Tag: office

They have built-in pockets for their favorite rocks, and trade rocks as part of courtship.

Went to the office, Coworker D is on vacation, Boss K is gone, ate a salmon sushirrito, did some work. Had a meeting with new Boss³ M (or maybe he’s only boss² since boss and boss² are currently collapsed into one) to tell him about everything that’s broken and ridiculous.

Read (manga): Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon vol 2-3 (Shio Usui): They definitely have feelings, although so far it’s still a mess. The little sister ships them, though.

Written (catgirl): 148.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Celebrate by emitting ultrasonic chirps!

Went to the office again, all the usual coworkers were there, ate okra curry and naan, did some work.

Read (novel): The House Witch (Delemhach): Light novel about a witch who has home powers instead of the normal elemental powers, hiding out as head chef in a castle but beset with problems on every side including his own feelings. Het romance, but there’s a gay side character. Very light novel.

Read (manga): Go With the Clouds North-by-Northwest vol 3 (Aki Irie): After the scenic interlude, we’re back to detective work and also the little brother. Now we know what’s going on with him, and it’s not good.

Read (game): Cloud Empress (watt): Heavily inspired by Nausicaa, but the system is based on Mothership because violence is not good for people. The old was swept away, the new world is mostly uninhabitable but there are people in the few habitable areas and also in poorly-maintained flying cities, sometimes giant bugs swarm everywhere and eat the bones of the dead, their shells can be scraped for the substance that fuels magic, ghosts everywhere, etc. Lots of random tables of different things, in the Mothership tradition. It’s a very sandbox game; there’s no overarching plot, everything is in the worldbuilding.

Written (catgirl): 126 of notes.

I, for one, welcome our mycelial etc etc. Also School Librarian day. We still have those, right?

Went to the office, Coworker D was there, ate beef and gouda dumplings with pickled veggies, did a little work.

Read (manga): Go With the Clouds North-by-Northwest vol 2 (Aki Irie): MC’s best friend from Japan comes to visit, so this is the Iceland Tourism Bureau episode. I do kind of want to go to Iceland now!

Written (catgirl): 134 of notes.

I presume they mean the color, not the performer, but who can say?

Went to the office, had the room to myself because Coworker D is out until next week, ate fried chicken guys, was very sleepy, did a small amount of work.

Read (manga): The Tree of Death: Yomotsuhegui vol 3 (Masasumi Kakizaki): Finally, the boss battle! Also difficult decisions, personality erosion, terrible revelations, etc. The End.

Read (novel): Ghosts on an Alien Wind (Moe Lane): Just a few hundred years before humans developed interstellar travel, everybody in the galaxy was wiped out, leaving dead, hella creepy worlds that could have been full of friends but now have only unknown dangers, nigh-incomprehensible tech, and creeping madness. It’s SF adventure with cosmic horror beneath it, which pleases me greatly. Also the [SPOILER] are real [SPOILER], which is amazing.

Read (manga): I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl vol 6 (Kashikaze): They finally come out to their friends, everything is great, the end!

Written (catgirl): 170.

Another one that’s illegal now, I guess. Also National Walking Day, International Children’s Books Day, and National Ferret Day.

Went to the office, ate some vegetarian curry and flatbread after figuring out which unlabeled lunch was mine, did a work.

Read (novel): To The Bloody End (Rachel Aaron): Conclusion of the faerie vs blood mage in magic cyberpunk Detroit trilogy. Despite gaining immense power in the second book, our heroine still has to figure out how to use it in nonstandard ways to save the world.

Read (manga): God Bless the Mistaken vol 4 (Nakatani Nio): Conclusion of this story about people in a world where reality randomly changes every day. Although does a slice-of-life story have an actual conclusion?

Written (game design): 125.

I’m not qualified to participate in Good Hair Day.

Went to the office, Boss K is there this week, ate a naan pizza, did a few works.

Read (novel): When the Moon Hits Your Eye (John Scalzi): Suddenly, the Moon is replaced by a Moon-mass lump of cheese. Over the course of a month, this has various effects and humans react to it in various ways.

Read (manga): In/Spectre vol 20 (Kyo Shirodaira, Chashiba Katase): The yōkai finish their locked room game, Kotoko starts investigating a new case that looks mundane, Rikka executes the second phase of her prank.

Written (game design): 179. Not sure how to summarize combat concisely. Not sure if any of my ideas are even viable.

Also Frog Day, Sparrow Day, Storytelling Day, Atheist Pride Day, Extraterrestrial Abduction Day (it was a bum rap), etc.

Went to the office, ate a cold beef sandwich, had to play icebreaker games with the rest of the company, maybe did a little work.

Read (manga): In/Spectre vol 18 (Kyo Shirodaira, Chashiba Katase): The Edo-era kenjutsu style yuki-onna arc continues. As is typical with Kotoko, there are at least two possible explanations at every point in the story.

Read (novel): How to Survive a Slasher (Justine Pucella Winans): An enby whose family was on the wrong side of the serial killings that made her small town famous is just trying to survive high school and their mom’s hardcore anti-serial-killer training and their obnoxious little brother and the yearly serial killer fan convention, which should be more than enough for anybody, when the past refuses to stay past yet again.

Written (catgirl): 142.

Hi Ken!

Walked to the train station again, got somewhat damp, went to the office, ate a beef and vegetable bowl with multiple vegetables, did a customer call that didn’t last forever, walked home in wind but not rain.

Read (novella): The River Has Roots (Amal El-Mohtar): Two sisters lived by the river that flowed out of Arcadia, so it’s not surprising they got involved in fairy tale murder ballad events. I spotted references to at least two fairy tales, and probably missed a bunch because I’m not a very analytical reader, but the story is all its own thing.

Read (manga): Box of Light vol 1 (Seiko Erisawa): There is a convenience store between the worlds of the living and the dead, staffed by people from both sides and haunted by outer darkness, salespeople who won’t take know for an answer, and of course the dying. Despite that, it’s not a particularly morbid manga, more supernatural workplace drama.

Written (catgirl): 166.

I guess it had to be some day!

Walked to the train station in the slight drizzle because all the bus drivers are on strike, went to the office, ate Mayan chicken and vegetables and rice, did some works, walked back from the train station in the rain, contemplated the futility of my life.

Called my senators to remind them to not vote for the Republican fuck-everything-up bill, for all the good it will do.

Read (manga): Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! vol 3 (Sumito Oowara): They assimilate Sound Girl, make the video about shooting down UFOs, and go to the doujinshi convention.

Written (catgirl): 217. Apparently I didn’t give up.

Presumably not this nation.

Went to the office,helped Coworker D with a customer call, ate some chicken biriyani that was really too spicy.

Read (novel): Momo Arashima Breaks the Mirror of the Sun (Misa Sugiura): Further adventures in Japanese mythology, new friends for the main character to have fights with, and really that mirror had it coming.

Read (graphic novel): Taka (Ryan Jampole): Through a comedic series of mishaps, a delinquent gets stuck with the power to transform into a superhero and defeat the alien menace from the past. She hates this, and also does not want friends, but by the end, has decided it’s not so bad. Let’s hear it for personal growth!

Written (catgirl): 161.

Is it only 23 hours long?

Also No-Brainer Day. Look, it me!

Went to the office without a jacket for the first time this year (I think), there were people there, ate some popcorn chicken that seemed good in theory but was awfully fried in practice, hated being in the office because people talk and talk and there aren’t enough conference rooms for everybody who needs to do a customer call. Return-to-office continues to be a pointless waste of everybody’s time, as it has been since the beginning.

I tried to think about game design more, but you know how when you crossword too much, and a perfectly ordinary sequence of letters stops looking like language? I think I’m at that point. Magic? Fight? Treasure? Elf? Experience? Monster? Is that all supposed to add up to something?

Read (manga): My Cute Little Kitten vol 2 (Milk Morinaga): Insecurity, sex, life changes, medical emergencies (the cat is fine), it’s hard being a hot lesbian couple!

Written (catgirl): 110.

Another failure on my part.

Went to the office, had the room to myself, sat on customer calls all day, ate a short-rib-between-grilled-rice-cakes burger thing. May or may not have done any actual work.

Read (short story): Peacock on Parade (CE Murphy): Every time Kit writes about a bird shifter, it’s more alarming. I’m pretty sure that after Colorado Shifters and Irish Zoo Shifters, the next spinoff series is going to be Reign of the Dinosaurs II: Theropod Boogaloo. Also the female lead from this book is someone from TooMUSH.

Read (game): Rebels of the Outlaw Wastes (Michael Addison): Wandering heroes against the post-apocalyptic oppressors! The GM is also the voice on the radio that provides mysterious information. Pick your apocalypse and wasteland and oppressors, or make up your own, pick a playbook (ex-oppressor, robot, mutant, whatever), and have wild adventures. The system is fairly basic larger-dice-for-higher-skill, spend successes to get additional benefits, with the twist that if you accomplish enough with a skill you get a sticker to put on your character sheet. The book comes with a complete set of stickers, but I guess after that you need to draw them yourself.

Written (game design): 173. Still not sure that my initial ideas weren’t all wrong.

Also Clean Out Your Bookcase Day. I am better at one of these things than the other, possibly.

Went to the office, there were people there, ate a brisket sandwich and potato salad, did a work or two.

Read (game): The Lost and the Jammed (Tom Mecredy): It’s like a cross between D&D and Wild West and WWI, or D&D where the iconic weapon is the gun rather than the sword. Ruins with remnants of advanced technology, cyclopean shell craters, diabolists summoning demons to make infernal guns, wandering sages with blueprints for divine weapons tattooed on their skins, dragons causing trouble for the lesser species, etc. The system is a pretty standard increasing/decreasing die size, Gear is a stat, negative conditions instead of hit points.

Read (novel): Emberstone Farm (L Meili): Isekai heroine in a world that seems to be an Asian-themed cross between Stardew Valley and Minecraft, with only minor elements of monster-slaying and dungeon-delving. She also has stacks of MAXINT of every worthwhile item, thanks to her friend who hooked her up when it was just a game, so she has nothing to do except farm, romance the locals, terraform the blighted wastelands, and induct her minions into the ways of the System. And occasionally get kidnapped, but whatever.

Read (manga): Skygrazer (Masakazu Ishiguro): Linked series of shorts around a future housing development, with murder mysteries, normal teenagers, robots, bioroids, rape, tragedy, everyone coming to a bad end.

Written (catgirl): 184.

I had some chocolate mints, but I eated them. I guess I also have Thin Mints in the freezer, but those are for Marith.

Went to the office, ate chicken guys that were nicely crunchy but too spicy, did a few works, probably should have done more.

Read (graphic novel): The Pirate Princess (Luca Frigerio, Lorenza Pigliamosche, Simon Bowland): Daughter of the pirate is raised on an idyllic island, finally gets dragged back into pirate intrigue, finds out about her family, adventure, betrayal, but all on such fast forward it wasn’t very interesting.

Written (catgirl): 140 new words.

It’s not true that without internet friends I would have no friends at all, but I’d definitely have many fewer.

Went to the office, Boss K was there visiting from Texas, ate a sandwich and chips, tried to do some work but was thwarted by my laptop having some kind of password explosion.

Read (manga): Nightschool omnibus 2 (Svetlana Chmakova): Apparently I had read this before, I just didn’t remember the ending. It wasn’t supposed to be the ending, but as far as I know no further volumes have come out, so it’s pretty abrupt.

Read (novel): The City of Spires (Erios909): Third and possibly last in the series about the isekai girl who started as a demon and has become an angel. After the destruction of book 2, the MC and her girlfriend and their refugees find a new city to live in, defend it against invaders, achieve high position, etc. There’s obviously way more room for leveling up, but that seems to be it for the series for now.

Written (game design): 145. I should probably start putting numbers on these things, even if they have to be changed later.