Thursday, January 28, 2016
Good News, Bad News
So, today I found out I have to have a root canal. But, on the plus side, I also found a way to keep my shoes from coming untied all the time.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
I Aten't Dead
Oh, dear, I've been neglecting this blog long enough that people have started to e-mail me and ask if I'm all right. I'm fine! I'm sorry for disappearing! I think two things have been happening this month that explain what I've been doing instead of blogging. First, I kind of went into this state where all I really wanted to do all day was lie on the sofa and shove words into my face. Sort of the book-lover's equivalent of hibernation, I think. So I mostly did that for a while, and then I had to scramble around doing all the responsible-adult things that piled up on me because I neglected them while I was book-hibernating. Which I'm still in the middle of. (Next up: dentist's appointment! Whee!)
I feel like I should have something else to say here, though, so I will offer up a random thought.
Random thought: I have heard that in some places there is a tradition/superstition that if you don't take down your Christmas decorations by January 6, the Devil will come and get you. I am strongly in favor of adopting this here in the US. Hell, I may almost be ready to start believing in the Devil myself if it will get people to take down their Christmas lights. Come on, guys! It's nearly February!
I feel like I should have something else to say here, though, so I will offer up a random thought.
Random thought: I have heard that in some places there is a tradition/superstition that if you don't take down your Christmas decorations by January 6, the Devil will come and get you. I am strongly in favor of adopting this here in the US. Hell, I may almost be ready to start believing in the Devil myself if it will get people to take down their Christmas lights. Come on, guys! It's nearly February!
Wednesday, January 06, 2016
New Year's Currentlies
Current clothes: Green sweatpants. Gray sweatshirt with an Edward Gorey picture of a cat lounging on a pile of books and the words "books. cats. life is sweet." (Because, really, what more do you need? Not even capital letters!) White socks.
Current mood: Very good, happy and relaxed. I spent the entire morning in my pajamas, doing nothing but reading a good book until I finished it. Man, I need to do that more often. It's very good for my psychological health. (The shirt does not lie!)
Current music: Nothing much. Once again, most of my listening-to-things time is going to trying to keep up with a bunch of podcasts. Or at least not fall further behind. My podcast backlog hasn't remotely reached the out-of-control state that my book and DVD backlogs have, but it is constantly threatening to expand in that direction.
Current annoyance: I was totally prepared to say winter, and that I'm entirely ready for it to go away now. Except, uh... it kind of did? The temperature suddenly shot upwards today, with the result that there was a veritable waterfall of melting snow pouring off every roof in town.
Current thing: It's a new year! So I'm going to be more creative and more productive and healthier and just generally all-around better at living! Right?
Current desktop picture: Still this spoilery promo picture released before the Doctor Who season finale. I might leave it up for a while, I dunno. It is a pretty awesome picture.
Current book: I've just started in on a bit of local history with Elfego Baca in Life and Legend by Larry D. Ball.
Current song in head: Nothing at the moment. Although Brain Radio has been unusually suggestible lately, and I fully expect something new to set it off and get it playing something annoying at any moment.
Current refreshment: Mellow Moments tea, which is a really nice delicate blend of peppermint, spearmint, chamomile and, I dunno, some kind of spices and stuff.
Current DVD in player: Disc 5 of season 10 of Supernatural. About which I appear to have no opinions whatsoever. Well, OK, I definitely have opinions about it, both positive and negative, while I'm watching it. But the moment I turn the TV off, I entirely cease to care.
Current thought: Maybe next time I do this, I'll add in "current happy thing" or something to take the place of the "current worry" entry that I eliminated last time. (Which, I must say, was a very good idea.) Seems like it'd be a little redundant this time, though, as it'd just be feeling good and having the day off of work and getting some quality reading-in-the-PJs time in.
Current mood: Very good, happy and relaxed. I spent the entire morning in my pajamas, doing nothing but reading a good book until I finished it. Man, I need to do that more often. It's very good for my psychological health. (The shirt does not lie!)
Current music: Nothing much. Once again, most of my listening-to-things time is going to trying to keep up with a bunch of podcasts. Or at least not fall further behind. My podcast backlog hasn't remotely reached the out-of-control state that my book and DVD backlogs have, but it is constantly threatening to expand in that direction.
Current annoyance: I was totally prepared to say winter, and that I'm entirely ready for it to go away now. Except, uh... it kind of did? The temperature suddenly shot upwards today, with the result that there was a veritable waterfall of melting snow pouring off every roof in town.
Current thing: It's a new year! So I'm going to be more creative and more productive and healthier and just generally all-around better at living! Right?
Current desktop picture: Still this spoilery promo picture released before the Doctor Who season finale. I might leave it up for a while, I dunno. It is a pretty awesome picture.
Current book: I've just started in on a bit of local history with Elfego Baca in Life and Legend by Larry D. Ball.
Current song in head: Nothing at the moment. Although Brain Radio has been unusually suggestible lately, and I fully expect something new to set it off and get it playing something annoying at any moment.
Current refreshment: Mellow Moments tea, which is a really nice delicate blend of peppermint, spearmint, chamomile and, I dunno, some kind of spices and stuff.
Current DVD in player: Disc 5 of season 10 of Supernatural. About which I appear to have no opinions whatsoever. Well, OK, I definitely have opinions about it, both positive and negative, while I'm watching it. But the moment I turn the TV off, I entirely cease to care.
Current thought: Maybe next time I do this, I'll add in "current happy thing" or something to take the place of the "current worry" entry that I eliminated last time. (Which, I must say, was a very good idea.) Seems like it'd be a little redundant this time, though, as it'd just be feeling good and having the day off of work and getting some quality reading-in-the-PJs time in.
Friday, January 01, 2016
2015: The Year In Books And Other Stuff
Happy New Year to all! I hope 2016 is bright and happy for all of you, and brings you many good things.
2015 was, I suppose, a messy, turbulent year for the world at large (although I'm not sure if there are actually any years that aren't), but, looking back, it seems fairly sedate for me, personally. The big event of the year for me was having family visiting and doing the Balloon Fiesta and various trips around New Mexico, in October. Well, that and rain flooding in through my floor again during the summer. Looking back over the blog, I'm not sure I even talked about that here... It was extremely annoying, although fortunately not too difficult to fix: I just had to caulk up a crack in the concrete slab floor. Also on the subject of water being where it's not supposed to be, I think my roof might finally be fixed for good this time, so that's definitely a plus for the year. I also got a new oven, a new dryer, and a new couch and loveseat, so my house is overall a nicer place to be now than it was at the beginning of the year, even if it is continuing to age. Oh, and, yes, I am going to brag about winning that Doctor Who trivia contest forever.
I also read a lot of books, as always. My total for the year was 137 books. Interestingly, 2014's total was 138, and I have no idea how the heck I manage to be that consistent about it. I'm not consciously trying to be! You can see my whole year's worth of reading here.
As is traditional, I include here a list of my favorite books of the year, or at least the ones I gave the highest star ratings to on LibraryThing. It's a pretty good list this year, I think:
Fiction
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise by Gene Luen Yang
Sweetland by Michael Crummey
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
Tenth of December by George Saunders
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Putting on the Ritz by Joe Keenan
Non-fiction
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight by M. E. Thomas
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better by Clive Thomspon
The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann
Size Matters Not: The Extraordinary Life and Career of Warwick Davis by Warwick Davis
A little of both
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012 edited by Dave Eggers
We're not going to talk about how many books I acquired in 2015, though. Not at all.
2015 was, I suppose, a messy, turbulent year for the world at large (although I'm not sure if there are actually any years that aren't), but, looking back, it seems fairly sedate for me, personally. The big event of the year for me was having family visiting and doing the Balloon Fiesta and various trips around New Mexico, in October. Well, that and rain flooding in through my floor again during the summer. Looking back over the blog, I'm not sure I even talked about that here... It was extremely annoying, although fortunately not too difficult to fix: I just had to caulk up a crack in the concrete slab floor. Also on the subject of water being where it's not supposed to be, I think my roof might finally be fixed for good this time, so that's definitely a plus for the year. I also got a new oven, a new dryer, and a new couch and loveseat, so my house is overall a nicer place to be now than it was at the beginning of the year, even if it is continuing to age. Oh, and, yes, I am going to brag about winning that Doctor Who trivia contest forever.
I also read a lot of books, as always. My total for the year was 137 books. Interestingly, 2014's total was 138, and I have no idea how the heck I manage to be that consistent about it. I'm not consciously trying to be! You can see my whole year's worth of reading here.
As is traditional, I include here a list of my favorite books of the year, or at least the ones I gave the highest star ratings to on LibraryThing. It's a pretty good list this year, I think:
Fiction
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise by Gene Luen Yang
Sweetland by Michael Crummey
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
Tenth of December by George Saunders
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Putting on the Ritz by Joe Keenan
Non-fiction
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight by M. E. Thomas
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better by Clive Thomspon
The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann
Size Matters Not: The Extraordinary Life and Career of Warwick Davis by Warwick Davis
A little of both
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012 edited by Dave Eggers
We're not going to talk about how many books I acquired in 2015, though. Not at all.
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