Norabelle414's Trilogy in Two Parts

Rory's ideal habitat

Hello and welcome! I'm Nora. I live in Washington DC. This is my fourteenth year of having my own thread in the 75ers group! Aside from books, I also love:

animals/biology/zoology - I am once again starting to volunteer at Smithsonian's National Zoo
TV - scripted only, mostly science fiction and fantasy, especially anything based on a book
theater - I have season tickets to Arena Stage but I go to shows elsewhere as well
podcasts - especially about books
knitting (I'm on Ravelry), and now also cross stitch and embroidery
progressive politics (particularly urbanism)

You can find me on Twitter @ norabelle414

I know trying to read more books is a futile goal, so my goals for 2023 are:
1) Be more present here, including actually posting on everyone else's thread instead of just lurking
2) Write reviews promptly after finishing a book

Bird Brother: A Falconer's Journey and the Healing Power of Wildlife by Rodney Stotts and Kate Pipkin - 4/5 stars
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix - 4/5 stars
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach - 4.5/5 stars
8 Little Planets by Chris Ferrie and Lizzy Doyle - 4.5/5 stars
Dracula by Bram Stoker - 3.5/5 stars
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski, translated by Danusia Stok - 4.5/5 stars

For a full list of books I have read this year, click here: https://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=norabelle414&collection=769953...

I forgot to mention currently crafting on my last update so my penance is that I had to finally create a new topic which I had been putting off for awhile...

Currently crafting:
I did take advantage of last week's KnitPicks sale and got a book of sock patterns, a bunch of sock yarn, a pattern for a cute solar system mobile, and the yarn for the mobile. I started the mobile already and finished the sun, which is about the size of a baseball. I have a huge bag of polyfill sitting around so it'll be nice to use some of it up.

Happy new thread! The solar system mobile sounds adorable.

Happy new thread, Nora.

The mobile sounds so cute. For the niece, I assume?

Happy new one, Nora!

Happy new thread!

Happy new one, Nora!

Happy new thread, Nora!

Happy new thread, Nora!

Happy new one, Nora.

Happy new thread, Nora! The mobile sounds like a lot of fun. I, too, have a lot of fill to use up having bought some when I started making knitted stuffed animals. They... don't take as much as you'd think and of course aren't the only projects I'm making. I'll probably be using the fill for several years.

Happy weekend!

Alas, Wednesday's March Mammal Madness final battle ended in defeat for my okapi. Wolverine won! I did consider picking wolverine for my bracket but okapi was just too cute. That's all until next year!

This week has been VERY busy at work. Lots of projects all converging at once. I also had to feed my friend's cat Tuesday through Thursday but it was nice to have something to do. It was also incredibly hot here. When I woke up on Wednesday it was 89F (31.6C) inside my apartment. Legally my apartment building is required to provide heat until May 1, and the air conditioning can't be turned on until the heat is turned off. It was miserable and I could barely sleep at all. Thankfully it's much cooler now.

Thursday I went to see Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches at my usual theater. I enjoyed it a lot, though it was very long. I was worried about the length so I had some coffee beforehand and I think that did help.

Yesterday I just enjoyed the return to cooler weather. Last night I was winding down in the evening when I noticed that my phone battery was very low so I plugged it in a little early. When I got into bed about 45 minutes later, it was still at the same level. Uh-oh! I ran around trying to figure out what was wrong and did find that my phone would charge if I plugged it into the charger I use for my Nintendo Switch. So it's just a cable issue, thankfully. I ordered a few new cables from Best Buy and I'll go pick those up in a few minutes. By the time I got to sleep it was quite late and I slept in this morning.

Today I've been running errands and doing housework, organizing my calendar, doing admin for the book club, and doing an assessment for a job application that annoyingly took several hours. I realized at work on Tuesday that I didn't really have any working pens and I could have got more from the supply office but instead I ordered a bunch of fun ones from jetpens.com and they arrived today so I've been enjoying them.

Tomorrow I'm finally doing my taxes and having brunch with my dad. I thought it was just going to be a casual brunch but he started calling it Easter brunch and invited some other people to join us so I guess I'll dress up.

Currently reading:
I started Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms for next month's book club and am enjoying it. I still need to write a review of last month's book, Bird Brother: A Falconer's Journey and the Healing Power of Wildlife.

Currently crafting:
Still working on the solar system mobile. Here's the sun, mercury, and a half-finished venus:

Venus is patterned using duplicate stitch, which is not something I've done before and I'm glad to learn a new technique.

Currently playing:
Still playing Let's Go Eevee one gym per week. I'm up to gym 5.

Currently watching:
I'm caught up on most things, including Ted Lasso, Sanditon, Abbott Elementary, and Taskmaster. I rewatched season 1 of Schmigadoon and it was as good as ever, then I watched the first two episodes of season 2 and they're even better.

Don't miss the new pic in >1 norabelle414:! Rory is looking especially cute.

>5 curioussquared:, >6 MickyFine:, >13 bell7: Thanks! I think my niece might be a bit old for a mobile so depending on how long it takes me I might just give her the individual planets as toys.

>7 drneutron:, >8 figsfromthistle:, >9 katiekrug:, >10 FAMeulstee:, >11 Ravenwoodwitch:, >12 PaulCranswick: Thanks Jim, Anita, Katie, Anita, Angela, and Paul!

>14 norabelle414: solar system mobile
Adorable!

>16 qebo: Thank you!

Love the new Rory pic. I always joke I'm part cat as I also like to curl up in a sunny spot (usually reading rather than napping though).

I hope brunch with your Dad was good!

It's Monday.

I got a lot done this weekend! After posting on Saturday I went to pick up new phone cables and such from Best Buy. The cables are perfectly fine but the Best Buy itself was bleak. Everything in the store was dirty and broken and there only seemed to be two employees in the whole place. Grim.

Yesterday I half-filed my taxes, had Easter brunch with my dad and his friends, then finished my taxes. My dad's friends are not the kind of people I would usually choose to spend my time with so I felt a little trapped, but it was only a few hours.

Today I'm at the office, and enjoying all my new pens. Tonight I'm having monthly dinner with my dad and my brother. It doesn't seem quite so necessary since I've seen my dad twice in the last 4 days, but it has been a couple weeks since I've seen my brother. Tomorrow I'm in the office as well, then starting next week there should be other people here with me.

Currently reading:
Reading Mycophilia is making me very hungry. I had to have a mushroom pizza for dinner last night.

Currently crafting:
Finished all of the duplicate stitch on Venus. It was good practice of the technique because it was a random pattern and there was no way to tell if I messed up. Next up is Earth, where the duplicate stitch pattern will be more recognizable.

Currently playing:
I'm trying to play Let's Go Eevee with some arcane rules devised by the podcast I'm listening to but they are too complicated for me to remember, so the only ones I'm sticking with are 1) limited to two pokemon types (in my case bug type and flying type) and 2) can't have pokemon a higher level than the next gym leader.

Currently watching:
I watched Superman & Lois, The Ark, Good Trouble, Animal Control, The Flash (they are doing standalone or short-arc episodes for this final season and it's making me love the show again! Just in time for it to end), Whose Line is it Anyway, Grand Crew, The Big Door Prize, Saturday Night Live, and Call the Midwife. I watched the season finale of Hello Tomorrow, which was still very uneven. The production and acting were all great but the world-building was confusing. They never really made it clear what future-technology was real and what was a scam. I also watched s3e7 of Emily in Paris! Remember that show? Me neither.

>18 MickyFine: I love to curl up in a sunny spot when it's below 60F outside but during the summer I'm more like a vampire. I took that pic a few days before last week's heatwave and for some time I couldn't even look at it because it made me too sweaty to think about.

In a very bad mood today.

Things went downhill yesterday. I was feeling kind of vaguely annoyed earlier in the day (mostly due to random people's endless vaguely antagonistic statements - I can never tell if I'm sensitive when I'm in a bad mood or if I'm in a bad mood because people have been rude) and then half an hour before I usually leave the office one of my coworkers called to complain about how I named a folder on our shared drive and my mood got even worse. It took an hour to get home, and then I had 45 minutes to put away my stuff and check my social media before I had to go out again for dinner with my dad and brother. The Metro line I live on has been closed for maintenance since September so it takes me twice as long to get anywhere. We had tacos for dinner and it was mostly fine but it's just so exhausting to have to listen to people all the time complain about how no one wants to work anymore and women should take care of the children because they're just better at it and its so frustrating to have to coexist with people who don't speak English and blah blah blah. I never bother speaking up because everyone assumes they know more than me and they already think I'm too bossy. My brother gave me a ride home and complained that I won't commit to going on a big family vacation next year. I'd rather they just go without me than bug me about it all the time.

I slept really badly last night and I considered taking today off because I was just in such a bad mood, but I left my computer at the office yesterday so I couldn't have teleworked at all and I would have had to come into the office tomorrow to pick it up. So I'm in the office today. My vice-boss called me with a question and I answered it very quickly and she gushed about how much she appreciates me, so that made me feel a little better. I went out to lunch with a work friend for his birthday, to a nearby neighborhood that is supposed to be very trendy but it was all just chains - disappointing. We had good pizza but it was a place that also has a location near my apartment.

When I get home from work today I'm just going to lay on the couch and watch tv. Nothing else going on this week, thankfully.

Currently reading:
Mycophilia (combined with a very slight meat aversion from last month's food poisoning) is still making me eat mushrooms. I had mushroom tacos last night and mushroom pizza today.

Currently crafting:
Maybe I would be in less of a bad mood if I did some knitting.

Currently playing:
Slightly behind on Let's Go Eevee

Currently watching:
I didn't get home until after 10 last night but I did watch The Company You Keep while getting ready for bed. I didn't love the scam-of-the-week this week but I'm hoping the romance picks back up soon.

Sorry to hear about the no good, very bad day. *hugs*

Oof, sounds like a rough day and hope things turn better soon. I can relate to not being sure if you're reacting because you're in a bad mood or in a bad mood because of how people are acting.

By the way, I'm making plans to go down to the DC Metro area May 18-24 and would love to try to meet up. I'm not sure what the weekend plans are (that's usually when we end up doing something with the whole family) or if you have some weekdays off from work, but if you'll be around, I'll keep you in the loop as things get more clear and see if we can at least meet up for brunch or something.

>22 MickyFine: Thanks for the sympathy!

>23 bell7: That week is hard for me, this conference that I have to plan and run is on the 30th. I should be available the weekend of the 20th-21st though, so keep me posted.

Sorry you had such a bad day! I hope things only improve over the course of the week.

Hope things turn around and you can have fun again soon! And happy new thread. I mean it!! Oh, and ...

That all sounds frustrating and I'm sorry you've had a rough time of things :(

I struggle too to distinguish if I'm being too sensitive or if people are being awful sometimes. For me - and ignore this if you want, won't hurt my feelings; totally unsolicited - I find that both have the same solution: pull back and take care of me, not them. But everyone's situation is different, so, do what's best for you.

I hope things improve soon :)

>24 norabelle414: Will do! Hope things are looking up as the weekend approaches.

I hope I am not wrong, Nora, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Also came here to say Happy Birthday Nora! :D

Happy birthday!

Thanks, everyone!

Been feeling slightly less bad but still not great.

I've been pickling red onions during the pandemic, just as something to do and because my county no longer accepts glass in the recycling pick-up so I have a lot of jars lying around. I sometimes give jars of onions to my brother and a couple friends, so I thought it would be nice to get some labels. I found some very nice Ball-brand labels that are made of dissolvable rice paper, which is perfect! They stick really well to the glass and dissolve completely with warm water and a little scrub. They arrived and I love them and of course I promptly got water on the whole roll and it dissolved into a sticky heap. Absolute carnage.

Most of my usual meetings this week have been canceled because my manager is on work travel, which is good because I've had lots of extra planning meetings for the conference I'm running at the end of May. It was 95 degrees in my apartment this morning, in the sun (I have an east-southeast exposure so everything is in the sun in the morning). It's cooling down rapidly now, though, and my apartment complex announced 2 days ago that they are going to turn the AC on early (technically illegal) so I should be able to have AC in my apartment starting some time this weekend.

I might go out for dinner tonight for my birthday, though my friend has some cold/flu/? symptoms. It's probably just allergies so she's going to take some allergy meds and see if she feels better.

Tomorrow I'm volunteering at the Bird House. Sunday I might make cupcakes to bring into the office on Monday.

Currently reading:
I finished listening to Slow Horses. Not my usual thing and I found the perspective changes hard to follow in audio, but I've already watched the show so it went down smooth. I started listening to Have I Told You This Already? by Lauren Graham, which is extremely short.

Currently crafting:
Finished Venus and halfway through Earth. Not really feeling the urge to knit lately so I might switch to embroidery.

Currently playing:
Caught up on Let's Go Eevee as it was a very short leg this week. Also a new update came out for Welcome to Sandrock, a quest-y/craft-y game I like a lot, so I played some of that yesterday.

Currently watching:
Caught up on Marie-Antoinette (really enjoying it), Sanditon, John Oliver, and Great Expectations. Started a new show called Beef, a very very dark comedy about two people who get into a road rage incident and then can't get out of each other's lives. It was fine and I'll probably come back to watch more but it was not what I needed this week (also as a non-car person all I could think about is how none of this would have happened if they weren't in cars). Wednesday I watched the new episode of Ted Lasso and then went back and rewatched from the beginning of this season again. Yesterday I watched the new episode of Schmigadoon and I definitely want to go back and rewatch from the beginning of this season because I know there are references I've missed. I also watched the new episode of Taskmaster.

Happy Birthday Nora!

Happy birthday!

I've seen good reactions to Beef; not sure it's fully my kind of show but it sounds like something Tim and I might enjoy watching together, so I'll keep it on the radar. Ooh, I hadn't heard about the Marie Antoinette series and I am very intrigued.

Thanks Angela and Natalie!

>34 curioussquared: Marie Antoinette I think is a French production but it's all in English. It aired in France and on the BBC in 2021 but is on PBS now. I'm sure it's not completely accurate but it's enjoyable and the main actress is fantastic.

Happy Birthday, Nora! Sorry it's been a crap week.

Thanks for the reminder about 'Beef.' I read a review of it and meant to add it to my watchlist but haven't yet.

Happy birthday, Nora!

Thanks Katie and Mary!

Belated happy birthday, Nora! I hope your weekend is a good one.

Happy Monday, I guess.

Friday night I did end up going out to a mahjong parlor across the street from my house for birthday dinner. We did not play mahjong because none of us knew how to well enough to to teach anyone else, but they have lessons every-other Wednesday so we might go back and learn. The food and cocktails were fantastic. My friend got me a Venus fly trap as a birthday present.

Saturday morning I volunteered at the bird house. My shift itself was pretty good - usually I'm stationed in the shorebirds room, the first room, to greet people and control the crowds but it's breeding & nesting season in the waterfowl room so I was stationed there instead to keep toddlers from grabbing the ducks as they wander around looking for nesting spots. Getting to the zoo was slightly bad, I missed both my first train and my connection by mere seconds. Getting home from the zoo was EXTREMELY bad because my home station was closed due to an emergency and I had to take several bus detours and walk an extra mile to get home.

Sunday I was planning to make cupcakes to bring to work today but the air conditioning is still not on and it was 90 degrees in my apartment all day. I was not going to turn the oven on! So I bought some cupcakes at the grocery store instead.

Today almost all of my coworkers are in the office! Most of the morning was spent trying to get everyone set up since they are not used to being in-person.

Not much extra-curricular going on this week, but I hope my AC gets turned on soon because it's supposed to be in the 90s again on Thursday.

Currently reading:
At this point I don't think I'm going to be able to finish Mycophilia before the book club meeting on May 3 but I would like to read at least half.

Currently crafting:
Finished knitting the water body of Earth and working on the duplicate-stitch land masses.

Currently playing:
Played a lot of Welcome to Sandrock but ran into a bug (the game is still in early access, technically) so I'm stuck until it gets fixed.

Currently watching:
Caught up on all my shows! I also watched the first two episodes of season 2 of Single Drunk Female (and then realized that the whole season is out on Hulu even though it's airing weekly on Freeform! That's so annoying! Shows should be weekly! I am not a crackpot.), the first episode of The Last Thing He Told Me (probably too thriller-y for me), the first episode of Am I Being Unreasonable? (probably too dark for me now but maybe I'll come back to it later), the first episode of Tiny Beautiful Things (not for me, I don't think), and I finished the last 4 episodes of Up Here, a musical comedy, which was delightful and I will definitely watch it again.

Glad to hear you had a good night out for your birthday, Nora.

I hope your co-workers settle in somewhat smoothly to the hybrid model.

>40 norabelle414: Oh I've always wanted a Venus flytrap :) They're great pest control for indoor plants (and non-toxic to cats, so Rory is safe if he takes a nibble).

By that photo, it looks like you're an accomplished plant mom so it should do just fine.

>41 MickyFine: Thanks Micky!

>42 Ravenwoodwitch: I'm actually a little hesitant about this plant because almost all of my other plants are succulents so my setup is for full sun and infrequent water. Not quite sure what to do with Audrey III so for now she's on my bedside table where I won't forget to water her frequently.

It was a busy week, but mostly busy with work stuff.

Tuesday in the office was quieter, there were 3 (out of 7) of us in the office instead of everyone. Wednesday is becoming my busiest day of the week, since I've now moved my weekly grocery store trip to Wednesday mornings as I'm in the office on Mondays. Thursday was a very long day, I worked on conference logistics until almost 7 (I start work at 8 so usually log off around 4:30).

Then Friday I took off early to go to the twice-annual Library Book Sale! This was my first time going back since COVID and I was very excited but a little disappointed in the selection.
I ended up with 4 books for myself:
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi
Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell
The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
3 books for my niece (please admire my restraint!):
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
Eloise by Kay Thompson
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka
And 3 books I gave to my sister-in-law to read if she wants and then give to me when she's done:
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Matrix by Lauren Groff
The Maid by Nita Prose
I looked for a science fiction book my brother might like but didn't see anything. He's very particular.

Friday night I babysat, last minute. My mom sent my niece some kid-size pots and pans and utensils and she has a great time pretending to cook. Saturday I babysat mid-day and there was a huge storm and the power went out at their house. Thankfully my brother and sister-in-law got home about 10 minutes after she woke up from her nap because I have absolutely no idea how to entertain a toddler in a pitch-black house when its pouring rain outside. The farthest I got was a fun game of "yes the candles are pretty but we mustn't grab them"

Sunday I goofed off! Today everyone is in the office again, and I need to stop by the library on my way home to pick up some books I put on hold. (The library is not at all on my way home but once I get home I won't want to go out again.)

This week should be fairly quiet except for Thursday, when I have an online zoo meeting at 6pm and an online livestream of a podcast recording at 8:15.

Currently reading:
I read a good chunk of Mycophilia while babysitting. I also finished the very short audiobook of Have I Told You This Already? by Lauren Graham. My next audiobook will probably be the second Slow Horses book. While babysitting I read all of Owl Babies, Eat Up, Bear, Peek-a-Who?, and bits and pieces of a bunch of other things.

Currently crafting:
Finished the duplicate stitch on Earth and gave it to my niece early for Earth Day on Saturday. She promptly put it in her frying pan and moved it around with a spatula which I assume was a commentary on climate change. I finished Mars but am annoyed because following the pattern made it the same size as Mercury?? That's not right. I'm about halfway through Jupiter.

Currently playing:
Still playing Let's Go Eevee, and deleted a bunch of games from my computer and phone because they were becoming a problem.

Currently watching:
Caught up on all my usual shows including the season 4 premiere of Barry, season finale of Abbott Elementary, season finale of The Ark, the second half of season 1 of Reginald the Vampire (which I stopped watching when I got rid of cable but now it's all on Hulu), and the series finale of Sanditon (I'm so sad it's over!). I started new shows Mrs. Davis (an extremely weird adventure show about a nun fighting an all-knowing artificial intelligence), Drops of God (based on a manga, about a French woman and a Japanese man who fight over who knows more about wine. Not my thing.), and The Diplomat (a Middle-East specialist is preparing to restore peace as Ambassador to Afghanistan but is diverted to the more ceremonial position of Ambassador to the UK instead. I was expecting a very serious show but it's a little soapy and nice to watch while doing other things.)

I am super-stoked for The Diplomat. It's right up my alley. I might save it until next month when The Wayne is out of town for a week...

>45 katiekrug: I think you'll really like it!

Here's my knitted planet Earth and my niece's performance art:

Glad to hear that life is ticking along well, although I hope the long hours for conference planning end soon.

The knitted Earth looks great!

It's so daunting to post an update after too many days, I have too much to say! Flipping things around to see if that's easier:

Currently reading:
I actually might finish Mycophilia before Wednesday's book club meeting?? One chapter was weirdly racist (about mushroom foragers) so I skimmed it and another chapter was very eating-disorder-y (about how mushrooms can help one lose weight) so I skipped that one too. I'm about 85% finished. I have not listened to any audiobooks but I did download You Can't Say That: Writers for Young People Talk About Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell, which is available for free this week from Audiobook SYNC.
Reviews behind: 7 (2 adult, 5 picture)

Currently crafting:
Feeling very unmoored, crafting-wise. I can't sit down and do anything long enough to craft. I thought I was just getting tired of knitting (I still haven't finished the orange socks for my sister-in-law, from months ago) so I started some embroidery but I couldn't concentrate on that either.
I did buy a shit-ton of yarn from the KnitPicks sock yarn sale, though....whoops.

Currently playing:
I beat all the gym leaders in Let's Go Eevee, but I might stop there. I hate fighting the Elite Four, they're too difficult and boring. I bought a couple games in the recent Switch sale and played some of Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion where you are a turnip who has to complete quests because you ripped up all your property tax bills instead of paying them. It's amusing but very linear and I get bored when it takes me more than 2 tries to beat a boss. Also the weird politics are clearly supposed to be a joke but they get tiresome.

Currently watching:
Caught up on my ongoing shows for a little while: Call the Midwife, Mrs. Davis, Last Week Tonight, the season finale of Rain Dogs (the show never clicked with me), Barry, Ted Lasso (I'm quite annoyed that AppleTV+ keeps releasing episodes at 9pm the night BEFORE their airdate because I keep getting spoiled), Schmigadoon (this season is undeniably impeccable but it is showing me that I mostly prefer golden age musicals over the Fosse era. I'm learning a lot!), Superman & Lois, Gotham Knights (kinda boring but its the closest thing I'm getting to more Arrowverse), Taskmaster (a wild episode last week. I'm still rooting for Mae but Jenny is killing it!), Single Drunk Female (I'm watching along with the tv release schedule even though I'm watching on Hulu), The Flash (omg Oliver Queen is back!!!), The Big Door Prize, Good Trouble, Animal Control, Not Dead Yet (this has turned into a nice cozy show), and The Company You Keep. I started season 7 of Workin' Moms and season 2 of Somebody Somewhere, finished season 2 of Grand Crew, watched more of The Diplomat (I'm very into it now) and The Vampire Diaries (season 6 is really good?!). I rewatched all of season 1 of Sweet Tooth and started season 2, and now I'm rewatching seasons 1 and 2 of The Other Two.

Obviously, I like scripted TV a lot. Stories are great! Writers are important and they deserve to be paid and compensated accordingly. Solidarity with the Writers Guild of America, who started their strike today. May they get everything they need, and may they bring the industry to a screeching halt until they do.

Still busy with work stuff. I can't wait until June!

Last week I had an online zoo meeting where we learned about bears (sloth, panda, Andean) and then a very fun livestream of the podcast Overdue. Other than that I didn't do much. I ordered some shoes for work and some dresses for work and some sunglasses to replace all of the ones that have broken in my purse. I ordered a Mother's Day present for my mom (a breed of black-eyed susan (native to her area, deer-safe) that looks like a brandied cherry). I went to the Asian grocery store so now my freezer is full of dumplings.

I joined a couple local-interest Discord servers to see if I could make friends but one of them has a lot of using ChatGPT for medical advice, no thank you! I should hopefully be able to go out more when my Metro line reopens next week.

The weather has been rainy and cool. Today I need to pick up some toiletries from Target on the way home, do laundry, and finish my book club book.

Tomorrow I'll be at home but will be busy, with hourly meeting scheduled from 9am to 3pm and then the first of two book club meetings at 7. The second book club meeting is on Saturday, then Sunday I'm volunteering at the zoo which will be celebrating International Family Equality Day. Then next week is Eurovision!! Which I am very excited for.

Oof. Good luck making it through the marathon of meetings!

ChatGPT for medical advice sounds... iffy. Jealous of your freezer full of dumplings! Hope the meetings are going well.

>50 norabelle414: Oh wow, I googled and the cherry brandy black-eyed susans are gorgeous!

>51 MickyFine: Thanks Micky! I made it!

>52 curioussquared: It's so bad! I hate to be the person who busts into a new chat to be like "this is bad" but no one should be getting medical advice from a word salad!

>53 libraryperilous: Aren't they stunning? I'm so excited.

Busy weekend (for me).

Wednesday and Saturday I had book club meetings to discuss Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms by Eugenia Bone. Everyone thought it was fine but didn't love it. Turnout for both meetings was very low, I don't know if that was because people had a hard time acquiring the book, or didn't want to read it, or just coincidence. Saturday in particular was only two attendees who I didn't know at all and so that was a little awkward. Next we will be meeting in July to discuss The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China's Most Exotic Animal by Vicki Constantine Croke.

I did not make it to the grocery store last week, which is fine, except that it means I have no wiggle room this week and really must go. I didn't do anything on Saturday after book club, which I really should have because the weather was very nice. Sunday the weather was much less nice (too hot, too wet) and I volunteered at the zoo for "Family Equality Day", colloquially known as "Gay Day", which was an incredibly fun time. Probably my favorite day of the year to volunteer.

Today I'm in the office. After work I need to pick up a hold from the library and a couple packages from the package office (I'm hoping its my new work dresses or my bi-monthly coffee order, but it's probably just some plain t-shirts I ordered from Target.) Normally tonight would be my monthly dinner with my dad and my brother but we've canceled this month because I have too much work stuff.

Tomorrow we have a rehearsal and several meetings for the conference and it will be a long day in the office...which means I'll miss most of semi-final 1 of Eurovision. Crushing! I'll either start watching live when I get home and then restart after it's over, or watch the whole thing time-delayed. I should be able to watch semi-final 2 on Thursday no problem. Saturday I am volunteering at the zoo (it's World Migratory Bird Day!) until 1 and then the Eurovision Final starts at 3.

Currently reading:
I did not quite finish Mycophilia before the book club meetings but I do still plan to finish the last 20 pages or so because I am enjoying the last few chapters more than the middle. I already own The Lady and the Panda so I could get started on that. I also have 6 books out from the library, any of which I could start reading at any time (but I won't).
Reviews behind: 8 (3 adult, 5 picture)

Currently crafting:
Still not into any crafting. A couple weeks ago I started knitting a teapot cozy which I was intending to give my mother for mother's day but I've only done 4 rows. (This was before I ordered her the plant.)

Currently playing:
Restarted a computer game called Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles, an open-world crafting/exploring/quests game with no fighting at all, which is nice. I didn't finish it the first time I played but it's been about 2 years so I figured I would just start over.

Currently watching:
Still barely keeping up with all my shows. I started some new ones: Tom Jones (too much whiplash coming off of Great Expectations so I'm going to rewatch this, I think), The White House Plumbers (boring), Saint X (didn't really speak to me, and reviews of the book don't give me confidence), A Small Light (really stunning historical drama about Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank and her family. Highly recommended), Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (fine so far, as expected), and Silo (a straightforward adaptation of Wool by Hugh Howey).

It's been a long week.

Lots of meetings for the upcoming conference, which is just two weeks away. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Tuesday I watched the Eurovision semi-final 1, time-delayed after I got home from work. My favorites were Norway, Portugal, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and Finland. Thursday I got to watch semi-final 2 live and I got to VOTE which was so thrilling. My favorites were Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia, Austria, and Lithuania. Friday was Rory's birthday and we did his favorite thing - nothing.

Saturday morning I volunteered at the bird house and it was very fun as usual. It was World Migratory Bird Day but the zoo didn't do anything for it. Weather was bad, very hot and humid. I got home and the rest of the day was watching Eurovision! It was delightful, Hannah Waddingham was an excellent host (along with the others, but.....it's Hannah Waddingham). I voted for Austria, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, Norway, Lithuania, and Slovenia. Sweden won, which was disappointing, but I don't find it particularly catastrophic.

Sunday I called my mom. The gift I got her is delayed so she doesn't have it yet. Then I baked a cake for my coworker whose birthday is today - a lemon olive oil cake.

This week I'm laying low, conserving my energy for work.

Currently reading:
Nothing
Reviews behind: 8 (3 adult, 5 picture)

Currently crafting:
Nothing

Currently playing:
Nothing

Currently watching:
Finished season 2 of Single Drunk Female (good), season 1 of The Diplomat (enjoyable), Marie Antoinette (well done), and The Company We Keep (delightful and promptly canceled). I watched the first episode of Class of '09, a police drama that is not for me, and City on Fire, a sprawling mystery of interconnected people. Continuing to enjoy A Small Light and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.

So how does one become eligible to vote for Eurovision?

>57 MickyFine: As of this year, anyone on earth can vote! All votes from the "rest of the world" were aggregated as if they were one country, equal to any actual competing country, so whichever performer got the most votes got 12 points, second most votes got 10 points, then 8 points through 1 point. Voting was through the official app and cost 0.99 Euro per vote, but the thrill of participation was worth the 5-7 Euros IMO. (especially since I was using someone else's Peacock log-in to watch, lol)

I feel bad not talking about books here, so this is what I've got out of the library right now (only links not touchstones, since it's very unlikely I'll ever finish them):

Dead Lions (Slow Horses book 2) by Mick Herron (audio)
All Things Bright and Beautiful (All Creatures book 2) by James Herriot
Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole-Smith
Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen
Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen (thanks for this rec, Joanne!)
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
The Persuaders: At the Frontlines of the Fight For Hearts, Minds, and Democracy by Anand Giridharadas
Season of Love by Helena Greer

I've read a few pages of each and they all seem lovely

It's the beginning of two weeks of crunch time!

On the one hand it's a bit of a relief because very little can change at this point. RSVPs are closed, the agenda is mostly finalized, room reservations and lunch are sorted. On the other hand, that doesn't stop my boss from wanting to add new complications anyway, and I'm usually the one who has to convince her not to.

Not much going on last week. My mom's mother's day present was delivered to her house on Friday, but on Thursday she started sending me photos from the vacation she was on, which I did not know about. Hopefully it will still be there and alive when she gets home (whenever that will be).

With all the prep meetings I had I ended up working about 10 hours on both Thursday and Friday. We're allowed to flex our time however we want within a pay period, but the rest of this pay period (May 16-31) I know I'm going to have to work even more hours, which is frustrating. I'm salaried & overtime exempt so even though I have to track my hours for contract purposes I don't get paid more for working more than 40 hours a week. I just keep having afternoon meetings about the conference event that go very very long, so the only way I could reclaim my time would be to start work late, which I don't like to do. I can't wait for this to be over.

Saturday I mostly played a video game, Sunday I baked a chocolate cake for my coworker's birthday today.

This week I'm in the office Monday, Tuesday, and Friday (our first rehearsal day). Thursday I'm going to a play with my dad (bad timing but by the time I realized, it was too late to change). Saturday I have an appointment for my first haircut since COVID started. The very convenient Bubbles I used to go to closed during COVID, but it reopened across the street so I'll go there. I hate getting haircuts but I also hate having long hair and the former has now outweighed the latter. Sunday I'm watering my brother's plants while he's out of town. Monday is a holiday, Tuesday 5/30 is another rehearsal day, then 5/31 and 6/1 are our event days. Friday 6/2 I will probably work in the morning to check in with everyone and then take the afternoon off. Not sure if I'll have time to post again before then.

Currently reading:
Nothing
Reviews behind: 8 (3 adult, 5 picture)

Currently crafting:
Picked up the orange socks again, as my sister-in-law's birthday is in 2 weeks and it would be nice to give them to her. Knitting the instep pattern is so tedious, though.

Currently playing:
I spent the bulk of this weekend playing Pentiment, a narrative mystery game where you play a book illuminator working at an abbey in Bavaria in 1518. A patron of the abbey is killed and you have to solve the mystery by getting to know the peasants in the neighboring village and learning more of the history of the town. The story is great and I was genuinely surprised by some of the twists. I played through the story in about 13 hours (I had started it earlier this week) and started it over to try to get different outcomes (I need those Steam achievements), but am finding it annoyingly slow the second time through.

Currently watching:
TV is slowing down enough that I don't feel like a crazy person when I list everything I watch in a week: Tom Jones (I haven't watched the finale yet but I don't love this story), Barry, Somebody Somewhere, A Small Light, Taskmaster, finale of Mrs. Davis (a good show over all, but I'm glad it had a real conclusion instead of aiming for another season), The Other Two, season finale of The Big Door Prize (no conclusion whatsoever, but it has been renewed), Good Trouble, The Flash, finished s2 of Sweet Tooth (a bit of a conclusion but it has been renewed), Silo, City on Fire, Workin Moms (I have only the series finale left), Whose Line is it Anyway, Queen Charlotte (one episode left), and I watched the first episode of XO, Kitty, the spin-off series of To All The Boys I've Loved Before, and it's EXTREMELY cute.

My thoughts on Ted Lasso: Last week's episode tied up a lot of loose ends that I wasn't sure would be, so now I feel more confident that the last two episodes are going to be satisfying. I still think overall that Nate's plot this season has been terrible. We've spent too much time watching him be sad and watching him get a girlfriend (with no personality of her own) and watching him interact with people more powerful than him, when none of those things are actually any kind of step toward redemption. However, apologizing to Will first was exactly the right place to go. Just annoying how we had to get there. Now Keeley and Roy and Jaime just need to form a throuple and everything will be perfect.

Good luck with the crunch time and I hope the event goes great!

Pentiment is intriguing. Makes me think of The Name of the Rose.

I am the slowest TV watcher but I want to watch Queen Charlotte and XO, Kitty, so glad you're enjoying those. I had to read Tom Jones in my English Novel class in college and didn't have any interest in revisiting it on the screen.

>61 curioussquared: I haven't read The Name of the Rose but it does sound similar. However, a lot of the tension in Pentiment comes from the main character's status as an outsider, acting as kind of a mediator between the abbey and the peasants (or picking a side, depending on your choices).

The production of Tom Jones is spectacular, great acting and costumes and a good pace. However, I think the adapter tried to include more of Sophia's perspective for balance and it backfired - the contrast between Tom's fun sexcapades and Sophia's desperate attempts to preserve her "virtue" and avoid forced marriage are too depressing. I haven't read the novel but this really does not make me want to. I would read something from the perspective of Lady Bellaston, though. (She's played in this adaptation by, who else? Hannah Waddingham)

Last week was, as expected, quite brutal. I ended up having to go into the office every day, and most of the work for the conference, which starts on Wednesday, is still not done.

The play on Thursday, Exclusion, was about the writer of a book about the Chinese Exclusion Act who gets it optioned for a prestige TV show and then struggles with the changes changes the producers want to make. It was very good and I wish I could have seen it when I was less stressed.

Saturday I got a haircut; I always hate getting haircuts because I feel like hair stylists are always telling me everything I do wrong and this was no exception. But at least I had the excuse of COVID for why everything I do is wrong. I had forgotten that I was having dinner at my friend's house on Saturday so I whipped up a quick potato salad and went to his house for dinner, but ended up staying out later than I should have. Yesterday I wanted to go to my brother's to water his plants early in the morning, but my usual complete lack of motivation meant I didn't go until the evening. Today I didn't do much either, but I never feel relaxed or rested.

Currently watching:
I finished Queen Charlotte (very much enjoyed it), the series finale of The Flash (and essentially the end of the Arrowverse - an extremely lackluster episode but I think I preferred that to something more ambitious), season finale of Somebody Somewhere (good), series finale of Barry (meh), all of season 2 of Prehistoric Planet (great! I love dinosaurs!). I started new shows Platonic (about two estranged friends who reconnect at age 40 and go wild - I'm enjoying it!) and American Born Chinese (okay...I haven't read the graphic novel but from what I understand it's pretty different)

I made it through the first day of the conference! That was the hardest day, as I had to coordinate all of the technology and run the online part of the conference in addition to presenting three times throughout the day. Tomorrow should be easier as I have no presentations.

I did watch the finale of Ted Lasso as soon as I got home (forever afraid of spoilers). It was great.

After tomorrow I don't even know what I'm going to do with myself.

Congrats on making it through day one. I hope today goes just as smoothly!

Glad to hear the first day is over, Nora, and hope today went smoothly. Hooray for no presentations!

Hey Nora :)

I hope it's okay I mostly skimmed since I'm so far behind (I get overwhelmed kinda easy, sorry) but I hope this conference goes well. Good luck!

Hi, Nora! I missed the jump to this thread, but I'm here now!

Thanks >65 MickyFine:, >66 bell7:, >67 Ravenwoodwitch:! The conference went mostly fine and I'm glad its over (except I still have lots of post-conference work to do, of course.)

>67 Ravenwoodwitch: No worries! I think a lot of us have to declare "LT thread bankruptcy" every once in awhile.

>68 foggidawn: Hi Foggi! Don't worry, you didn't miss anything.

The second day of the conference went fine. I was planning to work for ~3 hours on Friday and take the rest of the day off, but my team lead called me with a question just as I was logging off and talked for over an hour so I ended up working for almost 5. Then I went to the zoo for the volunteer appreciation picnic and it was great fun. I got to walk through the bird house after it closed, which was really cool.

Saturday and Sunday I did nothing. I always think to myself "This is the time I'm going to do nothing and it's going to feel restful and relaxing" and it never does. I actually got more sleep during the conference last week than I usually do, since I had external pressure to go to bed early instead of relying on self-motivation (of which I have zero).

This week should be quiet. My boss is out of town and I have nothing planned. Next week is busier, with my monthly dinner with my dad and brother, theater on the 16th (seeing Hadestown again), zoo on the 17th, and Father's Day on the 18th.

Currently reading:
Next month's book club book is The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China's Most Exotic Animal by Vicki Croke
Reviews behind: 8 (3 adult, 5 picture)

Currently crafting:
Nothing. My couch is such a mess that I don't even have a place to sit and craft at the moment.

Currently playing:
The Pokemon podcast I listen to, EXP Share, finished their season on Let's Go Eevee/Pikachu and has moved on to Pokemon Sword/Shield and so have I! What a good game.

Currently watching:
The series 15 finale of Taskmaster (it's been inevitable that Mae would win for awhile but still pleased) as well as the series 16 trailer (very excited for Susan Wokoma!!). I finished A Small Light (I can't emphasize enough how good it was), season 1 of XO, Kitty (I loved it from the beginning but it only got better and cuter and gayer! I definitely like it more than the 2nd and 3rd TAtB movies.). Caught up on Superman & Lois, Gotham Knights, How I Met Your Father, Silo, City on Fire, Platonic, and The Other Two, and watched a few more episodes of American Born Chinese. I started several new shows: Barons (an Australian show about surfers in the 70s who invent surfwear), The Rising (a British show about a teenager who is murdered and, as a ghost, tries to help her family solve her murder), The Clearing (an Australian show about a cult and a woman recovering from being in the cult), and Spy/Master (an American/Romanian show about a fictional spy defecting from Romania to the US in the 70s). None of them spoke to me particularly but I'll give them a few more episodes since the pickings are slim.

I'm glad the conference continued to go mostly smoothly.

Hadestown is such an enjoyable show. I may have shared this before but I got to see it when they workshopped it in Edmonton before it went to Broadway (the local theatre's artistic director here must have made one hell of a pitch to make that happen).

I too struggle to put myself to bed at a good time without some teeth behind it (that teeth lately being my job) so I feel you.
Glad day two went swimmingly.

>71 MickyFine: I love it when that happens! I saw Once Upon a One More Time here in DC in 2021 and now it's opening on Broadway this month.
I'm taking my sister-in-law to see Hadestown and I really hope she likes it. My brother does not want to see musicals with her but he made the mistake of telling me the only musical he would see would be The Book of Mormon because he was under the impression that there was no way to do that. Joke's on him, the tour will be back here in March.

>72 Ravenwoodwitch: This "being an adult" thing never seems to get any easier.

I tried two new things yesterday:
1) I took a 25 minute nap as soon as I got home from work. It did make me feel more alert in the evening but I don't think I feel less tired today. I'll try it for a few more days (though I don't know how well I will be able to stick to the schedule on telework days)
2) I bought a new kitchen timer for Pomodoro things. I had been using an old analog kitchen timer that looked like an owl, which was cute, but it was unreliable, which defeats the purpose of a timer! This one is digital and ugly but it works.

I've also been having some kind of skin issue in the outer corners of my eyes. I don't think it's conjunctivitis because it's definitely around my eyes and not in my eyes. I thought maybe it was 1) stress hives, 2) dry skin, 3) sweat getting in my eyes, or 4) contaminated makeup. My stress levels should hopefully be lower now, the weather has been nice, I started putting antibiotic ointment on it, and today I threw out all of my eye and skin makeup (I should have done this earlier but I hadn't had time to replace it and eyeliner is my one vanity). Fingers crossed!

Currently reading:
Combination of feeling more alert and having a working timer means........I read some pages?? I read about 50 pages of Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole-Smith, a book which was due back to the library last week and has a long wait list. Whoops! But at least I read something.
Reviews behind: 8 (3 adult, 5 picture)

Currently crafting:
Nothing but I did clear a couple things off my couch.

Currently playing:
Thanks to my new timer, I played exactly 25 minutes of Pokemon Sword yesterday.

Currently watching:
Just one little episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway. I have a few more shows to watch coming up in the next few weeks, but I'm also looking into canceling my Netflix subscription if they kick my mom (and Mary) off of my account. It's not worth that much money for one person.

>73 norabelle414: I hope your SIL has a grand time. And your story about your brother made me laugh.

>75 MickyFine: I think he thinks it's a South Park musical? I'm not going to tell him that it's not.

>76 norabelle414: Snort. This sibling vibe feels familiar to me, LOL.

Yesterday I saw a fox! I was at work, sitting outside and eating lunch at noon, and it ran past me toward the parking lot. I checked with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and their website said that is normal behavior for this time of year. Probably their kits are getting bigger and need more food so sometimes they hunt during the day. I took another nap yesterday after work but did not feel as refreshed, probably because I stopped by the library on my way home and so got home a lot later.

Today I teleworked, and good thing, because the smoke from the Canadian wildfires is so thick I can't see more than one street away. I was planning to go to an outdoor movie in the plaza across the street tonight but it was canceled.

Tomorrow....more inside time, as the smoke is supposed to get worse overnight. There's supposed to be a garden party at my apartment complex tomorrow for dinner but I suspect it will be canceled.

Currently reading:
Returned Fat Talk to the library since it was overdue but read 25 pages of The Lady and the Panda. I'm enjoying it more than I thought. It's hard to have a lot of sympathy for a rich socialite during the Great Depression but she was very progressive in her views on and treatment of animals, and less racist against the Chinese people than most of her contemporaries.
Reviews behind: 9 (4 adult, 5 picture)

Currently playing:
Exactly 25 minutes of Pokemon Sword. I'm taking my time but just about to battle the first gym.

Currently watching:
Watched the first episode of The Lazarus Project, a high-concept British drama about a secret agency who reset time every time the world ends to try to fix what went wrong. It was fine, and has already been renewed, so I'll keep watching.

Last week was rough, since the worst air quality in DC history meant I was stuck inside with the windows closed for 2 days. Definitely preferable to the many people who had to work outside or otherwise go outside, but still not my ideal environment. I was annoyed with people in my online spaces but again couldn't tell if the people were being extra annoying or I was being extra sensitive.

Thursday night the garden party in my apartment complex was indeed canceled, but I played some online party games with a Discord server I'm on and that was fun. I ended up staying up wayyyy too late (unrelated to the party games which ended at 9) and then since I didn't have any meetings scheduled for Friday I thought I would turn my alarms off and sleep in a little bit but I ended up sleeping in a LOT and it was not great. I went for a long walk in the evening, in the drizzle (which felt nice after the smoky days) to try and relax. I decided to make the weekend as normal as possible so I set normal alarms instead of sleeping in.

Saturday I was planning to go to a craft market in the plaza across the street but my sister-in-law called and asked if I could watch my niece for a couple hours while she ran some unexpected errands, which of course I was happy to do. The last time I baby-sat she was only saying "mama" and "dada" but this time when I asked her if she wanted to take a nap she said "That's fine"!!!! They just got back from a trip to Italy so she also says "ciao" all the time. Sunday I just relaxed.

I'm in the office today, and my back is KILLING ME for some reason. Not sure if I slept weird last night or if I sat weird yesterday or if it's from picking up my niece on Saturday. I'm hoping I get home in time for a quick nap but I might not because I'm having dinner with my dad and brother at 6:45. We're going back to the sustainable fish restaurant I went to last year to try (unsuccessfully) to get snakehead. Friday night I'm going to see Hadestown again, Saturday I'm volunteering at the zoo, and Sunday I'm having Father's Day brunch with my dad at my brother's house.

Currently reading:
I currently have 5 books out from the library, which I've decided is the happy medium (I like having options and a reason to get out of the house, but I don't want to monopolize books I'm not reading). Not to jinx anything but I read for at least 20 minutes every day for the last week, all of them in The Lady and the Panda. This story should definitely be a movie - it has the perfect villain in an older white male explorer who is kind of going off the deep end and focusing all of his hubris on misogyny against Ruth and spreading lies that she bought her baby panda from him instead of finding it herself, as well as a young Chinese explorer that Ruth has a secret affair with while trekking into the mountains.
Reviews behind: 9 (3 adult, 5 picture)

Currently crafting:
Nothing crafting and its starting to become A Problem since I was planning to knit socks for my sister-in-law for her birthday, which was last week, and then knit a pair for my dad for his birthday which is next month.

Currently playing:
Played Pokemon Sword through the second gym. I never like to play with a themed team but the podcast I listen to always does and it makes me feel like I should too. This time I might try playing with only "new" pokemon that were introduced in this game.

Currently watching:
Caught up on mostly everything. Started season 2 of Cruel Summer, and anthology show where a mystery about teenage girls is told by going back and forth between the summer before the mystery and the summer afterward. A neat puzzle. I also started season 4 of Never Have I Ever, which is fine. Very disappointed to see Grand Crew and Young Rock both get cancelled last week. Seems like all the regular network shows I watch are gone now.

4-5 books is my library sweet spot too. Enough to know that they'll last me through my average 2-3 books per week, while having an extra 1 or 2 in case something doesn't suit my mood or I don't like it.

In the office again today. Woke up this morning and my back felt fine. Not sure if I slept right or if it's because I did some extra stretching yesterday.

Yesterday I only "napped" (just closed my eyes, really) for about 15 minutes and then went to dinner. My brother was not feeling well so it was just me and my dad. I'll see my brother on Sunday though. The restaurant did not have snakehead again but I had raw local oysters and a swordfish fillet with sweet potato and spinach and it was wonderful. The direct bus I take to get home from that neighborhood stops running at 8:20 (I can take the metro until midnight but it's very indirect) which is annoying but I did have a few minutes to stop at Trader Joe's on my way home and get a nice salad for my lunch today. Didn't get home until almost 9 so not a lot of time to do other things.

Currently reading:
I did, in fact, jinx it. I only read for about 5 minutes yesterday.
Reviews behind: 9 (3 adult, 5 picture)

Currently watching:
I watched the first episode of Based on a True Story, a new show on Peacock about a couple who find out someone they know is a serial killer but instead of turning him in they decide to blackmail him into making a true crime podcast with them so they can make money. I'll keep watching for a bit but so far it's like Only Murders in the Building without any bite or self-reflection.

Finally popping in here and catching up. And then realizing I don’t have anything to say at the moment? I’m sick so the brain is apparently not working. But I don’t want to lose track of your thread so I’m leaving this worthless comment. 😁

>82 ursula: I don't have anything to say either so you've come to the right place :-)

Happy Tuesday!

Didn't do much during the week last week but Friday I went to dinner with my sister-in-law and then we saw Hadestown, and it was wonderful to spend time with her. Hadestown was excellent as ever, though I didn't like this Orpheus quite as much as the one I saw in 2021. But still great.

Saturday I went to the zoo. I was supposed to mentor another volunteer who had previously worked at the elephant house and wanted some more experience with the Asia trail, but she had to cancel. I still had a good shift, though, and after it was over I popped down to the small mammal house to see the new baby meerkats that were born last month. Extremely cute!

Sunday was father's day and my dad, his girlfriend, and I had dinner at my brother's house. I had Monday off from work so I went to the grocery store and pickled a TON of onions, because I finished all of mine and a couple people I had given them to before asked for more.

Today I'm in the office. It's primary election day in Virginia, and I left home a little early to vote (my polling place is in the basement of my apartment building) but I still missed the shuttle. Thankfully it runs every 20 minutes so not too late to work. Going to try to nap after work and then get some reading done.

This week should be relatively quiet. I'm taking Friday morning off for a zoo event, then I'm dog-sitting my dog-nephew this weekend. My coworker's birthday is today but she's out this week so I'm baking a cake on Sunday and we're going to celebrate on Monday.

Currently reading:
I have not read much this past week but knowing that I did get back to reading for a little while has given me a lot of confidence! I should be able to finish The Lady and the Panda this week and then take a different book with me for dog-sitting.
Reviews behind: 9 (3 adult, 5 picture)

Currently playing:
I wanted to play more Pokemon Sword so I told myself I could play a little bit ahead of the podcast I listen to, but then I got way ahead of the podcast, whoops! Now I'm on hiatus for a bit.

Currently watching:
I watched the first episode of The Crowded Room (based on The Minds of Billy Milligan - not for me) and The Full Monty (a 25-years-later continuation of the movie about down-on-their-luck men who turn to stripping - not for me). Caught up on The Other Two (an incredible season), The Clearing, Cruel Summer, How I Met Your Father, and Platonic. Finished season one of American Born Chinese (the parts pulled together in the end and I really enjoyed it. I hope there's another season!) and the miniseries City on Fire (not sure why people aren't talking about this more? The acting is good and it looks very expensive. I enjoyed it.). I'm up to s4e6 of Never Have I Ever, and I'm currently rewatching The Bear and Reservation Dogs to prepare for their upcoming 2nd and 3rd seasons, respectively.

I've decided I'm going back to the National Book Festival this year. If you're planning to go or thinking about going, chime in over in the Meet-ups group: https://www.librarything.com/topic/351630

It's Sunday night!

Not a lot went on during the week again. It was hot and rainy. We really really needed the rain but I could do without the humidity. Wednesday I grabbed a very quick lunch with Zoe and Mark in between meetings. It was so nice of them to come all the way to my neighborhood so I could see them.

Friday I took the morning off and went on a behind-the-scenes tour of the bird house, just for volunteers. Very fun to see the food-prep areas and learn about how medications are administered and see the incubators. I got to meet a Guam Kingfisher who is blind and so can't be on exhibit (the new bird house does not focus on non-migratory birds anymore but she is too blind to be moved to a different zoo) and see a Northern Mockingbird open a puzzle box.

Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning I was dog-sitting at my brother's house. It was hot out and I was very cranky because my ear hurt so the dog and I just vegged out on the couch and watched a ton of TV. I also did a ton of my laundry to take advantage of the free washer & dryer.

Today I went to the clinic to get my ears cleaned out and they feel much better. Then I baked a cake for my coworker's birthday tomorrow. I ended up with a mostly-full can of evaporated milk so I made pasta for dinner with the rest of it, parmesan, and lemon. Emptied the dishwasher, and filled the dishwasher.

This week I'm going to see a local production of Sweeney Todd on Friday. It's gotten bad reviews but I've never seen Sweeney Todd on stage so I'm excited anyway. It's at a theater that is pretty convenient to me but I have never been to before, so I'm also excited for that reason. Saturday is the book club meeting so I'll need to be finished with The Lady and the Panda by then.

Currently reading:
I'm using my ear issues as an excuse for why I didn't read much last week
Reviews behind: 9 (3 adult, 5 picture)

Currently playing:
Still on Pokemon Sword hiatus but I'll be back at it this week. I'm really enjoying my new strategy of only using pokemon that are new to this game. It's interesting but not too restrictive.

Currently watching:
This weekend the dog and I watched ALL of season 5, the final season, of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. There's so much about the show that I enjoy but the overall plot just so often doesn't make any sense. Particularly Midge's career. The entirety of the show (flash-forwards aside) takes place over only THREE YEARS and we're supposed to feel like she's put in her time and really deserves her big break? And every time even one single thing doesn't go exactly the way she wants it to she throws a fit and it seems like we're supposed to feel bad for her. Overall I liked this season better than some of the others. And each individual scene was really wonderful, it just felt like they didn't fit together well.
The Testi-Roastial was my favorite episode, incredible stuff.

I finished rewatching s1 of The Bear and watched the first episode of s2. Caught up on Silo, How I Met Your Father, Cruel Summer, The Other Two, Gotham Knights, Superman & Lois, Platonic, and The Clearing. I watched the first episode of the British crime drama Ridley as presented on PBS but I think it was technically only half an episode. I watched the first episode of Marvel's Secret Invasion which was kind of blah. It's hard for anything Avengers-y to have real stakes anymore, especially from the first episode.

>86 norabelle414: Glad your ears are feeling better, and I hope you enjoy Sweeney Todd more than the reviews would suggest!

Your behind the scenes tour at the zoo sounds really cool (even if birds do freak me out a little).

Like Foggi, I'm hoping your show this week is better than the reviews say it is.

Also, must remember to come back here and read your thoughts on Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It might be a while before I get there though, as Outlander and Doctor Who are top of the priority list for my viewing choice nights. :)

>86 norabelle414: How are you enjoying How I Met Your Father? I loved the original series (HIMYMother), but I never even started the spinoff. Is there any link between the two, or is it just the same basic premise?

>87 foggidawn: Thanks foggi! I'm sure I will enjoy it since I have nothing to compare it to.

>88 MickyFine: I'll be happy to talk about it whenever you get to it! I listened to the corresponding episodes of the podcast Maisel Goys (sequel to Gilmore Guys) but they rushed through the episodes 3 at a time so I found it unsatisfying.

>89 PlatinumWarlock: I've only seen a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother, and it was not my kind of humor. I started How I Met Your Father because it has a lot of actors that I like (Hilary Duff, Francia Raisa, Chris Lowell) and I enjoy it a lot. I don't care at all who the "father" will end up being, it's just a fun hangout sitcom with queer characters and characters of color and very minimal sexism. There are some connections to the original show - they run into characters a couple times - but mostly they're unrelated.

>90 norabelle414: Good to know, Nora - thanks! I deeply appreciate efforts to make shows with queer characters and characters of color, and even though Barney (on HIMYM, played by Neil Patrick Harris) was hilarious, he tended towards plenty of sexism - ironically, given Harris' own orientation. I always like to have a sitcom in the rotation, so I'll check it out.

>86 norabelle414:
lunch with Zoe and Mark
Aww.
behind-the-scenes tour of the bird house
That sounds very cool.

>91 PlatinumWarlock: Yeah...I don't expect my shows to be perfect but there's something so relaxing about watching a low-key show that knows non-straight, non-white people exist and gender roles are a construct. I feel like I don't have to have my guard up. (Grand Crew has also been a good one for this, but alas it has been cancelled)

>92 qebo: Hi qebo!

Good morning afternoon!

I'm in the office again today, and I've decided to try out going into the office three days a week instead of 2. This week I'll be in Mon-Tue-Wed, then next week has the holiday on Tuesday so that will be a weird week. Looking forward to leaving my computer at the office for two whole evenings.

Very weird weather yesterday, as there were violent storms forecasted that had everyone on edge (a bunch of my coworkers left work early) that materialized in the form of lightning without a drop of rain.

Yesterday I tried taking a nap right after work again but I didn't manage to fall asleep before I started doomscrolling, whoops! I'll try again today.

During the pandemic I started going to the grocery store in mid-morning since I was working from home. A great time to go because everything is nicely stocked and the counters are manned, but the crowds are low. Because I will be at the office three days now I went to to the grocery store late last night. No crowds but some of the shelves were bare. I might try a little earlier in the evening, or switching to Friday mornings (though that would mess with my meal planning schedule).

Today's project is to switch from my old planner to my new one (I like to use an academic-style calendar because December and January are already too overwhelming)

Currently reading:
Read a few pages of The Lady and the Panda on the bus yesterday, about 35 to go.
Reviews behind: 9 (3 adult, 5 picture)

Currently playing:
Yesterday I bought the video game version of Wingspan, which is currently on sale for 50% off on Steam. I've always wanted to play the board game but have never had a chance so this will have to do.

Currently watching:
I'm re-watching a bunch of shows I like in preparation for upcoming new seasons, so yesterday I rewatched a few episodes of s2 of Reservation Dogs and s1e1 of Warrior (which will be the slowest since some of it is not in English so I have to pay attention).

Ooh, a Wednesday update! I'm in the office today as I try to transition to 3 days a week.

Yesterday we did finally get some rain, after a few days of threats. I should have gone to the library to drop off an overdue book but I knew I was going to have a hold ready for pick up today or tomorrow so I put it off. Now today the air is full of smoke again and everyone is being recommended to stay inside. Tomorrow and Friday the library is only open 10-5 so I might not be able to pick up my hold until Saturday afternoon.

I had the last of Sunday's leftover pasta for dinner last night. Not sure what I'll do tonight but I probably need to clean out my fridge. Maybe a sandwich.

Currently reading:
Still chugging along in The Lady and the Panda. The ending is quite sad compared to the frothy and thrilling beginning. Ruth Harkness has spent several months almost completely alone in the western Chinese wilderness, lost a panda (for which she will never forgive herself) and is trying to get out of China and back home in the middle of the Nanjing Massacre.
Next week I'll start I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong, the next book club book.
Reviews behind: 9 (3 adult, 5 picture)

Currently playing:
I played a little bit of Wingspan on the computer, it's very complicated but fun

Currently listening:
One of my favorite podcasts, Stuff the British Stole is back for a third season! I'm excited to listen.

Currently watching:
Getting serious about my rewatch of Warrior so I watched s1e2-5 yesterday.

>95 norabelle414: I love Wingspan. I have the Steam version, not Tabletop. I also have a monthly planner with illustrations from the game.

>96 libraryperilous: I gifted the tabletop version to my mom and her husband a few years ago so I've seen how beautiful the art is but I wasn't expecting it to be equally beautiful on the computer! I love the animations. Once I figure out how to add friends on Steam (I'm very much a solo gamer) we should play some time!

Wingspan is great! I mostly play the tabletop version but a friend and I were in a very boring meeting a while back and we may have played the app version on my friend's phone to keep ourselves entertained.

>95 norabelle414: Did you get your hold? Mine go back on the shelves way too often. 🤣😂

>98 MickyFine: *Gasp!!*

>99 The_Hibernator: I did! I'm often tempted to let them go back on the shelves since I know I'm not going to read them, but the whole reason I put library books on hold is so that I'll have to go for a walk so I should probably do so.

Monday once again.

Friday I went to see a local production of Sweeney Todd, which as I mentioned above had gotten bad reviews. I enjoyed the production just fine (Mrs. Lovett was incredible, Johanna was great but it was the same actress I just saw as Jane Doe in Ride the Cyclone a few months ago and it was hard to unsee her in that role) but had a problem I hadn't anticipated - the chairs were incredibly uncomfortable. The armrest was less than an inch wide, there was no back support, and I felt like I was going to slip onto the floor at any minute. I will probably go see some other productions at this theater, because it is quite close to me, but cautiously. I also had an annoying time getting around the area because it's supposed to mimic a small town "main street", which means that the cars drive slow but still dominate the area and there are no traffic lights because that might make it seem too urban. My bus had to drop me off in the middle of an intersection because there were several cars parked in the bus stop. Also during COVID the restaurants on the street increased their outdoor dining by taking over the sidewalk, which means pedestrians need to walk in the protected bike lanes in the street. So not as convenient as I thought it would be, even if it's physically close. I wish they would just close the street to cars!
The theater is right next to a different branch of my county library so I dropped off my several-days-overdue library book while I was there.

Saturday I went out to buy bagels from my bagel place that only operates on weekend mornings. Then I had the Saturday meeting of the book club I run. No one had RSVPed for this meeting but I logged in just in case and indeed, no one showed up. I goofed around at home during the hottest part of the day and then walked to my branch of the library and picked up my hold. I had hoped a second hold would be ready but alas. It's ready today, of course.

Sunday I wanted to go to the Folklife Festival, a huge annual festival on the National Mall, but I didn't have the motivation. Hopefully I'll go next weekend.

Today I'm in the office by myself. We don't have today off but my boss is not requiring anyone to come into the office like usual (and some people are taking leave, of course). I had a rough-ish morning - I forgot my coffee and breakfast at home (I bought breakfast from the deli at work and it was delicious), the shuttle driver was having a loud conversation so I couldn't read (I listened to podcasts - not the end of the world), the elevator was out of order, and my computer didn't want to start. I should have just stayed home ... except that I'm very excited to leave my computer at work over the holiday.

Tomorrow I'm planning to go to the grocery store early in the day, and then I'm going to do nothing. This week I have the Wednesday meeting of my book club, which 4 people have RSVPed to so far. I also need to sign my lease renewal. My rent is "only" going up $50/month which is pretty good for this area.

Currently reading:
Finished The Lady and the Panda! I loved it. And the endnotes were spectacular - every sentence, from the weather on particular days to emotions a character was feeling, is extensively sourced from personal letters, contemporary newspaper articles, and interviews. There are also some short anecdotes and details in the endnotes, which Croke says she could not fit into the story but wanted to make sure they were included in the book as they had never before been published. How thoughtful.
I'm currently reading Season of Love by Helena Greer, a winter romance which I grabbed off the featured books shelf at the library and might actually finish before winter.
Reviews behind: 11 (5 adult, 6 picture) (something must be done about this)

Currently playing:
Back into Pokemon Sword. The first time I played I didn't really understand the Wild Area and it was too scary and so I skipped it, and came back after I was the champion (which meant every pokemon was level 60). This time I'm using the Wild Area as I go along, as intended, and it's much more interesting. I am currently trying to catch a certain pokemon (Cufant) but it's only available in particular weather so I have to check back every day.

Currently listening:
I just listened to the second-to-last episode ever of the podcast Witch Please! The end of an era, but I'm very excited for their next show, Material Girls, which will use the same critical lenses to examine other, non-Harry Potter, media.

Currently watching:
I finished rewatching all of Warrior and watched the first 3 episodes of s3. Now a week behind on most other shows, so I'm alternating my rewatch of The Witcher and catching up. The first time I watched s1 of The Witcher I had not engaged with anything Witcher-related before, the second time I had played The Witcher 3 video game, and this time I have played the game and read The Last Wish and you know what? The last two episodes of s1 are still a slog. The global politics are not explained well and having two whole episodes revolve around them is a snooze. Everything else about s1 is still great, though.
I watched the series finale of The Other Two. It was a really lovely sendoff, even though the audience didn't know it was going to be the series finale until about a week beforehand. I liked where the characters ended up, and that they were able to finally find balance. I enjoyed it, even in light of recent news about the production being a hostile work environment.
I also started a new show Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper, a reality show about birds in the US. The first episode about Puerto Rico was good, but the second episode about New York City was wonderful.

>97 norabelle414: That would be fun, as soon as we figure out the technology! FYI: I have zero competitive genes, unless I'm playing Clue. :)

>102 libraryperilous: I'm very much not competitive also. I like games where I can do my best but I don't worry about whether I win or lose

Catching up on a few reviews so I'm slightly less behind:



3. Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do you See? {board book} by Bill Martin, Jr., illustrated by Eric Carle

Various animals in various colors. Simple, with beautiful illustrations by Eric Carle (of The Little Hungry Caterpillar) and great rhymes.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)



4. Llama Llama Nighty-Night {board book} written and illustrated by Anna Dewdney

A baby llama gets ready for bed, going through their bedtime routine before their mom tucks them in.

Great for reading before bed, very soothing.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)



5. Otto the Loyal Long Dog by Clover Beechwood

Otto can’t keep up with the other dogs because his legs are very short. But then, one of the dogs falls in the creek and Otto is the only one who can save the dog, because he’s so long.

This is the second book I’ve read from the JellyCat company, exclusive books that come packaged with stuffed animals. The books are not great. Nothing specifically is wrong with them, they just don’t really have a coherent story. Based on images online there seem to be two different authors credited, and no information about the illustrator at all. They’re treated (and listed on Amazon) as toys, not books.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ (3/5)

>101 norabelle414: I hope you're having a great day off, Nora.

Glad to hear the Sweeney Todd production was good even if the theatre itself was less than ideal.

Also so pleased to see you loved your latest non-fiction read so much. Good endnotes/footnotes are some of my favourite things.

>105 MickyFine: Thanks Micky!

It's a weird Wednesday. Having a holiday on a Tuesday is just incredibly awkward. Yesterday felt like a Sunday and I woke up this morning confused because my usual Monday morning podcasts weren't posted.

Monday (real Monday) after work I picked up another library hold which means I have 6 books out from the library right now. One of them is a big fat non-fiction book that I have not cracked a page of and another is a romance I'm halfway through, both of which are about to run out of renewals, so they will be headed back soon. 3 of the books are graphic novels, which I always like in theory but don't really enjoy reading. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach (or wherever it is the words go when you read them) but if I'm getting a little walk and the library is getting circulation then no harm done, right?

I had big plans for Tuesday which involved...treating it like a normal work day. I was going to get up at my normal going-into-the-office time, shower, eat breakfast, go to the grocery store, get some reading done, etc. Then, the fire alarm went off at 2:30am. I had to evacuate, stand around outside for half an hour, then walk back up 7 flights of stairs. I didn't get back to sleep until well after 4 due to adrenaline, so I slept in on Tuesday.

Today I'm back in the office, and tonight I have a book club meeting.

Tomorrow a friend-of-a-friend is coming to town so we're all getting dinner at a trendy restaurant. Nothing else planned this week!

I'll be back to post what I'm reading and watching later tonight

>107 norabelle414: I always check out and read a more than I can actually handle. But I always do so because you never know what books are gonna stick and which will be DNFed. So, I think there's no harm at all in what you're doing as long as everything gets returned in a decent time ^^

>107 norabelle414: Speaking as a librarian, check out as many books as you want! I'm sure your library appreciates the circulation figures.

>107 norabelle414: I definitely agree with Foggi. When it comes to physical material, check out as much as you like. Besides the circulation boost, it also lets us know our cardholders are still interested in the content.

I have COVID but I'll be back soon.

>111 norabelle414: Ah sorry, Nora. Hope it stays mild and you're feeling better soon.

>111 norabelle414: Oh no!

Oh no!! Hope you feel better soon.

>111 norabelle414: Oh no :0
I'm so sorry, and hope the worst of it passes soon!

Catching up on more reviews:



6. Bird Brother: A Falconer's Journey and the Healing Power of Wildlife by Rodney Stotts and Kate Pipkin

Growing up in Southeast Washington DC in the late 80s/early 90s, Rodney Stotts dealt drugs and got into trouble, as did most young black men like him. On the side, however, he always had a passion for animals and the environment. First helping with a transformative clean-up of the Anacostia River, then ending up in prison on drug-related crimes, today Stotts is one of the few Black master falconers in the United States. His life story is alternated with contemporary scenes of teaching falconry to his adult son and working to build a farm for city kids to visit.

A really thoughtful, meaningful little book. Stotts is very matter-of-fact about the lack of opportunity that led him to drug dealing and prison, and the things that he saw and dealt with even while he was doing all of the “right” things. The ghostwriter did an excellent job - the sections set in the past are more polished while Stotts’ voice shines through in the introspective contemporary chapters. Highly recommended to anyone who thinks it sounds interesting, particularly anyone else from the DC area.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (4.5/5)



7. Slow Horses by Mick Herron, audiobook narrated by Gerard Doyle

Slough House is home of those unceremoniously dumped by MI5, presided over by Jackson Lamb, the head fuckup. Don’t call them a found family, because they don’t like each other. Through their endless toil of gruntwork they accidentally crack the case of a far-right politician’s involvement in the kidnapping of a muslim teen. But what are the chances that this bunch of rejects could really solve a case that spies in good standing could not?

Not my usual kind of thing but I’ve seen the TV show so it went down real smooth. I think without that I would have found the constant change of perspective to be very confusing in audio. I was surprised that River Cartwright was presented as the main character, because he’s the most boring.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (3.5/5)



8. Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, illustrated by Patrick Benson

Three baby owls wait in their nest for their mom to come home. The youngest one is the most annoying (and thus my niece’s favorite).

Really nice short picture book with big, clear illustrations. Just repetitive enough and not too scary. One owl is much less scared than the other two, and the mom does come home pretty quickly.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)



9. Eat Up, Bear by Terry Pierce {board book}, illustrated by Nadja Sarell

Various families who are camping learn about how to keep their campsites bear-proof so that bears can eat only what they are supposed to eat.

Really nice lightly-cartoon bears illustrate a great book. Does a perfect job of talking frankly about keeping campsites bear-proof without going into too much detail. Emphasizes that there are lots of yummy things in nature that bears SHOULD eat so that kids don’t feel bad for the bears.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (4.5/5)



10. Peek-a-Who {board book} written and illustrated by Nina Laden

Phrases that rhyme with “peek-a-boo” (e.g. “peek-a zoo”)

Very cute! The rhymes combined with the cutouts is great for anticipation.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

How'd the COVID go?

Thanks for checking up on me Mary, qebo, Natalie, Angela, and Rachel! I'm not 100% yet but doing okay. Going to post a few more reviews and then a life update and then some more reviews!

11. Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don't Want to Forget to Remember by Lauren Graham, audiobook narrated by Lauren Graham

A few unconnected stories about being an actress, especially during the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perfectly fine but very short, there’s not a lot here. To be honest I was mostly looking for gossip about why her long-term relationship ended but there’s only a passing mention. A few hours listening to Lauren Graham’s voice is never misspent, but her other work is better.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (3.5/5)



12. Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms by Eugenia Bone

A food writer learns all about mushrooms, from foraging to cooking to psychedelic use and everything else. She becomes a little obsessed.

This was a good choice for a book club as it touched slightly on a lot of different aspects of mushrooms. It definitely made me want to learn more about the biology but I got all I needed about food and mushroom foraging culture. The chapter about mushroom foragers was weirdly racist. The chapter about using mushrooms to lose weight was very eating-disorder-y. Unexpectedly I got the most out of the chapter about psychedelics, because the author was a skeptic and her experience as described was interesting but not really life-changing. That’s much more interesting to me than people who are very enthusiastic. I wish there were more diagrams of mushrooms, instead of just blurry black-and-white photographs. I did learn some fun facts and I will definitely be seeking out more books about mushrooms, but not more books about this author (who I'm sure is a very good food writer).

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (3.5/5)

Happy Monday, I'm working from home all this week since I'm still testing positive.

Thursday before last I went out to dinner with some friends and their friend who was visiting from out of town. (Tested negative for COVID beforehand.) This friend is always interested in the trendiest "hole-in-the-wall" restaurants so it's fun to pick someplace to go when she visits. We went to Tiger Fork, a Chinese restaurant in an historic alley known for its garage door art. The next day during breaks from work I dusted my apartment and cleaned the inside of my vacuum, and in the process accidentally inhaled a huge glob of dust?? I had trouble breathing later in the evening but tested negative for COVID so didn't think anything of it.
Saturday morning I was still having trouble breathing but no other symptoms and tested negative again so I assumed it was the dust I inhaled and went to the (thankfully outdoors) Smithsonian Folklife Festival. This year's themes were the Ozarks and various religions in the US. When I got home in the early afternoon I was still having trouble breathing so I went to bed and slept for 13 hours!

Sunday I had fever, coughing, a gross taste in my mouth, and alternating chills and hot flashes. Finally tested positive for COVID. Let my office know I would be on leave for at least 2 days, cancelled dinner with my dad and brother, let everyone I had seen in the last week know that they should get tested (one of the friends I saw on Thursday/Saturday also tested positive on Sunday but the other two never did) and went back to sleep. I slept basically until Wednesday. I still don't know if the trouble breathing on Friday/Saturday was from COVID or just a coincidence. Pretty disheartening if it was COVID only and I tested negative THREE TIMES in three days.

Since then I've just had the symptoms of a bad cold (coughing and sore throat but no fever or chills) but still testing positive so I'm still isolating and taking it easy. The company that delivers toilet paper and snacks and cat litter right to my apartment door also delivers bread and random fresh vegetables so that's what I've been living off of (not exactly hardship, I know, but I do miss milk and ice cream). I've been incredibly productive at work because the pressure to get *everything* done is off, and it turns out if you just get a few things done and then take a nap it adds up. Yesterday was my dad's birthday and he and my brother and niece went to a new art museum. I snuck outside late last night for a little walk and thankfully didn't run into anyone in the elevator.

As I mentioned above I'm still testing positive, and still have minor symptoms so I am teleworking all this week. I'm supposed to be dog-sitting this coming weekend which I will probably try to do even if I am still positive. It will be nice to stay at my brother's house where I can go outside whenever I want without putting anyone else at risk.

Currently reading:
Something in me clicked on Thursday evening and I sat down and just....read a book for hours? I lost track of time and suddenly it was 200 pages later and the book was finished and it was dark outside. For the first time in 3.5 years I didn't have to worry about getting COVID and spreading COVID. I've finished Season of Love, read 100 pages of I Contain Multitudes, 100 pages of An Unkindness of Ghosts, 75 pages of Bea Wolf, and the entirety of The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich.
Reviews behind: 0!

Currently crafting:
Nada

Currently playing:
I'm a couple gyms ahead of the podcast in Pokemon Sword, so on a break.

Currently watching:
Caught up on everything (of what's left, anyway). Ridley, a British show about a retired detective who is sad because his wife and daughter died, is okay. I finished the final season of Never Have I Ever, the ending was good. I watched all of season 2 of The Bear (It was good but I still don't understand why they would want to start a fancy restaurant). I finished Gotham Knights, which has been cancelled, and Superman & Lois, which has been renewed. Platonic was enjoyable all the way through, as was How I Met Your Father. The Clearing was fine but too much happened at the very end. Silo remained a good adaptation of Wool, and it's been renewed. Still watching Warrior, Cruel Summer, Grown-ish, The Witcher, and Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper (the Washington DC episode is fantastic! Featuring Rodney Stotts from >116 norabelle414:!). I started Moonshine (estranged sister from the Big City inherits half of small town family business), DI Ray (Pakistani-Brit police detective has to deal with microaggressions all day), season 2 of Family Law (a progressive, lightly funny law procedural), season 8 of Grantchester (extremely annoying time jump), and I rewatched all of What We Do in the Shadows and started season 5. I watched the first episode each of Full Circle, Glamorous, and Survival of the Thickest, but none of them spoke to me.

Glad to hear you are starting to feel better! I have no faith in rapid tests at this point. Tim was testing negative the day I took him to the ER because he couldn't breathe. I don't think he tested positive on a rapid test until 3-4 days after initial symptoms, so pretty similar to you.

Love that you went on a reading kick :)

Hope you keep feeling better!!

>121 curioussquared: Thanks Natalie!
For a long time there was a COVID testing kiosk in the parking lot of the nearby library, which would have been a great resource for me last week. But of course it disappeared as soon as the "national emergency" was over in May. Amazing how few resources there are now, while people are still getting sick.

13. The Lady and the Panda by Vicki Constantine Croke

Young newlywed socialite Ruth Harkness hoped to join her husband on his excursion to central China to bring to the US the world’s rarest bear - the Giant Panda. Unfortunately he died in a Shanghai hospital, so she has to do it herself. Through a combination of risk-taking, preparedness, and mostly luck, Harkness successfully brought a baby Giant Panda to Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo in 1936 and returned to China two more times to try again.

My expectations for this book were very low but I absolutely loved it. It's hard to have a lot of sympathy for a rich socialite during the Great Depression but she was very progressive in her views on and treatment of animals, and significantly less racist against the Chinese people than most of her contemporaries.This story should definitely be a movie - it has the perfect villain in an older white male explorer who is kind of going off the deep end and focusing all of his hubris on misogyny against Ruth and spreading lies that she bought her baby panda from him instead of finding it herself, as well as a young Chinese explorer that Ruth has a secret affair with while trekking into the mountains. I learned a great deal about China in the 1930s, as Ruth’s second and third expeditions were stymied by the Nanking Massacre and its aftermath.

In particular, the endnotes of this book were spectacular - every sentence, from the weather on particular days to emotions a character was feeling, is extensively sourced from personal letters, contemporary newspaper articles, and interviews. There are also some short anecdotes and details in the endnotes, which Croke says she could not fit into the story but wanted to make sure they were included in the book as they had never before been published. How thoughtful.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (4.5/5)



14. Season of Love by Helena Greer

When her aunt dies, Miriam Blum goes from her perfect new life in Charleston, SC back to upstate New York to see her long-estranged family. Noelle Northwood had carved out a comfortable niche for herself at the Christmas tree farm of Miriam’s aunt but that all comes crashing down when the two women find the farm has been left to …. Both of them? How could a bisexual Jew and a lesbian alcoholic-in-recovery possibly run a Christmas tree farm-slash-inn together when they can’t stand to even be in the same room???

Not particularly strong characterization and definitely not my favorite romance, but you know what? I read the last 2/3rds of it in one sitting and I haven’t been able to do that in years so that’s worth a whole extra star.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (4.5/5)



15. The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich written and illustrated by Deya Muniz

Lady Camembert can’t inherit her father’s estate due to being a woman, so she disguises herself as a man. Now-Count Camembert is integrating very well into society, including getting cozy with Crown Princess Brie of Fromage. So why hasn’t he proposed?

Very cute and fluffy. Enjoy the cheese puns and the part where Regency characters are occasionally casually playing a Nintendo Switch, but don’t look too closely at the logic of the story (women inheriting property is a huge deal but two women getting married is not? huh?). Definitely for fans of The Prince and the Dressmaker.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

Good morning! Still testing positive today but the line is very faint so I'm hopeful I might be negative by Thursday. Still coughing and sneezing.

Yesterday evening I snuck out to go for a walk and return some library books (ones I actually read, for a change!). We're in a code-red air quality alert, though, so it wasn't a particularly pleasant walk. Later I was brushing my hair and I flipped over a chunk and found...a big streak of gray?? How long has that been there?? I don't have any issues with going gray but its disconcerting to find so much so unexpectedly. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't there before last month's conference.....

I've been working on an inventory of my books, something I used to do once a year or so but haven't done since COVID started. It's been very dusty, which I don't love, but I have only done one row across (~7.5 feet) and already pulled out about 15 books to get rid of. Not sure what I'm going to do with them since my apartment complex doesn't have a weekly book swap anymore but I'll figure something out.

Today I have an important work meeting this afternoon, then in the evening a friend is going to swing by so I can give him some of my extra zucchini (I got a lot in my grocery delivery and I don't love it)

Currently reading:
Read about 50 pages of An Unkindness of Ghosts. It's interesting, but nothing is really happening so far.
Reviews behind: 0!

Currently crafting:
Nothing

Currently playing:
Nothing

Currently watching:
Looked at my spreadsheet of things to watch yesterday and there's just ... basically nothing. Season 2 of Heartstopper is coming in a couple weeks so I'll probably rewatch season 1.

I hope you feel better soon, Nora!

The Lady and the Panda sounds great, especially the care the author took with anecdotes. I have the cheese GN on my TBR already. It sounds fun.

Sorry you are sick! I'm halfway through season 2 of The Bear and really enjoying it. I fear Morgan and I may be saying "I'm not like this because I'm in Van Halen, I'm in Van Halen because I'm like this" to each other for a while.

>125 libraryperilous: Thanks Diana! The cheese pun graphic novel is super fun.

>126 ursula: Thanks Ursula! I enjoyed spending more time with the characters from The Bear, even if I didn't like season 2 quite as much as season 1.

Feeling kind of blah today. I don't feel like I'm getting any better and it's annoying me.

Yesterday after work I had very bad sinus pain so I took a nap, then I walked to the library and picked up a hold. I'm at more than 2x the CDC-recommended isolation period and I haven't had a fever in a week so I feel okay about briefly going indoors with a KN95 on. My friend stopped by so I could give him my extra zucchinis. I also have lots of cucumbers but I like those more and they're more versatile.

Today after work I did pretty much nothing. I picked up a package from the office that had arrived while I was very sick (just a coffee delivery, nothing exciting), did the dishes, caught up on podcasts, painted my nails, goofed around on the internet. I was planning to go to the grocery store after dinner but procrastinated too long. Maybe I'll go tomorrow. I have a very long list because I have been eating down my supplies, but I have a lot of supplies so it's not that urgent.

Tomorrow....no plans.

Currently reading:
I read some of An Unkindness of Ghosts yesterday but none so far today. Going to try to read a little bit before bed, though that's not really when I like to read.
Reviews behind: 0!

Currently crafting:
Nothing

Currently playing:
Nothing

Currently watching:
Nothing

Happy Friday! I'm posting from my phone, which is not usually something I do but we'll see how it goes.

Yesterday I tested negative for COVID! Finally! I'm still really phlegmy though. I went to the grocery store and bought some expectorant medicine but i didn't notice it make a difference. After work I read some and then went down a rabbit hole. I was listening to Death Cab for Cutie in preparation for a concert I'm going to in September and started thinking about all the old mix CDs I made in high school that I still have in the closet despite not having anything to play them on, and then ended up recreating them as Spotify playlists. They are ... mostly good. But some real stinkers in there.

I'm dog-sitting at my brother's this weekend (hence the posting from my phone), and hoping that the mandatory exercise will help me kick the last of this cough. I'd also like to get to the Container Store this weekend, which is not too far from my brother's house, to look at a better cake carrier than the one I have.

Currently reading:
I'm about 75% through An Unkindness of Ghosts. I brought it with me to my brother's, as well as I Contain Multitudes.
Reviews behind: 0!

Currently crafting:
Nothing, but I brought some socks with me.

Currently playing:
Nothing

Currently watching:
Haven't been watching much but I should have less distractions at my brother's. (Yes, I get distracted from tv!)
He has Amazon Prime, which I don't, so I'm starting with a re-watch of season one of Good Omens and see what I'm in the mood for after that.

Sorry to hear you got the spicy cough but glad to hear you're on the mend.

Congrats on getting caught up on all your reviews!

>130 MickyFine: Thank you! I feel so much freer to read now that I don't have a bunch of reviews hanging over me

A nice day today!

I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night. I had too optimistically not brought any NyQuil with me to my brother's house and something about laying down really triggered my cough.

This morning I thought I would be smart and take the dog to the dog park early before I showered or put on real clothes, and it would be empty because who on earth would get up and go to the dog park so early on a Saturday?

The answer is: dog people. Dog people take their dog to the dog park so early on a Saturday. It was packed! I huddled in the corner and hoped no one noticed me. This is why I don't have a dog.

After breakfast I went back to my house, showered, doted on the cat, and grabbed the NyQuil. Then I went to the Container Store, which is near my brother's house. I was looking for a good cake carrier for when I take cake into the office but the only ones they had were ENORMOUS, much larger than they seemed online. I'm glad I went in person. If anyone has a recommendation for a secure round cake carrier from somewhere besides Amazon, let me know!

I stopped at a Mexican restaurant for dinner and ate outside with my book. The weather was nice today for a change!

Tomorrow my brother comes back and I head home. Not sure when, though.

Currently reading:
Almost finished with An Unkindness of Ghosts. An interesting book though not a lot happens.
I also got a notice that my copy of the audiobook of Andrew Rannells's memoir Uncle of the Year is expiring in a couple days so I listened to a lot of that on the bus. I had to pause because I got to a sad part that I didn't want to listen to in public, though. It's only 5 hours long so I'm about 80% finished already.

Currently playing:
I downloaded the new Pokemon Sleep app for my phone and it, like most Pokemon apps, is weirdly complicated and mostly pointless. Can't say I recommend.

Currently watching:
Rewatched a couple more episodes of Good Omens and the newest episode of What We Do in the Shadows, which just gets weirder and gayer.

>132 norabelle414: Wait is it actually called Container Store???

>133 MickyFine: It sure is! I actually don't find them as impressive as they could be, I think they're bad at displays. It's just a store full of empty boxes and baskets. But nice if you already know what you're looking for!

>132 norabelle414: dog people
Haha. Another reminder of the fundamental division.

>133 MickyFine: is it actually called
Yes! I got my bookcases from The Container Store, online as I don't have feasible access to a physical store. They've held up well.

>135 qebo: No cat would ever make their owner go outside and socialize with people at 7:30am!

>136 norabelle414: Exactly.

>136 norabelle414: No, but said cat probably has awakened their owner between 4 and 5 am when the daily tragedy, Down to Merely Several Pieces of Food in the Bowl, occurs.

16. Uncle of the Year & Other Debatable Triumphs {audiobook} written and narrated by Andrew Rannells

Tony-nominated Broadway star Andrew Rannells tells stories about his life: auditioning for shows, relationships that did not last forever, mistakes he's made, and being the gay, single, New York City uncle to his ten nieces and nephews.

A fairly typical actor memoir in the form of a series of essays. I picked this one up because I was looking for some uncle/aunt content, but really only the last essay is about being an uncle. It's a good one, though! I also enjoyed his thoughts on his struggles during the beginning of the pandemic, as a single person who lives alone. All of it was an enjoyable way to spend a few hours, and he did a great job narrating.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (4/5)

>138 libraryperilous: I've discovered the trick to this one, which is that I feed my cat right before I go to bed! Not only does he not wake me up in the morning, but he also yells at me to go to bed if I'm up too late goofing around.

Back in the office today. I have a little bit of a cough still but it's not been too bothersome.

Yesterday I continued to dog-sit in the morning, then headed home around noon. Unpacked and vegged out for the rest of the day.

Not much going on this week. If I continue to feel fine I'm going to get oysters with my dad after work on Thursday. Might go see Barbie at some point.

Currently reading:
Finished Uncle of the Year and reviewed it, see >139 norabelle414:. Have not read more of An Unkindness of Ghosts but might be able to finish it today if I'm feeling up to it.
Reviews behind: 0!

Currently playing:
Nothing

Currently listening:
I just listened to a great episode of the podcast Decoder Ring called "The Great Parmesan Cheese Debate" about the debate over which Parmesan cheese is more authentic: Italy or Wisconsin (spoiler, it's neither).

Currently watching:
Finished rewatching Good Omens, watched the first two episodes of The Power, which were great! When I got home I caught up on Grown-ish, Cruel Summer, The Afterparty, Ridley, Grantchester, the final episode of Extraordinary Birder (great!), and s3e5 of The Witcher (a good episode but any time Netflix divides a season into two parts I'm inevitably disappointed).

>140 norabelle414: Good idea!

I'm not much of a TV watcher, but Extraordinary Birder sounds fab. A lot of the shows you watch sound interesting, but I'm not great about investing in full seasons of things.

>142 libraryperilous: Extraordinary Birder is really great, and you can definitely just watch the episodes you want, there's no seriality to it at all. I particularly liked the New York City, Washington DC, and Alabama episodes. It's on Disney+ and Hulu and National Geographic, so hopefully you can find it somewhere!

I have a spreadsheet that keeps track of TV for me, which makes it easier.

Well I was just about to post that today was a boring day but then there was a fire in my work building and we had to evacuate out to the parking lot in 90 degree weather for an hour. Everything is fine now and I'm back inside, but I've decided I'd rather have the boring day!

Yesterday I was planning to stop by the library on my way home and drop off an overdue book, but I was coughing a lot so I went home instead. I figured I could go on my way home today instead, but now that I've been standing outside in the heat.....maybe I won't.

>144 norabelle414: Wow! That is definitely not the kind of exciting day you want to have. I totally understand the urge to go straight home and flop on soft furniture after that!

I'm certain that the second time I caught COVID I tested negative after symptoms already started. I had a terrible headache, and had been exposed, but negative test. 3 days later I was positive. Also, I'm certain my stepson had COVID and gave it to his sister, based on severity of illness and timing of her catching COVID. So false negatives may be fairly common. Anyway, if you tested you did the best you could. 🤷‍♀️

>145 MickyFine: Any excuse to flop onto soft furniture is a good one! No one was hurt and there was almost no damage (though I'm still not sure what exactly happened) and now I know what an actual emergency looks like here (we're a controlled-access building and we don't get to use the emergency doors for evacuation drills) so not too bad overall.

>146 The_Hibernator: I think I did everything I could once I was already infected, but there's still a lot our society could be doing to keep people from getting sick that they are not. Thank goodness I had been hoarding tests while they were still free from my insurance company early this year, since I ended up using about 8 tests through the whole illness.

Last day in the office this week.

Yesterday when I got home I was quite cranky. I tried to take a nap after work but it didn't work.

Today is the beginning of a 4-day long heatwave in my area so I don't think this overdue library book is going back this afternoon. Maybe tonight if I decide to take a late-night walk.

Tomorrow I'm going to an oyster happy hour with my dad, Friday I'm going to see Barbie.

Currently reading:
I did read a bit more of An Unkindness of Ghosts on the bus this morning but I'm lagging! I'm so close and I'd like to finish already! (not that I'm not enjoying it)
My next audiobook is We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole, but it's extremely long so don't expect to see much about it here for awhile.
Reviews behind: 0!

Currently playing:
Nothing, but I should get back into Pokemon Sword

Currently watching:
I was going to rewatch a few episodes of season 1 of Heartstopper yesterday in preparation for season 2 next week, but whoops! I watched it all. Still extremely cute.

Currently listening:
I somehow managed to associate the song Breaking My Heart by Reiley (Denmark's Eurovision entry this year) with Heartstopper in my mind, despite no actual connection between the two. They just give me the same feeling. So now I've had that stuck in my head all day. (Does it count as listening if it's just in your head?)

17. An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Aster is an agricultural laborer of the lowest class on a generation starship, which has spent hundreds of years delivering the last of humanity away from a demolished earth toward a theoretical future. Her proficiency with learning and different way of thinking have gotten her a side-job as assistant to the ship’s head doctor, but have also attracted the attention of the most ruthless of the ruling class. Aster has hope for the future when she finally cracks the code of her dead engineer mother’s journals, but when her antagonist suddenly becomes head of the whole ship she is drawn into a life-or-death conflict.

A fascinating read. The world-building is perfectly vague - while the class system on the ship exactly mimics the slave plantations of the pre-Civil War US, its unclear if it was initially designed that way or developed over time. None of the major characters are typical - their gender, sexual preferences, and neurodivergence all exist somewhere along a spectrum, not at one end or the other. That makes the few pages from other characters’ points of view particularly interesting - we know how Aster feels about her own gender and sexuality, but how is she perceived by others? The writing is also a little off-kilter - the narrative moves from one point to the next, without any dithering about walks down corridors or the thought process behind decisions. It makes the plot move quickly, and also Aster seems like the kind of narrator who would only include the important parts.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (5/5)

>149 norabelle414: I really liked this one too. I'd never read anything like it. But it's been years and it has stuck with me.

I'm glad you're on the mend, Nora!
Both times I had COVID there were lingering symptoms afterward: If I got too excited I would get a bad cough for about a week (and my cardio dipped so bad, le sigh) but everything I'm seeing does seem like you're on the mend.

I feel your heat frustrations too. Illinois is in a BAD way for heat right now. Yesterday reached over 100 and today we're in the 95 to 97 degree range. I very much hope you can find some relief soon!

Happy weekend!

Thursday I went to get oysters with my dad and his neighbor. I carried an umbrella around with me all evening so of course it did not rain at all.

Friday after work I went to see Barbie with some friends. It was a weird evening. I got to the theater first and was people-watching, which was interesting because there was a Drake concert in the same building. There was a woman in the movie theater lobby decked out in American flags asking certain people as they got off the elevator if they were going to see that q-anon movie. (She didn't approach me, I assume because I was wearing a mask). She tried to convince people to get tickets, and if they got/had tickets she gave them a voucher for free popcorn and soda. One of my friends wanted to get popcorn but the concessions line was so long that he couldn't. Gross! Then there was a problem with the sound in our screening and when the movie started instead of audio there was just a horrible screeching sound and we all evacuated until it got fixed.

Barbie, however, was absolutely perfect. Everything I wanted it to be.

Today I was just catching up on TV until noon, when there was a (small, trashcan) fire in my building and we had to evacuate. Better noon than midnight, I guess, but it was very very hot out. I went back inside but a couple hours later there was a storm and my power went out for about an hour. Exciting day, I guess.

Tomorrow I might be going to my friend's house for dinner, not sure.

Currently reading:
I started The House on the Cerulean Sea but it's already a week overdue so I'll probably return it before I finish.
Reviews behind: 0!

Currently playing:
A little Pokemon Sword

Currently watching:
Caught up on Family Law, Moonshine, DI Ray, Cruel Summer, and The Afterparty (as with last season, I don't care much about the overall storyline but I love seeing the different styles for each episode). Started new shows Twisted Metal (bad), Children Ruin Everything (meh), Son of a Critch (meh), and the reboot of Futurama (fine but completely unnecessary).

>151 Ravenwoodwitch: Thanks Angela! I definitely get a cough when I exert myself too.

>152 norabelle414: Glad to hear you enjoyed Barbie. I'm planning to go see it in a couple weeks with my mom.

Another day, another fire in my building!!! Thankfully the weather has broken and it was only 85 degrees with 50% humidity while I waited outside for half an hour, which is practically chilly for DC in the summer.

My friend did not end up grilling out today, which is fine, it's the same group of friends I went to Barbie with so I've seen them recently. I got a lot of chores done - folding and putting away laundry, putting away my weekend bag, returning an overdue book to the library, cooking some old vegetables, throwing away some even older vegetables, etc.

Not much going on this week, but I did win a lottery to buy inexpensive tickets to see the musical Moulin Rouge on Sunday afternoon.

Currently reading:
I read some more of The House on the Cerulean Sea but then returned it to the library. It's in that weird limbo where there are more holds than copies so I can't renew, but almost all of those holds are frozen so I should be able to check it out again in a couple days.
My hold for the audiobook of The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos came in so I started listening to it while doing chores. After about an hour I decided it overlaps too much with I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life, which I am reading for my book club, so I returned the audiobook and put it on hold again. I was number 6 on the list but apparently this book is in holds-list-limbo as well, because I got a notice it was ready for check out about 5 hours later. Thankfully Overdrive has that "deliver later" feature so I deferred for 30 days.
Reviews behind: 0!

Currently playing:
Finishing up the endgame of Pokemon Sword

Currently watching:
Caught up on Warrior, Grown-ish, What We Do in the Shadows, the new season of Harley Quinn, and s3e6 of The Witcher. Finished my rewatch of Reservation Dogs in preparation for the new season.

Quiet day at the office today. We had a staff meeting this afternoon but most people are on (work) travel so it was short.

I recently realized that Eat Up, Bear in >116 norabelle414: was my 500th review posted on LibraryThing! If I had realized that earlier I would have shuffled my reviews to be a cooler book. Somebody remind me in 4 years to pick a cooler book for #600.

I was looking at the lineup for the National Book Festival next month and I'm getting pretty excited.

Currently reading:
Read some of I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life on the bus this morning, but it's not a quick read. I think I have to average about 8 pages a day to finish before the book club meeting, but it's dense!
Reviews behind: 0!

Currently playing:
Nothing yet but the day is young!

Currently watching:
Last night I watched Ridley and Grantchester. This week I'm going to watch a lot of Netflix stuff before my account turns off next Monday.

Congrats on 500 reviews! I should be better about posting them. I always write them on my thread but don't usually remember to put them in my book record, too.

Do Ghosts come in unkindnesses like ravens?

>157 curioussquared: You should! A quick glance at work pages always reminds me that a lot of reviews on LT are not great (either using the review field for something else, or just "I loved this book" with no helpful information) so even poorly-written thoughts can be an improvement

>158 The_Hibernator: I listened to a podcast about this book that discussed that extensively!! It actually refers to an act that the ghosts are doing - an unkind thing/action, done to you by ghosts. It's a weird title and kind of off-putting, imo, but the writing in the book is also weird so maybe it makes sense.

Happy Friday!

Absolutely stunning weather we've had this week. The high yesterday was 79F! I have all the windows open and have been trying to go for extra walks. Perfect timing, as I just paid my electricity bill for June and it was...yikes.

For my job I have to have goals that cannot be "completing the work I am paid to do" so I said I would take an online course in Microsoft Excel this year. I found one through the library, so I have been working on that.

Today I'm going to pop by the library to return some books / pick up a hold. Sunday I'm going to a matinee of Moulin Rouge: The Musical. Next week I'm quite overbooked. I'm going to a wine-tasting with my dad on Tuesday, a play called Cambodian Rock Band on Thursday, a play called The Play That Goes Wrong on Friday, and Saturday the 12th is the National Book Festival. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Hopefully I don't have to worry too much about getting COVID since I just had it.

Currently reading:
Reading a little bit of I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life every day. The upside of its density is even though I've only read 65 pages so far, I already have tons of things I want to talk about at the book club meeting. I'm getting The House in the Cerulean Sea back today so maybe I can use that to motivate me (I like to read 20 minutes of one book, 20 minutes of another, etc.)
Reviews behind: 0!

Currently playing:
I've been playing a lot of Pokemon Sword this week. I finished the championship but my team is a little off-balance for the post-game so I've been grinding and it's tedious. Plus, the "gotta-catch-em-all" instinct in me is so strong that I keep having to remind myself that this is my alt account, not my main game, and I do not need to spend time filling up my pokedex.

Currently crafting:
I have not been crafting anything recently BUT the zoo sent out a notice that they need hand-knitted bird nests for the bird house so I'm going to jump on that.

Currently watching:
Finished season 1 of DI Ray (I guessed the twist but it was still a good series and I hope it gets another season), season 2 of Cruel Summer (nowhere close to as good as the first season but I still think it's a cool concept and they should do more), season 3 of The Witcher (as with the previous seasons, the beginning episodes are fun and interesting but then it gets bogged down in its own politics at the end). Watched the first episode of Run the Burbs, a Canadian import about a family who lives in the suburbs but they're not like other suburban families, they're a cool family! (I was hoping to like this one because I loved Andrew Phung on Kim's Convenience, but it was really boring. And I started season 3 of Reservation Dogs, (great, as expected). This weekend I'll be watching all of Heartstopper season 2, before my Netflix subscription ends on Monday.

Totally agree about The Witcher. At least it's pretty. I'll miss Henry Cavill. I'm also excited to watch Heartstopper but not sure when I'll get to it. Netflix is the one subscription I get from my parents; luckily we use an older gen 2(?) Chromecast to watch most of our TV and I don't think Netflix has figured out how to crack down on password sharing using that device yet.

Happy Sunday! I hope you all had a good weekend.

It's back in the 90s now so my air conditioning is back on, but it was nice while it lasted.
Friday I swapped some books at the library. Yesterday I read most of the day, but also took a nap and then had trouble sleeping last night.
Today I went to a matinee of Moulin Rouge: The Musical, which was very fun.

Tomorrow I'm back in the office. Going to try to get some extra sleep this week since I'm so busy.

Currently reading:
I got The House in the Cerulean Sea from the library on Friday and finished the last 300 pages yesterday. Review to come! (you've heard that before). I'm keeping up with I Contain Multitudes but it's still slow going. Next up will probably be Bea Wolf, which I'm halfway done with.
Reviews behind: 1

Currently playing:
Finished the main game of Pokemon Sword and moved on to Isle of Armor.

Currently crafting:
Started knitting a bird nest for the zoo but didn't get very far.

Currently watching:
Caught up on Harley Quinn, What We Do in the Shadows, Grown-ish, and The Afterparty. Watched all of Heartstopper season 2 and it was exactly as wonderful as expected. Now I'm rewatching seasons 1 and 2 of Only Murders in the Building, but I definitely won't finish before the new season on Tuesday.

>162 norabelle414: Oh I didn't realize the new season of Only Murders was so close! Exciting.

>162 norabelle414: How big is the bird nest, Nora? And what kind of bird(s) is it for?

I decided to rewatch S1 of Heartstopper before watching S2 so it'll be a sec before I watch the new stuff but ugh, this show gives me all the feels. I'm also very excited for the new Only Murders!

Yesterday was almost exciting - we all got kicked out of the office at 3pm (with about half an hour's notice) due to severe storms in the forecast. What could go wrong with sending the entire workforce of a large metropolitan area home at the exact same time?? It took me almost twice as long to get home as usual. Then the storm came through and it was basically nothing. I'm sure it hit hard in some areas but at my house I barely got rain.

Today I'm in the office again. I'm going to a wine tasting and dinner with my dad and brother tonight, which I must have agreed to while I was sick with COVID because it's all the way downtown and starts at 5:30. I negotiated them down to 6:15 and I think I found a faster way to get there (taking a different shuttle in the wrong direction to a closer metro station) but it's still going to be tight.

Getting extra sleep is ...not happening. Tomorrow I don't have anything planned after work but I need to do a lot of laundry. Then I'm going to plays on Thursday night and Friday night.

Currently reading:
Falling a bit behind, haven't really been in the mood for reading
Reviews behind: 1

Currently playing:
I'm a week or so ahead in Pokemon Sword of the podcast, EXP Share, which is good because I won't have much time to play this week.

Currently crafting:
Boy, do I have a lot of half-started projects laying around now. *Sigh*

Currently watching:
Finished rewatching all of season 1 of Only Murders in the Building but I don't think I'm going to have time to watch anything new until Sunday.

Sorry I fell behind on replies!

>161 curioussquared: Interesting that older devices are not getting locked out of Netflix yet! I hadn't thought about that. I'm of two minds about Henry Cavill - He's done a great job but I think its obvious he's not leaving under good conditions and I don't know what those are

>163 ursula:, >165 curioussquared: Re: Only Murders in the Building - I might not get a chance to watch until Sunday because I'm so busy but I can't wait!

>164 MickyFine: They sent us a pattern to use for knitting the bird nests, and the pattern just says "small" but I think it's going to be about 5 inches in diameter when it's done? These nests are for next season so I don't know exactly what birds they'll be for but I assume small songbirds (orioles, finches, sparrows, etc.)

>165 curioussquared: If you aren't just watching both seasons of Heartstopper straight through you're stronger than me!

I haven't been posting my book reviews on social media since the link between LT and Twitter got broken, so I made a Recommended Site Improvement (RSI) for more flexible sharing to social media: https://www.librarything.com/topic/352804
LT staff posted to say they are watching to see how much interest my idea gets so if that sounds like something you would use maybe chime in over there?

I do technically have accounts on Tumblr, Hive, Mastodon, and Bluesky, but I don't use any of them.

>167 norabelle414: Very cool. I'll be interested to see the final product.

I survived!

The wine tasting on Tuesday basically did not happen. Taking the shuttle in the wrong direction to catch the Metro faster worked great and I got there super early but the wine tasting was actually from 5:30 to 6, not 5:30 to 7 so we missed it. Dinner was good but the service at the club my dad likes to go to is extremely slow so I didn't get home until late.

Wednesday after work I did a lot of chores. Thursday I went with my dad to the theater to see Cambodian Rock Band, a play with music (not really a musical) about the rock music scene in Cambodia in the early '70s right before the genocide. It was good, but sad. Friday my friends and I went to see The Play That Goes Wrong, a comedy about a poorly-produced murder mystery play. You're not going to believe this but....something went wrong during the play! Part of the backdrop was supposed to fall down but it didn't and the real stage hands had to come out. At least I think so? That could have been part of the bit.

Yesterday all day I went to the National Book Festival for the first time since 2019 and it was so lovely.

I saw Grady Hendrix and Tananarive Due talk about horror


TJ Klune talked about his newest book In the Lives of Puppets and his Roomba named Hank


Trang Thanh Tran talked about their debut book She Is a Haunting, about a queer teen who goes to visit her dad in Vietnam and ends up in a house haunted by the ghosts of French colonists


Shelby Van Pelt talked about Remarkably Bright Creatures and Henry Hoke talked about Open Throat


John Scalzi talked about The Kaiju Preservation Society (interviewed by Linda Holmes


I went back and forth about whether I wanted to buy any books and didn't end up going to to the bookseller until almost 7pm, by which point they were almost out of books. All they had left were...the two I wanted to buy, the authors of which were still signing. Fate, obviously, so I bought them and got them signed.

(I did want to buy Trang Thanh Tran's book and Grady Hendrix's latest as well but we'll ignore that because...fate)

An incredible time all around.

Today I'm catching up on TV. Nothing going on this week, then next week I'm babysitting a lot while my brother is out of town.

Currently reading:
Read a lot of I Contain Multitudes yesterday, since nothing is more conducive to reading in public than hundreds of other people reading in public
Reviews behind: 1

Currently playing:
Nothing last week

Currently crafting:
Still nothing

Currently watching:
All I had time for last week was s3e1 of Only Murders in the Building so I'm behind on everything, but today I've caught up on Family Law and Moonshine so far.

Envious that you got to hear Scalzi talk. I loved KPS when I read it last year.

Yeah, no kidding. I really wanted to see Hendrix and Scalzi, but was not to be…

Glad to hear the National Book Festival was good! If it had stayed close to Labor Day weekend, I might've been able to make it but between Summer Reading at the library and still being down a couple of staff members (retirements and an internal hire to fill one of them), I couldn't swing mid-August especially after just having taken a week and a half off in May. Maybe next year? Sounds like a grand time, though, and I'm glad you made it!

I haven't started Season 3 of Only Murders yet, I thought I might wait 'til I can binge watch instead. And you've got me thinking maybe a re-watch of the first two seasons would be in order...

18. House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Linus Baker is a bureaucrat, inspecting “orphanages” for children with magical abilities. He is excellent at his job (meaning, dispassionate) and is therefore selected for a very special job - inspecting an unusual home with even more unique children than usual. He arrives on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere, meets some extraordinary children and their very handsome caretaker, and questions everything he thought he was.

Not sure what I can say about this that other people haven’t - it’s really lovely and I enjoyed reading it so much. While it bears similarities with other “home/school for magical kids” stories, this one is sweeter and more tranquil. I also really appreciated that, in the end, Linus worked to counteract the systemic problems of his world instead of offering an individual solution or opting himself out while the system remained intact. My only quibble is that the book is very anti-city, to the point of implying that the weather in the city is always “bad” (raining) and the weather on the island is always “good” (not raining), and also that there are protests against magical people in the “big cities” as if big cities are the intolerant places instead of, I dunno, the hostile town right next door? I’m sure it’s symbolism or whatever but people internalize these things and it’s annoying.

If you, like me, think you would like this one but have been putting it off, get to it soon!

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♥ (4.5/5)

>171 MickyFine: He was lovely, he noticed me taking a picture of him before they started talking (I was on the aisle) and waved at me

>172 drneutron: I almost didn't go because I was so busy and I didn't know anyone else who was going, but I'm so glad I did (and I ended up running into a bunch of people I knew anyway)

>173 bell7: Next year it's going to be August 24, if you want to mark your calendar now. I'm going to try to get my sister-in-law and niece to go too.

>170 norabelle414: National Book Festival
Yay! Glad it was worthwhile. Maybe someday I'll get out of COVID mindset and return there.

>176 qebo: Can't say I recommend my method of contracting COVID a month before the festival and fully recovering just in time.
They did not have any kind of COVID policy in place (besides covering their asses) but it was good to see those of us that still wear masks well-represented.

Enjoying my week of no extracurricular events! Still quite tired though.

Monday I stopped by the library to drop off House in the Cerulean Sea and pick up a hold. I also picked out 3 picture books for next week when I'm babysitting a lot. Yesterday I finished most of a big project at work and submitted it for review. Today I got approval to send it out so I'll be doing that tomorrow. It's nice to check something off the list!

Today I have a long list of small tasks to do when I get home. Tomorrow... nothing! Even my one work meeting is canceled.

Saturday morning I have an online zoo meeting, then Sunday I am babysitting.

Currently reading:
Chugging along in I Contain Multitudes. It's really baking my noodle.....most of the plant material that animals consume (particularly strict herbivores) is not digested by the animal themselves, but by the bacteria that live inside them, which then produce smaller molecules that can be digested by the animal.
I also started a few pages of The Queer Principles of Kit Webb.
Reviews behind: 0

Currently playing:
Played quite a bit of Pokemon Sword - Isle of Armor yesterday. The EXP Share podcast is covering all of Isle of Armor in one episode next week so I do need to catch up.

Currently crafting:
Nothingggg

Currently watching:
Caught up on Futurama, Only Murders in the Building, Grantchester, Ridley, Family Law, Moonshine, Winning Time, Reservation Dogs. I'm also caught up on Run the Burbs, Children Ruin Everything, and Son of a Critch, but I'm not enjoying them so I'll probably stop.

The festival sounds like it was excellent! Glad you went and had a good time.

>153 norabelle414: It would be pretty cool if they came in unkindnesses. Lol

>174 norabelle414: This one has been on my TBR black hole.

>177 norabelle414: A neighbor's recent COVID has me continuing caution, though I'm usually the only one in the grocery store with a mask. Not so keen on train travel either.

>179 curioussquared: It was! And thanks!

>180 The_Hibernator: You should definitely get to it soon! It's a quick read and I think you'll really love it.

>181 qebo: Cases are definitely going up around here too. And of course there are far less resources available than there were the last time there was a surge.

Join me on my new thread! Link below!!