Day 242: Just spent today kicking around the house in the usual post-travel fog. Wearing my PPIM shirt on project day 242 seemed appropriate (if you know, you know…).
Michael Hanscom
📚 Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
74/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
About the same as the first in the series; not mindblowing, but entertaining enough. Between that and enough people I know recommending that I keep going, I likely will. Though I do have to say — I like breasts as much as most people who are attracted to breasts do, but even so, Dresden/Butcher mentioning every female character’s breasts (often bare, as this book has a lot of werewolves shifting between wolf and human form) at every opportunity had me rolling my eyes a bit more each time.
Year 50 Day 241
Day 241: After a whirlwind three days of visiting family, we made it home this afternoon. Of course, after a few hours of dealing with holiday drivers being complete jerks — either overly aggressive oversized pickup trucks (at one point forcing me off onto the shoulder to avoid being rear-ended), or getting boxed in behind people determined to stay five to ten MPH under the speed limit, or dealing with entitled Tesla drivers being entitled Tesla drivers, or obnoxious asses who’ve apparently disabled their mufflers so they’re as loud and backfire-y as possible while still running (seriously, how are these things even legal?) — we arrived home tired, frazzled, and cranky. A night of dumb TV and sleeping in our own bed should help, but right now we’re not exactly fit for public.
Year 50 Day 240
Day 240: Our last day of visiting was with my wife’s mom, sister, brother-in-law, and niblings. We went swimming, admired the nephew’s painted D&D miniatures, got tarot card readings from our niece, ate tacos, played games, watched some Mr. Bean, and had a very good day.
Year 50 Day 239
Day 239: Today’s visit was with my mom, complete with dinner at Red Lobster to get her her holiday lobster treat, something we were last able to do pre-pandemic.
Year 50 Day 238
Day 238: Spending a few days during the inter-holiday week visiting family. First stop: my wife’s dad. Dinner and then sharing cookies while watching the first Mission Impossible film. Overnighting here, then off to our next stop tomorrow.
📚 Uncanny Issue 56 edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Michael Damian Thomas, Monte Lin, and Betsy Aoki
73/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This issue I really enjoyed Mary Robinette Kowal‘s “Marginalia” and Alex Jennings‘s “Lest We Become Posessed”, a review of Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, co-edited by Jordan Peele and John Joseph Adams, which has been added to my “keep an eye out for” list.
Year 50 Day 237
Day 237: The Christmas Day pile o’ presents! After a nice quiet morning with breakfast in front of a fire (in a fireplace, not just some random fire), we dove into the present unwrapping. Tip we discovered this year: Instead of wrapping paper, reusable gift bags are wonderful! Easier to “wrap”, and no waste when unwrapping. We’re definitely fans.
📚 Foreign Foes by Greg Brodeur and Dave Galanter
72/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
It felt rather rushed and busy for a good portion of the book, as there were several different threads going on that the authors switched among rather quickly, and while the details took some time to come to light, the basic mystery as to what was going on wasn’t all that mysterious, being obvious to the reader (if not the characters) within the first couple chapters. Not a stinker, but not a standout, either.
Year 50 Day 236
Day 236: It’s a cookie baking day! There have actually been several of these over the past week, but those took place while I was at work; today’s batch of gingerbread I was of (some) assistance in creating. They’re quite tasty, too!