📚 A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

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62/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1993 Hugo Best Novel

This definitely holds up, and I really enjoyed re-reading it. From the concept of various zones where FTL travel (and higher technologies) are possible as they get further away from the center of the galaxy, to the exploration of group intelligence with the Tines (packs of dog-like creatures that are singular sentient entities when in packs of 4-6), it’s a really excellent read.

Me holding A Fire Upon the Deep

Year 50 Day 195

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Me holding a bit of candy shaped roughly like a person, red, and dusted with a white powder. I have a slightly skeptical expression on my face.

Day 195: We continue to work our way through treats we brought back from London. Today’s experiment: Jelly Babies. We’ve decided they’re weird. Not bad, but definitely on the weird side of things. They look like a gummy candy, but then the outside is a little tougher than expected, and the inside is quite a bit gooshier than expected.

Year 50 Day 194

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Me on a couch with a wooden tray on my lap, concentrating on assembling a Lego project. The instruction booklet is balanced on the tray, which holds a selection of Lego pieces.

Day 194: As part of getting ready for the next fall holiday, I’m in charge of the fall foliage centerpiece for the table. Which, in a rather brilliant move, considering my flower arrangement skills, is one of the Lego botanicals kits. Got most of the way through this evening, and should finish it tomorrow.

🎥 Mean Girls

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Mean Girls (2004): ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’d never actually seen this, so after coming across a trailer for the upcoming remake, we decided to watch the original. I knew I knew a little bit about it from years of cultural osmosis, but I hadn’t realized just how many quotes and memes came from this. It was fun to watch, definitely funny, and I can definitely see how it has stuck around. But I also noticed a lot of things that, in 2023, didn’t play quite so well, and will be interested to see how Tina Fey updates it twenty years later.

Year 50 Day 192

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Me sitting in a living room chair, with orange twinkle lights visible through the sliding glass door behind me.

Day 192: Since we had the day off today, we ran a few errands in the morning and then decided to make it a movie day. Today’s triple feature: Barbie (just as good as when we saw it in the movie theater), Singin’ in the Rain (always good), and Asteroid City (weird, but enjoyable if you like Wes Anderson).