cujoy | Reading

I finished rereading Ancillary Mercy this morning and when I went to check my catalog I gave some of the three books about half a star higher than I had before, except the one I rated 5 already. And I think I like them better this time because I read Translation State. Translaters aren't just quirky weird now, they're, well, really difficult to translate, and having the same problem reading everyone in the story. Knowing the new stuff it is just a Very Different experience, reading them again.

So that is cool.

Also today I tried to put my hands on a piece of paper I was sure I'd put right under the TV but I couldn't find it so I went through All The Paper. All.
Then I gave up and sat down
and found it immediately
right where I would see it from the chair.

Well done earlier me, I was not to know I would not be ~~lazy~~ sitting this once.

April is annoying the way all the numbers change, I have several number change things to do this week, but at least I have rediscovered the paperwork for it.

shadowkat

Finished Something Really Bad is Going to Happen - and while it did surprise me in places and was a lot more interesting than expected? I was kind of disappointed with it and found the ending kind of predictable?
I'd say it was violent and gory - but everything is filmed at night with little to no lighting - so I couldn't exactly see the gore?

Also, Jennifer Jason Lee - is not aging well. (I always confuse her with Juliette Lewis - who is aging far better.)

James Marsters isn't aging well either - he's too thin and looks ten years older as a result. Tony Head looks younger, and he's ten years older. Nor is Gellar, Hannigan and Carpenter look younger and they are five to ten years older than Gellar. Maybe it's a good thing they didn't do the Buffy reboot? And maybe they should consider "animation"?

I'm in a bit of a television slump at the moment. I'm bored by things that shouldn't bore me.

Also, reading slump returned. I made it a quarter of the way through "Name of the Wind" before throwing in the towel. I didn't like the first person pov protagonist? I kept wanting to smack him. I've been feeling that way a lot lately? This overwhelming desire to smack folks. Very irritable for some reason or other. Restraining myself from doing so - requires more effort than usual. So, I jumped over to another Illona Andrews novel - Silver Blade - Kinsman Universe. We'll see if I stick with it.

Bro asked if I'd seen Wonder Man? I tried. But I couldn't get past the fourth episode? It kept putting me to sleep. Same problem with Paradise.
Also Succession. I have, however, made it through S1 of Grantchester. But S7 of Virgin River put me to sleep as well.

I think it is a mood thing?

Daredevil S2 is okay? I keep waiting for Jessica Jones to pop up, and keep getting disappointed that she hasn't yet? Stupid ads were misleading. (Granted, only three episodes have dropped.) Television is disappointing me at the moment?

The lengthy fight scenes and discussions in the dark are getting old. As is the endless and somewhat repetitive back and forth between Winston Fisk, his wife, and their assorted minions. Lili Taylor has really aged - dear god, I feel old. As has Mathew Lillard (who is younger than I am). Lillard's role is more interesting than Taylor's.

**

The weather is echoing my mood this weekend. Clouds with occasional sun, but mostly dusty grey clouds, rain, and in the 40s-low 60s, resulting in frequent battles with the radiators, not to mention bad sinus headaches.

But I continue to be grateful for the following: apartment (which is rather nice and peaceful), job, and family however far away...but not painfully in my face. Also unsweetened hot coco with foamed milk, gluten free chocolate chip cookies, gluten free almond flour biscuit, and just the sound of tweeting birds.

shadowkat

1. Mostly overcast today, in the low sixties. Warmer than yesterday, thankfully, so no radiators. [ETA: Until nightfall, when it dropped into the forties - so they blasted them again and on went the A/C.] (My apartment building turns on the radiators whenever it dips below fifty-five degrees, or so it seems. As a result, the apartment gets rather warm, even though I have one of the radiators turned off and a window fan on. It also plays havoc with my allergies. So too does Spring and opening a window for that matter, because, ahem, tree pollen?)
Narcissus are in bloom - and seem to be popular this year? While they are admittedly pretty, they also exude a perfume that gives me a headache - the metaphor is not lost on me.

2. I took a brief walk to Lofty Pigeons Book Store - in search of the new Illona Andrews Epic Fantasy novel "This Kingdom will Not Kill Me" but alas, it's too obscure (non-mainstream) for the independent sellers, and only available through Barnes and Nobel, Amazon, Waterstones, and various European Booksellers. ( Read more... )

3. On Threads (I can't access Bluesky, no real loss), GA Aiken asked: "Have you ever considered quitting your job and following your dream? I'm thinking of quitting mine and becoming a full time writer."

My response: Depends on how much you enjoy marketing? Because novelists or professional freelance creative writers spend 80% of their time and money promoting and marketing themselves, and roughly 20% of it actually writing.
( Read more... )

I've written a lot of books, only managed to publish one. Writing is easy, publishing and getting it out there on the other hand - is close to impossible. I know I'm speaking to the choir on this one - since most people who stumble upon this write and post mainly fanfic partly due to just that.

4. Still battling the migraine/sinus headaches. ( Read more... )

5. Television Meme found on various social media platforms:

Name Five Television Shows (Past or Present) to Know You By. (Best approach is not to think too hard about it and just name them)

* Buffy the Vampire Slayer
* Farscape
* General Hospital
* The Bear
* The Pitt

If you want to know why? You can ask?

6. Television Shows

I've tried a few that just didn't land for some reason or other.

( television shows that didn't work for me )
*******

Meanwhile.. I've been enjoying:

* Grantchester S1 - with James Norton, the jazz loving priest in the 1950s. Watching it on Netflix. I like all the characters, and the murder mysteries are nicely done. It's a comfort series that is also a murder mystery.

* The Pitt S2 - a medical procedural about working in a high stress American inner city ER Department during a major holiday - in 2026. It has got to be the most realistic medical procedural ever done. The emphasis is on procedural, and the effects of the situation and atmosphere on the individuals working in it. Takes place solely in the ER, and during a 15 hour shift. American inner city hospital staff often work 15 hour shifts, which is unheard of in various other countries (such as China). (I only know this because I dated a Chinese Doctor from Shanhai once upon a time.) This series does an excellent job of shining a light on the state of health care in the US right now. And I can verify that yes - that's exactly what a city ER looks like - I've been in several in NYC over the years, and they are all exactly like that. It's on HBO MAX. I find it oddly comforting and validating in a way that other medical procedurals aren't.

* Daredevil S2 - it's better than S1, I guess? Although I liked S1 better than most? It's harder to watch - since almost all the scenes are filmed at night - so another series I have to watch at night. They are expanding on Bullseye - PointDexter's character, and Karen's. They flipped the script on the comic a bit...( spoiler ) which worked better for me for many reasons. Kudos to the writing team and Disney for doing that. It's also taking a very front and center stance on the whole ICE issue. (It's anti-ICE, actually anyone with a soul, a conscience, kind heart, and an iota of intelligence is anti-ICE. But it's good to see that Marvel and Disney are anti-ICE. So too is HBO and The PITT.)

* And started watching...Something Very Bad is Going to Happen - it's the new horror series produced by the Duffer Brothers, but written by someone else. (The Duffer Brothers are alas, better writers.) But it's definitely clever in places, and every episode has something really creepy happen in the middle of it. ( Read more... )

beccaelizabeth

In the process of stirring the books so the ones I can see and reach are in fact the ones I want to reread
I made enough space there is an empty shelf
but below the edge of the bed, where I am unlikely to check.

So I Pondered, and now down there I have put
all remaining Anita Blake books
and a collection of books where I bought the first one by that author but am unlikely to buy their others.

there's nothing wrong with those books, I'd have sold them if I didn't want them, but I didn't feel inspired to go find what else they wrote.

Or in the case of that book about necromancers and cavaliers I did get them, but as ebooks, and I am not in the fandon even if I can see they're doing something fun.

So. I am probably going to forget what is down there. But what is down there is: assorted things where I didn't get book two on paper. A trilogy I don't really remember. And a series where I have only kept the first nine.

I also got the torch out to find out what the bottom shelf is on the other two cases, and one is the rest of the Neil Gaiman and David Gemmell books.
I may well not need to keep all the Gaiman, considering.

Also, I really need to dust.

I am rereading Ann Leckie Ancillary books now. Just finished the first one and was pondering if I shall start the second before Wait For Shopping Hour. Reckon I shall.

beccaelizabeth

I said I should do something other than read a book, then I went and read a book.

Translation State, by Ann Leckie
Very good, and deeply weird. Kind of disturbing but partly because it makes the uncomfortable bits seem really ordinary for one of the more alien points of view. And just when you start thinking that yeah they're basically human things go full weird and they're really really really distinctive.
Good story.

Read it all in a row and now have to notice I have a tiny headache and possibly should have ate a food or something in there.
Shall go chug a ribena now...

beccaelizabeth

I started and finished Butterfly Effects by Seanan McGuire with only one necessary sleep in the middle.
Mum bought it for me for christmas (pre order, but had to reorder when the pre got cancelled) so she brought it over when it arrived at her house.

I liked the book well. I gave it 4.5 stars on librarything and the half star is because I felt a bit ambivalent about Fixing Things.
Having written and deleted this paragraph a few times I'm now sure the story did a fair working through of its consequences and paid proper attention to the emotions and practicalities in this 'verse and then opened out a new set of stories, so really it's just me having feelings.
It's tricky doing consequences in a fantasy 'verse, if everything is possible sometimes it can feel arbitrary or like only your favourites or the ones with plot armour get their chances. But this story went to visit a whole world built around being able to do what one special character can do in the usual setting, and poked the consequences with a judicious stick, so that's properly built now.

I am as usual inclined to go back to the beginning of at least one of Seanan's series and reread the lot.
They are good reading and the point of view characters are varied and distinctive and would acknowledge my existence as an actual person with thoughts on the inside, which I am appreciating more having tried rereading some other stuff lately.

I think I need to do some things that are not reading soon and for a while.
But this read has been fun.

trillingstar

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

beccaelizabeth

I finished rereading The Black Unicorn by Terry Brooks.
It took a while because it mostly isn't very interesting. The point of view guy has to realise the power was always within him and tada all sorted. It's the same as the previous book. I've read five in a row now and the later written books have marginally more reread value but they all depend on a twist revelation at the end that seems incredibly obvious by now and the characters aren't deeply drawn enough in these ones to make interesting company.

Also, he has a weird idea of who the hero of the story is. Willow is the one who gets a quest, figures it out, accomplishes it, and save her world. But we are following around the guy who thinks of her as the love interest. She's the one the story is actually happening to while all the men are squabbling. So why aren't we with her? Weird.

Old book. Does not tempt me to read the next one. Does tempt me to get the shelf space back next time I run out.

beccaelizabeth

Good Thing: going for a Nice Walk at this season leads to Many Flowers, including the big flowers tree, which is excellent to see.

Less good: Once I got home I seem to have slept like the entire other half of the clock. I must have been awake a bit in the middle but there was a lot of sleeps. Turns out all that anxiety noise no sleeping demands a catch up I guess.

But walks are good and flowers are good and I felt pretty good after that much walking.
👍🖖🌞

beccaelizabeth

I bought a bunch of these audios based on the book New Adventures because I liked the first one I heard with these companions. But they feel a bit sideways of what I'm used to in Doctor Who.

This one was written by a much younger Russell T Davies, and it indeed sounds like it is written by a much younger RTD. Sort of concentrate of RTD, like later it gets smoothed out.

... okay now I'm staring at the posting form it turns out that's all I've got to say about it.

It's not quite to my tastes and it is very much itself.

shadowkat

Another day, another dollar - or several dollars - hence the reason I got up at 6 am, got on the subway around 7 am, and lugged my sorry old ass to the tip of Manhattan and the eighteenth floor of a steel and glass building to work. My thirty-odd years in NYC has resulted in jumping between all sorts of office buildings and in just about every borough but Staten Island. (Which is good thing, because I'm not entirely sure how I'd commute to Staten Island from where I live?) I finally made into an office with a window and a few, and some semblance of privacy, it's still a cubicle - but at least it's a nice one.

Political Interactions on Threads or social media (that is not Dreamwidth), which is why I'm rarely on Threads? It makes me wish there were a lot more Darwin Awards.
( humorous if it wasn't true, which alas it is, so...anxiety inducing right now, humorous about 30-50 years from now, assuming of course anyone is still alive and we've not destroyed ourselves yet? )

Shower. Bed. I'll write more another day, hopefully not about politics.

beccaelizabeth

https://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/v/torchwood
Big Finish audio adventures: Torchwood is on sale if you want some adventures. Ianto adventures tend to be excellent. The range is going to end soon with adventure 100 and the cover for it is proper frightening, so I look forwards to it and want to hide behind the sofa about it in equal measure, as it should be.

Mostly I have just been going very slowly at listening to Torchwood, since once I have listened them all there shall be no more to listen. Which is sad, but, how many shows get over a hundred extra episodes after they're off the TV, even as audios? Pretty awesome.

https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/torchwood-salvage-2997 is not Ianto but is by Gareth David Lloyd, and he does the voice for the AI of the SUV.

It is not my favourite of his works. ( Read more... )
So it is a story with some theme and strengths.

But I'm having a bunch of feelings about it and
mostly want to go back and relisten to more familiar audios
which is part of what the feelings is about.

I don't know how any of you would react to it.

Or what an honest review type rating would look like.

It's a story about Torchwood as we knew it being on the scrap heap and the feelings it brings up aren't the fun sort, but it tells what it sets out to and makes you have a bunch of feelings, so fair enough.

I am feeling like I'd rather go play a story where a scary monster gets put back in its box, but the ones about grief and the passage of time and facing up to difficult truths definitely have a place as well.

shadowkat

Dang-nabbit, internet, is persuading me to buy books again. (I really do not need to buy any more books. Although at least they are e-books - which is either a lease to read it on the Kindle, so not really buying ...I don't know, the whole thing confuses me to no end. And I can't afford a Kindle and a Kobo. Plus buying books on Kindle is easy and cheap, so there's that and I get points. )

1. I bought Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Safron - about a boy in late 1940s Barcelona or post WWII Barcelona who is charged with protecting a book, long out of print, and rare - from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. The Book in question is also entitled "Shadow of the Wind". Thank you Sarah Michelle Gellar for perking my curiosity enough for me to purchase this book. Much appreciated. (She said in an interview broadcast on Instagram that her two favorite books were Donna Tartt's Secret History (which I loved and devoured in the 1990s) and Shadow of the Wind (so I got curious about Shadow of the Wind - which Stephen King also adored). The book is difficult to describe with a convoluted plot - I apparently like to read and write these types of books, which makes my life more difficult but far less dull.

Then grabbed, "Locked-In by John Scalzi" - which I'd flirted with previously, as when he first published it ages ago, but got persuaded when he posted that a bunch of people in Texas (it's always one of the Southern States - must be all those hot days? Bakes the brain?) had chosen to ban it. He was upset about it. (I'd have been too.) Apparently it's never happened to him before. (which is interesting - he's certainly liberal and political enough). So, I got curious - and decided to get it for $6.99.
Which is admittedly more than usual, but there you go. It's a sci-fi/mystery hybrid with a convoluted plot. Has a Black Mirror vibe to it. I've read a couple of his "stand alone" books: Red Shirts, Starter Villain, Kaijiu Preservation Society...the last two were read by Will Wheaton. Scalzi is a nerdy sci-fi writer, and usually has nerdy protagonists. He's kind of similar to Andy Weir? Except I like Weir's books slightly better.

As an aside? I'm fundamentally against censorship. Are there books that I despise? Yes. Do I think they should be censored? No. The challenge of "free speech" is folks you don't agree with have to have it too - in order for it to work. There were librarians commenting on Scalzi's post stating they sent out books they despised all the time.
( thoughts on book censorship )
And finally a Dark London Mystery/Romance Series novel entitled Winterblaze by Kristen Callihan which was $1.99,
and a second chance romance between an estranged married couple, in a paranormal verse. "Poppy Lane is keeping secrets. Her powerful gift has earned her membership in the Society for the Suppression of Supernaturals, but she must keep both her ability and her alliance with the Society from her husband, Winston. Yet when Winston is brutally attacked by a werewolf, Poppy’s secrets are revealed, leaving Winston’s trust in her as broken as his body. Now Poppy will do anything to win back his affections." The second chance ex-lover trope is a huge kink of mine. (I prefer older romances to young ones...for the most part.)

I love books. Books are my friends. They've seen me through some tough times.

Coworker: Are you one of those people who always has a book in your hand or with you?
ME: Definitely

If I had to choose between books, television and movies - I'd probably pick books - easier to carry around and less noisy.

beccaelizabeth

I am rereading (slowly) some fantasy books I haven't read in a while (decade or two?)
and what it just made me think about is
how many of them invent
TREE
but better.

Like, there is a Tree, and it can feed you!
and yes, that is indeed one thing a tree can do.
so what is the But Better?
well if it was simply not being seasonal that is a handy one, food but all year, everyone likes that.
but then it's like
tree but more supermarket.
what if fantasy landscape had a corner store, and no human needed to tend it.
let us just make labor even more invisible, and have Tree available to any and everyone just by walking past and grabbing a bit, that is obviously But Better, apparently.
And don't get me wrong, a lunch pail tree is obviously pretty cool, it makes you think about lunch pails and the way they do not in fact just grow that way and draws attention to the whole work goes in aspect of it, but
Tree But Better, These Guys Never Went Camping Edition,
is just
you can eat the tree!

And they do indeed eat every part of the tree.
you don't even need to know which part.
you eat all the tree and can live on it.

they never connect this up to the trees being ill
even though they have to avoid several ill trees to find a well one to eat.

they never get into the ecology of it all.

why are Trees But Better just sitting around for humans to eat?
why do they not have epic numbers of herbivores eating all the things?
why are they tree shaped if it doesn't get the edible bits away from the eaters?
every bit of the tree is edible.
that thing has no roots in logic land, something ate them already.

But nope, because it is Fantasy Land, so everything exists only for human adventurers.
Specifically ones that have no Survival skills, don't feel the need to Learn Plants, and just want to shove a food in their mouth.

And these miraculous items are somehow not part of the agricultural economy?
poor people might eat them if they wanted to badly.
otherwise they just sit there being trees
while people do farming
of unnamed crops
for nebulous reasons.

You know what does not happen when plentiful trees are literally a complete surviveable food?
the exact kind of feudal farming with thralls that is designed to grow you enough plant and animal to live on.
because you can already live on the sodding trees
which are everywhere
and nobody needs to tend them
and if you in fact don't have enough of them to feed all the humans
you would
Grow Trees On Purpose
because that is a complete meal
and a sheep is not.

But that isn't the point of the story so the whole world is vaguely medieval
because that's how it works.

Same thing with
Tree But Better:
You Can Shelter Under It.

And to be fair there are entire woodland societies that do indeed grow Trees But Better to live in.

It's just once that is simple, effective, and available everywhere you can walk to
you have to wonder why anyone else *isn't* doing it
or why every time they look for somewhere to shelter
there is a convenient
unoccupied
tree
with no beasties in it whatsoever.

Tree But Better exists solely so the narrative can stop thinking about survival and ecology and labour and make it so you don't need an inn to survive overnight in the middle of sodding nowhere.

It's like this character who went hiking in his running shoes to go find a portal, and the narrative has him still wearing them a year later after all the adventures, and that never turns out to be a bad idea.

You know how many times you have shopped for shoes?

You know how you have to check really carefully to get the right shoes for the job or you end up squelching around in foot ruining agony?

Terry Pratchett certainly thought about boots, and where they come from, and the socio economic implications of different sorts of them, and what boots dragon riders would wear,
but I can't think of a second example.

It's not even that they wouldn't make story mileage. Of such things is civilisation made.

But not if you're doing ye olde fantasy novel apparently.

Fantasy and magic makes everything But Better, so you can just ignore where things come from and who might be making them and the vague possibility that people might need other people even for basic goods and services and that that maybe might be why civilisation in all its varieties occurs
and just get on with the hard job of intimidating the natives with your clearly superior inherent worth
etc.

Today it is irritating me.

shadowkat

I've a bunch of doves, sparrows, cardinals, and robins, also pigeons, tweeting in the backyards behind my building. My living room windows look out on a bunch of tree tops - so I see the birds, along with an occasional squirrel in them. I've debated buying a bird feeder - but I've no idea how I'd attach it to the back of a window without killing myself in the process. And it's not really necessary? They perch on my wide window sill all on their own.

***

I finished, Illona Andrews' The Inheritance (Breach-World Series #1) - which is a survival/adventure story not a romance, and if you are at all familiar with the writer - is most likely within the Innkeeper and Bayou world-building, it has similar characters and a similar tone/writing style to those two series, albeit without the romantic elements.

The book is hard to describe? There's a lot of world-building. And it has a convoluted plot. But I'll take a crack at it? ( description of book I just read, without any major spoilers ) So this is definitely not a romance novel - it's a science-fiction survival story and what the heck happened investigation, which is a huge story kink of mine. I love stuff like this. Mystery/Survival/Sci-Fi Hybrids are my favorite. (Also reminds me a little bit of a video game.)

It's the first book - I sped through in a while. So fingers crossed that the reading slump from hell has ended? Not wishing to tempt fate, I'm trying an earlier series by the writers - The Kinsman Series - which has two novellas, a short story, and a book length book involved in it. I don't know - but it appears to be more along the lines of romance fantasy or romance sci-fi, which isn't really my thing? But it might work. Who knows? At least the writers write strong female characters for the most part. Also the books are dirt cheap. The first ebook was $4.99, and the other was free on Kindle Unlimited.

***

Flirting with the television series Succession - which I'm told gets really good after the third or fourth episode, and takes off in the sixth episode. This is unfortunately true of a lot of television series? Particularly HBO series that fall under the category of hyper-realism.
Also flirting with the c-drama, Pursuit of Jade - of which there are 40 episodes on Netflix, it's in Mandarin with subtitles, and is...very pretty on the eyes? Honestly the cinematography is amazing for a television series. It's a historical action/adventure romance. I may continue - it's pretty and kind of relaxing to watch? Considering I have subtitles or closed captioning on half the time anyhow...not sure it matters? I have more issues with it for animated series. Mainly because it's hard to see the close captioning through the animation - they have a tendency to put it in white.

***

Catching up on March Question a Day Meme:

23. When was the last time you ate some chocolate?

About an hour and fifteen minutes ago. It's my main vice. And I'm not giving it up.

24. Harry Houdini was born today in 1874. Are you a fan of magic shows? Have you ever seen someone perform close-up magic?

Depends on the magic show? For the most part I enjoy them? But I also know some of the tricks?

Yes, more than once. I was even pulled into the act once on a girl scout retreat with my father when I was roughly speaking 10 years of age?( Read more... )

25. How often do you wash your hair? Do you style it, or just let it dry naturally?

Just did. But typically every other day, and sometimes every two days, depending on what I'm doing and usually at night.( Read more... )

beccaelizabeth

I am stalled at page 330 on finishing the magic kingdom book
which is nearly the end
but this book is
bad.

there is one character in it.
he is a bit rubbish.

he is also King because money says so.

Everyone around him only exists to provide exposition or go Oh No Don't and then he do.
They have days and days of travel but it keeps saying they don't talk.
Can you imagine, just days and days of not getting to know each other because they're treating it like zoning out on the bus home.

This is not an author who thus far has a firm grasp on how long a day is, is all.

Make him write a 45 minute script based on this lot and it would cover the whole story and be Dire.

The naked lady has no motivation except Fate and Belonging To Him.

I keep being distracted by imagining any other set of characters walking into this world, and the basic problem is they would tear through the paper thin flats of the backdrop and NPCs without even trying.
Any fandom's blorbos are better realised characters than this and to make the world fill in to their level would take writing so so much of it.

This book is inspiring.
If something this flat can get published I'm not all that bad.

shadowkat

It was raining most of today - as it turns out, and cold. With a chill in the air. When it wasn't raining, it was misting.

1. I'm glad I'm not flying anywhere at the moment. Newark has had several plane collisions in the last few months, and on Sunday, Laguardia (LGA) in NY had a fatal plane collision with a Fire Truck. Air Canada and a Fire Truck collided.

LGA Air Canada and Fire Truck Collision.

I woke up this morning - turned on the news - and there it was as the lead story. It happened late Sunday night, they shut down the airport and evacuated the terminal - the news broadcasters told us that nothing was flying in or out of LGA until 2pm.

And if you were catching a flight before then - to contact your airline because it was probably cancelled and the airport was closed. This was at 6:30 am this morning.

( what happened as far as we know... )

( how many flights were canceled )

Art History Major aka Busy Bee - is off to Florida on Wed. ( TSA and ICE not the best mix for travel )

God, how did we get here? We all agreed that we wanted the thing in the White House gone. And when it happens? We'll flood the streets, hold impromptu celebrations, dance in the street, kiss each other on the cheeks, and hold a big street party. We'll be united in glee. Another rendition of ...the classic 1941 ditty, When that Man is Dead and Gone - which is both tragically and ironically valid today

Mother, I, AHM's boss, and Breaking Bad have all decided we're not flying anywhere any time soon. I'm hoping this sorts itself out by at least May or June. But not holding my breath.

2. I'm frustrated with My Doctor's Office/Health Care Provider. So the PT wanted me to schedule an appointment with his buddy - the vestibular therapist on Tuesday, but alas my primary care gave me a referral to a therapist who can't see me until May and isn't the vestibular therapist the PT introduced me to and wanted me to see this week.

I went online, and after a lot of maneuvering in their site - managed to find the PT that I wanted.

So I asked if I could choose my own or switch to the other one. Primary Care agreed - and if they don't allow it, let her know and she'll send a new referral.

So I call the physical therapy scheduling office and after an hour on hold and, it doesn't exactly go well?

( talking to healthcare provider schedulers requires far too much patience... )
[I'll got talk to the schedulers tomorrow in person. Maybe I'll get somewhere. Unlikely, I'm going in with low expectations? With Healthcare Providers - it's best to go in with low expectations - that way you don't get disappointed.]

See? This is the reason that I've done nothing about the vestibular/vertigo issue. By the time, I actually see the guy, the problem will be gone.

3. There's been a lot of "problematic" famous people dying lately? James Vander Beek, the guy who shall not be named - he was a political guy, and Nick Brendan. Of the three JVB was probably the least controversial and easiest to deal with - and considering he was against vaccines, and a Trump supporter, that's kind of saying something?

Nick Brendan portrayed a problematic character on Buffy (who I consider complicated and was actually quite likable towards the end of S3 and through S7 for the most part. Being a well-rounded and 3 dimensional character - he had plenty of flaws, but that made the character memorable. Also, beloved and relatable to many. Perfect characters or goody two shoe characters are not relatable or beloved. We tend to forget about them. Yes, he was a bit of a jerk in S1-3, but also an adorable goof-ball, and he saved Buffy's life three times). He was troubled and problematic man in life, far more so, actually than most of the characters he portrayed or at least the most familiar of them.

I stumbled upon Nick Brendan's last post on FB - where he takes questions from his devoted fans, and ....I felt for him, while at the same time, was horrified at what he'd become and what his fans, unwittingly enabled. There's a lesson for us all in there somewhere? ( discussing a dead man feels so morbid but here we go... )

The internet scared me today - because I looked up what ailed him. It's "Cauda equina syndrome (CES)" which according to the Orthopedic Centers of Colorado is a rare, medical emergency involving severe compression of nerve roots at the base of the spine, requiring immediate decompression surgery—ideally within 24 hours—to prevent permanent paralysis, incontinence, and sexual dysfunction. Key symptoms include severe low back pain, saddle anesthesia (numbness in groin/buttocks), and sudden bowel/bladder dysfunction.

The internet loves to throw symptoms at you that you think you have and don't. Technology is turning me into a hypochondriac.

( back to discussing Brendan's demons )

4. Stumbled upon this disturbing article about being a young professional screen actor and dealing with the toxicity of social media.

Barry Keoghan Says Online Abuse Means He
Doesn't Want to Go Outside Any More

"Oscar-nominated actor Barry Keoghan has said online abuse about his appearance is affecting his life, to the point that he now does “not want to go outside”.

The Irish actor, who is playing Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles tetralogy, told SiriusXM host Ben Harlum that though he left social media in 2024 due to online abuse, it was still so bad that he was “shying away” from the public eye – and it was making him want to retreat from acting.

Asked about his fans, Keoghan acknowledged that some “people are so lovely out there”, but added: “There’s also a nasty side of it. And I’ve removed myself from online, but I’m still a curious human being that wants to go on. And if I attend an event or if I go somewhere, you want to see how it was received. And it’s not nice, you know?”
( my two cents )

Profile

cujoy

June 2018

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Fruit Salad for Leftovers by sforzinda

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Apr. 6th, 2026 09:17 pm

The Things My Friends Say!

Reading

(no subject)

(no subject)

There is nothing remotely mainstream or typical to see here...

(no subject)

Translation State, by Ann Leckie

Butterfly Effects by Seanan McGuire

Cats + Drabble Tree, No Foolin'

The Black Unicorn by Terry Brooks

(no subject)

Big Finish Audios: Doctor Who: Damaged Goods

(no subject)

Torchwood: Salvage

Sigh, I acquire more books...now that reading slump is gone

But how is this But Better

Wed Book Meme...

(no subject)

Monday Monday ...Rainy Days and Mondays...

Profile

June 2018

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags