Month: March 2025

And Republicans can fuck right off into the Sun with JK Rowling.

Finally did the performance self-review, very badly. I hope the company appreciates it. (They won’t.)

Read (manga): Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! vol 4 (Sumito Oowara): Past the end of the anime! Setting Goblin’s new interest is tanuki, so the crew looks for tanuki treasure and makes a tanuki anime. Also the student council shows off its power to Money Goblin.

Read (novel): The Warden (Daniel M Ford): A fancy city wizard gets sent to be the sheriff-equivalent of a small village full of sheep and superstition, which works better than she expects, despite the large amounts of trouble she gets mixed up in. Very D&D, with orcs and spell levels and underground complexes full of undead, and a cliffhanger ending.

Read (short): “Ragdoll: A Monster’s Soliloquy” (Kiya Nicoll): Some trans girls make more of a transition than others…

Written (game design): 116.

Doctors are great, it’s the rest of the health care system that needs to be guillotined.

Played (D&D5e): Librarians Errant. Reshelving Squad Upsilon is called into the boss’s office to find out that Gladys’s minions got busted swiping all the books from the secret crocodile library and not storing them properly. Since the squad didn’t notify anyone, their punishment is to take the books to the Island of Evil Books that Shoggoth Bob came from at the beginning of the campaign. They do get to use Mesoluna’s portable hole to carry the books, at least. Despite the books technically being in a different dimension, though, they get spotted on the path across the bottomless abyss by a manifestation of eyes formed by books placed on shelves on a minor islet, and attacked by flying books and a horrible flaming book golem. Despite Grumman almost being flung to his death, they defeat the minions of whatever it is, and make it to the island where they begin chaining up the worst books and shelving the others. While they are fashioning Library Standard Containment Podiums, a similar manifestation of eyes occurs in the evil books already there, complains about Godwin not having stopped the squad, and makes one of the books in the stack reveal that is actually a draconic frog, or maybe a batrachian dragon. Whatever it is, it swallows Thaïs, who only barely manages to teleport out when it opens its mouth later, leaps about the island, stinks up the place something awful, and absorbs a lot of abuse from the squad. However, there’s only one of it, and librarians can be very abusive, so the second or third time someone tries to banish it to another plane, it fails its save and uses its legendary save power to not come back. We leave our junior librarians on the Island of Evil Books in a frightful state, but surely nothing will happen before they can go home and get cleaned up, right? Right?

Read (manga): The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor vol 4 (Anko Yuzu, Sarasa Nagase, Mitsuya Fuji) Jill is infiltrating the dragon empire military for not-entirely-clear reasons.

Written (catgirl): 135.

I wrote a little about mermaids before I even knew what day it was.

The busses are back since a court ordered the union to stop striking, so I was lazy about shopping.

Went to watch anime and get Ayse hugs but she was not there! She is in Nashville with her friend.

Watched (anime): Delicious in Dungeon 4-5: The one where orcs murder everybody, but they like Senshi.

Read (manga): The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor vol 3 (Anko Yuzu, Sarasa Nagase, Mitsuya Fuji): FIXME The conclusion of the skulduggery at the port, we find out more about the divine conflict, Jill kicks ass.

Written (catgirl): 212.

Debatable as to how well I do here, but at least I’m not making them part of Something On A Stick Day.

I was supposed to fill out my performance self-review, but did not manage to do so because a) I hate writing about myself, especially when I have to guess what HR wants to see, and b) my actual job duties used up all my brains. I guess I’ll try to do it over the weekend.

Read (short): “The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” (Naomi Kritzer): It was pretty obvious where this story about a former marine biologist propping up her husband’s career was going from early on, but it’s still a good destination to arrive at.

Read (manga): In The Land Of Leadale vol 2-3 (Dashio Tsukimi, Ceez, Tenmaso, Ryo Suzukaze): Our isekai heroine, in the world of her MMORPG but centuries later, continues wandering around, checking on her “children” and being generally OP.

Written (catgirl): 143.

Didn’t go to the office today, because Marith and I had to go see Jus in Footloose! I knew many of the songs, but had no idea they were from this show or anything about the plot. Yay Jus!

Read (manga): Sasaki and Peeps vol 1 (Buncololi, Pureji Osho, Kantoku): A salaryman decides to get a pet, but the bird he picks out at the pet store is actually a wizard from fantasy world. So far, mostly about interdimensional commerce, but apparently a bunch of female characters are going to show up. Not sure if it’s going to be a harem manga or what.

Written (game design): 170. My ideas for melee combat don’t quite work for sniping or spellcasting, ugh.

I’m not qualified to participate in Good Hair Day.

Went to the office, Boss K is there this week, ate a naan pizza, did a few works.

Read (novel): When the Moon Hits Your Eye (John Scalzi): Suddenly, the Moon is replaced by a Moon-mass lump of cheese. Over the course of a month, this has various effects and humans react to it in various ways.

Read (manga): In/Spectre vol 20 (Kyo Shirodaira, Chashiba Katase): The yōkai finish their locked room game, Kotoko starts investigating a new case that looks mundane, Rikka executes the second phase of her prank.

Written (game design): 179. Not sure how to summarize combat concisely. Not sure if any of my ideas are even viable.

Damn Americans, hogging all the pecan waffles! (Do other countries even eat pecans?)

No gaming, Ken had to teach at 4am and Vivian just didn’t sleep.

Read (manga): Summer Ghost omnibus (Yoshi Inomi, Loundraw, Hirotaka Adachi (Otsuichi): Three high-schoolers with varying levels of suicidal ideation summon a ghost, which causes discord but eventually it all works out. Complete in one volume.

Read (novel): Does My Body Offend You? (Mayra Cuevas, Marie Marquardt): A Puerto Rican refugee girl in Florida gets body-shamed by the school administrations, which she and her new friend decide has to be dealt with, but they aren’t actually good at getting things done, because teenagers. Also there are cute boys and they are both inexplicably straight, which causes more drama. The end comes together a little neatly anyways, but probably fine for the intended audience.

Written (game design): 292. Tried to summarize into one-page rules, which did help some but also exposed places where I have to make decisions. Decisions are the worst.

Apparently one I am unable to celebrate, because I am too horrible.

Read (graphic novel): We Called Them Giants (Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, Clayton Cowles): Two girls try to survive in the post-apocalypse, which goes different than they expected. Not a happy story, but only a normal amount of sadness, I think. Could get taught in school.

Written (catgirl): 161.

Another one that should be every day!

Ate a Thai lunch, did a shopping, decomposed at the bottom of a pit.

Read (manga): The Tree of Death: Yomotsuhegui vol 1 (Masasumi Kakizaki): A cop imprisoned for killing the murder of his family finally gets out, and immediately finds out everything he thought about what was going on is wrong, it’s actually worse and more supernatural and it’s up to him to fix it all because apparently everyone else involved is a monster. Extremely dark, CW everything.

Written (catgirl): 150.

I hear humans are mostly made of it!

Also Young as You Feel Day, which should obviously have been yesterday. Today I have to acknowledge that I’m mumblemumble.

Tried shopping with the cart, which I haven’t done in years. It was definitely easier on my hands, but I think slower on my walking even though it’s not really any encumbrance due to the miracle of the wheel.

Cleaned up more browser tabs, found a list of SFF shorts by trans authors.

Read (short): “Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue” (Charlie Jane Anders): Pretty sure only the bit with zombies is different than what Republicans are currently doing to trans people.

Read (short): “The Shape of My Name” (Nino Cipri): Time travel adds an extra level of stress on top of being trans.

Read (short): “Of Warps and Wefts” (Innocent Chizaram Ilo): Magic surrealism? Once you get married, at night you become a different person of the opposite gender and are married to the night version of a different person. Oddly, this does not cure all marital strife. Also sometimes children grow roots or learn to read minds.

Read (short): “Everquest” (Naomi Kanakia): I have never played a female character in a video game, so of course I would not have any feelings about this.

Read (short): “Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time” (KM Szpara): Interaction of vampire immortality and trans body modification, plus general gay vampirism.

Read (short): “Three Points Masculine” (An Owomoyela): Instead of forcibly detransitioning trans people, the government has standardized tests to determine gender and required scores for various jobs. This is not any better.

Read (short): “To Balance the Weight of Khalem” (RB Lemberg): A nonbinary refugee gets shuffled around magical cities but meets magical creatures along the way.

Read (short): “Want Itself Is a Treasure in Heaven” (Theodora Ward): CW: body-sharing brain implants, drug use, severe mental health breakdown.

Read (short): “The Venus Effect” (Violet Allen): Metafiction about black lives cut short by cops.

Read (manga): Cthulhu Cat (Pandania): The Great Old Ones manifest as cats, cute hijinks ensue, sanity is blasted, bystanders are harmed in the making of this cult, etc. For some reason I liked this better than most cutethuloid works.

Written (catgirl): 178.

D’oh, I completely forgot!

Randomly took the day off work, since I was owed a day from working on President Day. Meant to get up and listen in on Friday morning training anyway, but completely failed and ended up sleeping in until I felt bad about not feeding the cats. Then I was moving so I fed myself with Pakistani-Indian Fusion Cuisine, spicy chicken qorma and less-spicy samosas and butter garlic sesame-seed naan. It might have been sufficiently celebratory.

I could possibly have done something useful, but mostly I cleaned up browser tabs, quite a few of which were short stories I had been meaning to read. Watched some TV with Marith, who is sick as well as having no computer. Probably I didn’t catch her cold. I hope my computer didn’t catch anything either.

Watched (live-action TV): Leverage 4.7: The one with shady funeral home family, where Parker has an honest-to-something feeling.

Read (manga): In/Spectre vol 19 (Kyo Shirodaira, Chashiba Katase): A bunch of one-chapter stories. Kuro tried to star in one, Rikka played a horrible prank, assorted yōkai caused trouble.

Read (short): “Victory Citrus is Sweet” (Thoraiya Dyer): A spacer who is actually kind of a jerk gets himself and his apprentice in trouble by cutting corners to show somebody up.

Read (short): “Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station | Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0” (Caroline M Yoachim): A future in which the current American medical system is still in place. Story in the form of a choose-your-own-adventure.

Read (short): “When the Yogurt Took Over: A Short Story” (John Scalzi): Definitely a different spin on the “enough computers together form a mind” trope.

Read (short): “Transcript of Interaction Between Astronaut Mike Scudderman and the OnStar Hands-Free A.I. Crash Advisor” (Grady Hendrix): Did you want your AI to be useful? Sorry, your timeline stems from the Trump-Musk presidency, you only get a chatbot.

Read (short): “Wikihistory” (Desmond Warzel): Everybody who gets access to time travel does it, then some long-suffering admin has to revert their changes.

Read (short): “In the Forests of Memory” (E Lily Yu): A sad story about an old lady in a cemetery of holographic grave markers, living off the offerings.

Read (short): “Presence” (Ken Liu): A sad story about an emigrant visiting his dying mother in the old country via telepresence.

Read (short): “The Thief of Memory” (Sunyi Dean): What is identity but memory? Also not a happy story, although you can’t blame a desparate teenager for making a rookie mistake.

Read (short): “The Dark House” (AC Wise): A haunted house, a haunted photographer, haunted photographs.

Written (game design): 136.

Also Frog Day, Sparrow Day, Storytelling Day, Atheist Pride Day, Extraterrestrial Abduction Day (it was a bum rap), etc.

Went to the office, ate a cold beef sandwich, had to play icebreaker games with the rest of the company, maybe did a little work.

Read (manga): In/Spectre vol 18 (Kyo Shirodaira, Chashiba Katase): The Edo-era kenjutsu style yuki-onna arc continues. As is typical with Kotoko, there are at least two possible explanations at every point in the story.

Read (novel): How to Survive a Slasher (Justine Pucella Winans): An enby whose family was on the wrong side of the serial killings that made her small town famous is just trying to survive high school and their mom’s hardcore anti-serial-killer training and their obnoxious little brother and the yearly serial killer fan convention, which should be more than enough for anybody, when the past refuses to stay past yet again.

Written (catgirl): 142.

Does maniacal cackling count?

Went to the office, had the room to myself, ate a Mediterranean chicken burrito, did a little work. Probably didn’t hydrate enough.

Watched (live-action): Leverage 4.6: Elliot saves a small girl from a carnival.

Read (novel): Stars, Hide Your Fires (Jessica Best): A small-time crook from a crapsack world infiltrates an upper-crust ball to pick pockets, but although she meets a cute girl, the upper crust has problems of its own. Very Star Wars setting: blasters and spaceships, but social structures including security procedures are stuck in Three Musketeers era at best.

Read (manga): In/Spectre vol 17 (Kyo Shirodaira, Chashiba Katase): A different yuki-onna mystery, with extra historical sword school shenanigans.

Written (game design): 104.

I’m much more suited to that than to Goddess of Fertility Day.

Played (Changeling the Lost): Ken’s 90s Berkeley game. Siddy figures out how to get glamour from crafting for people, and gets a recruitment(?) feeler from King Mark’s goon Jack Horner while everybody else finishes up pillaging the . Thessaly is off doing something so the rest of the group mostly kicks around discussing the philosophy of monarchy and deciding that going into the mysterious telecom(?) building with no windows or doors would be a bad plan.

Read (manga): In/Spectre vol 16 (Kyo Shirodaira, Chashiba Katase): Conclusion of the cliffs and ghost giraffe and idiots.

Written (game design): 171. New Plan! No levels, no XP, only experience and suffering!

Didn’t do a great job of that, much too sleepy.

Read (manga): I.L (Osamu Tezuka): Very 70s, and not in a particularly good way. A failed film director is granted a servitor by ??? who can assume any shape, and uses her to get involved in random mysteries and skulduggery. To the extent there’s a plot that runs through the whole, it’s the servitor developing her own opinions.

Written (catgirl): 132

I presume US National, so imported pandas.

Jus went to Davis for a robotics competition, and her team got second place! YAAAAYYYY JUS!

VTA management has not gotten their act together since yesterday, so I walked to gaming. Fortunately, it was not raining. The app for that said it would take 1:34 to walk there, and I felt like I have been getting slower since I stopped leaving my apartment, and then since I got Covid, so I allowed two hours. It actually took me somewhere between 1:05 and 1:10 to get there, which was very surprising to everyone except Dave.

On the way back, I walked with Dave, which was faster walking but we deviated from the app route to see other streets in Northwestern San Jose so it took a little longer.

Played (D&D5e): Librarians Errant: After a night of crocodile dreams that are surely not important, the Reshelving Squad decide to backtrack the purple worm to see what else might pop out of that hole to annoy their kobold friends. After numerous ups and downs, and many dents shaped like bullywug helmets, they find a huge cavern with a literally Cyclopean ruined city. All the treasure has been taken, but whoever was there before kindly left the swarms of stirges and brains-with-legs in place. This is annoying, but the real problem is that the last brain-with-legs ran off toward the exit with a definite Timmy-fell-down-the-well vibe. (It’s a brain with legs, all it has is vibes.) When Lilli scries out the area with sketchy divine magic, she spots some mind flayers, which nobody likes. Since the brain-legger didn’t deliver its message, they don’t seem to be coming into the cyclopean ruins, and nobody wants to pester them. Unfortunately, while the Reshelving Squad is finding the dead end, the mind flayers do advance, and set up for an ambush at the tunnel entrance. Since sneaking past is obviously not going to work, even not counting Grumman and his Steam Colossus, they decide to have Grim teleport to flank them, carrying Thaïs to a position where she can freeze all three of them. Of course the mind flayers knew to the minute when Lilli’s scrying magic would give out, and changed position, so they and their attack brains are able to counterattack more effectively than planned, but it’s not enough to save them.

Read (novella): The Orb of Cairado (Katherine Addison): Also in the world of The Goblin Emperor, soon after the Big Airship Crash, but it’s a sketchy academic solving murders and looking for lost treasure.

Read (manga): Call the Name of the Night vol 3 (Tama Mitsuboshi): Cursed Girl has some more magical adventures and develops a little more self-confidence when it could involve a book signing.

Written (catgirl): 165.

Also Buzzard Day (hi jill).

Busses still not running (just give the workers a fair contract already, management!) so I had to walk to shopping. It was okay, but on the way back, carrying bags in my hands was a pain. I don’t have a large backpack and wouldn’t want to carry refrigerated food for an hour without the insulated bag, so I guess I’ll try the miracle of the wheel next week.

My favorite web serial Katalepsis is back, so I was able to read the new chapter over sandwich as had become my habit. Go [NEW CHARACTER]!

Watched (anime): Delicious in Dungeon 2-3: Ah, the living armor. And it’s getting past the picking-on-Marcille-all-the-time phase, which is good.

Read (novel): The Tomb of Dragons (Katherine Addison): Third (and final?) book about the sad gay necromancer detective in the world of The Goblin Emperor. Perhaps he is less sad, now!

Read (manga): Creepy Cat vol 4 (Cotton Valent): Final volume! We find out where Creepy Cat and the Creepy Cats are from and what is up with all that. The end!

Written (catgirl): 128.

Or Pie Day, depending who you ask.

Had another multi-hour customer call, but my suggestion in hour 1 turned out to be the solution as soon as I stepped into the other room during hour 5.

Watched (animated TV): The Dragon Prince 3.8-9: The final battle! Not very well-commanded on either side, but that’s it for the season, and a hook for next season.

Read (novel): Installment Immortality (Seanan McGuire): Another one from the perspective of the babysitter ghost, still fighting the Covenant with all her new restrictions now that she serves a proper god and not the Crossroads. Finally she gets to interact with normal ghosts, which come in a great variety, because this series is all about taxonomy.

Read (manga): Pandora Seven vol 1 (Yuta Kayashima): The only human on a remote island is thrust into adventure when other humans show up to get the power hidden there and it activates and attaches to the heroine. Flying ships, mechanical forests, unethical biotech witches, and human dominance over the other sapient species by means of prophecy should be cool, but it’s not quite there.

Written (catgirl): 184

 

Hi Ken!

Walked to the train station again, got somewhat damp, went to the office, ate a beef and vegetable bowl with multiple vegetables, did a customer call that didn’t last forever, walked home in wind but not rain.

Read (novella): The River Has Roots (Amal El-Mohtar): Two sisters lived by the river that flowed out of Arcadia, so it’s not surprising they got involved in fairy tale murder ballad events. I spotted references to at least two fairy tales, and probably missed a bunch because I’m not a very analytical reader, but the story is all its own thing.

Read (manga): Box of Light vol 1 (Seiko Erisawa): There is a convenience store between the worlds of the living and the dead, staffed by people from both sides and haunted by outer darkness, salespeople who won’t take know for an answer, and of course the dying. Despite that, it’s not a particularly morbid manga, more supernatural workplace drama.

Written (catgirl): 166.

I guess it had to be some day!

Walked to the train station in the slight drizzle because all the bus drivers are on strike, went to the office, ate Mayan chicken and vegetables and rice, did some works, walked back from the train station in the rain, contemplated the futility of my life.

Called my senators to remind them to not vote for the Republican fuck-everything-up bill, for all the good it will do.

Read (manga): Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! vol 3 (Sumito Oowara): They assimilate Sound Girl, make the video about shooting down UFOs, and go to the doujinshi convention.

Written (catgirl): 217. Apparently I didn’t give up.

If only people would train and socialize their immune systems properly.

Spent multiple hours on a customer call only for the problem to eventually vanish as mysteriously as it appeared.

No gaming, people were sick or thought it was Monday or whatever.

Read (manga): I Don’t Know Which is Love vol 2 (Tamamushi Oku): The love interests are starting to become aware of each other and realizing they need to compete for the lead’s affections. This will definitely go well.

Written (nothing): FAIL. Because I suck and should probably give up.

 

Sadly I’m not allowed to celebrate. I will demonstrate why by slicing open my finger on this can of cat food. Yes, the finger that I use to log in to my work computer.

The bus drivers are on strike starting today. I’m sure it will be fine.

Read (manga): I Don’t Know Which is Love vol 1 (Tamamushi Oku): After being crushed by her unrequited crush at the end of high school, a very gay girl goes to college and immediately gets entangled with five beautiful women, each of whom is captivated by a different thing about her. Lesbian harem manga is possibly even sillier than straight.

Written (game design): 108.

Panic is unquestionably called for this year, but seems like a lot of work. Maybe I should celebrate Barbie Day instead?

Schlepped up to Mountain View to get phlebotomized, returned home with boons for all catkind. Apparently I’m great at not knowing how long extremely predictable things will take, but I still had enough afternoon left to take a stupid little walk for my stupid mental and physical health. I meant to walk farther, but my legs wanted to go home after only an hour and a half.

Read (graphic novel): Codex Black: Bird of Ill Omen (Camilo Moncada Lozano): Further Mesoamerican adventures of the girl with the magic shawl and the boy with the magic wings. They meet the thief with the skull again, get involved in the machinations of a secret cult, save an emperor, etc.

Read (short): “Rhizomatic Diplomacy” (Vajra Chandrasekera): The experience of a modified fork of a human mind sent to talk aliens out of the thing they’re doing.

Read (short): “What It Means to Be a Car” (James Patrick Kelly): Conversation between an autonomous car and a visitor to the estate of the person primarily responsible for inventing personality uploading, which some attention to what happens on the way to uploading being a polished, reliable process.

Read (short): “Ceffo” (Jonathan Carroll): A woman gets an unusual way out of an AITA-worthy relationship.

Read (short): “Headhunting” (Rich Larson): A PI plagued by hallucinations is hired to discreetly retrieve a mummified monk’s head from a cathedral and finds out the hard way why somebody would do that.

Written (game design): 129, although it’s just questions to myself that probably don’t even need to be written down until they have answers. Like, how much should PCs die?

Definitely not allowed in the US under the current regime.

Managed to get up at a reasonable hour to do shopping and extra shopping and get a haircut.

No anime, so I ordered pizza for myself and cleaned out some of my hundreds of browser tabs.

Read (short): “Even If Such Ways Are Bad” (Rich Larson): Far future adventure with a bioship, brain augmentation, bad religion, suppressed trauma, corporate minds, other strangeness. I liked it, but it was pretty weird.

Read (manga): Drip Drip (Paru Itagaki): Our main character suffers explosive nosebleeds whenever she comes in contact with something physically or morally “dirty”, which is only comedic if you’re not the one who has to clean up the mess or regenerate the blood volume. Even though she’s hot and willing, human bodies are so disgusting that she’s never been able to get a boyfriend or even a one-night stand. Will she be able to overcome her unique challenge?

Written (game design): 128 of scribbled notes, some based on browser tabs I closed.

“Study your math, kids. Key to the universe!”

Didn’t have to get up early, training was cancelled, but still would rather have slept in.

Read (picture book): Shark Girl (Kate Beaton): The obnoxious fisherman has annoyed Shark Girl, and she has discovered the human emotion of REVENGE! Adorable, but not too adorable.

Read (graphic novel): All My Friends are Ghosts (SM Vidaurri, Hannah Krieger): A middle-schooler who is having trouble fitting in gets tangled up with ghosts and psychopompery and possible mortal danger but also friendship.

Read (collected comic): Door to Door Night by Night vol 1 (Cullen Bunn, Sally Cantirino, Dee Cunniffe, Andworld Design): A traveling fundraising crew recruit somebody who turns out to be a wandering monster hunter, and after that they can’t avoid seeing the monsters in every small town.

Read (manga): Shonen Note: Boy Soprano vol 1 (Yuhki Kamatani): Middle school chorus, opera, a notably innocent and sensitive heart, new friendships, a rival waiting in the wings, and a limited time to stay a soprano.

Read (short): “The Knight of Rot” (Chris Bissette): A short story in the world of Mörk Borg, so extremely grim.

Written (catgirl): 244.

Although maybe it’s actually UK and Ireland Book Day? More book days are always better, though.

I tried to get up and go to the office, but couldn’t even, because I suck.

Read (novel): Momo Arashima Duels the Queen of the Dead (Misa Sugiura): The thrilling conclusion! Japan-adjacent mythologies, the power of friendship, victory over the forces of evil, etc.

Read (graphic novel): OMFG, Bees! (Matt Kracht): Maybe more of an illustrated guidebook to bees, both in general and some specific examples. Bees are awesome! I must give this book to Nonny.

Written (catgirl): 188.

Presumably not this nation.

Went to the office,helped Coworker D with a customer call, ate some chicken biriyani that was really too spicy.

Read (novel): Momo Arashima Breaks the Mirror of the Sun (Misa Sugiura): Further adventures in Japanese mythology, new friends for the main character to have fights with, and really that mirror had it coming.

Read (graphic novel): Taka (Ryan Jampole): Through a comedic series of mishaps, a delinquent gets stuck with the power to transform into a superhero and defeat the alien menace from the past. She hates this, and also does not want friends, but by the end, has decided it’s not so bad. Let’s hear it for personal growth!

Written (catgirl): 161.

Thanks, Jeremy and Ken!

Sleeping wrapped in velcro bands and wires and nose cannulas and finger clamps wasn’t as bad as I feared, but it definitely wasn’t good, and I did have to get up early to take the stuff back to the place, so it was not a vigorous day. I’m also not sure I even generated any data, since I had to put on the velcro straps myself, and society wants single people to die.

Played (Changeling the Lost): Ken’s 90s Berkeley. Now our changelings hate this King Mark guy, because he sent a little punk to shake down their new friend Troll for hedge fruit (which he didn’t have, because he already gave it to Theophania & co).  They go into the hedge looking for fruit which they may give to Troll if he wants it, and find some stabapple (not edible, maybe useful for stabbing), something that causes the eater to try to eat more and more of it until they die, and grapes with eyes inside and vines that almost strangle Theophania before she can use one of her few contracts to disable the security. We close on them arguing (Theophania with gestures) over whether to steal the grapes.

Read (graphic novel): Codex Black: A Fire Among Clouds (Camilo Moncada Lozano): Mesoamerican fantasy! A girl with a god-inhabited shawl goes in search of her long-lost father, meets a boy (not like that) who has even more mysterious magic, they have some adventures, get mixed up in and robbed by yet more magic, etc. It is pretty cute and there’s not much on-screen human sacrifice.

Written (catgirl): 118.

I’m sure Sage and Nightvale would still be very affectionate even if they could open canned food on their own!

Had to get up early to get a home sleep monitoring apparatus, which looks very alarming. Also I will have to get up early tomorrow to return it, after trying to sleep in it.

Read (graphic novel): The History of Everything (Victoria Evans): One best friend finds out that she’s moving, so she tries to make their last summer memorable with a list of things to do, but the other best friend gets a boyfriend and everything is terrible until they manage to make up.

Read (novel): It’s a Love/Skate Relationship (Carli J Corson): Hockey Girl gets suspended from the team for fighting off the ice (he totally deserved it) and ends up having to help Figure Skating Girl train, who is terrible and obnoxious and yet so hot and in need of rescuing from heterosexuality and figure skating is actually kind of awesome.

Written (catgirl): 208.

This day is for both Sage and Nightvale! Also Marmalade and Ghirardelli and Aspen and Dani and Benny.

Played (D&D5.5E): Librarians Errant. While their boss and his love nemesis confer over the disposition of volume III and other vital matters, Reshelving Squad Upsilon is accosted by a message from Crimefrosh Tokda Snir. The kobold refuge is under attack, and Novo Reek alone has been able to return to the upper world to seek assistance! With no orders to the contrary from Martin, the squad sets out for the upper margins of the Underdark. Everything goes well until they come across the halfling scout who led them into traps earlier pretending to look for a secret door. Proving once again that none of them has ever majored in Common Sense, they chase him into a pit trap full of ochre jelly with bonus otyugh, which Thaïs resolves by filling it with cryogenic mist, and then into a cave inhabited by a cloaker and some tentacle slugs, which is a little trickier to get through. However, one grick is banished and the halfling exits stage left pursued by a hound of ill omen, and the squad finally arrives in the kobolds’ backup village. The first thing they see is the halfling sauntering across the cavern, and the second is thirteen bullywugs riding a purple worm. It looks bad for a moment, but Thaïs banishes the worm, the bullywugs are taken prisoner, and everyone sets up for some ultraviolence when the worm is freed from its dimensional prison. It still swallows Flint, who sacrifices himself to save Lilli, and the squad is almost entirely out of magic by the end, but the session ends with a massive worm BBQ party.

Read (manga): My Girlfriend’s Not Here Today vol 3 (Kiyoko Iwami): Cheating is as good a reason for smut as any! Also none of these girls is any good at communication, because teenagers.

Written (catgirl): 263.