Tag: tv

Got up early for a training that was cancelled at some earlier date, only the external vendor was too incompetent to remove it from the calendar. I’m sure the training will miraculously be a good use of my time when it finally happens, though.

Watched: Star vs the Forces of Evil 2.16-17: So all of that experience Marco gained is just dropped between episodes? At least he gets to get rid of the mark of Hekapoo along with it. Which is too bad, Hekapoo seems like quite a catch.

Written: 677 kitten words.

It’s a good thing that Ken is too busy having fun in Portland to game, because I got stuck at work forever. I think we need to explain to New Guy M about knocking off when shift is over. But maybe he’s angling for a management position, which does require working 24/7.

Watched: Star vs the Forces of Evil 2.13-15: Wow, actual progress! And not just in Ludo’s evil plan!

Read: Yashahime vol 1 (Takashi Shiina, Rumiko Takahashi): The daughters of the major characters of Inu-Yasha have adventures. Unfortunately I either didn’t watch far enough or wasn’t invested enough in the original series to care deeply.

Written: FAIL.

Tried to sign up for more Big Bad Con events, but as usual, their backend was not up to handling a few hundred requests in the same minute. It took about 45 minutes to get things sorted, but I got into the Leverage-only-getting-revenge-for-non-supers. It was enough of a mess that I should wait until tomorrow before obsessively checking to see if anyone signed up for my games.

Watched: Star vs the Forces of Evil 2.12: Disembodied flying unicorn heads are kind of the worst.

Written: FAIL. I still don’t know how to do horrible revelations. Or feelings.

I realized today that ice cream costs like a dollar an ounce at the ice cream place. But, ice cream!

Played: Dark Matter episode 4. Beat up more undead that were minding their own business, had drinks with another underdead who was minding his own business but very politely, went back to the first faction to try to broker a swap but they had too many yellow question marks, set out for the library and got ambushed by the faction that everybody hates. Jeremy told me to draw a battlemap like that time Obi-wan and Whatsisface got jumped by Darth Maul, and all I remembered of the scene was that it made me think of live-action Roborally so I drew a bunch of catwalks and moving platforms and pneumatic tubes and waterfalls of molten metal. It was difficult to justify being in the bowels of an asteroid ship (ammunition manufacturing?) but made for a great fight scene. It might have been more glorious if I had remembered Bolt gets to reroll natural 1s, but it all worked out in the end.

Watched: Star vs the Forces of Evil 2.9-11: Disembodied flying unicorn heads are kind of the worst.

Written: 575 kitten words.

The knocking off at 17:30 seems to be meeting with general approval, so probably it will continue. Oh the other hand, my rent is going up.

Read: The Shorter Part of Valor (Tanya Huff): Small collection of short stories in the world of the “Valor” and “Peace” series.

Read: Chapter 7 of “Rodeo Clown“: Blitzo has a plan and is taking charge. Surely everything will be okay now.

Watched: Star vs the Forces of Evil 2.5-8: Nice to see Ludo coming back to cause problems. Not that he’s needed.

Written: 476 kitten words.

Yeah, okay, knocking off work earlier is nice.

Watched: Our Flag Means Death 9-10: Well, one of them dealt with that a lot more constructively than the other. Good thing season two is shooting, or there might be riots.

Watched: Star vs the Forces of Evil 2.4: What, why would you expect either Ludo or Star to learn anything?

Read: Remnant Faction (Glynn Stewart): Fifth and probably last of the missiles-in-space series about a navy commander and diplomat trying to put the galaxy back together after overthrowing the alien conquerors broke everything.

Written: Knocking off work earlier did not make me any productive.

So the new plan to avoid burnout at work is for everybody to get kicked off-shift at 17:30 except the person who has to do the handover at 18:30 (unless everything is terrible, of course). Admire how I just switched my after-work activity to the day when I have to do the evening handover. (It’s fine, it’s not any worse than before, it’s just not any better.)

Watched: Star vs the Forces of Evil 2.1-3: We do get to see what happened to Ludo after the last season finale. Also Star is definitely her own worst enemy.

Read: I Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to… What?! vol 1 (Jammin’ Rabbit aka Tony Huo): It is exactly what you would expect, and full of what seems like the tropes from mainstream porn (which I actually don’t consume, being a failure as an American bachelor, but it seems like the stuff I hear about.) Meh.

Read: “These Alien Skies” (CT Rwizi): I mean, yeah, colonists of African descent refusing to have anything to do with people from the Earth they left is legit.

Written: 301 kitten words.

Bizarrely, people signed up for my events at Big Bad Con, so I guess now I have to come up with an adventure. I have several elements, I just have to put them together into a small point-crawl with some kind of ending.

Endings, my old foe, we meet again.

After fighting with the signup system, I ran to play mini golf with Nonny and Dave and Ken. It was very sweaty, but I think I did better than before. At this rate, I may someday be as good as the nine-year-old. (Except he’ll have leveled up by then.) Then I hung out at their place for a while until talking about food in Portland made me want to crawl home and eat Chinese food. As always, they gave me so much bonus food I didn’t even make it to my entree.

Watched: Star vs the Forces of Evil 11-13: End of season 1! A surprisingly strong showing by the forces of evil (now under new management)! Star is still her own worst enemy, though.

Written: 405 words, not all of them kitten words.

Seems to be a generally lethargic day. There is no visiting, only Zzzuul.

Tomorrow is the first round of signups for Big Bad Con. I need to figure out what to sign up for. The pickings seem slim, but I guess that’s to be expected the first year back after the pandemic outage.

Watched: Star vs The Forces of Evil 7-10: I remembered how to watch this because Jus is also watching it, although she’s probably finished all seasons by now. It’s still extremely ridiculous.

Read: “Quandary Aminu vs The Butterfly Man” (Rich Larson): Modern cyberpunk: crime, drugs, climate catastrophe, astounding levels of technology used for the most sordid purposes.

Read: Silver Under Nightfall (Rin Chupeco): Vampires vs vampires vs humans, courtly intrigue, romance, battles, unwholesome biology, romance, horrible old men, trauma, and of course doom.

Written: 659 non-kitten words. Some of them were apparently from before and didn’t get logged, but whatever.

Brief team meeting first thing in the morning and then right back to the customer. They are not going to make us sit on the phone with them all weekend, at least, which is good because I have no brain cells, or at least no caring, left.

Watched: She-Hulk 3-4: A good mix of problems that can be solved by punching, problems that can’t, and fourth-wall breaking.

Read: Third Time Lucky (Tanya Huff): Seven stories about the most powerful wizard in the world, who can do almost anything but would rather lie in her hammock on a tropical coast with a cold drink and a hot guy than anything else and therefore is her own worst impediment.

Written: FAIL.

Got up early for a meeting, then went right into calls all day with the same customer.

Watched: OFMD 6. Awwww!

Read: Revelator (Daryl Gregory): In the backwoods of Tennessee in the first half of the 20th century, a small cult worships something unearthly within in the mountain, through revelations brought forth by one lineage of women, until one says “fuck this” and becomes a moonshiner. There are many horrifying revelations, and also stupid men getting in the way, and a few explosions. As a bonus, now I can read tangentti‘s fics.

Written: 194 kitten words.

The new thing is live, and even almost kind of works a bit, but I was on a customer call all morning so the rest of the team had to complain about it without me. It’s too bad, as I really feel that complaining is one of my core competencies.

Watched: Ms. Marvel 5-6: Yay, she finally got the costume! And defeated the villains, with the assistance of her non-powered but courageous friends! As is appropriate for the genre. I hope there’s another season

Written: 390 kitten words.

I accomplished pretty much nothing today, but I wrote it off as recovering from last week, so whatever.

The schedule for Big Bad Con is nearing completion, so I guess I’m committed to this folly and need to figure out how to make a point-crawl that doesn’t suck for Dungeon World.

Watched: Ms. Marvel 3-4: That seems like a sudden change on the antagonists’ part, but now it’s time for chase scenes! Also more cute boys for Kamala.

Written: 902 kitten words, but they’re only kitten words, so meh.

Accomplished absolutely nothing today.

Played: Dark Matter. This time we found the rest of the asteroid we were hiding in, got beat up by the most pathetic mechademons ever to leap out of a hatch, got beat up again by police drones, and ended up in the brig. However, no one holds that against us, so once we’ve been locked up long enough to satisfy the drones we can start getting them organized to get out of this dead end. First we should probably do something about the sphere of annihilation in the engine room, though. Also the gaming munchies were excellent.

Watched: Our Flag Means Death 5: Good job avenging your husband’s honor, Stede. I think some of the crew are going to get reminded that Izzy is the kind of pirate who murders people the old-fashioned way, though.

Read: “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” (Sarah Pinsker): A story told through unordered posts and comments on a folk song website, complete with obnoxious troll. I think it was up for some award.

Written: 409 kitten words. I thought about other words but was too dumb.

Feeling much better but not entirely. Managed to go grocery stopping twice without disaster striking, but accomplished nothing else today. Jus is hanging out at the mall with her friends, Nonny is playing the teaser for Splatoon3, and Ayse is napping, so no socialization today. I guess it’s a day of rest, which is another way of saying I suck and can’t get anything done.

Read: Komi Can’t Communicate vol 20 (Tomohito Oda): The snowboarding episode, also the “there was only one bed” episode. But nobody whose business it actually is freaks out, so good for them.

Watched: Hazbin Hotel pilot: Despite the nonstop murders, it feels slow, and the OP character doesn’t have any personality beyond being so powerful he doesn’t have to care about anything, which is 700% less engaging than Stolas.

Written: 428 kitten words.

After waking up early and going “fuck this”, I decided to go into the office after the early meeting instead of before, and then found out that boss A’s kid is sick (probably not covid, but still yucky) and the going-into-the-office plan fell apart. There was some movement towards everybody going in tomorrow, but people were too wishy-washy about whether it was really happening, so I’m using my own discretion and if they don’t like it, they can make an actual plan next time. I’ve been interacting with people over the Internet for more than 30 years, I feel no need to marinate in the virus pits just so I can say I was in the same room as my coworkers.

Watched: Helluva Boss 1.6-7a, 2.1: Another episode of violence in which Millie and Loona save the day because they are awesome, and then all feelings all the time. Apparently the second part of the S1 finale is not out yet, but based on the first episode of S2 (which is), it’s probably Blitz feeling terrible about his poor life choices.

Watched: Our Flag Means Death 4: I had not previously understood how over the top Stede’s ship is. Also, cliffhanger ending!

Written: 595 kitten words.

Apparently while I was looking for pictures that I could use for my terrible D&D character, Dave was optimizing his character to provide all needed skills for the party. I should probably just give up on gaming, shouldn’t I?

Watched: Helluva Boss 0-5: Dysfunctional demon startup doing murders on Earth when they can stop swearing at each other and being horny but it’s actually about the relationships and I see why Marith is a Stolitz shipper and Stolas and Octavia are so adorable in episode 2 and I kind of like Loona even though she’s awful and askjgfagk FIXME

Watched: Our Flag Means Death 3: Still ridiculous and violent, because what else do you expect from the Republic of Pirates? But finally we meet Blackbeard! Despite Izzy’s valiant efforts.

Written: Nothing, I tried to go to bed early so I can go in to the office tomorrow.

I did not feel as smart today, but hopefully I did not completely miseducate new coworker C.

Watched: Our Flag Means Death 1-2: Super-ahistorical fun. Marith compared it to The Princess Bride and Galavant, which seems about right (although there is not much singing). It’s definitely not going to engage with the actual horrors of the historical setting, which is fine. Only humorous talk of murder and cannibalism, we are here for the cinnamon rolling!

Written: 536 words today, 2928 for the week so far. I think it’s pretty likely I will make my weekly goal of 3000.

Back to WFH! But my English muffins went moldy while I was away, and I have no salad, so my eating is still in disarray. I did some work, I guess, although I’m not sure I did it very well after the week of waking up early and interacting with humans. Also I have to be in the office Tue-Wed next week.

Watched: Arcane 6-7: Everyone is completely doomed, aren’t they?

Written: 245 words, bringing me to 866/3000. That’s more than zero, but…

I didn’t spring out of bed and go right to Target to get a USB-USB cable (in fact, I never went to Target at all) but I did some writing and some eating and some walking, so I guess that was okay.

I also thought about gaming, because I still would like to run a real campaign, even if a group that could do such a thing would necessarily exclude me. I have setting ideas I could re-use, although they’re all terrible, and I have campaign plot ideas, although they’re also terrible and I couldn’t find the writeup of the conquest of Amber using the Fate system, Born to be Kings, to see if it’s as good as I remember. How does gaming even?

Played: Nothing, Jeremy and Rachel are on their yearly vacation to hide in a hotel in Las Vegas and order room service and do nothing whatsoever until they get thrown out.

Watched: Ms. Marvel ep 2, which was pretty intense. Kamala with a crush is the most ridiculous and also adorable thing, though.

Written: Did a 2-hour cowriting session, because I suddenly had nothing to occupy my day, and wrote 2423 words of an expected 1000. They’re all kitten words, so meh, but they are indisputably words. That left me at 5837/300 for the week, so after a celebratory ice cream (of DEATH) I wrote another 193 words, bringing me to 6030/3000.

Waffled between getting up like a sensible person and sleeping in forever like a person on vacation, ended up kind of flopping around until it was time to go see the local production of that classic play, Buns In Verona. The best part was when Paris did the happy dance after being told he would get to marry Juliet, although the opening narration was well-delivered and Lord Montague was very impressive.

Tested negative for the rona, so if there is an expedition to Roseville tomorrow, perhaps I will get to go along.

Watched: Arcane 1-3: Interesting animation style, full of doom, reasonably coherent for something based on a video game, makes me think of Blades in the Dark.

Written: 452 kitten words, bringing me to 3438/3000 for the week. If we succeed in going to Roseville and I fail to write, I’m not doomed until next week!

I meant to get up early to do a co-working session with the other people in the writing challenge, but I was not awake enough to read (!!) never mind write, so I went back to sleep for a few hours. Because I suck.

Watched: Moon Knight ep 6: That wrapped up this plot, but there are any things left unresolved! There should be a second season! Also Layla should get to be awesome more.

Written: 1162 kitten words, for a total of 4767 this week. Slightly less than last week, but still pretty good.

Still short-staffed, got a severity 1 case to take up even more time. I have no brain left, because I had so little brain to start with.

Read: Chosen for Power (Lindsay Buroker): Fourth in the series about a mother-and-son of archaeologist in a mage-supremacy dystopia with worldgates and surprise dragons and so much doom. The doom is increasing, but the main characters are (on average) getting more power.

Watched: Ms. Marvel episode 1: Pretty swell! To me, it has a significantly different vibe from the comic, and the main character seems to have a different special effect for her powers (but, in Champions, they might be written up almost the same, it’s hard to tell so far). I think I need younger eyes to get all the background animation, but it’s cool anyway. I did notice the sign with America’s Ass.

Written: 343 kitten words, for a total of 3346/3000 so far this week.

Coworker L’s mom died over the weekend, so no idea how long they will be out. Coworker K is on vacation until tomorrow. That leaves us at only 60% capacity, but at least the other team is back from monarchy and I only got volunteered for one urgent project.

Watched: Moon Knight 5. Now we finally know what Steven and Marc’s deal is! Also apparently there’s only one more episode!

Written: Saving my writing yesterday was apparently the right move, as I made 1455 of my 3000 weekly goal tonight.

On call all day, but the customers only attacked individually. Still, I’ll take it as an excuse for not having gotten anything done.

Read: The Fall (Alan Baxter): Five more short stories that, together with The Gulp, form a mosaic novel of cosmic horror and fungal doom.

Watched: The Owl House 2.9-10: Oh, that’s what’s going on with Luz’s mom!

Written: I signed up for the Hawai’ian Pizza Positive Writing Challenge, so if I have any ideas for writing, I should save them for tomorrow!

It’s kind of like Monday, only I’m on call during the day because it’s Tuesday. V confusing!

Read: Wish Upon A Satellite (Sophie Labelle): Further queer adventures of Ciel, Stephie, et al, in a Montreal high school that has both cuties and assholes, not easily sorted. The cuties are pretty cute, though.

Read: The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Wizard’s Blue vol 3: Reread, so that now I know where they were and why Giselle was finally telling her story.

Watched: The Owl House 7-8: Oh my gosh, they’re all so cute! Except maybe Hooty.

Written: 504 kitten words.