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While he was quite surprised to walk out for his morning on-leash ablutions into heavy snow above his knees, he's really starting to relax.

This morning I reached down to stroke his back and he didn't flinch.

Just now I was resting on the floor by his bed, petting his back. I started to scritch the scruff of his neck, and he relaxed even more, his dark eyes shining up at MyGuy behind the camera. (I'm reclining on my tripled-up exercise pad just behind him, shockingly without glasses.)

( Read more... )

Only 28 days of enforced rest to go!

pauraque

I liked this book when it was a fantasy noir starring a biracial knife-throwing assassin with magic hands in 1940s New York who's trying to get out of the business but keeps getting pulled back in. But that book wraps up about a third of the way through the actual book. Then it turns into a completely different book where the assassin moves upstate with her boyfriend and the story becomes about slimy small town politics and the characters' profound guilt for their actions in the city, and I became increasingly confused about what the book was trying to do and decreasingly satisfied with my reading experience.

Part of the problem is that Dev (the boyfriend) kind of rubbed me the wrong way and I didn't feel invested in the romance between him and Phyllis (the assassin), so shifting the focus more to their relationship was not going to work well for me. I actually liked both characters less and less as the book went on, and by the end I was feeling pretty fed up with both of them. A late promotion to the group of main characters is Tamara, Dev's ex, who comes to have a close bond with Phyllis as well. There is some interesting complexity to the dynamic of this trio, but I ended up frustrated with the way it was handled.

relationship endgame spoilers

It seemed to me that this was going in a poly triad direction, and then backed off of it. And I mean... it's not not poly. Phyllis, Dev, and Tamara have a one-night threesome, and Tamara also has a boyfriend who's deployed overseas, and in general it is not a book that assumes people only love one person at a time. I did appreciate that. What specifically threw me was this passage in Tamara's POV:

Sure, she and Phyllis had kissed that night with Dev and even now, in certain light, she didn't mind the notion of touching Pea [Phyllis] until she came. But the love she felt wasn't really that kind—it was a blood love, a bone love, and it ricocheted off of her other loves at unexpected angles.

Maybe I'm misreading the author's intention in pushing away the idea that Tamara's love for Phyllis is "that kind", or maybe I'm misunderstanding what "that kind" is supposed to be. But to me it read like the poly dynamic was being held at arm's length, which was not the direction I'd hoped it would go. I guess the Tamara/Phyllis relationship is ambiguous and not clearly defined as (queer)platonic or romantic, which sometimes I like, but the way it was presented here didn't land for me.

I also didn't understand what we were supposed to take away from the reveal of how the magic in the book works.

worldbuilding and plot spoilers

Only certain rare people have magic, and only people of color. It's eventually shown that the magic is a gift from their ancestors, who intended for their descendants to use it to fight white oppression. But if the ancestors are displeased with how the magic is used, the magic can turn against its holder or disappear completely. This explains why Phyllis loses control of her hands—the ancestors wanted her to assassinate the sadistic mob boss Vic (who is white), but by that point Phyllis wanted to stop killing so she didn't do it. She spends the rest of the book trying to make amends for the murders she's committed, yet her hands continue to torment her for not killing Vic, and she eventually sickens and dies. Dev, who also has magic, does kill Vic, and is tortured by guilt for the rest of the book, and he also dies. Tamara has magic too, and also becomes consumed with guilt because even though she never hurt anyone directly, she worked for Vic and looked the other way; she tries to sacrifice herself to save Phyllis but doesn't succeed.

To me it ended up reading like the characters were being punished for not living up to binding magical agreements that they never consented to or even knew about, which override their own agency and moral convictions. What are the ancestors trying to accomplish here? How does any of this help in the fight against racism? We're told that magic is getting rarer, but it's not really explained why. I know it's not because people of color in the 1940s don't need the help, and I can't imagine the author is saying it's because they're not worthy of it, but... what, then? Phyllis and Dev's daughter is supposed to have extraordinary powers, but I don't think that's explained either and I didn't have a clear sense of what she's expected to do. The whole cosmology of the book didn't make sense to me.

It sucks because I find Johnson's prose excellent, and the first third worked so well for me. I really didn't want to have to say I don't like this book! But alas, here we are.

beanside

It's Monday! Let the great shitshow begin. We're supposed to have severe weather today, so that could be fun. Yoda will not be happy. They've got us in the Enhanced threat area, so there's the chance of storms, wind, hail and possibly tornadoes. No thank you, I don't want it. Iam not fond of storms and the dog is terrified, so it's going to be a long night.

Right now, it's just foggy and bleh, so we'll see how much of it we're going to get. Actually, as of this morning, they've downgraded them to strong storms instead of severe, so maybe that's a good thing.

Yesterday was a day of nap. I convinced Jess and we went to the Asian buffet in Catonsville, which is about a 30minute ride. Umi Hot Pot and sushi buffet is a small chain, but very tasty. It had some Chinese, some Korean, and some Japanese. For a buffet, it was damn near amazing.

The sushi is up at the front, and it was definitely a crowd pleaser. Then was the hot pot meat and vegetables. Then began the first of like eight stations, each holding about 10 dishes. We didn't hot pot owing to getting full on the rest of the stuff. On round one, I hit the hot tables. I had braised pork belly that was delicious as well as 1/2 a garlicky lobster tail which was very tasty ad some General Tso's that actually had a little spice to it. The sushi was a standout for round 2, especially the hamachi tuna nigiri, which was delicious. Round 3, I was picky. I got more pork belly, a slab of beef and I also tried abalone, which I decided was not my thing, at least how it was cooked. The snow crab legs were mid after all the really good Dungeness legs I've had.

Finally, very full, we grabbed my sister a box and headed home. Not long after arriving, I realized that I was tired and had a headache, so I went and took a "short nap." I figured I'd be up in 30 min. 2 hours later, I got out of bed and had some coffee to wake up for game.

It did it's trick, and I was ready when game started. We stumbled into a town infested with low-level undead, and well, we made big boom. There was an evil necromancer, who we beat the holy hell out of before he used a spell to run away from us. I look forwards to him showing up again, after a bit of a level up to kick our asses. This is the game where I'm playing the slightly overpowered Wizard. He's a bladesinger, so he he's hard to hit, and he has devastating magic that he can use in concert with his sword. Right now, he's at level 11, which means spells up to 6fh level, which are baller. I only get one of them for now, but soon. Soon I will have two! It was a great game. We spent the session just beating the hell out of these zombies and ghouls, and it was super fun. I was able to kill 14 of them with one well placed Fireball. It was amazing. Also the spell Steel Wind Strike. Five hits at 5 enemies and everyone hit and killed that particular undead.

52 days to Alaska. *runs around in circles screaming*. I've got a few things that I need to get before we go. More underwear and socks, definitely. The rest, I kind of need to wait to see what the weather up there does. Right now, it's fucking cold, but I'm hoping that spring comes soon. I'd like temps closer to 60 than 30, please. If I have to take the heavy coat, I will, but I'd rather not. Takes up a lot of space in the luggage. Though I think I'm going to be okay as far as that goes. Leggings and t-shirts don't take up a ton of space. The jeans and dresses might take up some, but I plan to have plenty of room for souvenirs, too. Gotta have room for that.

I'm mentally skimming the part where I'm going to have to be locked in a plane for 5 hours. I'm not really a fan of that, but alas. I know Jess is worrying about TSA and border control, but I'm thinking everything will go okay. *fingers crossed*. Even with the top surgery, I think they'll be okay. They are perfectly willing to lie and say that they had the breast cancer gene, and had them taken if anyone hassles them. I'm honestly more worried that my sister is on some list for being outspoken about her liberal views. We'll see how it goes.

I did find on the flights to Chicago two years ago and Detroit last year that going first class made a difference in comfort on the flight. I'm going to assume the same is going to be true of Seattle. It's a longer flight, but I think being in a comfy seat, and being able to move around a bit will help. I'll have my kindle and my phone and if I want it, my laptop. With Tmobile, the internet is free, so I can surf the net, maybe do some schoolwork. We'll see what I want to do. I know Alaska has a lot of free movies and stuff to watch. So maybe I'll watch something. It'll be pretty early to drink, so I'll probably just have a cranberry juice with club soda. It looks pretty and tastes good, and it's appropriate for a flight that departs at 7am East Coast time and lands at 9:51am West Coast time. A wee bit early to drink, I think. It'll be almost 1pm in my brain, but still. I will save that til we get to Vancouver. I may have a wine with dinner, we'll see.

Today is going to be bugfuck at work, and I may have to ask A & J directly what they want me to do. Though if we have storms, it may not be as bad. Especially since a lot of school systems are closing/letting out early. Do I take calls, do I do my new job? Throw a girl a bone. Later this week, I will see if they have a moment to go over what I should be doing starting next week.

Tomorrow is supposed to be quieter weather wise, thankfully. Though if the weather affects call volumes today, it may be crazy tomorrow instead of today. You never really know with our patients. We've been really busy the last couple of months. Every day there's a point where there's 10+ calls waiting. We're just really getting hammered.

Next month, they're "upgrading" our phone system, and no one is looking forward to it. It's going to be VOIP, and I'm expecting massive problems. Right now, it's not fully intergrated with our system, and I don't know if that'll be fixed before it goes live.

I'm got a second headset that I'm not sure will work, but we're going to give it a try. I want to have a good backup, because the one I have is over 2 years old. If the one I got doesn't work I'll just get another of the ones like I have. I love this headset. The only reason I got the other was because the one I like is rather expensive. In retrospect, I probably should have just gotten the one I wanted. *shrug*

The plumeria pendant I got is supposed to come today. I am excited about that. I can't wait to see what it looks like in person! I've already got the chain for it, so that'll be nice. I can wear it whenever I go out again. (Probably not anytime soon. lol. I'm a homebody.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get myself together. Everyone have an outstanding Monday!

dine

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julian

I did manage to lose my wallet after Ny's thing, at/near Moruichi in Arlington, because I am Good Like That. I likely tried to put it back in my purse and it fell out.

Found out after the place closed, when I stopped for gas, so I couldn't even call them to see if they found it. (Will tomorrow, just in case.)

On the bright side, I'm going to be near my main bank tomorrow anyway, due to visiting my parents, so I can just get a new ATM card then. And I had to get a new driver's license anyway due to address change and not getting around to it yet, so, again, not a big thing.

Just, as usual, I liked that wallet, and I annoy myself. Harumph.

althea_valara

communal_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.

Current Mood: creative

rebelsheart

I've had the same roommate for years at Midwest FurFest - with him only missing one as he'd moved.

He was laid off from his government job a month ago. His attendance is understandably in doubt, though we've got time to spare to determine this.

My plans for an Alaska trip this summer hit the wall of finances for friends who were interested, so I made alternate mini-vacation plans. One to Myrtle Beach with a friend, and one with my husband.

My friend has suffered a family emergency involving a significant number of dollar signs. Right now, he is unlikely to be able to join but has asked me to check in with him in a month.

I don't know who's karma is coming back to get them, but it is causing me frustration.

Current Mood: annoyed

julian

Went to a memorial Thing, for

minoanmiss. (Speaking of, apparently her parents are getting told soon, so we're cleared to go posting in the clear.) Meant to get there early enough to help with cooking for the Watertown Free Fridge, but I didn't, or rather, I got there late because I hadn't had coffee and got some, and then discovered I had forgotten my seltzer I'd gotten as an event thing, so I waffled and came down on the "bringing something is important in a symbolic way" and stopped at Trader Joe's to get lemonade.

I did get there theoretically in time to cook (which we were doing as a memorial thing because Ny did buttloads of cooking for the Fridge), but I kept getting happily lodged in conversations and/or hugs instead, so, well, it was what it was, and it was good.

(I will donate to and/or volunteer at my local Food Pantry in her honor, methinks.)

Stickers, fans, poetry, food, pictures, recipes, music, people, laughter, sadness, occasional sudden memories popping up for people. Because of someone else's story, Eggplant Caponara will now be associated with Ny for me. And when I was outside taking a people break,

katarik sang what turned out to be an Episcopal mourning hymn but which to me (before I asked) was someone with a very nice voice singing something that works very well for her voice, which was steeped in sadness yet joy and beauty. It spoke to and of the afternoon.

I took enough fans that I can use some of them as Kid Prizes at work. (And buy some more later. The stickers aren't quite my thing; Ny gave them to small people she met in the subway and doctor's offices and so on, but I think I'll leave that as a thing to smile about about Ny, not as a Thing To Adopt.)

Saw someone from High School I literally have not seen in what, 30 years? (I mean, we read each other's journals, but it's different.) Honestly, haven't seen most of these folks in at least 15 years, because school eats my brain and then my work schedule is peculiar and family stuff is what it is, but the point is: was good. Even though I felt like I was hyper and a little off balance.

(Thanks to the Cambridge Commons co-housing folks for hosting. And thanks to the snowdrops there, too. First of the season for me!)

The Virtual Memorial, I have just learned, will be on April 12 at 1 pm Eastern, via Zoom. I assume the link will be shared on the Google announce list. (If you're not on there yet, just follow the link and explain how you know Ny to the nice friendly info-boxes.)

Also, more info on Things Ny Related, including vague but pertinent info on who her organs went to, here.

gingicat

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kaberett

Reading. I continue to work my way through the She's A Beast archives, to a degree that is not necessarily ... uh ... optimal, in terms of all the other things I want to do...

I slowed down on LIFTOFF, on account of resuming reading from the start with A, and then this evening I tripped and fell and am. More. of the way through it. again.

Finished What Is Queer Food? by John Birdsall. Ultimately the argument is that the queerness is a function of community -- the role that food plays in eating together -- though he also tries at various points for "enjoying food is queer" (among other things), which I do not think I am the target audience for. (Having said which I am now wondering what it would take to convince me of that line of reasoning, and Ideas Are Stirring. Hmm.) Overall a mixture of anecdotes from culinary history and fiction to fill in events that went unrecorded; he does hold space for people to be complex and flawed, and I appreciated the history that was actually history, but -- alas, this did not really work for me.

Writing. Words. Continue. To be. Eked out.

Watching. The 2026 Migraine World Summit is ongoing and eating a lot of my time and brain; thus far nothing has made me actually vibrate with fury and I've had a couple of useful joining-the-dots moments, so mustn't grumble there, really. And I have finally watched the talks from last year's Day 2 that I missed due to time changes, and have started transferring my digital notes from last year into my notebook...

Playing. Inkulinati: we continue Not Dead Yet in the Exploders run on Master difficulty.

The Ridiculous Colours Game.

Sudoku... appears to have let go of my brain for now?

Cooking. This evening I have been attempting to remember how to make Spätzle, and got there eventually (part of the difficulty being that this is the first time I've made them since acquiring a dedicated Spätzlebrett, and I needed to reestablish correct consistency of the dough...)

Eating. This morning we engaged in a Weekend Morning Ritual of going down to the local fancy bakery and getting brunch from them. We also got Treats for Afternoon Tea; I am delighted that they'll supply me with cardamom buns that I don't have to actually make myself.

I have also been Craving Brownies, but not enough to actually make them myself (and also The Oven Is Broken), and consequently have eaten them courtesy of both Wagamama (ritual Thursday night takeaway) and London Zoo (Saturday afternoon tea).

Exploring. London Zoo! Saw creatures! Maybe I will even go back and edit in more details about the creatures! Creatures: good.

Several bimbles around local front gardens (etc) to enjoy Spring Flowers.

Growing. Harvested (and consumed!) more salad. Transplanted some garlic. Wrangled some more weeding. Have yet to sow any more things but really want to have Actual Plants this growing season so, uh, maybe that can be a priority for Breaks From Migraine World Summit, not that that's worked so far...

Observing. THE BAT.

And then for brunch this morning we took our breakfast slightly further than usual to a different park bench, this one surrounded by daffodils, and then additionally wandered a little way down the New River (neither new, nor a river) to see if the coots were doing things yet (which I have also been checking every time I go to the pharmacy to pick up meds). The coots aren't, BUT there were TEN EGYPTIAN GOSLINGS peeping about the place!!! At least one of whom was Extremely keen on coming All the way down the bank and plapping along the edge of the bricks, presumably because they were warm and felt nice on feet? Certainly two very gentle attempts to chase it back towards its parents got them contemplating hissing at me, and only persuaded it to maybe do the thing for about thirty seconds at most, so I gave up on that and just stood back and watched them for a bit, and then was very relieved that the foolhardy baby did upon parents Alarm Calling (as best we can tell about A Passing Dog) go FWEEP FWEEP FWEEP all the way back up and into the bundle of its siblings. An unexpected and very welcome delight.

beanside

It's Sunday and my body was a total douche and woke me up at 4am. Even now, I'm sitting her grumpy about it. I may write this and then try and go lay back down for an hour. Sometimes, if I stay up about an hour, it'll work. I can give it a try.

Yesterday was a good day. We relaxed in the morning and early afternoon. It was very nice. The brother in law came over and I offloaded some more stuff out of our freezer. We have an inordinate amount of beef, thanks to the shares, so I gave him 3 one pound bags of ground beef, as well as some fish. Hopefully, he enjoys it all a lot. The ground beef is from the farm share, and is delicous, I just have a ton of it. I think I shall pull out some and maybe make loco moco one night. It's a Hawaiian specialty that consists of rice, a hamburger, gravy and a fried egg. For Jess it will just be a hamburger as they don't like all the other stuff. It's very tasty and I'd like ot give it a shot.

We talked about the cruise a bit. Y'all, he is so ready to go. It's adorable. I think he's more excited than the rest of us put together. He had a couple of questions, which I answered. We talked a bit about the food available, and my distaste for going to the buffet when we embark. Everyone goes to the buffet when they get on the ship. It's a free for all. I mean,we could, but I'd rather go to the Grand Dutch Cafe and get some fries and a chocolate covered cream puff bigger than my head. Maybe a sandwich? We'll see how much we graze in the Neptune Lounge when we go there for our tour/champagne toast with the concierge.

And we talked about the variety of foods on the Lido Buffet, and that yes, they had non-ethnic food, as well as plenty of ethnic food to make the rest of us happy. And of course, Club Orange, our exclusive dining room.

We again talked through the travel day a bit. At least as far as it related to Seattle. I explained that we have a little city tour, plus stops at the Space Needle, lunch at Pike's Place Market for lunch, and one other stop at a picturesque park, then we will head to Vancouver. It'll be about a 4 hour whirlwind tour. Then, up to Vancouver and the Pan Pacific Hotel. We talked a bit about Vancouver with a hop on hop off trolley to take us where we want to go during the day. I don't know if he and my sister are going to want to stay together, or if they're going to explore on their own. I have not fully decided what I'm going to see. I know the Granville Island Market for some souvenirs and lunch and I'd like to see the Steam clock. But I need to do more research. Maybe Stanley park, to walk along the Sea Wall a bit. We'll see. I did check whether he wanted to go see Mortal Kombat 2 with us. He declined. They'll be on their own for dinner then.

I did go ahead and cancel the Seafood Boil on the last night on the ship. That's usually dressy night, so I'd rather do that and go to dinner in finery. Plus I'd like to really enjoy the ship on the last sea day. It'll mean our journey is coming to an end, and that will be sad.

After he left, we had chicken kabobs and rice as well as pitas and mast-o-Khiar. Soon after we finished and were getting ready for game, UPS came with our new phones. I immediately set mine up, letting it duplicate my current phone while we played. By the end of the game is was mostly updated. I got all my apps and log ons (As well as a ton of AI shit I turned off. IT has an amazingly clear screen, and the photos are excellent.

Game was a lot of fun, but we all had trouble not talking over each other a bit. Sometimes that happens. It made some things chaotic, but we got through it.

After that, I helped my sister and Jess do their phones, and got everything set up. Then, Jess had another game, so I ordred L&L Hawaiian BBQ. This time I had their combo meal with Kaluha pork and Garlic Shrimp, which were so tasty. The pork worked really well with the macaroni salad. Jess liked their Korean style beef ribs and my sister really enojoyed the fried shrimp and BBQ chicken. They're definitely not cheap, but quite tasty.

After that, Jess had a game, and I settled in to watch a raffle for an animal rescue that I give money to now and then. I won at least two prizes before I fell asleep watching it.

Today, I may pull out my suitcase and pack a few things like my bathing suit and some fleece lined leggings. I don't have enough shirts to pack any of them, same for undies. I might need to buy another pack of underwear and some more socks, just so we have enough. Maybe some shirts, I have to go through what I have, and go from there. I could also pack my dresses. Most of them are pretty forgiving as far as wrinkles. Or, I may wait and lay them across the rest of the clothes.

I also will need to decide what is going in my backpack and what purse I'm going to take. I may dake a lighter one, just to make life easier and a little lighter. Oh, I could pack my fancy dress purse, too! I need somewhere to put my keycard, phone, in haler and Epi Pen.

We also will probably go out to lunch, since our game is not until 5:30pm. No clue where we're going to go. Jess had mentioned Korean BBQ, but since they had the Galbi styled ribs last night, I've no clue of that still holds true.

I could also re-dye my hair. I want the top to be colored, but I've gotta admit, I kind of like the sides gray. It's kind of a cool look. It gives the longer part on top a striking purple pop, then natural. I'll probably do it now, then have the color cut out of the sides right before the trip.

We'll see if I do it now, or next week. Or the week after. Right now, I'm looking at some of my pills and realizing that that bottle is coming with me to Alaska. That's kind of wild.

The psych pills will be newly obtained, so they'll be new bottles, but I just got a 90 day supply of my Lisinopril. And the epipens are coming with. That may actually be the only ones, but still. It's close enough that I'm thinking about medication supply.

Next week, I'm hoping I have time to sit down with J and A and get more of an idea what they expect from me in general, how I should be filling my days, and what the exact duties are to be. I know a lot of what I'm already doing. But that's not really enough to fill my day. So I'm hoping there will be some more stuff to do. I need to know if I'm still backing the phones, and should be ready to hop on if we have 15+ calls in queue. The job starts on 3/23, so next week is their time to tell me what I should be doing.

I'm looking forward to seeing my paycheck on 4/8. It should be about $300 more than what I'm making now. Since I'll have OT on 4/4, I may clear $2000 on this check, or very close to it.

I'm definitely going to be posting pictures on here from Alaska, but if it's more than 1 or 2, I'll put it behind a cut. Also, I will have a google photo album where you can go see all the pictures, which I'll link to when there's something in there.

Okay, time to drink my coffee and decide whether I want to wake up or take a nap. Everyone have an amazing Sunday!

dine

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fayanora

I just finished a book by T. Kingfisher called "Snake-Eater," which is a horror story in which Selena, the protagonist, runs away from her life after her mom's death to unwind in the American Southwest, and in the process runs afoul of Snake Eater, who is basically the god of roadrunners.

Now, if your only knowledge of roadrunners is from the Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons, well... apparently real roadrunners are fucking terrifying. They're basically evil little feathered dinosaurs that are wicked smart predators with enormous talons and a beak like a shiv. They apparently have zero fear of human beings, since they know they can outrun us (but cannot, IRL, outrun coyotes; real coyotes are twice as fast as real roadrunners). If one decides to attack you, they will fuck up your shit, leaving you with great talon gouges and pecking the back of your skull in an effort to kill you the same way they do to the rattlesnakes that are one of their favorite prey animals. (Yes, these feathered fuckers hunt venomous snakes!) And because they're so fast, they can attack you faster than your brain can process that they've started moving.

And she faces the GOD of these things. (Or a very powerful spirit. Either way...)

Anyway, that's not my review of the book. This is my review, from Goodreads:

This book is in a sub-genre I would call "cozy horror," because it's mostly a sedate book about a neurotic (and possibly autistic) woman and the series of toxic relationships she gets away from, and how she grows a spine to stand up for herself with the help of some friends she makes at the tiny town her aunt lived in. Most of the book is a slow burn, with a few sprinkles of foreshadowing here and there, and a couple bursts of supernatural action before reaching the very satisfying ending. It took like 70 pages to get to the first burst of action, and another hundred for the second burst. But it's the rest of the story that's the star of the novel: the characters, their connections with each other, Selena's thoughts as she disentangles her mind from her toxic relationships, and the new bonds of friendship and community she makes. The horror elements serve mostly to move the character development along.

Over the course of this book, I fell so in love with the setting, the characters, and the vibe of the book that I could easily read a sequel that had even less supernatural or horror elements. Which is saying a lot, for me, because I very rarely read anything that could be considered conventional fiction.

My only remaining question is why it seems to take place in the year 2051 or later. It was very subtle, little odd things here and there that finally came together with a single sentence spoken before the second major burst of action. It was extremely subtle until that point, though I did learn a new word ("arcology") and then saw that word show up like five times in the book. I got the impression maybe humanity was finally wising up and fixing climate change somehow, but honestly I'm still not sure why that was included. It doesn't take anything away from the story, it's just a minor mystery that was never really given a satisfying resolution because at no point in the book (not even the afterword) was this directly addressed. It's like we were just dropped into the story and left to pick up on those subtle clues on our own and draw our own conclusions. Again, not complaining exactly, just... I'd like to know what that was all about. Nothing about the story struck me as needing to be set in any particular year. I thought it took place in 2025 or so until I started picking up on those occasional breadcrumbs.

Anyway, excellent book, and I would give it seven stars if I could.

kaberett

highlights included:

the lion ROARING
glasswing (Greta oto) pupae: tiny, bright leaf green, with sparkly metallic bits (gold and silver)
the rhinoceros ratsnake (Gonyosoma boulengeri): has a NOSE. why is its NOSE pointy? no(se) idea!
turquoise gecko (Lygodactylus williamsi)

otherwise everything is still Migraine World Summit (though I have once again learned a useful thing today! neck pain can be a prodrome symptom!) and Special Interest.

pauraque

When I was a kid I had two artillery games: Tank Wars and QBasic Gorillas.

side by side screenshots of two artillery games, one on a green battlefield with visible firing arcs in a starry sky, the other with gorillas standing on skyscrapers — *Left: Tank Wars. Right: QBasic Gorillas*

Both games share the same basic concept. You and your opponent sit on opposite ends of a battlefield and take turns lobbing projectiles at one another in parabolic arcs, adjusting the angle and power of each shot to try to land a hit.

Tank Wars, created by Kenneth Morse, allows you to customize a myriad of game options, from windspeed to the color of the sky. You can play hotseat multiplayer, or if you have a keyboard and a mouse (fancy!) you and a friend can huddle around the computer together and split the controls. If your friends are unavailable there are CPU opponents of various levels of skill, from "Mr. Stupid" to "Wind Master". As you rack up points you can buy bombs with different blast radii, and when you win the terrain blows up in a satisfying crater and rains back down on the field in an elaborate shower of pixels.

QBasic Gorillas came with MS-DOS 5.0 and was created by Microsoft as a demonstration of the capabilities of the QBasic programming language. You and your opponent are gorillas who throw exploding bananas, and when you win, you do the Monkey.

Tank Wars is, I suppose, the "better" of the two games, in the sense of having more sophisticated graphics and gameplay. But does it have dancing gorillas? Does it have exploding bananas? Does it have a cartoon sun that makes a face like 😮 if you manage to hit it? I ask you. I did play both games a lot, but I know which one was more appealing to my sensibilities as a child of 8-9 years of age.

beanside

It's Saturday, and Boodle let me sleep til my alarm (which I forogot to shut off). Of course, then she wouldn't let me go back to sleep. I wonder if she thinks she's helping? I have absolutely no idea, but she would not let me drift back off. So, up I got. Maybe I can sleep in til 7am on Sunday! We shall see what kitty shall permit.

Today, we have one game planned, the greek mythology analog module, called Odyssey of the Dragonlords. I'm looking forward to it, as the group is in a labyrinth. There are some fun things in the labyrinth with them, so I'm looking forward to it. It should be super entertaining. That's at 2pm. Hopefully, the nice people from safelite come early to fix the crack in my windshield. Their window is 8-12:30, so fingers crossed.

Our new phones are coming from Tmobile today. UPS says it'll be between 1-3. I'm hoping it comes early, so that I'm available to sign for them. If not, I'll just interrupt game and go grab them in. My sister will probably be out in the living room, but I'd rather she hold the dog, and I gett he box. I will do the herculean task of waiting until after game to open the box. IT IT will suck, but I'll do it, even though I'll be doing grabby hands at the box. We already got Otterboxes for them. I sure hope this helps some of my and Jess' battery woes. I'm looking forward to getting it all set up and learning about some of the photo tips and tricks.

I just want it to take really good pictures.

We're down to the point in our countdown to the Alaska cruise, (54 days) that every number seems momentous. It's ticking closer and I am in no way shape or form prepared. I mean, I'm prepared. I have warm clothes and pretty dresses, and all of that. But internally I'm not prepared. My anxiety does a thing where it kicks in before vacation and doesn't let up until we're actually there. The month before Disney, I was all over the place. Let me say up front that I want to go, and I know it'll be an amazing time. It's just that it's a big change, and sometimes my ADHD brain gets very change resistant. So while I'm going "Oh this is going to be great," Anxiety and ADHD are double teaming me until I also am looking at the countdown with trepidation.

A good chunk of it is Yoda's boarding. I didn't think that we were going to have to board him, and I was unprepared. I had planned to get him acclimated to the boarding place, but instead, he'll probably have one visit before we leave, so I am nervous. If he flunks this eval, then he's going to be boarded at a vet. I also need to get him on a flea and tick regimen. So I'm going to do that. When he goes back for his next visit, I'll buy the flea and tick med and give him a dose. Thank god, he reacted well to the flu shot. No side effects or crying.

We got him set up for his grooming appt next week. That'll give a little time between the two shots.

Then, we'll get him groomed at the end of April, and he'll be good to go for his boarding.

Yesterday was busy at work. I spent most of it working to get people in for their appts. I got a lot of shit done, which was gratifying. They seem to be letting me do what I want to right now as far as work. Most of the day, I hung out in a non-available status, and did what I do best. I played Jenga with our schedules, moving patients to make a hole for an add on and then filing it. It was a good day for that.

I asked J. who said that yes, there are plans to announce it, though he wasn't sure when. I hope it's soon. Though that will have its own issues, because they never announced the job opening. It never appeared on our weekly list of open positions. It was on the website, if you looked, but how many people actually do that. So, I'm hoping it doesn't seem like they're just ramming me through. I mean, that is 100% what happened, but still. Hopefully people are cool about it.

One of the calls I took yesterday, I had to send an email about. They updated the inbox and added me to the add on inbox just in time for me to get my own email. Perfect timing, and very confusing for a moment.

I got to take the lead on the add ons today, so I was using that power to get people in, and then I replied to the coworker's emails, which is a pretty strong indication that I'm no longer just a PASII, as they do not have access to that account. I now get email updates when things come through for fuck ups that coworkers have made as well. And I got to see a bit of the pushback that people give management over said fuck ups. I would definitely not talk back to a manager the way they do. I mean, just own your fuck up and get over it. Fix it and we're all good. There's no need to come back and flounce about how the system led you astray. (Also because J. is petty and will pull that call and see that you totally ignored the warning. No one likes getting errors that you need to fix, but you do it and you move on, and reply with a facepalm and a "I can't believe I missed this. Sorry."

The rest of the weekend looks good. A restful Sunday with Prophecy of the Nine Omens in the early evening. It's going to be a good weekend.

Monday, my new pendant is coming. Since I looked at some Hawaiian merchandise, I'm now getting ads for all things Hawaiian, and one of those was for jewelry. There was this gorgeous silver Plumeria pendant. It's a little expensive, so I wasn't going to get it, but then I got promoted, and so I got it as a little celebration present for me.

I don't know why I fell so in love with it, but I really love it. I got a different chain for it, as my fat neck will not fit an 18" chain, which is what comes with it. I need at least 24".

Okay, I suppose I should get myself together for the windshield dude. Maybe I'll finish off my orientation first. Everyone have an outstanding Saturday!

dine

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kaberett

In apparent celebration of Migraine World Summit, I have spent this evening having an unscheduled migraine attack for no obvious reason. I disapprove. (Because I've been doing a lot of audiovisual processing, captions notwithstanding? Because I had my screen much brighter than usual for a while playing a colours game?* Because oven't?)

Nonetheless I have watched and made digital notes on all of 2026 Day 2, watched and made digital notes on 3/4 talks from 2025 Day 2 (which I missed at the time), and made physical notes for 2025 Day 1 and 1/4 of Day 2. I am... sort of catching up.

I am really enjoying my pens. I also find myself with the problem of wanting lots of different notebooks and, also, to keep everything in One Single Solitary Notebook, For Convenience...

* NB I am a rocks nerd. My colour discrimination is ludicrously good. I am sorry that that link is weird and competitive about my ridiculous score, but not sorry enough to provide you with the bare link.

beanside

And finally, it's Friday! Whoohoo! It's time for the weekend!

Yesterday was a less busy day at work. I spent a fair amount of time off the phones filling in slots and calling back patients, which was nice.

They need to go ahead and announce that I've been promoted, because it seems that they're asking me to take more of a leadership role, and right now that's difficult, because I'm still listed as PASII, which is what everyone else is.

Case in point, J came to me and asked me to call a patient who needed a fairly tricky to schedule test. I open the chart, and the pt has behavioral flags, which is far less shocking than it sounds. This one was pretty bad, though. So I call, and get voice mail, and leave a message. In the meantime, I see that one of my coworkers is in the chart, and sure enough, she messages me.

I relayed the message that the insurance didn't require auth, so the pt could just be scheduled. And I went back to J and said that she had gotten the call and was taking care of the pt. J came back with "Oh, I don't think I love that." I said I'd double check her, and sent a message reminding her to watch the timing on the study. I got back a rather pissy message that she "Knows what she's doing."

Josh immediately told me to nicely tell her that she needed to send the call to me, because I'm "better suited for it." While I tried to find a nice way to ask that, the pt hung up on her and was "very rude."

I called her back, and a few minutes later, the pt called in again. This time, they got B (who definitely doesn't deserve to be involved in this shitshow. I immediately told her I'd take the pt, and she happily sent her my way.

After all that, the pt was perfectly nice with me. We also decided that they would prefer to be contacted via mychart rather than phone call. I am perfectly okay with forestalling future blow ups, so I agreed.

But yeah, if I'm going to be doing this, they need to make an announcement soon, so that I have some form of authority. (To be fair, I don't know if it would have helped with D. I've seen her push back on the other PASIII's when she asks questions and doesn't get the answer she wants.)

I'm going to mention it to J today and see when they are planning to announce it. I'm happy to take on more of a leadership role, I just need the people I'm leading to know that I'm not just putting on airs.

During lunch I did our taxes, so I'm done that for the year. I also burned the refund I'm getting by deciding to get new phones for everyone. I had a promotion for upgrading that made it $73/month for three Samsung S26 Ultras, so I went for it.

The cases were just delivered by Amazon, and the phones should probably come Monday. I wanted everyone to have a good camera for Alaska. Plus Jess and I both had older phones which weren't holding a charge nearly as well as they should. And I was almost out of storage, which considering how many pictures I'm going to take, would be a problem.

So, bigger hard drive, top of the line camera and a hopefully fast and useful phone. Wonder how much AI shit I'll need to turn off. I'm guessing probably a lot.

After work, we took the dog to the vet for his doggy flu shot. He did great with it. No whining after or anything. And he was so good! He has to have his second shot in 4 weeks, and then has to wait 2 weeks before we can board him. It's cutting it very close, and I'm a little concerned about how he's going to do with only one test run, but we'll give it a go.

I need to call the pet sitting company and set up for someone to come in and feed Boodle, so I'll do that today. I'm thinking three half hour visits daily. Plus a camera to keep watch on her. I'm worried about her being sad, but less so than Yoda. I will be giving her smooches all over her little face before we leave. She'll be so thrilled.

Today, I have work, then our Vecna game tonight, which is always fun. I think I'm making grilled cheese, which should be tasty. I haven't made them in a hot minute. We ended up ordering last night, since we were out getting Yoda his vaccine.

I didn't really get to watch any videos, but I have a couple queued up. One is about San Francisco Chinatown, and where to eat and one is about the Hawaiian airlines first class seats. I'm defintely looking at doing that for both flights. 6 hours is way too long to sit in coach. I did when I went to Scotland, but that was thirty some years ago. Now, no thank you. I'd rather pay. We've got First class going to Seattle for Alaska, too. Not that Alaska Air's 737 MAX 9 compairs to Hawaiian's Airbus 330. That fucker has lay flat seating.

Since our flight to Seattle leaves at 7, we'll be leaving for the airport at 4:30am. I could damn well use a lie flat seat, but alas. I will deal with a mild recline. BIL is very anxious about flying, so I'm hoping for a relatively easy flight with minimal turbulence. Hell, I'm hoping for that for me, too. I don't really like to fly, but I recognize that it's the only way to get places, so I do it. I'm too old to drive 12+ hours to get to places unless I budget a few days to do it.

Disney was quite a roadtrip. We did about five hours night one, but thanks to DC traffic, that only got us to the edge of North Carolina. The rest was all that second day. We started at 9am, and didn't pull into our hotel parking lot until about 8pm. It was a lot.

I thought about doing that for CONfab, and leaving on Tuesday to get there Wednesday, then coming back on Monday, but I don't really want to use the PTO. Gotta build it back up for Hawaii. On the other hand, if that's the way Jess would feel most comfortable and will come to the con, I will consider it.

We have so many things coming up. I'm wondering if I overdid it. 27 days til classes, 36 til we go see the Lost Boys Musical, 55 days til Alaska, 99 days to Rocky Horror, 140 days til Weird Al and 220 to CONfab. That's a lot to have planned. Plus, I'm hoping to squeeze another show in there, as Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell are doing Much Ado About Nothing in NY this fall. Tickets aren't on sale yet, so we'll see when the show is. I don't want to do it too close to CONfab, but I'd really like to see it.

I said this was my year of saying yes, but I might have taken that a bit over the top. I'm thinking if Yoda does well with boarding, we may put him in overnight for those trips. He can't go in for Lost Boys, because it'll be too soon after having his Flu, but for the rest, I'll give my sister a break from taking him for walkies.

Tomorrow, another game, and in the morning, I have to wait for the Safelite dude to come fix my windsheild, where a chip has grown a crack after the shitty snow/ice mix that the forecasters called snowcrete, last month. I'd like to have that fixed before another rock hits it and shatters it.

I suppose I should do my last Orientation module for school, but I don't really feel like it. Maybe tomorrow. In the meantime, everyone have a fabulous Friday!