Cat ...
Mar. 20th, 2026 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azurelunatic... Make better choices.
Yellface went into Mila's room, hid under a table, beefed with Mila in some fashion, and was hauled ignominiously out.
As for me, my rescheduled retina appointment went fine. Some of the issues have cleared up. Prognosis very good. I had to transfer between power chair and clinic chair three times. As I told them on the final occasion: I have a bad knee and a worse knee. Trying CBD ointment in addition to Voltaren, on the advice of my now-former primary care. (And I know who my new primary care is going to be, yay.)
It's possible that my retina appointments this year are cursed. On the last attempt, my car was so low on battery that it died at an intersection and there was a whole drama with a guy who scared the whole block and tried to open my car door. This time we got there okay, but Belovedest suffered a flat tire while out withalexseanchai later in the day. This wrapped up with Thorn having to come rescue that Toaster with a wrench that actually fit the nuts. (Cue penis measuring jokes.)
Yellface went into Mila's room, hid under a table, beefed with Mila in some fashion, and was hauled ignominiously out.
As for me, my rescheduled retina appointment went fine. Some of the issues have cleared up. Prognosis very good. I had to transfer between power chair and clinic chair three times. As I told them on the final occasion: I have a bad knee and a worse knee. Trying CBD ointment in addition to Voltaren, on the advice of my now-former primary care. (And I know who my new primary care is going to be, yay.)
It's possible that my retina appointments this year are cursed. On the last attempt, my car was so low on battery that it died at an intersection and there was a whole drama with a guy who scared the whole block and tried to open my car door. This time we got there okay, but Belovedest suffered a flat tire while out with
alexseanchai later in the day. This wrapped up with Thorn having to come rescue that Toaster with a wrench that actually fit the nuts. (Cue penis measuring jokes.)weekend stream plans
Mar. 20th, 2026 03:11 pmalthea_valaraOkay folks! I'm still catching up on sleep and am otherwise not up to doing anything strenuous, but I *would* like to stream this weekend to get back into it as it's been a few weeks!
Therefore, tonight's Final Fantasy XI will be a "Chill & Chat" stream! I plan to just grind levels on one of my non-main jobs tonight. What job? WELL, THAT'S UP TO YOU!
Feel free to vote on the poll even if you don't intend to watch the stream. Wanna watch? I'm at https://twitch.tv/altheavalara
You can read about the different jobs here: https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Category:Jobs
Tomorrow, I also plan to take it easy. We'll be doing the latest Hildibrand, then clearing out more open quests from my journal. I also might just keep an eye on the discords and hop around to FATEs or hunt trains. Whatever looks interesting and chill.
Start time is 7:30pm for both streams -- or later. Lately, we haven't even started dinner until 6:50pm (much to my displeasure, but can't be helped). I'm also not sure how long I'll stream, but I figure it will be at least 60-90 minutes?
Final Fantasy XI stream! (tonight)
Therefore, tonight's Final Fantasy XI will be a "Chill & Chat" stream! I plan to just grind levels on one of my non-main jobs tonight. What job? WELL, THAT'S UP TO YOU!
Feel free to vote on the poll even if you don't intend to watch the stream. Wanna watch? I'm at https://twitch.tv/altheavalara
Poll #34390 FFXI Job to Level?
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 0
What Job Should I Level in FFXI?
View Answers
Warrior (Currently level 1)
0 (0.0%)
Red Mage (Currently level 55)
0 (0.0%)
Ninja (Currently level 37)
0 (0.0%)
Dancer (Currently level 40)
0 (0.0%)
Monk (Currently level 1)
0 (0.0%)
Black Mage (Currently level 50)
0 (0.0%)
Thief (Currently level 53)
0 (0.0%)
Scholar (Currently level 52)
0 (0.0%)
What other job(s) should I unlock tonight?
View Answers
Paladin
0 (0.0%)
Dark Knight
0 (0.0%)
Beastmaster
0 (0.0%)
Bard
0 (0.0%)
Ranger
0 (0.0%)
Samurai
0 (0.0%)
Dragoon
0 (0.0%)
Blue Mage
0 (0.0%)
Corsair
0 (0.0%)
Puppetmaster
0 (0.0%)
You can read about the different jobs here: https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Category:Jobs
Final Fantasy XIV Stream! (tomorrow)
Tomorrow, I also plan to take it easy. We'll be doing the latest Hildibrand, then clearing out more open quests from my journal. I also might just keep an eye on the discords and hop around to FATEs or hunt trains. Whatever looks interesting and chill.
Start time is 7:30pm for both streams -- or later. Lately, we haven't even started dinner until 6:50pm (much to my displeasure, but can't be helped). I'm also not sure how long I'll stream, but I figure it will be at least 60-90 minutes?
The bike is back!
Mar. 19th, 2026 03:33 pmhalfshellvenusThe repair shop finished late on Tuesday, so it was gone almost a whole week. That's the longest I've been without a bike apart from vacations and when our garage burned up.
When I got it back, the seat post was jacked up about 3/4 inch too high. The mechanics never put it back after testing the gears, in spite of the blue painter's tape that shows exactly where to set it. The rear tool kit was also upside down (?), and they'd returned the handlebars to the neutral position. The shop had previously advised tilting them up a little to reduce the reach and the strain on the nerves of my left hand. I'd wondered if that had helped at all, but yesterday's ride produced numbness sooner than before, so clearly it did. I've restored the tilt again.
The ride itself was kind of brutal, due to the sudden jump in temperatures. I had to cut it short by 3 miles, and it was getting pretty tough by the end. It was only 87F, but that is a LOT until I start to get acclimated. My maximum temperature starts at 88F early in the season, and by August it's at 94F— and I will actually start a ride at 89F if it's not going to get too much hotter. But yesterday? Much too soon.
I finished watching Doctor Foster. Not terribly happy about the ending. Then I tried and rejected a bunch of BritBox comedies that were 1) unfunny and/or 2) too stupid to tolerate. One even had a laugh track. So I started Without Motive, a police procedural set in Bristol. Interesting mystery, but the characters are unlikable and it features a Welsh DCS who is incompetent and a drunk. May not finish it.
Bookwise, I've started Dungeon Crawler Carl. It was recommended to me, and so far so good. An alien species comes back to Earth to make good on the minerals/elements claim they filed (in a galactic office) 50 years earlier. All of the buildings/structures are flattened, so the only survivors are people and animals who were outside. They're eligible to play the Dungeon Crawler game, an 18-level challenge with increasing difficulty and reducing eligibility. The sole winner gets... to live? I think opting out (or not getting one of the limited admission slots) also equals death, so playing is advisable. Carl is accompanied by his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, for added fun. Also? Level 1 contains goblins. \o/
I need to line up my next book. I have some free Amazon thing, but the quality is never guaranteed.
When I got it back, the seat post was jacked up about 3/4 inch too high. The mechanics never put it back after testing the gears, in spite of the blue painter's tape that shows exactly where to set it. The rear tool kit was also upside down (?), and they'd returned the handlebars to the neutral position. The shop had previously advised tilting them up a little to reduce the reach and the strain on the nerves of my left hand. I'd wondered if that had helped at all, but yesterday's ride produced numbness sooner than before, so clearly it did. I've restored the tilt again.
The ride itself was kind of brutal, due to the sudden jump in temperatures. I had to cut it short by 3 miles, and it was getting pretty tough by the end. It was only 87F, but that is a LOT until I start to get acclimated. My maximum temperature starts at 88F early in the season, and by August it's at 94F— and I will actually start a ride at 89F if it's not going to get too much hotter. But yesterday? Much too soon.
I finished watching Doctor Foster. Not terribly happy about the ending. Then I tried and rejected a bunch of BritBox comedies that were 1) unfunny and/or 2) too stupid to tolerate. One even had a laugh track. So I started Without Motive, a police procedural set in Bristol. Interesting mystery, but the characters are unlikable and it features a Welsh DCS who is incompetent and a drunk. May not finish it.
Bookwise, I've started Dungeon Crawler Carl. It was recommended to me, and so far so good. An alien species comes back to Earth to make good on the minerals/elements claim they filed (in a galactic office) 50 years earlier. All of the buildings/structures are flattened, so the only survivors are people and animals who were outside. They're eligible to play the Dungeon Crawler game, an 18-level challenge with increasing difficulty and reducing eligibility. The sole winner gets... to live? I think opting out (or not getting one of the limited admission slots) also equals death, so playing is advisable. Carl is accompanied by his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, for added fun. Also? Level 1 contains goblins. \o/
I need to line up my next book. I have some free Amazon thing, but the quality is never guaranteed.
knowing, slowing, growing things
Mar. 19th, 2026 04:52 pmpensnestThe sky was beautifully blue on Sunday, a helpful incentive to get me out in the garden. I unstrangled the blackcurrant bushes from the netting I had put very badly over them, then dug out a bunch of weeds, rediscovered the tentatively emerging rhubarbs, and planted a rhubarb root that I was given recently. Good job, plenty more to do.
( lots more rambling about garden, dancing, and stuff )
Costume night at rehearsal this evening. I have accumulated a number of witchy outfit-adjacent items, it will be a matter of figuring out how they fit together. But at least I won't have to go on stage naked, even though that would probably be more authentic than anything else.
( lots more rambling about garden, dancing, and stuff )
Costume night at rehearsal this evening. I have accumulated a number of witchy outfit-adjacent items, it will be a matter of figuring out how they fit together. But at least I won't have to go on stage naked, even though that would probably be more authentic than anything else.
wednesday reads
Mar. 18th, 2026 05:13 pmisisWhat I've recently finished reading:
Blood over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang. I'm a sucker for technology-infused magic, and I really liked the sort of computer-programming-magic here; in general the worldbuilding reminded me a bit of the TV show Arcane, which of course has its "magitech", but the main similarity is the elite vs the underclass (who they exploit), and the dark truths behind the marvels of the city. However, the characters are one-dimensional, with stereotypical views that either clearly cast them as the villains or that make it obvious the narrative will be about their realizations that change their views. I will say, though, that I was (pleasantly) surprised by the ending, as I applaud the writer for choosing the more realistic and interesting path over what you might expect from YA.
Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes by Leah Litman, who is a law professor and co-host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, which I've never listened to, but I have heard her on NPR and other people's podcasts. I agree with her main thesis, that the Court has gone off the rails by picking and choosing their "legal principles" by whether or not they agree (ideologically) with the outcome that will result, which frankly stinks. It's well-researched, with lots of cites and notes. However, each of the five chapters is presented using the conceit of a particular show or movie, and as I was only familiar with most of them through osmosis, this didn't really work for me and sometimes seemed overly pop-culture-cutesy. (Like, Barbie - the movie, not the toy - is used as the lens to examine overturning Roe vs. Wade; Game of Thrones tells us that Winter Is Coming For Voting Rights; Mean Girls don't want to sit with LGBTQ people.) For an old Gen-X-er like me it seems like unnecessary metaphor, but maybe it will land better with people who want more glitz and meme in their nonfiction...but in that case, maybe a relatively dense book about law is not what they will be reading? I also will gripe about the editing, which seems particularly poor in the last chapter where Litman misspelled Ronald Reagan's surname and gave the same Neil Gorsuch quote twice within a few paragraphs.
Blood over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang. I'm a sucker for technology-infused magic, and I really liked the sort of computer-programming-magic here; in general the worldbuilding reminded me a bit of the TV show Arcane, which of course has its "magitech", but the main similarity is the elite vs the underclass (who they exploit), and the dark truths behind the marvels of the city. However, the characters are one-dimensional, with stereotypical views that either clearly cast them as the villains or that make it obvious the narrative will be about their realizations that change their views. I will say, though, that I was (pleasantly) surprised by the ending, as I applaud the writer for choosing the more realistic and interesting path over what you might expect from YA.
Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes by Leah Litman, who is a law professor and co-host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, which I've never listened to, but I have heard her on NPR and other people's podcasts. I agree with her main thesis, that the Court has gone off the rails by picking and choosing their "legal principles" by whether or not they agree (ideologically) with the outcome that will result, which frankly stinks. It's well-researched, with lots of cites and notes. However, each of the five chapters is presented using the conceit of a particular show or movie, and as I was only familiar with most of them through osmosis, this didn't really work for me and sometimes seemed overly pop-culture-cutesy. (Like, Barbie - the movie, not the toy - is used as the lens to examine overturning Roe vs. Wade; Game of Thrones tells us that Winter Is Coming For Voting Rights; Mean Girls don't want to sit with LGBTQ people.) For an old Gen-X-er like me it seems like unnecessary metaphor, but maybe it will land better with people who want more glitz and meme in their nonfiction...but in that case, maybe a relatively dense book about law is not what they will be reading? I also will gripe about the editing, which seems particularly poor in the last chapter where Litman misspelled Ronald Reagan's surname and gave the same Neil Gorsuch quote twice within a few paragraphs.
HR - Oscars and parties
Mar. 17th, 2026 08:52 pmruricApparently having been supremely indifferent to men's fashion for my entire life I now have a burning interest in it?
I may have been glued to Threads for a while watching the pictures come through from the Oscars and pre- post- parties on Sunday and into the wee small hours of Monday morning.
I'm blaming these fools...
Click to embiggen.
There's also a hilarious video that goes with pic 2 on JR's instagram - last slide in that post - which makes me snort/giggle every time I watch it because of the awkwardness of it all.
I would like to flop tonight but I need to tick off some tasks from my endless "Do ALL The Things" list for sorting out my flat/life. Alas it is already 9:15pm. Wonder how much I can achieve in an hour/90 minutes?
What can I possibly bribe myself with as a reward if I'm a good girl and get shit done?
I may have been glued to Threads for a while watching the pictures come through from the Oscars and pre- post- parties on Sunday and into the wee small hours of Monday morning.
I'm blaming these fools...
Click to embiggen.
There's also a hilarious video that goes with pic 2 on JR's instagram - last slide in that post - which makes me snort/giggle every time I watch it because of the awkwardness of it all.
I would like to flop tonight but I need to tick off some tasks from my endless "Do ALL The Things" list for sorting out my flat/life. Alas it is already 9:15pm. Wonder how much I can achieve in an hour/90 minutes?
What can I possibly bribe myself with as a reward if I'm a good girl and get shit done?
Misery Train
Mar. 16th, 2026 03:12 pmhalfshellvenusHalfshellHusband is in the throes of prepping for a colonoscopy tomorrow. The process has changed, and I don't know why.
It used to be a day without solid food and a lot of fluids and laxatives to clear you out. It's similar now, but it starts 48 hours pre-op with a day of really restricted food choices (applesauce, chicken, rice, yogurt). The day before the procedure is 8 ounces of water every hour, followed by starting the laxative liquid stuff at 6pm the night before surgery. WHAT? That'll keep you up all night! Why not do that during the daytime?
HSH called Kaiser to make sure he couldn't start the laxative early, and they confirmed and made things worse: since he has an early morning surgery, they want him to stop the laxative liquid briefly tonight, then get up at 2:30 a.m. and start again before ending it at 4:15 a.m. How is that good for the patient? He'll be exhausted from sleep deprivation. :(
Right now, he's using his typical method of coping with misery/recuperation, AKA watching the LOTR movies. I expect more of the same tomorrow, after his procedure is done.
It used to be a day without solid food and a lot of fluids and laxatives to clear you out. It's similar now, but it starts 48 hours pre-op with a day of really restricted food choices (applesauce, chicken, rice, yogurt). The day before the procedure is 8 ounces of water every hour, followed by starting the laxative liquid stuff at 6pm the night before surgery. WHAT? That'll keep you up all night! Why not do that during the daytime?
HSH called Kaiser to make sure he couldn't start the laxative early, and they confirmed and made things worse: since he has an early morning surgery, they want him to stop the laxative liquid briefly tonight, then get up at 2:30 a.m. and start again before ending it at 4:15 a.m. How is that good for the patient? He'll be exhausted from sleep deprivation. :(
Right now, he's using his typical method of coping with misery/recuperation, AKA watching the LOTR movies. I expect more of the same tomorrow, after his procedure is done.
PSA: ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
communal_creators spring mini-round is soon!
Mar. 15th, 2026 08:38 pmalthea_valaracommunal_creators is a community of creative types doing all sorts of things. We have two challenges a year: a week-long challenge in the spring and a month-long challenge in the fall.The spring mini-round is starting a week from today! ANYWAY who creates is welcome to join. It's going to be time-based, and there are three tiers to choose from for your daily time goal.
Here's the sign-up post!
I'm serious when I say "anybody who creates". Yes, many of us are writers, but we also have fiber artists (knitting, crochet, weaving, and kumihimo braid), cross-stitchers and other needleworkers, vidders, animators, music creation, bakers... and I'm probably leaving something out.
My goals:
* finish the first sleeve of my cardigan
* maybe work on the t-shirt
* do another section of Neocities work
* write some, hopefully finishing a fic
Which is plenty given that it's just a week long, but it should be a mostly free week for me, except for work. I've got nothing else planned during the week, so hope to make some good progress.
Also tooting my own horn: someone asked for a tracking spreadsheet, so I made one this morning. You can find it in the comments of the sign-up post.
Weeks 9-11 - this year is zooming by!
Mar. 16th, 2026 12:34 amruricI had a whole weekend at home - for the first time in 4 weeks! Remind me never to organise/volunteer for things that mean I have to work 3 Saturday's on the trot because that is exhausting. On the plus side I have a chunk of flexi leave to take.
So quick summary:
HOME: deep cleaned kitchen and sorted out a bunch for a recycling and tip run today. Next week it's deep cleaning the bathroom, and chipping away at the chaos and decluttering/#orjenising in the bedroom and living room. I have detailed bullet point lists and daily/weekly targets!
HEALTH still a bit FUBAR'd but improving. Finally took myself off to Toni and Guy's on Friday where a very firm hairdresser chopped off a significant amount of my hair. It had almost reached my waist and had way too many split ends. I got a free treatment (whatever product they used smelled awesome and made my hair super silky) and I now have a really simple cut - still long enough that I can put it up when gardening /at the gym, but short enough to wash and go and no danger of overnight knots. Today I got my piercings back - found a great piercer locally and I was just going to get single studs in each ear but happily we discovered 5 of my old piercings were still open! She popped new studs in those - because I have no idea where my old studs are - only the tons of dangley earrings on the board in my bedroom. She redid the middle piercing on my left ear and now I have all the shiny jewellery back. Once the current ones have settled down I'm going back to get my helix piercing redone - might get one each side.
LIFE ADMIN: still planning to move from Gmail once I've decluttered it. Applied for a postal vote as I'll be working local election day (7 May) as a poll clerk in Richmond so won't be around to vote locally. Have to make time to complete training for that and it will be a long day (5am to midnight including travel to/from) polling station.
DIGITAL DECLUTTER: have kept email at mail at 11,000 but not managed to reduce it; staying on top of transferring To Keep items from tablet to dropbox, my phone images storage is a mess.
GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: nope - too cold and/or wet and lacked motivation.
COOKING/EATING: reboarded the takeaway train over the last week - there just seemed to be no time at all, long work days!
READING/LISTENING: LOL. Thank you Rachel Reid - read Game Changers, Heated Rivalry, Tough Guy, Common Goal, Role Model and The Long Game and now re-reading Heated Rivalry matching book chapters to rewatch episodes. What do you mean obsessed?
WATCHING: Heated Rivalry - 4th rewatch. Everything else is having to fit around that!
CREATING/LEARNING: several, projects on the go/nearing completion - spring wreath, Halloween blanket, granny square blanket, hexicardi, granny square bags x 2. Might get one or two done by the end of the month.
CATS: all good.
VOLUNTEERING: one new task to complete as of meeting last week.
SOCIALISING: a 3 hour call withgingerpig consisting of two hours of Heated Rivalry squee and one of catching up. A formal "WiLlYoUCoMeToMyCotTageThisEAsTer" invitation extended to ravurian - because, thanks to Show, I'm never going to be able to invite anyone to the cottage unless I adopt concussed-and-ever-so-slightly-high Shane's rhythm of speech.
WORK: much improvement - BRAG quarterly meeting went well, the Seed Swap was a success, the three consecutive Saturday's of work are over until 28 March which is my next weekend day of work. I've started the current round of inspections which is generating a ton of admin (which is this coming week's issue), I need to carve out some time to dealing with financial year end (how is it almost the end of March?!!!) and reprofile the capital budget.
It's going to be a long work week - think I'm going to work from home tomorrow as I should be able to plough through a chunk of admin uninterrupted. Tuesday through Friday lunchtime will be office days and site visits. Then I've got 30 bags of compost to shift from a site wide delivery down to my plot on Friday afternoon - say a prayer for my knees and back! Keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine and blue skies next week.
So quick summary:
HOME: deep cleaned kitchen and sorted out a bunch for a recycling and tip run today. Next week it's deep cleaning the bathroom, and chipping away at the chaos and decluttering/#orjenising in the bedroom and living room. I have detailed bullet point lists and daily/weekly targets!
HEALTH still a bit FUBAR'd but improving. Finally took myself off to Toni and Guy's on Friday where a very firm hairdresser chopped off a significant amount of my hair. It had almost reached my waist and had way too many split ends. I got a free treatment (whatever product they used smelled awesome and made my hair super silky) and I now have a really simple cut - still long enough that I can put it up when gardening /at the gym, but short enough to wash and go and no danger of overnight knots. Today I got my piercings back - found a great piercer locally and I was just going to get single studs in each ear but happily we discovered 5 of my old piercings were still open! She popped new studs in those - because I have no idea where my old studs are - only the tons of dangley earrings on the board in my bedroom. She redid the middle piercing on my left ear and now I have all the shiny jewellery back. Once the current ones have settled down I'm going back to get my helix piercing redone - might get one each side.
LIFE ADMIN: still planning to move from Gmail once I've decluttered it. Applied for a postal vote as I'll be working local election day (7 May) as a poll clerk in Richmond so won't be around to vote locally. Have to make time to complete training for that and it will be a long day (5am to midnight including travel to/from) polling station.
DIGITAL DECLUTTER: have kept email at mail at 11,000 but not managed to reduce it; staying on top of transferring To Keep items from tablet to dropbox, my phone images storage is a mess.
GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: nope - too cold and/or wet and lacked motivation.
COOKING/EATING: reboarded the takeaway train over the last week - there just seemed to be no time at all, long work days!
READING/LISTENING: LOL. Thank you Rachel Reid - read Game Changers, Heated Rivalry, Tough Guy, Common Goal, Role Model and The Long Game and now re-reading Heated Rivalry matching book chapters to rewatch episodes. What do you mean obsessed?
WATCHING: Heated Rivalry - 4th rewatch. Everything else is having to fit around that!
CREATING/LEARNING: several, projects on the go/nearing completion - spring wreath, Halloween blanket, granny square blanket, hexicardi, granny square bags x 2. Might get one or two done by the end of the month.
CATS: all good.
VOLUNTEERING: one new task to complete as of meeting last week.
SOCIALISING: a 3 hour call with
gingerpig consisting of two hours of Heated Rivalry squee and one of catching up. A formal "WiLlYoUCoMeToMyCotTageThisEAsTer" invitation extended to ravurian - because, thanks to Show, I'm never going to be able to invite anyone to the cottage unless I adopt concussed-and-ever-so-slightly-high Shane's rhythm of speech. WORK: much improvement - BRAG quarterly meeting went well, the Seed Swap was a success, the three consecutive Saturday's of work are over until 28 March which is my next weekend day of work. I've started the current round of inspections which is generating a ton of admin (which is this coming week's issue), I need to carve out some time to dealing with financial year end (how is it almost the end of March?!!!) and reprofile the capital budget.
It's going to be a long work week - think I'm going to work from home tomorrow as I should be able to plough through a chunk of admin uninterrupted. Tuesday through Friday lunchtime will be office days and site visits. Then I've got 30 bags of compost to shift from a site wide delivery down to my plot on Friday afternoon - say a prayer for my knees and back! Keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine and blue skies next week.
Heated Rivalry update
Mar. 16th, 2026 12:33 amruricLOL I am all up in everything HR so much so that it's not even funny. :o)
So the last time I posted I was 5 days in, had watched it once, bought the books and was just about to start a second rewatch - that was last Saturday.
I read all 6 books in 2.5 days, completed a second rewatch, randomly watched eps 3-6 across 4 nights (because why not?) and then decided it would be fun to match reading the relevant chapters of HR and then watch the relevant episodes. I got as far as ep 3 and then got distracted by more cast interviews and HR insta and threads.
Yeserday I disappeared down the YouTube rabbit hole of fan vids - so now I have 193 open tabs across 2 browser windows, there's music playing, I have no idea where it's coming from and I'm in the middle of curating playlists on my YouTube. I need to remember how to DL from YouTube because I want a good chunk of those vids accessible to me at all times and never worry about them being pulled.
I may be curating playlists on Spotify for my gym workouts because HR bvidders use great music for their vids. And...um...I have a bunch of meta posts bookmarked to go back and read properly after the current rewatch.
Still noticing new things - all the subtle little whispered remarks that weren't obvious on first or second viewing. I need to see the whole series on a screen bigger than my tablet.
I'm catching up on the cast interviews which I'm finding delightful and astonishing. I mean the 3 minute social media sound bites, wild humour and meeting fans where they live was an absolute gift - but the long form interviews with their openness, vulnerability and in depth discussions are just blowing my mind.
Still steering clear of fanfic - because there are only 24 hours in a day - and I'm not sure I have time for an "Inception" level fandom event in my life - though I suspect I'm fighting a failed rearguard action there. Inception inhabited my brain for 2.5 years and with S2 of Heated Rivalry not airing until '27 and (please god) a potential further season - it's quite possible I'll be fully consumed by this until 2028.
Around all of that it's been super busy at work and I've been making a bunch of appointments/ running errands which come under the heading of "Get Your Shit Together" but for the first time in months I feel like I'm fully firing on all cylinders.
Not sure how much of that is down to the Little Canadian Hockey Romance That Could or whether it's due to the fact that we've had more than a few days of sunshine, warmth and blue skies (and not the dreary grey, wet and miserable days we've had since before Christmas) - whatever! I'm running with it.
So the last time I posted I was 5 days in, had watched it once, bought the books and was just about to start a second rewatch - that was last Saturday.
I read all 6 books in 2.5 days, completed a second rewatch, randomly watched eps 3-6 across 4 nights (because why not?) and then decided it would be fun to match reading the relevant chapters of HR and then watch the relevant episodes. I got as far as ep 3 and then got distracted by more cast interviews and HR insta and threads.
Yeserday I disappeared down the YouTube rabbit hole of fan vids - so now I have 193 open tabs across 2 browser windows, there's music playing, I have no idea where it's coming from and I'm in the middle of curating playlists on my YouTube. I need to remember how to DL from YouTube because I want a good chunk of those vids accessible to me at all times and never worry about them being pulled.
I may be curating playlists on Spotify for my gym workouts because HR bvidders use great music for their vids. And...um...I have a bunch of meta posts bookmarked to go back and read properly after the current rewatch.
Still noticing new things - all the subtle little whispered remarks that weren't obvious on first or second viewing. I need to see the whole series on a screen bigger than my tablet.
I'm catching up on the cast interviews which I'm finding delightful and astonishing. I mean the 3 minute social media sound bites, wild humour and meeting fans where they live was an absolute gift - but the long form interviews with their openness, vulnerability and in depth discussions are just blowing my mind.
Still steering clear of fanfic - because there are only 24 hours in a day - and I'm not sure I have time for an "Inception" level fandom event in my life - though I suspect I'm fighting a failed rearguard action there. Inception inhabited my brain for 2.5 years and with S2 of Heated Rivalry not airing until '27 and (please god) a potential further season - it's quite possible I'll be fully consumed by this until 2028.
Around all of that it's been super busy at work and I've been making a bunch of appointments/ running errands which come under the heading of "Get Your Shit Together" but for the first time in months I feel like I'm fully firing on all cylinders.
Not sure how much of that is down to the Little Canadian Hockey Romance That Could or whether it's due to the fact that we've had more than a few days of sunshine, warmth and blue skies (and not the dreary grey, wet and miserable days we've had since before Christmas) - whatever! I'm running with it.
Not So Recent Reading
Mar. 15th, 2026 05:07 pmaseI had plans to keep an up to date book log. Well, that didn't happen.
The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, Book 1) (James Islington) (2023): In audiobook, narrated by Euan Morton. At 17, protagonist Vis experiences unexpected elevation from the bottom of the Hierarchy's boot to its elite academic academy, a new player in several schemes related to the phlebotinum the Hierarchy runs on, except like all good pseudo-Rome fantasy with phlebotinum underpinnings, guess what, it might destroy the entire world or something, more to come in Book Two.
I spotted this while browsing at a romance bookstore, and based on the blurb, I couldn't figure out why it was there. Having listened through the audiobook, specifically the part where the girlfriend is strongly implicated to be lying through her teeth about A Lot and oh yeah, literally tries to stab him to death, I'm still not sure how it got there.
Is The Will of the Many playing every trope of Manly Man In An Epic, Fighting Against Overwhelming Empire, 100% straight? Sure looks like it from here. Vis spends a lot of time being emotionally tortured by memories of His Secret Past that He Must Keep Secret Or Die, and also performing physical feats of great strength, stamina, agility, etc. It must be nice to pull double all-nighters while running marathons and stuff.
The novel hammers in that the Hierarchy is Bad, and their primary opponents, the Anguis, are also Bad, because human rights violations and hypocrisy, there's no good choices, blah blah. In Baru Comorant style, Vis is forced to join with his enemies to investigate its secrets (and maybe trash the evil hegemonic empire) from the inside. Except the interesting non-hetero worldbuilding is missing.
The cool part of the novel would be the phlebotinum, if the author were interested in it. Citizens of the Hierarchy have Will taken from them, which deprives them of energy, but gives Will wielders super strength and "imbuing" powers to make small magic devices - super-locks, trackers, lights - as well as great public works, like magic flying trains. I guess you could also heal with it, if that was something the novel was interested in. (Spoilers, the novel doesn't seem that interested in it.)
I think it'd be deeply interesting to think about imperial pressure to participate in this transfer of energy / executive function / whatever as a metaphor for all sorts of stuff, but mostly the novel uses it as "and then we had plot convenient superpowers or trains or whatever," which is disappointing.
The plot builds to an epilogue revelation that the Will phlebotinum is connected to a technology to copy and split yourself across three linked (?) worlds (???) - Res, Obiteum, Luceum - which is also connected to an ancient Cataclysm that some idiot(s) might trigger again in their grasping at Moar Power or something. Also there's some Larger Conflict (tm).
Pretty sure Vis isn't going to do the smart thing, which would be to find the Final Boss protecting the Will technology core, then destroy the Will technology beyond reconstruction, at least not without two more novels of being emotionally and physically tortured by the author's fictional proxies. If we're lucky maybe he'll reconcile with the girlfriend who tried to kill him before she perishes at the hands of his enemies / sacrifices herself for him.
The Ministry for the Future (Kim Stanley Robinson) (2020) in large cast audiobook. Premise: addressing carbon emissions and by proxy climate change by legislation, also some terrorism.
I read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy in my teens, and some of his other works between then and now. It feels like he has a specific utopian vision expressed repeatedly in his works, but as an American who read this in January 2026, his belief in a more peaceful, ecologically wise, equitable human future seems as dreamlike as Tolkien's First Age. That somehow this better world also comes into place through assassination and property damage doesn't help with my suspension of disbelief. Possibly the experience of one (1) pandemic, plus January '26, killed my willingness to believe in KSR's "if you build it" fiction.
Between the Islington and the KSR I reread some Scholomance as a "terrible schools and the societies that make them" palate-cleanser. After the KSR I reread a bunch of Radch series and Murderbot because sometimes you need to hang out with some unreliable and very angry narrators.
The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, Book 1) (James Islington) (2023): In audiobook, narrated by Euan Morton. At 17, protagonist Vis experiences unexpected elevation from the bottom of the Hierarchy's boot to its elite academic academy, a new player in several schemes related to the phlebotinum the Hierarchy runs on, except like all good pseudo-Rome fantasy with phlebotinum underpinnings, guess what, it might destroy the entire world or something, more to come in Book Two.
I spotted this while browsing at a romance bookstore, and based on the blurb, I couldn't figure out why it was there. Having listened through the audiobook, specifically the part where the girlfriend is strongly implicated to be lying through her teeth about A Lot and oh yeah, literally tries to stab him to death, I'm still not sure how it got there.
Is The Will of the Many playing every trope of Manly Man In An Epic, Fighting Against Overwhelming Empire, 100% straight? Sure looks like it from here. Vis spends a lot of time being emotionally tortured by memories of His Secret Past that He Must Keep Secret Or Die, and also performing physical feats of great strength, stamina, agility, etc. It must be nice to pull double all-nighters while running marathons and stuff.
The novel hammers in that the Hierarchy is Bad, and their primary opponents, the Anguis, are also Bad, because human rights violations and hypocrisy, there's no good choices, blah blah. In Baru Comorant style, Vis is forced to join with his enemies to investigate its secrets (and maybe trash the evil hegemonic empire) from the inside. Except the interesting non-hetero worldbuilding is missing.
The cool part of the novel would be the phlebotinum, if the author were interested in it. Citizens of the Hierarchy have Will taken from them, which deprives them of energy, but gives Will wielders super strength and "imbuing" powers to make small magic devices - super-locks, trackers, lights - as well as great public works, like magic flying trains. I guess you could also heal with it, if that was something the novel was interested in. (Spoilers, the novel doesn't seem that interested in it.)
I think it'd be deeply interesting to think about imperial pressure to participate in this transfer of energy / executive function / whatever as a metaphor for all sorts of stuff, but mostly the novel uses it as "and then we had plot convenient superpowers or trains or whatever," which is disappointing.
The plot builds to an epilogue revelation that the Will phlebotinum is connected to a technology to copy and split yourself across three linked (?) worlds (???) - Res, Obiteum, Luceum - which is also connected to an ancient Cataclysm that some idiot(s) might trigger again in their grasping at Moar Power or something. Also there's some Larger Conflict (tm).
Pretty sure Vis isn't going to do the smart thing, which would be to find the Final Boss protecting the Will technology core, then destroy the Will technology beyond reconstruction, at least not without two more novels of being emotionally and physically tortured by the author's fictional proxies. If we're lucky maybe he'll reconcile with the girlfriend who tried to kill him before she perishes at the hands of his enemies / sacrifices herself for him.
The Ministry for the Future (Kim Stanley Robinson) (2020) in large cast audiobook. Premise: addressing carbon emissions and by proxy climate change by legislation, also some terrorism.
I read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy in my teens, and some of his other works between then and now. It feels like he has a specific utopian vision expressed repeatedly in his works, but as an American who read this in January 2026, his belief in a more peaceful, ecologically wise, equitable human future seems as dreamlike as Tolkien's First Age. That somehow this better world also comes into place through assassination and property damage doesn't help with my suspension of disbelief. Possibly the experience of one (1) pandemic, plus January '26, killed my willingness to believe in KSR's "if you build it" fiction.
Between the Islington and the KSR I reread some Scholomance as a "terrible schools and the societies that make them" palate-cleanser. After the KSR I reread a bunch of Radch series and Murderbot because sometimes you need to hang out with some unreliable and very angry narrators.
Taxes are done
Mar. 15th, 2026 01:07 pmhalfshellvenusA big relief, as always, and the California state returns are in a manila envelope, waiting to go to the post office. The combined federal and state returns are the size of a substantial pamphlet now. I mentioned earlier that we had significant capital gains this year. I don't know what gets into our financial advisor sometimes (though she's really good at her job), but every 5-6 years this happens and our AGI suddenly balloons. This year? We owe about $2500 in federal taxes and $2300 in state, and that triggered a need to pay estimated tax payments in 2026. What a pain! Note that if the government(s) owed us this much back, we wouldn't get interest on the extra withholding, so why the panic?
I tried to go to our company's website to adjust my W-4 instead, but none of the links were working yesterday. Might be under maintenance. I also wanted to use the employee benefits webpage to rent a car for our upcoming trip to San Diego, but it was misbehaving too. More crap deferred onto my never-ending TODO list!
I finished reading Terminal Chaos, the second book in the Station Eternity series. That was fun— and only took me 4 days, as opposed to the 11 days to read Adventures In Calamity Physics. I knew Calamity was taking a long time, but geez! And now I'm a third of the way through the second book in the How To Become A Dark Lord And Die Trying series. It's also fun, though with way too many footnotes. My main complaint is a common issue for a lot of male authors writing female main characters: the women are highly sexed and also bisexual. It's like they're fanficcing their own creation. \o?
My bike is still in the shop, where the earliest I could possibly get it back is late tomorrow. Feeling antsy! But I got some errands done Friday and Saturday that I would normally have to split across weekends. Friday, I bought Easter candy. Saturday, I took my broken violin bow in to have it repaired and rehaired, and saw that I was near a Home Depot, so I went there afterward. I bought some CLR for the hard water stains we get, some of which showed up about 4 months after we moved back into our house. I also got a new salvia plant for the one in the front yard that 1) Died last year and 2) Whose replacement the gardener killed with Roundup. Plus some morning glory seeds (to replace the plants near the garage we lost in the fire), and a houseplant to put in the clay pot our daughter hand-painted for me as a gift. That means I have some gardening to do this afternoon...
I've been staying up too late watching Doctor Foster on BritBox, because it's an addictive train wreck. Need to get back on DST newtime again.
I tried to go to our company's website to adjust my W-4 instead, but none of the links were working yesterday. Might be under maintenance. I also wanted to use the employee benefits webpage to rent a car for our upcoming trip to San Diego, but it was misbehaving too. More crap deferred onto my never-ending TODO list!
I finished reading Terminal Chaos, the second book in the Station Eternity series. That was fun— and only took me 4 days, as opposed to the 11 days to read Adventures In Calamity Physics. I knew Calamity was taking a long time, but geez! And now I'm a third of the way through the second book in the How To Become A Dark Lord And Die Trying series. It's also fun, though with way too many footnotes. My main complaint is a common issue for a lot of male authors writing female main characters: the women are highly sexed and also bisexual. It's like they're fanficcing their own creation. \o?
My bike is still in the shop, where the earliest I could possibly get it back is late tomorrow. Feeling antsy! But I got some errands done Friday and Saturday that I would normally have to split across weekends. Friday, I bought Easter candy. Saturday, I took my broken violin bow in to have it repaired and rehaired, and saw that I was near a Home Depot, so I went there afterward. I bought some CLR for the hard water stains we get, some of which showed up about 4 months after we moved back into our house. I also got a new salvia plant for the one in the front yard that 1) Died last year and 2) Whose replacement the gardener killed with Roundup. Plus some morning glory seeds (to replace the plants near the garage we lost in the fire), and a houseplant to put in the clay pot our daughter hand-painted for me as a gift. That means I have some gardening to do this afternoon...
I've been staying up too late watching Doctor Foster on BritBox, because it's an addictive train wreck. Need to get back on DST newtime again.
(no subject)
Mar. 15th, 2026 02:57 pmturpsHappy Mother's Day to all that celebrate today. I got a lovely text from Corey saying he'd phone on his way home from work. Which is thankfully around 8 today and not late shift bar closing hours.
It was the Consett Cats craft fair yesterday. I knew going in we wouldn't make any money due to the location, and that's exactly what happened. But what I did do was get to talk to many other adopters, give some money to the rescue from items that did sell, and come home with a Consett Cat tote bag and a ridiculous amount of baked goods and cake. Even more cake than I planned as I was talking to one of the bakers at the end of the afternoon and she asked if I wanted to take three leftover cupcakes, and really, how could I say no?
There was also an Easter egg drive in the run up to the fair, with the donated eggs being put in brown bags and sealed up for a lucky wheel spin. At first they used the wheel correctly, but they'd had so many eggs donated by the end of the fair anyone spinning the wheel won an egg no matter if it landed on win or lose. At £2 a spin I got the eggs I need for the nieces and nephews, and maybe a spare for myself.
There was another good thing, the lady on the table next to us was a professional shopper for M&S for her day job and she was giving us tips on stall product placement and most interesting, the new trends coming in. Apparently, it's going to be tissue box covers, decorative trays that hold candles etc that can sit on coffee tables, wooden bangles and hare decorations. Now, most of those James can do, maybe not the bangles, but the rest, yeah. So, I think he's going to try for some of those for the next fair, which is this coming Saturday.
I enjoyed the season finale of Star Trek Academy, and am glad that season two has not only already being announced, but shown as wrapped via an Insta video from Karim Diane. It really has been my favourite new show recently, and there's not a character I don't like.
I've also watched the last ep of Call the Midwife, and what a bittersweet episode it was. The show did lose it's way a little at times, and was often the Dr Turner show, but I did enjoy it and will be watching the film and prequel show while waiting for season 16 to eventually be show, which will be a while from what the show creatorshave stated.
It was the Consett Cats craft fair yesterday. I knew going in we wouldn't make any money due to the location, and that's exactly what happened. But what I did do was get to talk to many other adopters, give some money to the rescue from items that did sell, and come home with a Consett Cat tote bag and a ridiculous amount of baked goods and cake. Even more cake than I planned as I was talking to one of the bakers at the end of the afternoon and she asked if I wanted to take three leftover cupcakes, and really, how could I say no?
There was also an Easter egg drive in the run up to the fair, with the donated eggs being put in brown bags and sealed up for a lucky wheel spin. At first they used the wheel correctly, but they'd had so many eggs donated by the end of the fair anyone spinning the wheel won an egg no matter if it landed on win or lose. At £2 a spin I got the eggs I need for the nieces and nephews, and maybe a spare for myself.
There was another good thing, the lady on the table next to us was a professional shopper for M&S for her day job and she was giving us tips on stall product placement and most interesting, the new trends coming in. Apparently, it's going to be tissue box covers, decorative trays that hold candles etc that can sit on coffee tables, wooden bangles and hare decorations. Now, most of those James can do, maybe not the bangles, but the rest, yeah. So, I think he's going to try for some of those for the next fair, which is this coming Saturday.
I enjoyed the season finale of Star Trek Academy, and am glad that season two has not only already being announced, but shown as wrapped via an Insta video from Karim Diane. It really has been my favourite new show recently, and there's not a character I don't like.
I've also watched the last ep of Call the Midwife, and what a bittersweet episode it was. The show did lose it's way a little at times, and was often the Dr Turner show, but I did enjoy it and will be watching the film and prequel show while waiting for season 16 to eventually be show, which will be a while from what the show creatorshave stated.
Suck. Age.
Mar. 12th, 2026 06:58 pmhalfshellvenusWell, yesterday's bike ride didn't go so well. :(
Newer bikes often have the gear-shifter and brake functions embedded in the same part of the handlebars. Pull toward you, and the bike brakes. Push sideways, and it changes gears. But... push just a tiny bit on the diagonal and it starts to chew through the derailleur cable.
So, I started to have trouble getting into the top gear a few days ago, and sure enough... I was trying to shift down for a hill yesterday, and there was a "zzzk!" sound followed by the bike going into the top gear and becoming a one-speed. :O
I had to stop and turn around, and then bike almost 5 miles home in the hardest gear. Worse yet, the bike shop is really backed up, so instead of getting my bike back today, they will not be able to even start working on it until Monday. That's forever! *cries*
I absolutely hate this handlebar design. I break a derailleur cable about once a year because of it, whereas the shift levers on my bike from 20 years ago never let me down. :(
Newer bikes often have the gear-shifter and brake functions embedded in the same part of the handlebars. Pull toward you, and the bike brakes. Push sideways, and it changes gears. But... push just a tiny bit on the diagonal and it starts to chew through the derailleur cable.
So, I started to have trouble getting into the top gear a few days ago, and sure enough... I was trying to shift down for a hill yesterday, and there was a "zzzk!" sound followed by the bike going into the top gear and becoming a one-speed. :O
I had to stop and turn around, and then bike almost 5 miles home in the hardest gear. Worse yet, the bike shop is really backed up, so instead of getting my bike back today, they will not be able to even start working on it until Monday. That's forever! *cries*
I absolutely hate this handlebar design. I break a derailleur cable about once a year because of it, whereas the shift levers on my bike from 20 years ago never let me down. :(
what is this, good cop fat cop?
Mar. 11th, 2026 10:16 pmtsuki_no_baramy sister and i saw crime 101 on friday. i liked it, partly because the hotter hemsworth played a guy who's very good and very confident in what he does - jewel thief - but is anxious in so many other aspects of his life. like, he can't look people in the eye when he talks to them about anything that isn't crime-related, and it comes across as nervousness more than anything else. and i liked that. also, you know, he's a very attractive human. :D
saturday i went into the square to see if i had any new comics - i didn't - and ended up in line for a chocolate festival, in which vendors all around the square set up tables and gave out chocolate samples. when i first got to the square the line was excessive so i went to the comic shop instead but by the time i was ready for the line it was a. much shorter because b. the festival was winding down and vendors were out of samples and folding up their tables. i did however get a couple of truffles (yum) and some hot chocolate with whipped cream (also yum). and then it was cold and i went home and watched rental family which was extremely cute and only a little sad and i highly recommend it and not just because brendan fraser is still so charming.
and then sunday my car died! as i was on my way to curling! all the lights on the dashboard went on and then the engine just died. and i couldn't get it to turn over. so i called aaa and eventually they sent a tow truck (it always takes an hour) and in the meantime i sat in my car and read a thing for writing group and four sets of people - four! - stopped to ask if i was ok. (one couple maybe in their late 20s/early 30s, one guy with a dog in a u-haul, one dad with one kid, one mom with two kids.) i was on a residential street, i was mostly out of the way, it wasn't cold, a tow was coming, i was fine.
there is coincidentally and surprisingly a garage around the corner from me. so my car is there and so far they don't know what's wrong with it, only that it seems to be electrical or computer related and not mechanical. hopefully they figure out what's wrong and can fix it because i am 100% absolutely going to curling on sunday because it's been WEEKS. and the only way to get there is to drive.
in weather news it snowed last tuesday (so, a week ago) (and then i got rained on going home >.< ) and yesterday it was like 70º and all the hedges of dirty icy snow along the sidewalk had melted. so i took a walk after work. it was spring! and now it's a little cold again. whatever, at least it's not snow. and i love snow! but it should be closing in on spring already.
a fun story i learned at the comic shop on saturday: years ago there was a signing with jimmy carter somewhere in the square (i think at the bookstore that used to be around the corner from the comic shop and is a bank now but it wasn't a big bookstore so maybe not) and this one woman, after she got her book signed, was walking away and turned and said to the former president "if you still have lust in your heart i'm available". and i thought that was so funny. i felt kind of bad for carter, i mean he must have been mortified, but come on, it was a good line.
yesterday they got rid of the admin manager at work, by which i mean they eliminated her position. (i think as a cost-cutting measure and not because she'd done anything to deserve being fired or anything.) we had the weekly admin meeting and then like two hours later we were all getting an email saying "we've done this thing..." she leads the admin meetings. she didn't act like she knew she was about to lose her job. so now the admins aren't going to have anyone to advocate for us to hq and no one to run interference and do all those things that we need someone to do for us because we have too much other shit to do. i really liked her. i'm sad she's gone.
i also heard a fun story about one of the pi's: she had to fly to houston and then san jose for conference/talk/workshop/whatever, and her admin kept asking for feedback on potential flights, and the pi kept not answering. she has to leave on a tuesday and calls the admin on sunday and the admin says what about your flights? and the pi says i can't find the information you sent me, can you send it again. so the admin does. and then the pi says i found a flight to san jose and the admin says there are no flights to san jose airport (i think this was the houston-san jose leg), you have to fly to san francisco. and the pi insists she found a flight to san jose airport. and the admin finally says fine, ok, whatever. so it's tuesday and the pi is theoretically on her way and the admin gets a phone call and the pi is in san jose... in COSTA RICA. not california. and she can't get through customs because they won't let her out of the airport and into the country without a hotel reservation which she obviously doesn't have because she was supposed to be in the united states and not, may i repeat, costa rica. so the admin probably swears a lot in her head and thinks i told you so, maybe you should fucking listen to me next time and busts her ass trying to get the pi out of costa rica without having to deal with a 24-hour layover in el salvador.
that is a long layover.
i want a nonstop flight, says the pi. you can't get one, says the admin. i need to fly business class, says the pi. the admin probably swears a lot inside her head again and somehow manages to get the pi out of costa rica and to the correct san jose and she ends up only missing one meeting. but holy shit, lady, maybe listen to your admin when she gives you travel information. and also, wouldn't you have to show your passport when you checked in at the airport and did you not realize you don't normally do that flying from one part of the us to another part of the us? good lord.
me and the other admins who heard this story are under strict orders not to tell anyone but you guys don't work with me so i can tell you. :D
i know this was like a week ago but have some pics of the blood moon. so cool, so spooky.
and i know this was a month ago but if you wanted to know about the couple who were married during bad bunny's halftime show here ya go. (it should be a gift link.) when they were done sending out invitations for their wedding (which was not supposed to be during the super bowl, obvs) they had some leftover and figured they'd send bad bunny one for the hell of it because he's the groom's favorite singer. surprise. :D
saturday i went into the square to see if i had any new comics - i didn't - and ended up in line for a chocolate festival, in which vendors all around the square set up tables and gave out chocolate samples. when i first got to the square the line was excessive so i went to the comic shop instead but by the time i was ready for the line it was a. much shorter because b. the festival was winding down and vendors were out of samples and folding up their tables. i did however get a couple of truffles (yum) and some hot chocolate with whipped cream (also yum). and then it was cold and i went home and watched rental family which was extremely cute and only a little sad and i highly recommend it and not just because brendan fraser is still so charming.
and then sunday my car died! as i was on my way to curling! all the lights on the dashboard went on and then the engine just died. and i couldn't get it to turn over. so i called aaa and eventually they sent a tow truck (it always takes an hour) and in the meantime i sat in my car and read a thing for writing group and four sets of people - four! - stopped to ask if i was ok. (one couple maybe in their late 20s/early 30s, one guy with a dog in a u-haul, one dad with one kid, one mom with two kids.) i was on a residential street, i was mostly out of the way, it wasn't cold, a tow was coming, i was fine.
there is coincidentally and surprisingly a garage around the corner from me. so my car is there and so far they don't know what's wrong with it, only that it seems to be electrical or computer related and not mechanical. hopefully they figure out what's wrong and can fix it because i am 100% absolutely going to curling on sunday because it's been WEEKS. and the only way to get there is to drive.
in weather news it snowed last tuesday (so, a week ago) (and then i got rained on going home >.< ) and yesterday it was like 70º and all the hedges of dirty icy snow along the sidewalk had melted. so i took a walk after work. it was spring! and now it's a little cold again. whatever, at least it's not snow. and i love snow! but it should be closing in on spring already.
a fun story i learned at the comic shop on saturday: years ago there was a signing with jimmy carter somewhere in the square (i think at the bookstore that used to be around the corner from the comic shop and is a bank now but it wasn't a big bookstore so maybe not) and this one woman, after she got her book signed, was walking away and turned and said to the former president "if you still have lust in your heart i'm available". and i thought that was so funny. i felt kind of bad for carter, i mean he must have been mortified, but come on, it was a good line.
yesterday they got rid of the admin manager at work, by which i mean they eliminated her position. (i think as a cost-cutting measure and not because she'd done anything to deserve being fired or anything.) we had the weekly admin meeting and then like two hours later we were all getting an email saying "we've done this thing..." she leads the admin meetings. she didn't act like she knew she was about to lose her job. so now the admins aren't going to have anyone to advocate for us to hq and no one to run interference and do all those things that we need someone to do for us because we have too much other shit to do. i really liked her. i'm sad she's gone.
i also heard a fun story about one of the pi's: she had to fly to houston and then san jose for conference/talk/workshop/whatever, and her admin kept asking for feedback on potential flights, and the pi kept not answering. she has to leave on a tuesday and calls the admin on sunday and the admin says what about your flights? and the pi says i can't find the information you sent me, can you send it again. so the admin does. and then the pi says i found a flight to san jose and the admin says there are no flights to san jose airport (i think this was the houston-san jose leg), you have to fly to san francisco. and the pi insists she found a flight to san jose airport. and the admin finally says fine, ok, whatever. so it's tuesday and the pi is theoretically on her way and the admin gets a phone call and the pi is in san jose... in COSTA RICA. not california. and she can't get through customs because they won't let her out of the airport and into the country without a hotel reservation which she obviously doesn't have because she was supposed to be in the united states and not, may i repeat, costa rica. so the admin probably swears a lot in her head and thinks i told you so, maybe you should fucking listen to me next time and busts her ass trying to get the pi out of costa rica without having to deal with a 24-hour layover in el salvador.
that is a long layover.
i want a nonstop flight, says the pi. you can't get one, says the admin. i need to fly business class, says the pi. the admin probably swears a lot inside her head again and somehow manages to get the pi out of costa rica and to the correct san jose and she ends up only missing one meeting. but holy shit, lady, maybe listen to your admin when she gives you travel information. and also, wouldn't you have to show your passport when you checked in at the airport and did you not realize you don't normally do that flying from one part of the us to another part of the us? good lord.
me and the other admins who heard this story are under strict orders not to tell anyone but you guys don't work with me so i can tell you. :D
i know this was like a week ago but have some pics of the blood moon. so cool, so spooky.
and i know this was a month ago but if you wanted to know about the couple who were married during bad bunny's halftime show here ya go. (it should be a gift link.) when they were done sending out invitations for their wedding (which was not supposed to be during the super bowl, obvs) they had some leftover and figured they'd send bad bunny one for the hell of it because he's the groom's favorite singer. surprise. :D
wednesday reads
Mar. 11th, 2026 05:26 pmisisWhat I've recently finished reading:
The Princess Bride by William Goldman, which - I might have read years and years ago? Or I might have seen the movie (though I don't remember doing so)? Or maybe I just knew a lot about it by osmosis and because of the way certain things about it became memes, so I thought I had read it, but really never had. I don't know. Anyway, I read it because I wanted something light and silly to counteract recent more difficult reading and even more difficult current events, and it fit the bill.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, which I read and enjoyed despite DNFing The Martian due to finding it powerfully boring. (I liked the movie version! I think the story was fine, but the various supporting characters all felt like cardboard cutouts to me.) Here, the initial hook - the POV character waking up with amnesia on what he eventually determines is a spaceship - was very much up my alley, a trope I love! The various supporting characters that appeared in the flashbacks were definitely better than cardboard cutouts, though sometimes they felt a bit stock. However, they ultimately weren't very important, and I really bought into the book with gusto when...
Okay, I read this book basically unspoiled, in that I knew that the main character was on a desperate space mission to save Earth from some sort of extinction event, but that was it. So I'm going to spoiler-cut the rest, just in case someone reading this hasn't read this book, so that you may have the same experience I had.
There are still misunderstandings and near-fatal disasters and scary adventures, enough to make it a compelling, engaging read. I thought the ending was perfect, and I look forward to seeing the movie eventually! In conclusion, ROCKY MY BELOVED ♥♥♥
The Unicorn Hunter by Katherine Arden, which I read as e-ARC from NetGalley. Arden's One True Story (based on the books by her I've read) is that of a woman constrained by her sex and her circumstances who strives for the agency to direct her own life and protect what she cares about. This book is about a slightly-fantasy alternate-universe Anne of Brittany, who chafes against the fate she and her country are headed for: she will be forced to marry the King of France, bringing Brittany for annexation as her dowry.
To avoid this, in desperation she arranges a secret betrothal to France's enemy, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilien. However, in this version of the world, rulers have diviners who can discern events happening at a distance, and send messages back and forth; to keep it secret, she holds the proxy wedding in the enchanted forest of Brocéliande, which diviners can't penetrate at risk of madness. And there she sees a unicorn, and brings a diviner who disappeared in the forest centuries ago out into the "real" world, setting in motion a chain of events which blur the boundaries between her real kingdom of Brittany and the mysterious otherworld of the "kerriganed", the faerie people of Breton folklore.
If you squint you can see elements of both the Winternight Trilogy and The Warm Hands of Ghosts; a forthright woman who doesn't behave as she should according to the strictures of the day, a figure from a shadowy world who may have ulterior motives, the subtle mix of a realistic world and a fantastical one. Anne is a wonderful heroine who deliberately leads her opponents to underestimate her, who pursues her aims and protects her family with great courage. I really enjoyed this book, especially the afterword in which Arden talks a little about the real Anne, and the real Brittany, and the folkloric Brittany that inspired her.
"The Colorado River Does Not Reach 2030" by Len Necefer and Teal Lehto, on Substack. This is a short story in the form of a news article, in the author's words:
What I'm reading now:
In nonfiction, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes by Leah Litman. So far it's a little heavily steeped in pop culture references for me, which means references to pop culture I'm only familiar with through osmosis, but it's interesting and persuasive.
In fiction, Blood over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang. So far it feels rather cliche, though I like the worldbuilding. It reminds me very much of the cartoon Arcane.
In audio, I've just started book 2 of the Bobiverse, For We are Many by Dennis E. Taylor. It's fun!
The Princess Bride by William Goldman, which - I might have read years and years ago? Or I might have seen the movie (though I don't remember doing so)? Or maybe I just knew a lot about it by osmosis and because of the way certain things about it became memes, so I thought I had read it, but really never had. I don't know. Anyway, I read it because I wanted something light and silly to counteract recent more difficult reading and even more difficult current events, and it fit the bill.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, which I read and enjoyed despite DNFing The Martian due to finding it powerfully boring. (I liked the movie version! I think the story was fine, but the various supporting characters all felt like cardboard cutouts to me.) Here, the initial hook - the POV character waking up with amnesia on what he eventually determines is a spaceship - was very much up my alley, a trope I love! The various supporting characters that appeared in the flashbacks were definitely better than cardboard cutouts, though sometimes they felt a bit stock. However, they ultimately weren't very important, and I really bought into the book with gusto when...
Okay, I read this book basically unspoiled, in that I knew that the main character was on a desperate space mission to save Earth from some sort of extinction event, but that was it. So I'm going to spoiler-cut the rest, just in case someone reading this hasn't read this book, so that you may have the same experience I had.
Spoiler spoiler spoiler!
Okay, if you have been reading my book posts for a while, you know that I am a big fan of stories about human-alien encounters. My last books post included a review of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shroud, and I mentioned that it reminded me a little of Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward, in the sense that it starts with an environment which is the opposite of anything humans would expect to find life on, and reasons out from physics and chemistry what life might be like in that environment. But really, Tchaikovsky's approach to human-alien encounters is more adversarial and combative, and probably more realistic, than Forward's. Here, there's also an alien whose form and manner is reasoned out from the conditions of the planet where it developed, but its interactions with the human are more Forwardian than Tchaikovskian. Both the alien and the human are mindful that they are there for the same reason - to save their respective civilizations - and they approach their interactions carefully and with much forethought, for the most part.There are still misunderstandings and near-fatal disasters and scary adventures, enough to make it a compelling, engaging read. I thought the ending was perfect, and I look forward to seeing the movie eventually! In conclusion, ROCKY MY BELOVED ♥♥♥
The Unicorn Hunter by Katherine Arden, which I read as e-ARC from NetGalley. Arden's One True Story (based on the books by her I've read) is that of a woman constrained by her sex and her circumstances who strives for the agency to direct her own life and protect what she cares about. This book is about a slightly-fantasy alternate-universe Anne of Brittany, who chafes against the fate she and her country are headed for: she will be forced to marry the King of France, bringing Brittany for annexation as her dowry.
To avoid this, in desperation she arranges a secret betrothal to France's enemy, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilien. However, in this version of the world, rulers have diviners who can discern events happening at a distance, and send messages back and forth; to keep it secret, she holds the proxy wedding in the enchanted forest of Brocéliande, which diviners can't penetrate at risk of madness. And there she sees a unicorn, and brings a diviner who disappeared in the forest centuries ago out into the "real" world, setting in motion a chain of events which blur the boundaries between her real kingdom of Brittany and the mysterious otherworld of the "kerriganed", the faerie people of Breton folklore.
If you squint you can see elements of both the Winternight Trilogy and The Warm Hands of Ghosts; a forthright woman who doesn't behave as she should according to the strictures of the day, a figure from a shadowy world who may have ulterior motives, the subtle mix of a realistic world and a fantastical one. Anne is a wonderful heroine who deliberately leads her opponents to underestimate her, who pursues her aims and protects her family with great courage. I really enjoyed this book, especially the afterword in which Arden talks a little about the real Anne, and the real Brittany, and the folkloric Brittany that inspired her.
"The Colorado River Does Not Reach 2030" by Len Necefer and Teal Lehto, on Substack. This is a short story in the form of a news article, in the author's words:
What follows is a work of near-future fiction. It is not a prediction. It is a scenario built from conditions that are measurable today: Lake Powell is at 26% capacity and falling, snowpack at record lows, seven states deadlocked on water allocation, and a federal agency that has been gutted of the expertise needed to manage the crisis. // Every element in this scenario is drawn from published science, existing legal disputes, or political dynamics already in motion. Some characters are composites, some are real. The timeline is compressed. The chain of events is plausible. The unsettling part is how little I had to invent.It's cli-fi in the model of Kim Stanley Robinson, purported interviews and charts and mocked-up newspaper images and X tweets, the story of the destruction of the west through climate change and human stupidity. It's really good - and (as the author says) plausible and unsettling.
What I'm reading now:
In nonfiction, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes by Leah Litman. So far it's a little heavily steeped in pop culture references for me, which means references to pop culture I'm only familiar with through osmosis, but it's interesting and persuasive.
In fiction, Blood over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang. So far it feels rather cliche, though I like the worldbuilding. It reminds me very much of the cartoon Arcane.
In audio, I've just started book 2 of the Bobiverse, For We are Many by Dennis E. Taylor. It's fun!
Finished!
Mar. 10th, 2026 06:26 pmhalfshellvenusI finished reading Adventures in Calamity Physics yesterday. There was a major plot zig around 85% of the way done, and then a zag after the 90% mark. Did not see either of them coming! Now I'm on Terminal Chaos, the second book in the series that starts with Station Eternity. I like the characters in it— especially the rock-like aliens.
This weekend, I photographed a bunch of stuff and posted it for sale on Craigslist. It included a damaged antique Victrola cabinet, which I thought I'd be lucky to give away for free. Hah! I probably should have charged something for it, just to cut down on the number of flaky people messaging me about it all weekend who couldn't seem to actually follow through. But! It went to someone who is going to strip it and restore it to its former glory, and I couldn't have asked for a better recipient.
Saturday night, HalfshellHusband and I watched Letters To Juliet, in which Amanda Seyfriend was woefully miscast (too callow) and Vanessa Redgrave made up for it. \o?
Sunday afternoon, I went for a bike ride out on the parkway. BIG surprise there— they have finally opened the rest of the lower parkway after closing it for 3 1/2 years while they, IDK, added a lane or two to the Business 80 over-crossing there? It's really nice to have the rest of that downriver option. There are always fewer people there, and I can't go very far upriver on weekends because of the increased amount of idioting that makes biking there (in clip-in pedals) dangerous. This means I don't have to do a bunch of tight loops over and over again to get my 20+ miles in on downriver days anymore. \o/
Not looking forward to the summer heat, though. Two weeks ago, we had our random 53o day. Next week? It's supposed to hit 89o. NOoooooooooo!
This weekend, I photographed a bunch of stuff and posted it for sale on Craigslist. It included a damaged antique Victrola cabinet, which I thought I'd be lucky to give away for free. Hah! I probably should have charged something for it, just to cut down on the number of flaky people messaging me about it all weekend who couldn't seem to actually follow through. But! It went to someone who is going to strip it and restore it to its former glory, and I couldn't have asked for a better recipient.
Saturday night, HalfshellHusband and I watched Letters To Juliet, in which Amanda Seyfriend was woefully miscast (too callow) and Vanessa Redgrave made up for it. \o?
Sunday afternoon, I went for a bike ride out on the parkway. BIG surprise there— they have finally opened the rest of the lower parkway after closing it for 3 1/2 years while they, IDK, added a lane or two to the Business 80 over-crossing there? It's really nice to have the rest of that downriver option. There are always fewer people there, and I can't go very far upriver on weekends because of the increased amount of idioting that makes biking there (in clip-in pedals) dangerous. This means I don't have to do a bunch of tight loops over and over again to get my 20+ miles in on downriver days anymore. \o/
Not looking forward to the summer heat, though. Two weeks ago, we had our random 53o day. Next week? It's supposed to hit 89o. NOoooooooooo!