Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
The stuff about me and my life. The “diary” side of blogging.
Day 80: I’ll say a little more in a separate post, but in brief, Barbie is excellent. The less you know going in, the better, but even if you’ve been reading reviews and articles about it, there’s so much in here that will surprise you. If you’re even remotely curious, it’s worth your time.
Day 79: Tasty homemade mango/tangerine/canteloupe popsicles for dessert! Just blended fruit, a little orange juice, and a day in the freezer.
Day 78: Got to work and found that just about ten minutes before, the entire campus had lost power. The power company had been notified, but had no idea of the cause and no solid ETA for a fix, so it was back home for me! By the time I got home, campus was officially closed until 10 a.m., and we’ll see what sort of notices we get as the day goes by. Either the power comes back and I head back to campus, or I just work from home after ten.
Day 77: I don’t normally go directly to brushing my teeth immediately after coming home from work. But then, I don’t normally get surprised by suddenly getting a clumsy bug for an impromptu snack during an afternoon walk outside. Ew.
33/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1990 Hugo Best Novel
Still as engrossing as when I first read it, many years ago. Far-future space opera on a huge scale, but presented through a series of vignettes shared by members of a band of pilgrims (if this sounds rather like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, be glad you got a good education in classic literature) heading toward what seems to be an unpleasant fate for all of them…and possibly billions more. Amusingly, while I knew that this was part of a series (originally two books, then four) because I have all of them on my shelf, I’d forgotten that the next book is not so much a sequel as the second half of a single story. Good thing I can just head upstairs and grab the next book to keep going!
NOTE: Given Simmons’ descent into right-wing politics, including Islamophobia and publicly attacking Greta Thunburg, he has earned a space on my “milkshake duck” virtual bookshelf, collecting those authors whose work I discovered, enjoyed, and might still enjoy, before later realizing that they are what I consider to be rather horrible people.
Day 75: On a hot summer day, it’s very nice to be able to come out back and have a pleasant dinner in the shade by the pool.
Day 74: Wandering around Capitol Hill on a nice warm summer evening as I wait for the Mercury to open its doors. Lots of people out at Cal Anderson Park enjoying a gorgeous summer evening.
Day 73: Movie time! We went off to see the latest Mission: Impossible film, and really enjoyed it. Tom Cruise may be a rather bizarre personality, but boy does he (and the people he works with) know how to put together a great, big, ridiculous, summer action movie.
Fun fact: This is the first movie I’ve seen in the theater since Star Trek: The Motion Picture!
(Of course, that was the 40th anniversary re-release of TMP, back in September 2019, not long before the pandemic shut everything down. But still! It’s an entirely true statement!)
For the mask-conscious: At this point, there were only two other people in the theater, and we were having some pre-movie snacks. Once we were done with those and more people came in, our masks went on. Even then, there were fewer than 10 people, including us, in this showing. Early Friday matinee showings are great, even for opening weekend movies!
Day 72: Nothing fancy today — just flopped out in a pile of brightly colored pillows on our basement couch watching this week’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, followed by silly reality television.
