Christmas calendar has, but I guess hair product lineups doesn't have as many changes as other types of products, so maybe that's silly?
Aqua/Water/Eau, Musa Sapientium Fruit Extract/Musa Sapientum (Banana) Fruit Extract, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Parfum/Fragrance, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Lecithin, Mel/Honey/Miel, Panthenol, Propylene Glycol, Linalool, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, CI 19140/Yellow 5, CI 15985/Yellow 6.
Unfortunately, this conditioner smells absolutely yucky. Seriously, ew. Last year at least I got the strawberry set with shampoo and conditioner, which was pretty nice.
The Schwarzkopf hair calendar had a nice little leave in conditioner spray. Now this one I know how to use! I always like having a spray conditioner around. Sometimes while handling my hair, which I do damp, the ends will get a bit too dry for easy handling so I like to spray them to keep them easier to work with.
This one is very nice and I have used it up from last year.
