Also National Chocolate Mint Day, another one for Marith.
No work today, and I’m not even on call, so I was able to get pastrami and ice cream and manga and groceries and be a lump.
Written: I kept starting further and further into that scene and it kept not being right, so eventually I just moved on to the next scene and told instead of showed. This is the kind of thing that happens when I have a Kit to talk writing with.
The dwarf planet with surprising amounts of geology, or the Sailor Scout? Both good!
Played: Librarians Errant. Another two-fight session, first against goblin and hobgoblin mercenaries sent to hunt down the PCs get their wolf-riding asses handed to them, and then against whatever hideous cow monster Beasley Knees missummoned when Lily’s shoggoth book bit in him the middle of the incantation. There was a lot of dwarf-trampling in that fight, but literacy prevailed in the end, and Thaïs got to play hero to the local girls. Nobody even got ridden out of town on a rail!
Written: 183.
Hurray for pangolins! I don’t know why I like them, but I do.
Apparently I also like being a useless lump, because that’s what I did today. I was on call in the afternoon and had to do some work, but only for a little while. Then in the evening we accomplished anime night again. Huzzah!
Watched: Sacrificial Princess & The King of Beasts 5-6: You can tell that new character is no good, he was mean to Amit!
Watched: Princess Tutu 1: Apparently we aren’t showing Jus Utena just yet, but Tutu seems weird enough for now.
Read: Crawljammer vol 4-6 (Tim Callahan, et al): More space adventure nonsense for DCC, random tables and adventures and random tables and classes and random tables.
Read: Dog of the Dead (Delia Marshall Turner): A no-nonsense middle-aged English teacher is bequeathed a mysterious giant egg by a student she sort of recognizes, and then everything goes downhill. Way downhill. Everything is eventually explained, but it is dream-like and elliptical getting there. I liked it, but it was pretty weird.
Written: 190. No, still not right.
It’s a day for Marith!
Did not go to the office today, did some work, I guess?
Watched: Hilda 3.1-3: Looks like we know what this season’s mystery is! Also, the return of Wood Man. This is such a good weird show.
Read: The Stick Princess (Delia Marshall Turner): Finally, after like thirty years, I get to read the last book of the trilogy! Unsurprisingly, it is also about a young woman with an unusual relationship to magic, although she is even more at the center of what’s going on, and it crosses over with the big even at the end of the other two books. It also has an epilogue, establishing that it really is the end. I am surprised by how low in the text, if not actually subtextual, the F/F relationship is, compared to the open M/M relationships in the first book.
Read: Crawljammer vol 1-3 (Tim Callahan, et al): A regular zine for DCC, expanding it into a habitable solar system without being any less gonzo. Want to be a Red Martian Psychic Knight and steal from the Pirate Kings of Pluto? Now you can do that! But you can also be a dwarf or a thief or whatever. In spaaaaaace!
Written: 137. This is still all wrong again.
Yes, hippos are great! Best animal ever! 14/10, would import to different continents again! (Do you think that’s enough to keep them from murdering me?)
Went to the office, tried to learn a thing, ate some barbecue (I like barbecue, I’m probably doomed), tried to learn another thing, came home.
Read: Bloody Sweet vol 2 (NaRae Lee): Magic potential and a vampire in her closet don’t stop our MC from being bullied at school, but she deals with it pretty well, possibly because her emotional support vampire is full of wise advice.
Read: There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… vol 4 (Musshu, Teren Mikami, Eku Takeshima): Our MC is now being fought over by two beautiful top-of-the-class girls, and there seem to be more waiting for their chance. She complains a lot, but she’s definitely doing something right.
Written: 120.
I did get up and did go to the office and do a few works (not as many as I hoped) and eat British Indian food (tasty but not very spicy) and not die, so I guess that was something. Now can I do my writing and Internet chores and go to bed at a more sensible hour?
Read: Nameless Magery (Delia Marshall Turner): I first read this approximately one million years ago and then the author vanished, but now it’s been republished because that can happen on the Internet (which we have now). A young woman of vast magical power escapes the evil interstellar empire by crashlanding on a backwards planet and getting tangled up with the local mages and their licensing board. Entanglements and magic and road trips ensue. I’m not sure why I like this so much, maybe it’s the two sides each being sure they know how magic works, or maybe it’s just Lisane being awesome.
Read: Of Swords and Spells (Delia Marshall Turner): Same setting, different and more prickly young woman of vast magical power, more Enforcers being horrible. We get to see a little of what things are like on civilized planets, or on spaceships, but at the end it does cross over with the climactic finish of the first book and we get to see it from a different angle.
Read: Run Away With Me, Girl vol 1 (Battan): Two women run into each other again ten years after breaking up at the end of high school, with their adult lives that are not as satisfactory as they might like to pretend, and there are Feelings.
Written: 110. I think this might need to be thrown away too.
Hello, please accept this gift of space yogurt.
Had no brain and accomplished almost nothing at work. I have to get the things done tomorrow! And not stay up forever the night before getting up early to commute.
Played: Lancer. We spent the entire session trying to make a plan to accomplish our really stupid goal, without managing to make it any less stupid. It is both what we clearly need to do to find out what’s going on and what the module expects us to do, though.
Written: Only 118, but I got to talk to a Real Writer about ideas I wasn’t having and now can move that tiny bit forward.
Please regard me as a cautionary tale rather than a role model, in this aspect (as all others)
Did some work, had no brain.
Written: 162.
I mean, not exactly, but resigned, I guess? Apparently being me does not involve smooches.
Since I didn’t yesterday, today I did my grocery shopping routine which now involves a pastrami sandwich, multiple flavors of Diet Dr Pepper, and a book store. I ended up with a lot of groceries and it still doesn’t come close to refilling my empty fridge, but hopefully less of this food will languish forever and more of it will get eaten.
Written: 128.
Year of the Dragon, which is definitely auspicious and not a sign of doom.
I was too lazy to go grocery shopping before getting back to be on call all afternoon, and even if I hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have been able to go to the ice cream store. Instead I flopped around and then had to do some work and complain bitterly and throw out five bags of food from the fridge that was no longer trustworthy after the power outage. Eventually that ran out and Marith and I went over to Monkeycat Towers. We meant to go for anime, but instead we had really good Chinese food from Ken and Among Us with Nonny, which was all pretty great. I managed to win as the imposter! Then we switched to hide-and-seek mode, which I didn’t really understand because I’m old. Seeing people makes me happy.
Read: “Stubborn Stains” (Delia Marshall Turner): Turner wrote two books of an interesting fantasy/SF trilogy and then apparently disappeared, but now I learn that she has written the third book and this short story about a schoolteacher who gets involved with magic and a whole book about the schoolteacher! (The books are only available on Amazon, boo, but I’ll probably buy them anyway.)
Written: 125.
But I ate the pizza yesterday! It was pretty international pizza, though.
Watched: Nothing, Marith was dead from work.
Read: House of Stars (saltacuentos, Lion Illustration): Very adventure, much fairy tale, wow. The romance is unfortunately het, but the art is very nice. Complete.
Written: I’m writing the new chapter, but that doesn’t mean I know what’s going on or if this is even the right thing to write. Maybe I should work on the project that has an outline, although I still haven’t decided what the aliens should look like. Anyway, 149.
It has been a really long time since I flew a kite.
Today I did go into the office and eat butter chicken pizza. It was okay. Also I did my job or something. Whatever.
Read: The Moon on a Rainy Night vol 1 (Kuzushiro): High-school yuri, but the deuteragonist is very hard of hearing, and yes, it causes actual problems, and yes, she has a lot of feelings about it. I don’t know anything about the hard of hearing, especially in Japan, but the author seems to have done their research judging by the existence of a bibliography.
Read: Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Witchcraft and Mayhem (Roseanne A Brown): After discovering the other part of her heritage at the end of the first book, the MC leans hard into it, which causes even more trouble than she already had. But it’s okay, now she has a plan for paying off the debt she just incurred to [SPOILER] in the third book, which surely cannot go wrong!
Written: 123. I have finished the chapter (not that I have chapter divisions) so now I have to write another one and I have no idea what needs to happen next.
One of the characters in Kitten Words likes to put things in order, so he’s named Dmitri after the person who put the ATOMS in order. This makes me happy, because that’s what self-indulgence is for.
The early-morning meeting that was going to be yesterday and got displaced by the surprise meeting was today, but this time I did not order lunch and then fail to get it.
Spent a lot of time trying to catch up on email that kept arriving even when I couldn’t get to it.
Written: 113. But not kitten words.
Or is it Canadian Maple Syrup Heist Day?
I was expecting to not have power until sometime today, based on the PG&E status page, but in fact it was restored overnight and I did not end up having to go into the office today. That’s good, because there was a surprise early morning meeting that would have made commuting a pain. This makes twice that I’ve ordered goat curry and then not gone into the office. I will eat you someday, goats!
Everything in my fridge and freezer has become untrustworthy, so I had to get pizza while getting gooshyfood for the cats. Fortunately I liked the pizza and they like the gooshyfood.
Played: Lancer. We got to make some decisions as both groups, but then the entire situation was overtaken by events. Well, this module is advertised as being about the traumas of war.
Written: 157.
If only we could get all the disasters to happen on Feb 5th, planning would be a lot easier.
The power was still out when I woke up, and didn’t show any signs of being restored, so I ended up going to the office at the suggestion of the boss³ who was worried that we aren’t putting on enough of a show of being office team players. Well played. There was no lunch because only Tue-Thu are the official office days, but Pocky is like a healthy meal, right? Right?
Still no power when I got home, but at least I had realized that I could use my full-charged work laptop as a power bank for my phone, to read books I had already downloaded.
Marith was also grouchy about the lack of power so we went to Cheesecake Factory outside the Land of No Power and ate things that weren’t cheesecake. We could not bring leftovers home, because no refrigeration!
Read: The Savior’s Book Cafe Story in Another World vol 2 (Kyouka Izumi, Oumiya, Reiko Sakurada): The super-mage tries to keep living her quiet life uninvolved with anything except books and customers and one customer in particular, but of course that never works.
Read: The Yakuza’s Bias vol 2 (Teki Yatsuda): More yakuza stan hijinx. It doesn’t feel to me like there are any new jokes, so I probably won’t keep reading, but maybe that’s just because I’m old and not cool.
Read: The Drab Princess, The Black Cat, and the Satisfying Breakup vol 1 (Rino Mayumi, Machi): Light novel about a princess who tries to become an archmage so she can get out of her arranged engagement and make room for her younger sister who her fiancé obviously likes better, and the hapless archmage she dragoons into helping her. A lot of people get involved, and no one has any idea what anyone else is feeling, because that’s the genre.
Written: Still THWARTED.
Another one that should be every day.
Successfully made it to gaming despite the weather, then successfully made it home despite the intense weather. It, as they say on the Internets, fucken WIMDY.
Unfortunately, when I got home, I had neither Internets nor electricity. Usually PG&E gets it fixed pretty quickly, but everything was still out after I took a nap, so I went back to sleep. This was probably not the best thing I could have done, but it was easy.
Played: Librarians Errant. A two-fight session! First, as the team was seeing off the astral pirates, their ship was attacked by a dragon made of evil books and its sycophants in a literal flame war. They drove off the dragon and saved the books, but now the githyanki are stuck in Waterdeep trying to arrange transfer credit at the university. Then Shia was accosted by an origami butterfly that led the team cross-country to a deserted mill/smuggling den where Gladys’s minions were up to no good. They managed to set an ambush instead of just charging in, which was only partly successful because 5e doesn’t let you block enemies’ movement but did involve Grumman stealing a coach with a hootin’ and a hollerin’. The villains escaped, but the senior librarian was rescued in good shape and admitted the team might be worthy to be called librarians, but only very junior ones and only until next time they screw up.
Written: THWARTED.
I had the ice cream for lunch dessert, but it was Humphrey Slocombe “Secret Breakfast”, so I’m saying it counts.
Apparently my new Saturday routine is to go to Togo’s and eat a pastrami sandwich and drink multiple flavors of Diet Dr Pepper from the drink robot, on the way to the book store and grocery store. The ice cream store doesn’t open until noon, and I usually try to get my act together before then, so it will have to be intermittent.
Watched: Puella Magi Madoka Magica 10-12: The end! Jus was appropriately emotional at finding out Homura and Madoka’s deal. Not sure what to show her next, maybe Revolutionary Girl Utena.
Written: 122 of outlining. I don’t know what these aliens should look like. I wrote some stuff down, but it’s probably not right.
Still not feeling great. Tried to do some work, with mixed results.
The cats were still not eating any of the food I had, so I went and bought some different food, and apparently that is somewhat acceptable. I hope it’s not just that it’s new, because there are a limited number of brands I can buy.
Watched: Hazbin Hotel 1.7-8: Season finale! The power of friendship prevails! But there is lots left for the next season, because even if Charlie saved Hell, it’s still Hell.
Read: Blade of the Moon Princess vol 2 (Tatsuya Endo): More running around in enemy bases and learning to use the sword and also some backstory on the rival princess.
Written: 174.
I failed at today. When I got up to try to commute, I felt pretty bleah, so I stayed home. On the one hand, nobody could complain about how I lowered the tone of the office, but on the other, I had ordered goat curry and samosas for lunch, and my coworker had to eat it instead.
The cats seem to have decided to scorn all the food I bought for them, including the like 50 cans of gooshyfood I just bought. Maybe if they get hungrier, they’ll eat it?
Written: 201.
A day for Marith!
I did go into the office today, but the person who freaked out wasn’t there and anyway it was quite busy so there wasn’t a lot of “between tasks”. I did get the sexual harassment training video squared away. (TL;DR: don’t be a disgusting asshole and you’ll be fine.) I also ate a pile of pork and dried mushroom dumplings, which were sadly underwarm but otherwise good.
Read (while commuting to work): Glitch vol 2 (Shima Shinya): The investigation club continues to investigate, we see more of the other members’ families, and then they get some of the weirdness on them.
Read (while commuting home): My Dear, Curse-Casting Vampiress vol 3 (Chisaki Kanai): Besides having maxed stats, the male lead apparently has the superpower of making vampires like him. Unfortunately this includes vampires who do not buck the stereotype of being crazed killers as well as ones who do. Also, ritual magic FTW.
Written: 203.
I am actually supposed to take 20 days of vacation this year, which may involve some planning.
Unless, of course, I have to live behind the bus station in a cardboard box. In my 1;1 with my manager, I learned that my habit of reading on my phone between tasks has been causing someone in the office to freak the fuck out, and it’s not somebody who can be ignored. I blame capitalism, because there’s sort of a reason for this, but if people just minded their own business, everything everywhere would be much better. My manager confirmed that my work performance is fine, this is purely about how things look in the office. There is an obvious solution here, but the whole back-to-the-office initiative was rationalized by the CEO wanting his domain to look prosperous.
Written: 146.
It me. You damn kids!
Did a work. Continued deliquescing into a pile of sludge. How is January almost over?
Written: 177. But I am not great like Kit, who has mastered the timeline software. Also I had to redo some of yesterday because my MC doesn’t know that she shouldn’t blame the mysterious person for the awful thing.
I think I like the concept of Lego more than the actuality, but I’m still pretty glad it’s a thing that exists. One of the better uses of plastics.
Today was a lot of nothing. I felt a lot better, though.
Watched: The Imperfects 1: Three teenagers find out they have superpowers completely paid for by the accompanying disads, and the mad scientist who did this to them has skipped town. Despite the line about “a banshee, a chupacabra, and a succubus” there is not so far any indication of supernatural elements, just improbable biotechnology.
Written: 471. Admire how I am not feeling (very) bad about not doing this every day!
But does “chocolate cake” mean chocolate crumb and any kind of frosting, any kind of crumb and chocolate frosting, or chocolate crumb and chocolate frosting?
Today I ate a pastrami cheesesteak, which was okay, did some grocery shopping, and was a massive lump because I felt lethargic and headachey and bleah. My guess it was side effects from the vaccination yesterday. Still better than anything I’ve ever heard about shingles.
Watched: Puella Magi Madoka Magica 7-9: Oh good, Jus was appropriately disturbed to find out how the magical ecosystem works and what Kyubey’s role is.
Written: 147.
I didn’t celebrate, but I do like peanut brittle! I should get some of the See’s sugar-free.
No commute to the office today, but I did have to ride the bus a lot to get to the doctor for my second shingles vaccine dose. It was kind of a pain, but I got some reading done, and I’m okay with going to some trouble to not get shingles. It sounds dreadful.
Read: The Archive Undying (Emma Mieko Candon): Sometimes the AI gods of far-future city-states implode, taking any worshippers who happen to be directly connected with them. Sometimes the worshippers survive and can be used to make giant robots. It gets more complicated from there, with intrigue and M/M romance and existential despair and poor decisions and brain-eating.
Read: Reborn As A Vending Machine, I Now Wander The Dungeon vol 1 (Kunieda, Hirukuma, Hagure Yuuki): A vending machine enthusiast is killed by a falling vending machine and isekais as a magic vending machine. Fortunately he falls in with someone superstrong who carries him around so he can provide his bounty to many adventurers. There is a lot of murder and colonialism, though.
Read: Glitch vol 1 (Shima Shinya): A high school and middle school sibling (the older might be nonbinary?) move to a small down and team up with some other kids to investigate the strange creatures and mysterious apparitions of their town. Has a nice clean art style and mysteriously strange mysteries.
Read: Death by Irish Whiskey (Catie Murphy): Fifth in the “Dublin Driver” series and also the author’s FIFTIETH BOOK. This time the murders are at a whiskey competition and Meghan really tries not to investigate (for all the good that does anybody).
Written: 107. It’s not nothing.
Admire my Windows-free lifestyle!
Back to the office. The customers were rabid today, but I got a crispy chicken sandwich.
Read: The Yakuza’s Bias vol 1 (Teki Yatsuda): The boss’s teenage daughter drags the middle-aged old-school yakuza to a K-pop concert and a whole new world of fandom opens up before him. Most of the other yakuza are bemused, but a few get it. It’s definitely an “explain K-pop fandom to the mundanes” manga.
Written: 105 of outlining. It would be nice if I could just keep outlining and then add punctuation to get a complete draft, but it doesn’t seem very likely. Also I need to decide what these aliens look like now that I know where they come from.
Mmm, plant protein.
Not only did I miss the first connection, the following train was cancelled entirely, but I still made it into the office, ate a salad bowl thing with veggies and meat and grains, and did some work.
Read: A Cat From Our World and the Forgotten Witch vol 1 (Hiro Kashiwaba): Decades after the magical prodigy saved the world, she has fallen on hard times, so she tries summoning a guardian beast and gets an enormous cat. Problems ensue, but the cat is a loyal friend. Also apparently every character except the forgotten witch should get played with until they come apart.
Read: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End vol 1 (Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe): Decades after the team of heroes saved the world, the elven wizard is upset to be reminded that humans don’t live even a century. She sets out to learn more about humans as a way of remembering her friends, taking the apprentice of one friend with her. Although the premise is sad, the story isn’t that sad, or maybe I just don’t have a heart.
Written: 138.
No pie for me, still waiting on the medical-financial complex to refill my medication.
Got up early to meet, did another work.
Kit’s FIFTIETH BOOK, Death By Irish Whiskey, is out! It’s the fifth in a series, but buy it anyway!
Played: Lancer. Still playing as the corporate goons. Pretty sure the “corporate execs” we rescued were actually locals who hacked the system, but that’s an issue for the IT department. Besides, we’re not actually in favor of killer robots murdering people, even if altruism isn’t in our job description. Kelsey’s character got to run around slamming into people like a wrecking ball, so it was all good.
Written: 103, which is still in the triple digits, if only barely.
Yes, Sage, it is lunchtime!
Did a work. Whatever.
Written: 165. I might be writing everything I deleted from yesterday, but it’s better now.
A gaming session is like a playdate for gamers, right? Definitely a comparable maturity level!
Played: Librarians Errant. Thaïs is doing okay at rescuing herself by pushing Gladys the turncoat librarian out a window, but doesn’t mind at all when her friends show up to help. There’s a comparatively minor kerfuffle and then everyone escapes with the books Gladys bought at auction, which are only moderately helpful in tracking down the Education, but take that, Gladys! Serves you right for locking cute girls in boxes! Martin is still nowhere to be found, so the next day the group is given into the care of Garth, an extremely hard-ass Librarian Errant who immediately takes them back down to the Elemental Plane of Books or whatever it is to help clean up the hellfrog damage. Naturally, they barely get started before Thaïs trips over some githyanki book thieves and a running fight breaks out. Alas, the githyanki excel at fighting in the narrow stacks and Lily is forced to surrender when she’s the last one standing. She does talk the githyanki out of taking a book that’s not on their list of books that the library stole from them, but the astral pirates make their getaway pretty much entirely successfully. Bah!
Maybe next time I’ll remember what shocking grasp is for.
Written: 141. I may need to delete it all, but that’s a problem for Future Me.