words bubble up like soda pop

1. Would you rather have a fun job that doesn't pay well or a boring job that does?

If I can live on it, I'd go for the fun job. If I can't, I'll deal with the boring job for as long as I can. Bonus points if I can write if I have the time while working said boring job.

2. Would you sacrifice your morals for a job?

If someone was dependent on me? Probably. If it was just me it would be far less likely. I can live without quite a lot of the stuff and amenities I have now just fine if I needed to downsize, but I wouldn't make someone else live that way.

3. Would you ever take a job that requires you to be in costume?

No, because I’m a shit actor. I would much rather have a job behind the scenes of whatever it is than be perceived by the public.

4. What is your fantasy job?

As in dream job? Be an author that can make a living from my writing.

Job I would do in a fantasy? Textiles. I find everything from the gathering of fibers, to the making and dyeing of the threads and cloth, to the embellishments afterward to be really interesting.

5. Would you like fries with that?

Yes. Potatoes good. Fried tater tots are even better. Although I'll set even them aside if mac and cheese is an option as a side.


I officially finished one book in the whole of February, after starting a bunch of them that just didn't hook me. I reread Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold. I haven't read it since I was a teen and I found an omnibus edition of the first two books at the thrift store. As an adult, I can look at the age gap in Fawn and Dag's relationship with a more critical eye, but overall I loved the story now just as much as I remember loving it then. Apparently all of my memories of the plot came from just the first book, so the rest is still a surprise :D There's 4 1\2 books total, so I should be able to get through the rest in short order.

I think I'm finally going to take a crack at the Vorkosigan Saga after. Starting with Shards of Honor, because I think that's where you start lol. There's a lot more books in that series.

I'm still learning Python. I had to take a break because life, but the other day I was trying to solve a math problem and, unbidden, my brain just kind of clicked over to writing the problem out in code XD So I did, for practice. (I'm also glacially slow at doing math on paper these days. I know I need to practice some things before I legitimately lose some skills again.)

Also Besomorph released a new song today that sounds like very early 2010's edm and it made me happy <3

For anyone who is familiar with the Night World series, L.J. Smith is running a contest on her website called the "Strange Fate is Coming Contest". It started January 5th and ends on March 17th!

For those of you who don't know, Night World is a 9 book fantasy series about a secret world of witches, vampires, werewolves and shapeshifters living side-by-side with, but separate from, humans. Each book focused on a teenage girl and her soulmate, and how each pairing challenges the status quo of the Night World's established rules. It was published in the 90's, well before the terms YA and Fated Mates took off and I think before the genre of urban fantasy had even fully solidified, possibly? Fans have been waiting for the 10th and final book to be published for quite a long time!

Although according to the front page of her website, the finale is actually going to be a two-parter: Strange Fate: Mystic and Strange Fate: Apocalypse. So we have an 11th book to look forward to, and both installments are already in the hands of her editor!

I'm up earlier than usual because I woke up around 4-ish and I was immediately wide awake. Since starting wellbutrin that happens a lot. Ironically, even with the early wake up times, I started to feel more rested overall after starting the medication, so that's something.

Today was the first time in a long time Sophie has gone outside for me in the morning. Usually she won't get up until Husband takes her out, and he feeds her breakfast after. It was gloriously cold outside, and the light from the flashlight made everything glitter under the frost.

I'm planning my 2025 reading goals/tbr. This will be the first time I'm starting the year with an actual reading list I'll be trying to stick to. I'll share it somewhere near the end of December but before January 1st.

Shocking nobody, the list is primarily fantasy, with some romantasy and a dash of scifi, with one contemporary and one nonfiction title added for flavor. (BTW, I'm always on the hunt for a good scifi mech or dinosaur series, but I balk at scifi things written by men because I've been burned too many times by bad depictions of women and supposedly romantic subplots. If you have recs, feel free to share.) I'll be keeping the arbitrary 50 books in a year goal that started on goodreads way back when.

For book tracking, I use storygraph now. I don't generally do social things on bookish sites, but feel free to add me if you like. I make no apologies about what random weird stuff you may see, though. Reading goals aside, I'm a mood reader at heart and sometimes those moods take me down some weird rabbit holes.

I'm devising a points system (XP? Not sure yet.) to go with the reading goals. To me this makes it more fun, especially since the idea is to be generous when awarding points and possible "achievements" to make it extra enjoyable. Who doesn't love watching-number-go-up motivation XD

I'm kinda second-guessing my sanity right now.

On one hand, I'm kind of proud of the fact that I didn't immediately start catastrophizing after yesterday's news.

On the other, it makes me wonder if I'm not processing at all right now, and I'm somehow burying it and it'll all burst out at once at some weird point down the line.

I'm just gonna press forward, then: Steam's Summer Sale is on, and I got some things.

( One of the six games mentioned is NSFW. )

Not an update. I just wanted to save this because if I lose the tab, I'll never find it again. And if anyone wants to share in my niche interests, feel free XD

( Long essay about the history of haiku is loooooooooong. )

 

( DW says the end notes get their own cut because it didn't fully take the first time? )

 

 

I started and DNF'd A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I Lin. Twice. Once via audiobook and again as ebook, because at first I thought it was the audio format that was making it hard to get into. I couldn't tell you why I didn't get hooked, but I'm disappointed. There was a lot of hype over this book, especially following Xiran Jay Zhao's success with Iron Widow. The cover is absolutely gorgeous though. The sequel cover even more so.

I did find a few good speculative/scifi short stories that I think are worth sharing. Funnily enough, both are about some form of uploaded consciousness.

Lena is written in the form of an article/how-to guide on working with copies of a particular consciousness. It's also horror, but it's that kind of subtle horror one feels when they contemplate ethics, and realize some people absolutely suck because they'll do anything that's allowed within the bounds of the law regardless of morality.

The Woman Who Wanted to Be Trees, by Cat Rambo, is more direct. It's a story about society building a generation ship to leave earth. It's a bit dark because some people are selfish, but ends with a solution that benefits humanity as a whole. I'll admit I had to read it twice to fully understand it, but I think it's worth it. TW for implied suicide at the end. I straight up missed it on my first read.

There's also a rebuttal article about the viability of digital memorials attached to Trees, that I also think is worth a look. The author of the article has also written books about death. I'm particularly interested in her second book, but it's not out yet.

(The article calls it Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond, but her website calls it Death Glitch: What Social Networks Leave Behind. I don't know what the proper title is yet, but I still want to read it.)

Not entirely unrelated, I'm working on a short story about the ethics of cloning. Something similar to the body replacement tech available in Altered Carbon. Although I'm currently very stuck because I don't know how to write passable legalese, even if it might just be for a few lines.

For this particular story, I have to research the law regarding the division of assets in a divorce. Then somehow write up a case worthy of setting a precedent about composite clones, and what percentage of a single person's DNA a clone can have before that person gets a say in the clone's use or existence.

I have a few ideas for stories using clones come to think of it. Although, given my personal worldview, they're all pretty dark.

Also, I think I want to learn Korean? I saw some charts on twitter that showed me I might actually have a decent chance of learning the written language, along with the spoken. I've always liked the written language. My brain sees it as more orderly than Chinese or Japanese.

( Korean chart, saving for later. )

I've started watching seaQuest. It's pretty good, in all of its cheesy 90's glory. Although it's an adjustment getting used to a show that has 45-minute episodes and 20+ episode seasons. My attention span isn't what it used to be.

The property management company sent a contractor to assess what needed to be fixed in the house according to the city inspection. On that visit, they said they'd be back either yesterday or today to do the actual work. And yet, nothing. I think someone may have stopped by yesterday but I'm not sure. There was a work van parked in front of the house for a bit, but nobody knocked.

I really want to write, but all of my motivation has disappeared.

Went to my last regular Magic session with our friends last night. Bethany, the wife of the two, is really sad to see me go. I'm sad too, because we haven't had a chance to spend too much time together, but we're kinda kindred spirits. The "shares the same few brain cells" kind, in a good way. There's a couple ways I might be able to come visit after the move is complete, so we'll see what happens.

We had six people, so we played in two three man groups. Bethany and I played with a guy newer to the group. He's only joined us twice. I credit him with much, much patience, because I know I played pretty badly. I wasn't keeping very good track of my shit and I was slow on my turns. He was super nice and helpful though. I would have appreciated more time to get to know him before moving. I know objectively that most men aren't out to get me, but most of the time I have to still warm up to being comfortable being friendly with new men in my orbit. This guy was quiet, nice, and never once triggered even the tiniest of alarm bells.

It seems I got a bit ahead of myself. I went looking to see if there were any muzzle laws for pitbulls where we're moving. Turns out the whole county just straight up doesn't allow pitbulls. We're keeping the house we found, because it would be incredibly irresponsible at this point to drop it and go looking for another so close to moving. Husband brought it up with the realtor since we did specify we had a pitbull on our application. He apologized and said enforcement of the breed restriction is "hit or miss" at the moment.

Considering I just did some google maps exploring in the area, I suppose finding out now is for the best. I would have been been taking my banned dog out for walks within three blocks of the local police station. So for now she stays with Mom for another year.

I also found out the local library branch is even closer, and has a 75 item checkout limit, so I'm just gonna bury myself in books. I'm not sure if I mean that joke in a positive or negative light at the moment, so I'll just leave it open to interpretation.