And yet I did not play Perils & Princesses!
I did go to the farmer’s market, check on Ayse & fam’s cats, and eat fresh veggies and cheese with Marith.
Watched (live-action TV): Leverage 1.1: Rewatched to see who the recurring character at the end of season 4 was. Oh, that guy. Yeah, fuck him. Also, Parker was a lot sexier in the premier. Not intrinsically, but she had more sexy scenes.
Written (catgirl): 191.
Turtles are good.
I am on vacation, because I didn’t retract my request for days off even though I am not worthy to go to Roseville.
Slept in until forever because I stayed up too late reading last night, then took some books to the used book store. They didn’t keep as much this time, but on the other hand I was finally able to move a bunch of stuff from the couch onto shelves. Not sure those couch shelves will ever recover, though.
Watched (live-action TV): Murderbot 3: Not a lot happened in this episode, or at least it didn’t have an arc. Not sure what Gurathin’s deal is, but I don’t think he’s just being pointlessly creepy.
Watched (live-action TV): Leverage 4.17-18: Season finale! The one with Nate’s dad and the patent office and the return of the guy from before (who sucks). I thought this was the end of the original series and was bummed that there was no OT3, but actually there’s a whole season yet.
Read (manga): Sachi’s Monstrous Appetite vol 1-2 (Chomoran): Middle-school boy discovers that the high-school girl next store he has a crush on is actually a giant whale(?) monster and he smells delicious to monsters. Together, they fight crime keep the local monster population under control and have feelings.
Written (catgirl): 271.
Hi Ken!
Went to the office, some coworkers were there, ate samosas and saved my chicken biriyani for later, tried to straighten things up for vacation.
Watched (live-action TV): Leverage 4.15-16: the one where they help a rich guy, and the one where Hardison tries to be the mastermind. Only two episodes left in the season, so the guy who shows up at the end is probably going to be important for the finale.
Read (RPG): Under Hollow Hills (Meguey Baker, Vincent Baker): You are a fairy circus that travels around performing and getting involved in fairy shenanigans. Pretty much the opposite of Apocalypse World tonally, yet still very PbtA. Shifting toward Summer or Winter, planning shows, ensuring there’s always someone who doesn’t want you there, attending your own funeral, all the important fairy tropes are covered, in a way that’s generic enough to let players come up with their own ideas of fairy but evocative enough to always be Fairy.
Read (novel): The Devils (Joe Abercrombie): In an alternate Europe full of anthropophagous elves, murder, religious schisms, murder, various forms of holy and unholy sorcery, murder, etc, an extremely hapless monk is given command of a band of monstrous criminals and sent to deliver the lost princess of Troy to her throne. It’s Abercrombie, so it’s the darkest and murderiest of comedy, but surprisingly for alternate-historical grimness, I don’t think there’s any sexual violence. Stayed up way too late finishing it.
Written (catgirl): 171.
Not sure what that one’s about, poetry or body horror or both.
Went to the office, closed some more cases, got official notification that Boss K is leaving, ate a veggie burrito.
Read (novel): The Incandescent (Emily Tesh): Magical dark British academia, from the perspective of a teacher, written by somebody who knows what it is teachers actually do all day in the modern world. Also, did you know that teachers are supposed to protect their students and not use them as pawns? Yes, even the orphans! Plus, a real magic system with suitably alarming supernatural entities.
Written (catgirl): 127.
Also underrated.
Played (Changeling the Lost): Berkeley 94. Everett has a run-in with fake cops at his work, but defeats them with the power of stoicism and railroad tracks, Thessaly does tarot readings, Longfingers takes more notes on how to be a grown-up lesbian, Siddy gets supplies for more urban farmsteading stuff, and Theophania does approximately nothing. I should probably drop out.
Written (catgirl): 197, splitting the different between a whole page and going to bed on time and thus accomplishing neither.
Underrated, I’m pretty sure.
Decided to not go to Roseville and bother everyone with my physical and social and probably moral lameness.
Written (catgirl): 375. This scene keeps trying to go into more detail.
Super useless all day. Did manage a little shopping so at least I got out of the apartment.
Watched (anime): Somali and the Forest Spirit 8-9: Backstory of this enclave with humans, and then on to the next city with some recurring characters. No, 6-year-olds are not good at keeping secrets.
Read (nonfiction): Rise of the Zombie Bugs (Mindy Weisberger): All about the various fungi, insects, worms, etc, that change the behavior of the creepy-crawlies they parasitize. Sadly there was not a lot here that was really new to me. I know too much about biological horror.
Written (catgirl): 181.
Also World Telecommunication Day and National Walnut Day.
Only failed a little at taking the bus to the used book store, and ended up on the same bus as Dave, who was on his way to play board games with people who had suddenly found room in their schedules. Only failed a little at the used book store, but I couldn’t fold up all my bags for the return journy, which was annoying. The bus failed me on the way back, so I was at lunch like an hour later than I had hoped, but it worked out okay.
Marith was dead from mucus or travel or something, so I made my own way to the Eurovision party and we ate many foods and made technology bend to our whims.
Watched (live-action TV): Eurovision Song Contest 2025: There were fae and wacky legs and a Polish lady who sang while dangling from rings despite being 52, at least two performances that had to be bowdlerized, some eye candy for Ken, gender of assorted densities, etc. Israel’s song was so boring that none of us felt bad about booing them, but they came in second anyway. The actual winner was deserving of victory.
Written (catgirl): 135.
Why yes, every aspect of the world is completely fucked up.
Watched (live-action TV): Murderbot 1-2: Surprisingly, I didn’t hate it! Sure, the main casting was Wrong, but at least it was a real actor who could be misanthropic, and everybody else was fine. The changes were appropriate for the medium, the Murderbot voiceover wasn’t terrible, the Preservation crew were weird space hippies with ethics and feelings instead of profit motive, etc. Worth signing up for a free trial of AppleTV for.
Written (catgirl): 250 exactly.
One of two, and that’s not counting Velociraptor Awareness Day.
Went to the office, spaced out during a long all-hands meeting, ate some rice and vegetables and meat, put up with Coworker R being a libertarian and also engaging in the British national sport of complaining (I have no moral high ground here), closed some cases.
I complained on slack about being ditched for the journey to and from Roseville, so now everybody there can hate me too. They’re right that I could at least look for a taxi if I hate both gig economy and people doing things for me, though.
Watched (live-action TV): Leverage 4.14: While the girls were out righting a wrong at a fancy party, the boys were getting into some kind of mobster trouble with an idiot.
Read (novel): Emberstone Farm vol 2 (L Meili): More OP-ness, world events that are alarming to people who think they live in reality, system usage that’s alarming to people who think they live in reality, extremely off-screen sex, nothing like an actual problem for the MC.
Read (manga): Assorted Entanglements vol 2 (Mikanuji): Apparently it’s been two years since I read volume 1, so I don’t remember if any of these are the same characters, but they’re all super gay and somewhat ridiculous anyway.
Written (catgirl): 202.
One for Jus.
Went to the office, metaboss T was there but only briefly, ate some meat and potatoes and kale, closed some cases.
Apparently nobody else is going up on the train to Roseville for Memorial Day after all, so I have to travel by myself if I even want to bother making people put up with me. I’m not sure I should.
Read (manga): Chainsaw Man vol 11 (Tatsuki Fujimoto): Well. That’s one way to make sure a defeat sticks. That’s the end of the arc, but looks like it’s only the first of two or more. Not sure what Denji is going to do for an encore, though.
Written (catgirl): 195
I like hummus.
No gaming, Ken has some kind of thing.
Written (catgirl): 186. Is my main character’s emotional journey as simple as hating the new city she’s forced to live in and eventually getting used to it?
Velociraptors, the Sun, caramel fudge cake, everything! Be aware of it all!
Written (catgirl): 284.
And yet, Rachel had a nose shoggoth and no kids this weekend.
No gaming due to the aforementioned nose shoggoth, so I stayed in bed until noon and took an hour-long shower, but then I felt like I should do something so I took a stupid little walk for my stupid mental and physical health, and that made my brain shut down completely. I could barely get noodles and watch anime.
Watched (anime): Somali and the Forest Spirit 5-7: We had to stop watching this with BB Jus because of the cannibalism backstory, but in fact it turned out okay(ish) and Somali did not get eaten and did continue her journey with her dad in search of knowledge.
Read (novels): “The Dread Void” omnibus 1-3: Into the Dread Void; Amid the Sinking Dark; Beyond the Phantom Glow (Abe Moss): A teenage orphan with an extremely minor psychic power gets a new foster family just in time for monsters from beyond to kill everybody, a cursed monster hunter to show up, there’s a psychic and the heroine’s best friend from the group home and a horrifying new monster for each book. These monsters remind me a lot of the predators from the “Twenty Palaces” books, but sadly the writing quality does not.
Written (catgirl): 132. I had hopes for being able to make a streak of 250+ days, but no.
Yep, there it is! Still not a velociraptor.
I used the Miracle of the Wheel to take four whole bags of books to the used book store this time, and also set out at a more auspicious hour, so I was able to get everything sorted and go shopping and get lunch without dying despite the busses being all messed up due to some kind of running cult observance.
Watched (anime): Delicious in Dungeon 15-16: More monsters, more oppression for Marcille, but also the return of Falin’s admirer and his ninja ladies, and a glimpse of the new, improved Falin.
Read (short): “Lady Antheia’s Guide to Horticultural Warfare” (Seanan McGuire): Looked this up to tell someone who had read Overgrowth, ended up rereading it. Changing the setting to modern for the longer, more serious, version was probably the right choice, but that means no ray guns.
Written (catgirl): 298. Hey, that’s more than 250!
They can’t all be of great significance, okay?
Read (graphic novel): Fangirl vol 4 (Rainbow Rowell, Gabi Nam): All the trouble is resolved mostly, and also the main character gets lots of smooches. The End!
Written (catgirl): 244, that’s almost not terrible (in word count, the quality is still terrible).
Because fuck Nazis, that’s why.
Went to the office, only Coworker T was there, ate a Thai(?) ground pork and rice thing, did some work.
Watched (live-action TV): Leverage 4.13: Everyone attempts to have a night off, but Parker, Sophie, and Tara find a leverage job. As always, nobody can get anything done without Hardison, but the other boys are pretty useless.
Read (graphic novel): Fangirl vol 3 (Rainbow Rowell, Gabi Nam): Boy trouble, writing trouble, sister trouble, parent trouble.
Written (catgirl): 169.
Another part of society relegated to the dustbin of history.
Went to the office, had the room to myself, ate Vietnamese rolled beef on noodles, did some work.
Read (novel): Two Necromancers, a Fortress and a Titan (LG Estrella): The OP necromancer Timmy and his OP friends (including some new ones) go to new places, foil new plots of their country’s enemy, and wreak untold devastation.
Read (graphic novel): Fangirl vol 2 (Sam Maggs, Rainbow Rowell, Gabi Nam): Boys are the worst, why would any sane girl date them? But the, why would any sane girl drink that much? Anyway, still follows what I remember of the book very closely.
Read (short): “Traveling Salesman” (Zoe Kaplan): Very short, almost entirely twist.
Read (novel): Overgrowth (Mira Grant): She tells everyone that she’s the vanguard of an alien plant invasion, but is almost as surprised as anybody else when it turns out to be true. This is obviously an expansion of “Lady Antheia’s Guide to Horticultural Warfare” even though pretty much every detail is different, so I really wanted to like it, but it was only okay. Also needed an editor to catch the plot holes.
Written (catgirl): 158.
Nationalize everything owned by a Republican, use it all to pay teachers.
No gaming, Ken is at some Jus event.
Written (catgirl): 185.
For Americans that write 5/5/25, anyway.
I guess I did okay at work by spotting Boss K’s mistake.
Written (catgirl): 161.
Sure, the whole world can laugh at me. It wouldn’t be unjustified.
Did nothing, read nothing, watched nothing, played nothing except pad games, was completely useless all day.
Written (catgirl): 119.
Also Astronomy Day, probably equally illegal now.
Despite Marith not executing the farmer’s market plan and the the busses being messed up for some kind of event, I managed to take two bags of books to the used book store and return with zero bags of books. That set lunch back quite a ways, but I didn’t starve, and did shop. Marith also did not execute the anime plan, because she has to travel with her horrible mother in like a month, but Jus invited me over so I went to entertain her and Dave. Then the busses were messed up in the normal way for that late at night, so I didn’t get home until a million o’clock at night, but that’s fine.
Watched (anime movie): Puella Magi Madoka Magica Rebellion: The third movie, which takes place after the TV series instead of retelling the same story. It is hallucinatory and doomed, for reasons that make sense in the end. No, more doomed than that. Possibly more hallucinatory than that, too.
Written (catgirl): 132.
Not sure whether that’s in a conservation or culinary sense, but I know which the cats are voting for. Also International Space Day, which was way cooler before Melon Husk.
Read (graphic novel): Everything is Fine vol 2 (Mike Birchall): Somehow, everything is worse than last volume. The green stuff has not been explained.
Written (catgirl): 155.
Apparently this is distinct from Superhero Day, probably because he has no superpowers.
Went to the office, Coworker R was back to distract us, ate chicken tamales, did some work.
Read (graphic novel): Thieves (Lucie Bryon): A cute girl, her adorable crush, a house party with too much booze, some objects that aren’t where they are supposed to be, a long-suffering friend, copious smooches, a brilliant plan. Originally in French, apparently, which explains the smoking.
Read (novella): And Put Away Childish Things (Adrian Tchaikovsky): A mostly-failed actor, the descendant of a famous portal-fantasy author from the post-War period (not the famous one), has some strange encounters and it just goes downhill from there. In early 2020 Britain, so even the real world is surreal and horrifying.
Written (catgirl): 150.