Category: Life of a Space Parasite

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

Rescue kitties for the win!

Went to the office, ate a turkey and pastrami sandwich, did some work, got my Windows laptop taken away because after IT upgraded it, it didn’t work any more. Fortunately I almost never use it.

Finally got the leaky toilet fixed. Good thing I didn’t have to do it myself, the apartment would probably have burned down.

Read (comic): Everything is Fine vol 1 (Mike Birchall): Spoiler: Not everything is fine. Everybody has giant cat masks. They must forget. Actually, nothing is fine.

Written (catgirl): 144.

A marvelous invention, to be sure!

Played (Changeling the Lost): Berkeley 94: Thessaly decides she needs to talk to Tom-Tom, so Longfingers uses her new Hedge-navigating power to get everyone to the Gilman Project, where indeed Tom-Tom is vibing in the middle of the mosh pit. After some moshing difficulty, they get Tom-Tom outside and Thessaly grills him about the four seasonal monarchs, of which he was one before Mark (now King of the Eternal Summer) betrayed the others and broke Tom-Tom’s heart. Thessaly also seems to believe that the grotto where she and Theophania almost had a moment belonged to the Queen of Winter. So that was pretty heavy, and also Theophania has many questions!

Read (nothing): Nothing.

Written (catgirl): 124.

Are there even any superhero games I could even play without dying any more? My memories of Champions are fond, but I don’t know whether my current brain could handle adding up a dozen d6s and doing double-digit mental arithmetic and counting phases.

Read (novel): The Battle for Medicine Rocks (Rachel Aaron): Finally we get some things explained about the magic crystal caves! Also a little about the necromancy, and various family reunions. Everybody hopes the battle will resolve things in their favor, but they are either disappointed, or will be in the next book.

Written (catgirl): 102. Pathetic, and yet not quite a failure.

Also Hug a Friend Day, National Pretzel Day, National Veterinary Day, and of course Independent Bookstore Day. Sadly, there was nothing I wanted at the bookstore this week, but there has been before and will be again.

Watched (anime): Delicious in Dungeon 12-14: Quest complete! Story’s finished, right? …oh. Also, flashback to Kabru and his followers.

Read (nothing): Nothing, but I have made a huge dent in my physical TBR pile and didn’t buy anything new today, so I’m probably fine.

Written (catgirl): 171, some of it even story and not just notes.

All hail Emperor Maximilian XXIX of the Northern Shores!

But no parades for my digestive tract, which apparently was working up to being really gross and causing me to sit on the toilet in the middle of the night so I could faint onto the floor and break the litter box and scrape up my face and bang my tooth, and also sleep poorly. I stayed in bed until later in the morning, but eventually it seemed like I was enough of a hollow husk of a body to get up and log in to work. I accomplished several tasks, even.

Marith claimed the mysterious shoes, so that’s good.

Watched (live-action TV): Leverage 4.12: That was a very silly episode. Maybe Nate should put more work into not being a jerk and less into speaking Football.

Read (anthology): Duties (Moe Lane): Another four-story collection, with a robot who won’t shut up about how gross meatbags are, a dryad, the secret base where the US government sends everything that you might naively assumed would go to the warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and a frog.

Read (manga): Avant-Garde Yumeko (Shuzo Oshimi): Yumeko doesn’t want to sleep with anybody, she just wants to know what dicks look like. Then it gets weird. Contains actual pictures of dicks, which I was really not expecting. So many dicks.

Written (catgirl): 119, still notes. I should probably stop futzing around and write something for real.

If you’re better-dressed than me (which you are), spin around!

Went to the office, ate masaman meatball curry, did some work.

Read (manga): Manhole vol 1 (Tetsuya Tsutsui): Parasite horror, nonconsensual utopian plots, more parasite horror. Points off for the female cop being lame, bonus points for the villain having the courage of their convictions. So many CWs.

Read (anthology): Anagnorisis (Moe Lane): Four more horror or horror-adjacent stories about vampires, haunted houses, demonic possession, and evil books, some with twists.

Read (anthology): Decisions (Moe Lane): Also four stories, about werewolves, the Emperor of California, C19 derring-do, and dating apps.

Written (catgirl): 153.

(It’s a Dr Who reference.) Also the International Day of the Book, International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, St George’s Day/Slay a Dragon Day, and English Language Day.

Went to the office, ate a fig prosciutto brie sandwich, did some work.

Read (manga): PTSD Radio omnibus 1-2 (Masaaki Nakayama): Many small vignettes of unsettling or actively horrifying things that each show a facet of what’s going on. So far, I’m not sure, but it involves hair, an extremely cursed-looking stone outcropping, and a variety of terrifying apparitions.

Written (catgirl): 124. Still not sure about cell phones.

It’s where I keep all my stuff!

Played (Changeling the Lost): Berkeley 94:Despite Vivian’s hardware betraying her, the group eventually manages to get to Longfingers’s scheduled meeting at the coffee shop with Simple John, Mary, and Beth. (Theophania notices that Mary is excessively hot, which Thessaly doesn’t approve of, so maybe Longfingers will learn entirely the wrong lessons about how to be a grown-up sapphic.) They learn some more about being changelings, and take a trip into the hedge to learn how to make Contracts. Hurray for magic powers! Even if Thessaly is being all secretive about hers.

Read (game): Land of Cicadas: A sandbox setting for Cloud Empress. Some hexes are farmland, some are wasteland, some are perilous forest, some contain giant bugs, some contain the sky-city expedition in search of their missing Cloud Empress, several contain killer robots, etc. There is plenty of scope for hapless wandering PCs to get into trouble, and possibly even cause a tremendous uproar. Or get eaten by giant bugs, of course.

Written (catgirl): 159 of notes.

Hey, where’s my creativity and innovation?

Had to get up early again for the cleaners and then still do work. Bah. Also discovered Mysterious Shoes. The cleaners disclaim them, and Marith says she doesn’t recognize them, but nobody else is ever in my apartment because I’m a failure at people.

Read (manga): Mysterious Disappearances vol 5 (Nujima): All their messing around with mysteries has attracted the attention of the Queen of Cats and her truck-sized minions. Nobody is mean to a cat on-screen, but there is nevertheless cat-related sadness of a familiar kind.

Read (anthology): Covenants: Four Tales of Agreements (Moe Lane):Four stories that are not horror, but are in horror settings. A couple are in C19 Europe ravaged by undead of various kinds, there’s one in the same setting as Ghosts on a Alien Wind, and one in a Mythos far future. Okay, maybe they are horror after all.

Written (catgirl): 160 of notes. Maybe they shouldn’t use cell phones at all? But so convenient, even if they aren’t smartphones!

Er, I mean Easter.

Coworker N is still on vacation, so I had to work 7-13:00. Bah, early! But there wasn’t too much work to do, and the next person logged in punctually, so I was able to trundle down to Monkeycat Towers have Easter dinner with friends and search for the lost art of conversation. It was also very nice, although I feel bad for not being cool or doing things.

Read (manga): Dandadan vol 12 (Yukinobu Tatsu): Alien invasion! Astral travel! It’s pretty much the next part of what was going on in vol 11.

Read (anthology): Revisionary: Four Tales of the Mythos (Moe Lane):More or less the Cthulhu Mythos, anyway. Four stories of terrible things that happen to those who mess with things beyond human ken (cursed books, death-world monsters, interdimensional visitors, New England, etc).

Written (catgirl): 143 more of worldbuilding notes.