49/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Standouts for me this month are Catherynne M. Valente’s “Can You Hear Me Now?”, Grace P. Fong’s “We Do Not Eat Much Fish”, Sarah Monette’s “The Kingdom of Darkness”, and AnaMaria Curtis’s “The Coffin Maker”.
Photos
Photos, usually taken by me. May be mirrored or imported from other services.
Year 50 Day 134
Day 134: Today was a work training retreat held at the MaST, Highline College’s Marine Science and Technology Center. So in addition to the official stuff, I got to have lunch sitting out in the sun on the pier, and then watch some of the aquarium critters (including a 7-foot-long wolf eel and a small red octopus) get fed. Not a bad workday at all!
Year 50 Day 133
Day 133: It’s my first day back in the office in a month, after vacation and a week of working from home. The Head seemed a little put out by being ignored for a month, but was mollified when it saw that my desktop Star Trek ship collection is gaining the USS Cerritos from Lower Decks.
Year 50 Day 132
Day 132: The sad thing is, though Dr. Pepper used to be my drink of choice (back in the ‘90s in Anchorage, I’d walk into the diner I frequented and the wait staff would have a one on a table for me by the time I sat down), I don’t drink it anymore, as I now try to stay caffeine free and generally avoid sugar sodas. While they do technically make a caffeine-free Diet Dr. Pepper (that has almost the right “carbonated prune juice” taste), around here it’s effectively impossible to get ahold of. Apparently there just isn’t enough demand here for our local stores to carry it.
Year 50 Day 131
Day 131: Just a nice quiet day today. Spent a pleasant afternoon reading in the sunlight.
📚 Clarkesworld Issue 204 edited by Neil Clarke
48/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Standout stories this month are Djuna’s “The People from the Dead Whale”, RJ Taylor’s “Upgrade Day”, and Arula Ratkanar’s “Axiom of Dreams” (which also introduced me to some mathematical concepts I didn’t know about).
Year 50 Day 130
Day 130: Today was the first ConCom (Convention Committee) planning meeting for Norwescon 46. It was good to get back into the planning mode with this group of friends, and I feel like we’re off to a good start. Once again, it looks like my job lineup this year is webmaster, social media manager, Philip K. Dick Award coordinator, and Thursday night DJ. Just six and a half months to get everything planned and ready to go!
📚 Grounded by David Bischoff
47/2023 – ⭐️
Uff. Bad enough that the characterizations are off for everyone, especially Picard, and that the threat comes off as a bad B-movie monster. But on top of that, one of the introduced characters is described as “having Autism”, which is presented as a disease in a way that may have been acceptable 30 years ago, but is just offensive now, and, of course, which later gets tied to psychic abilities and is apparently curable. Cannot recommend.
Year 50 Day 129
Day 129: Happy Star Trek Day to everyone* who celebrates!
* Everyone except whoever decided to pull the plug on Discovery so suddenly that they had to re-shoot key moments of the last few episodes to cobble together a series finale instead of a season finale, whoever decided to pull the plug on Prodigy so suddenly that they’re still finishing the second season and hoping that someone else picks it up to broadcast it, and whoever decided that an appropriate Star Trek Day celebration was a 22-minute “special”, the first two episodes of Strange New Worlds on broadcast TV, five “very” short animated bits (only one of which debuts today), and a 25% discount on the online Star Trek store. Seriously, why are the Ferengi Pakleds in charge of this franchise?
(Updated to change Ferengi to Pakleds. The Ferengi are far too profit motivated to do this bad of a job keeping the fans engaged.)
Year 50 Day 128
Day 128: Realized I hadn’t taken a photo for the day yet, started to do so…and my wife decided that she could help out. Nicely done! Now I know how goofy I look when I’m doing this.