Wear, Watch, Want #89: The Future is Dry and Wet Edition

Wear: Eucerin Healing Creme

First, some backstory. I have inflammatory arthritis, an autoimmune disease. People with inflammatory arthritis, or connective tissue disease (which I also have) can see their disease turn into more well-known, concrete forms of their illness, for example rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis. My skin has been so dry and red in the past week that I thought, “Well, this is it, I have psoriatic arthritis now.” Turns out, psoriasis on your face is rare, and it’s even more rare to have psoriasis ONLY on your face. But I just want to convey HOW BAD this dry, itchy, red skin was. I needed something extreme, as my usual cures weren’t working. I picked up a tub (it is an enormous tub and comes in only one size) of Eucerin Healing Creme and hoped for the best. To say that this cream was effective is not nearly praise enough. In just a few days it looked like I had gotten a face transplant, such was the difference. This stuff is incredible. It has the consistency of diaper rash cream, and I’ve found that it glides across my dry face much better if I press in some oil first, then smooth the cream over that. The oil (I use argan oil) provides enough slip to make applying this cream much easier, and it also adds an extra layer of moisture. The tub is so large I’ll be using this stuff for the next decade, but at least I’ve found something that works.

Watch: Travelers

I started watching Travelers maybe a year ago, when I was desparate for a TV series to watch but everything was on hiatus or had been previously binged multiple times. It was perfectly fine, but once my regular TV came back I forgot about it. Then, over THIS winter hiatus, I was looking for a show and thought, why not give it another try? There was a new season just added to Netflix at the beginning of December. Reader, I watched two and a half seasons in less than a week. I debated not including it as a Watch because I only write about things that I love and fully endorse, and this show definitely has some issues. BUT! Watching almost all of something in so few days kind of proves that I at least thought it was pretty good, even if sometimes it makes me scream at the TV for being dumb.

So the plot of Travelers is that many centuries from now, the world has gone to absolute shit, and everyone lives underground and eats mush and drinks recycled water. They realize that the events leading to this future began in the early 21st century, and develop technology to send consciousnesses back in time to take over the body of someone minutes before their death. This is a terrible plan that only a man would think of, and it doesn’t really work. The travelers (that’s what the future meddlers call themselves) work in teams to change current events in the hope of a better future.

Travelers is right up my alley as a person who loves Canadian sci-fi shows. Lost Girl, Wynonna Earp, Killjoys, and probably many more. Travelers is on my list of perfectly fine shows, but not the ones I evangelize about non-stop, and i realized the difference between it and the shows previously listed is that it wasn’t created by a woman. Travelers is the product of a man - and I think sometimes it really shows. There is an ensemble cast, but men outnumber women and the lead role (in any ensemble, despite being an ENSEMBLE, there’s always a lead role. It’s very Animal Farm) is played by Eric McCormack. One of the women wears fake eyelashes (or has extensions i suppose) and the other one doesn’t. As someone who always notices falsies (Hint: It’s more common for women to wear them than not) this seems like SUCH an odd choice. They add a woman to the cast a little later in the series, and she’s my favorite, and then don’t use her NEARLY enough. And that’s just what I can complain about without revealing any plot points.

DESPITE MY GRIPES, I still watched almost all of Travelers in a week and if they release a fourth season I’ll watch that too. Maybe that’s why the release it in December - they know people like me will be itching for new TV and will take almost any fix they can get.

Want: Duck Boots

It feels like every week I’m mentioning something I need to better handle Pacific Northwest weather, EVEN THOUGH I started buying clothes to fit my new climate months before I left LA. I have realized that I could really use some duck boots. Waterproof, warm, and sturdy, duck boots are just the thing I need to handle the rainy, cold winter. I love these Crocs ones because they are all black (surprisingly hard to find!) and affordable. I’m planning on adding them to my winter arsenal ASAP.