Author: Trip the Space Parasite

Marith had to get her mouth fixed today, so I went along to keep her from wandering into traffic when they threw her out still full of anesthetic. It was all fine, just time-consuming. I managed to do a little work before going over to Ayse and Ken’s for the Amerivision finale, so I guess it all worked out, or something.

Eaten: Sushi! Apparently I joined in the grand tradition of ordering too much.

Watched: American Song Contest 2022 ep 8: What are these juries smoking?! Or perhaps better asked, who are they to be so out of touch with America? (10 regional juries assigning 12/10/8/… points like Eurovision, then 56 states/territories doing the same thing and almost turning the list upside down.) We were all very sad when the 70s soft-rock guy from Washington topped the jury chart, but then AleXa won with “Wonderland” because every K-pop stan in the US voted for her or something, so it was all okay. They had the regional jury representatives videophone in to announce who got the 12 points, just like Eurovision. Not all the reps (all previously-eliminated contestants) had the proper Eurovision spirit, but it made me happy.

Played: Living room soccer.

Read: Beyond The Eyes Of Mars (Glynn Stewart): 12th in the series where FTL, stealth in space, and antimatter production are all literally magic. The heroic Martian navy is still cleaning up breakaway factions of the great revolt, and still learning increasingly horrible things about the rebels (which possibly should have been obvious to readers, but I don’t think was telegraphed at all). Also something that came up as being extremely important about 6 or 8 books ago was finally mentioned again, although none of the viewpoint characters knew the significance.

Written: FAIL.

I woke up at the usual time, wandered around a bit, settled back in with a bunch of screens, and then it was four hours later. Apparently I used up all my thing-doing power yesterday. I did finish the work thing from yesterday, but that’s it.

Read: Huntress (Glynn Stewart): Fifth in the series about space pilots fleeing assassins to become mercenaries, in which the assassins apparently have not given up at all. Also, space Quakers.

Read: “Balefire” (Glynn Stewart): Paladin vs demon, before the village has to be destroyed to save it.

Read: Komi Can’t Communicate vol 18 (Tomohito Oda): I mostly don’t care about these other characters, give me more Komi and Manbagi!

Written: 309 kitten words. I still have not managed to reread last year’s NaNoWriMo project so I can continue it, because I know 100% of it is terrible and needs to be redone, but I can’t start it over because that way lies never finishing.

Instead of sleeping in, I got up at the usual work time and walked to grocery shopping. The sun supported me in this by mostly not coming out until I was done, so thanks! More walking to get lunch and finish off the parts of my shopping list that could be done on the way. Then I was on call, so I did a little work stuff until I realized I had started off completely wrong and gave up to go to Ayse and Ken’s for pizza and hugs. Marith was flat, so that was more walking, and then a lot of playing foursquare in addition to socialization. A surprisingly full day, even if we didn’t get any anime or gaming.

Read: Nettle & Bone (T Kingfisher): A little grimmer than many T Kingfisher books, maybe, but full of possessed chickens, fairy godmothers, sturdy practical women, muscular men with tragic pasts, terrifying underground labyrinths, and all the other paraphernalia of fairytales.

Written: FAIL.

The morning training meeting ran more than an hour over, but except for the last bit where even the presenter was losing focus, it was all really good information, so I’m not mad.

When I went to get tacos to eat before gaming, I was reminded of the date. I can’t object in principle to… Modern Mesamerican? drumming and dancing, but it was very loud.

Played: Eclipse Phase 2. For some unfathomable reason, the Jovian Marines went looking for trouble, and definitely found some. They also found a spaceship that is probably not at all a trap. Next session, my character gets to die heroically to save the squad. It’ll be great.

Read: FAIL.

Written: FAIL.

Today was the online portion of the company customer conference summit thing, so I spent the day half listening to presentations, half answering cases, and not doing a good job of either.

Read: “The Long View” (Susan Palwick): Not sure what I think about this, it does seem a little like a slam on the worldview that the new generation shouldn’t have to suffer just because previous generations did.

Written: 586 kitten words. I guess that’s something, but meh.

This time, up early for an all-company meeting. The new CEO is not such a boomer, at least, but so far the company is still chugging along in the same direction at the same speed acceleration.

Read: The Gutter Prayer (Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan): A young woman returns to the city of her murdered ancestors, which has too many sorcerers and way too many gods. Practical theology, both revolutionary and criminal, ensues. Apparently the rest of the world is in even worse shape, which we will probably see in future books.

Written: 446 kitten words.

What the fuck, Democrats? We elected you to stop this shit, not stand around wringing your hands and pretending bipartisanship has been a thing in this millennium!

Did some work to keep the capitalist machine feeding blood to its fascist masters. But I didn’t enjoy it!

Eaten: Tasty Vietnamese food.

Watched: Amerivision semifinals part II, up until the point where Nonny threw a temper tantrum about not getting to stay up indefinitely late. We’ll have to watch American Samoa’s entry and the final jury results another time.

Written: Continued FAIL.

I had no brain at any point today.

Something I read on the Internet suggested that opening links in new tabs is usually not the right path, especially when thinking about accessibility, so I guess I’ll change how I do things.

Played: Lancer, at long last. I leveled up my invisibility, but sadly, we had to make Unity look good, so the whole session was diplomacy and investigation, and we only got to the pre-fight cliffhanger. Next fortnight for sure! Probably.

Watched: Star vs the Forces of Evil 6-7: Yep, still ridiculous. I want to see Star’s next instar.

Written: 520 kitten words.

In the morning I went to watch Nonny run approximately a million laps for fundraising at his school, as Jus did in years before. It was a pretty nice day for being outside, aside from minor tree orgies. I didn’t manage to eat breakfast or lunch, but I did manage to go grocery shopping, so whatever.

Watched: Slayers 1-3. Jus and Nonny are old enough to appreciate it now, possibly because everybody loves explosions and antiheroes.

Eaten: Dandan noodles and velvet chicken with snap peas in lemon ginger sauce.

Played: No Zoomwarts, Marith is too flat.

Words: FAIL

I was stupid in the training meeting too.

Played: Nothing, but when Ken canceled at the last moment due to a family emergency, the rest of us tried making Lancer characters. Our group origin is a special ops team that ended up being lost after a light-speed jump caused them to miss the end of the war. We have an engineer, a weirdo who listens to NHPs, and a pilot.

Read: FAIL.

Words: FAIL.

Yet another early meeting. I wore my swag shirt to show company spirit, and only later realized I had forgotten to unshutter my camera. It’s okay, ain’t nobody needs to see this face at that hour (or ever, really).

Read: Sheeply Horned Witch Romi vol 1 (Yoichi Abe): A girl and a boy alone at the end of the world. Or at least, everyone is asleep, there are magic sheep everywhere, monsters are encroaching, and the girl claims she made the world this way as a result of her mental health issues. First volume ends on a cliffhanger.

Words: 435 kitten words.

The new system is in place at work. Eventually it will even be complete!

Watched: Amerivision semifinals, part 1. Since we are watching at the time of transmission (I don’t think it’s “broadcast” any more), we get to vote, although only Ayse has an NBC account, so we only got one vote for the whole party. Our rule was “no haters” so we didn’t give anyone anything below a 5, but only “New Boots Goofin'” and “Wonderland” got the coveted 10.

Eaten: Cronchy chickens. Also fancy shortbreads.

Played: Not so much twirling, fortunately.

Words: FAIL.

Apparently this is the weekend day to do nothing.

Watched: Star vs The Forces of Evil 1-3: Very ridiculous. Pretty much TFOS: “Here’s your interdimensional exchange student who has vast magic powers and doesn’t know how to use them, have a relaxing high-school experience”. Bonus points for no obvious romance between the leads, and for the human lead not being helpless.

Read: “Men, Women, and Chainsaws” (Stephen Graham Jones): He totally had it coming.

Words: 243 kitten words.

The cleaners were here at 7:00, so since I was already up, I bit the bullet and walked to grocery shopping, came home, took a shower, and got lunch, all before 13:00. Unfortunately there was then chaos so I didn’t know what to do next for a while until visiting got planned, but it was still a productive morning.

Watched: Amerivision ep 5, final round of the qualifiers. Finally we got California’s song, which used the power of sexy young women but was somehow defeated by Michigan’s teenaged singer-songwriter. I think we’ll come back in the popular vote, though. Semifinals start on Monday!

Eaten: Santa Maria tritip, pinquito beans, rice, salad, corn with peppers.

Played: Spinning. So much spinning. Possibly ill-advised after the eating, but all’s well that ends well, right?

Read: Spy x Family vol 7 (Tatsuya Endo): I’m not entirely comfortable with a secret policeman being a sympathetic and even comic character, but then the leads are a James Bond-style “spy” and a professional murderer, so it’s not like the violence isn’t inherent in the system.

Words: 517 kitten words.

Now I’ve reread all of the Rivers of London books except the two I just read, and I don’t know what to read next. Also I have renewed perspective on how I shouldn’t bother to write.

Read: Lumberjanes vol 2 (Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Shannon Watters, Brooke Allen, Maarta Laiho): Oh, that’s what’s going on with all most of the supernatural stuff. It is magical jerks!

Words: FAIL.

Finally, a day with a normal start time!

Played: Eclipse Phase 2. After missing a couple of weeks, we are back to Jovian doom. Somehow, understanding the eye-spiders doesn’t make them less horrible.

Read: The Furthest Station (Ben Aaronovitch): Ghosts and more ghosts, and also gods! I feel like everything was not wrapped up neatly, though.

Read: The October Man (Ben Aaronovitch): Germany’s answer to Peter Grant, who isn’t nearly as geeky or as popular with river spirits, but gets the job done.

Words: FAIL.

Even earlier meeting. Customers. No brain.

Watched: Amerivision week 4 (which is actually last week, because last week we didn’t watch). Double Washington action! Laser-dispersing bodysuits! Twins! The 70s!

Eaten: Greek food.

Read: False Value (Ben Aaronovitch): Peter vs techbros with what even Douglas Adams would have said was an unhealthy fascination with Hitchiker’s Guide.

Read: Tales From The Folly (Ben Aaronovitch): A collection of short stories and vignettes, which are cute but don’t necessarily add much.

Words: FAIL.

Had to log in to work early because the UK is still on vacation.

Read: Broken Homes and Foxglove Summer (Ben Aaronovitch): Now we know Lesley’s deal, and Molly’s deal, and more about Beverly’s deal, so that’s good. Also, doom all over.

Words: FAIL. I’ve gotten up early three out of the last four mornings, and also been social both of the last two days, so I’m behind on my brain, but is that really an excuse?

No gaming, Jeremy is down with the Gastrointestinals, so I was able to do grocery shopping. Ill wind, etc. Marith and I still went over to Ken and Ayse’s for delicious Easter dinner.

Eaten: Delicious Easter dinner, including ham and glazed shallots and many deviled eggs.

Played: Nonny Dance Contest, which gets Nonny some exercise and lets the grownups sit around like lumps while they cheer and clap and play music on phones and do Howard Cosell impressions.

Read: Whispers Under Ground (Ben Aaronovitch): This one doesn’t seem to have been edited as much, or maybe I just don’t remember it as well.

Words: FAIL.

I was on call all day, which annoyingly prevented me from going grocery shopping, but the customers remained quiescent.

We did go over to dye eggs with Ayse and Ken and fam, and also eat delicious Thai food and exercise Nonny. No gaming or anime, though.

Words: I think I figured out how to upload and link the thing I’m not currently revising. Also, 303 kitten words.

Had to get up even earlier than the past few days to cover for for the UK team, who have a holiday today, and as a consequence got pretty much nothing done today.

Watched: Marith and I went to see Everything Everywhere All At Once, which was actually quite good, although either surreal or dadaist, or maybe both. Michelle Yeoh was great, of course, but everyone else was also good.

Read: Midnight Riot and Moon Over Soho (Ben Aaronovitch): I realized that I didn’t remember everything that happened before the ninth book, which obviously means it’s time for a complete series reread. I still really like them, although I’m pretty sure the second one has been silently edited since the last time I read it. Not sure what I think of that.

Words: I officially gave up on revising further, so I guess I should figure out how to put a file up for download. And what format, although PDF is easy and probably good enough.

Yesterday’s normal early meeting was moved to today, and then I went right into the meeting that was moved from tomorrow (because tomorrow is a holiday in the UK and my boss’s boss plans to actually take off work). Then I was useless and dumb for the rest of the day.

Played: Ken is still in Portland, so Vivian ran her 189X horror game that she had prepared. Creepy backwoods villages in the Black Forest, close-mouthed locals, mysterious health problems, and DOOOOM. Also a homebrew system which a few years ago would have seemed generic and now seems like too many numbers.

Read: Amongst Our Weapons (Ben Aaronovitch): Further adventures of Peter Grant, Magic Cop, in both law enforcement and impending fatherhood. This feels like it could be the last book with Peter as a main character.

Words: FAIL.

The early-morning training I prepped for was basically the same as the recorded training I used to prep, so that was kind of a bummer.

Read: Black Light Express (Phillip Reeve): Sequel to Railhead, in which things are wrapped up. Unfortunately, the AI gods are too relatable.

Words: FAIL. I don’t even know, man. It’s not like any of my writing serves any purpose other than to silently occupy bits on my hard drive.

Customers just kept emailing me today, and then because I didn’t get to it during the day, I ended up spending extra time in the evening on training videos to prep for tomorrow’s early morning meaning. At least I got through a lot of my Happy Color backlog?

Read: The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen vol 1 (Bunko Matsuura, Tenichi, Suzunosuke): It’s the exact same setup as My Next Life As A Villainess, but a much darker game with mind control magic and murders and general horribleness, and the villainess in the game was a straight-up Caligulan monster. The main character seems to think she’s destined to become that monster and get killed by the designated heroine no matter what, even though she’s behaving completely differently, so there’s probably an academic paper about differing notions of free will to be written here.

Words: FAIL.

Today’s gaming thought is only that every time I see an article about preparing dungeons or other adventures, I think that looks really satisfying, and then I just… never do it. I wing it and come up with something meh.

Read: Railhead (Phillip Reeve): Wormhole trains, AI gods, mysterious villains who return from the dead, an obsessed investigator, a young thief in way over his head, a spot of mass murder, and the destruction of the entire system.

Words: I tried to revise but didn’t get much of anywhere. Maybe I should consider this done and set it on fire or whatever.

I was up before noon, that’s good, right? Well, not as bad as it could be.

My stupid mental and physical health and I went on two stupid walks today, which again is not as bad as it could be, I guess.

Watched: The Owl House 11-12: The writing business, and learning a second spell. Go Luz!

Read: I’m In Love With The Villainess vol 2 (Aonoshimo, Inori, Hanagata): Rae may or may not be getting closer to the villainess’s heart, but she’s certainly causing a lot of commotion!

Read: “#Spring Love, #Pichal Pairi” (Usman T Malik): A young reporter in India falls in love with a mythological creature who is more supernatural than he expected. Also, pandemicm although not exactly the one we have.

Words: 424.