Okay, So... Here We Are

[lydamorehouse]

The picture above is from a very short walk that Shawn and I went on yesterday morning when it was 40 F / 4 C and all the snow was evaporating into a heavy fog. Until yesterday, we'd had a lovely blanket of twelve plus inches of snow (approximately 30 cm). It's snowing right now, but last night's thunderstorm and rain was very... unnerving.

I've heard thunder in December before, but usually during a snow storm. I can't remember ever experiencing a tornado warning in December before, however. That was vey weird.

Other than our little stroll through the fancier neighborhoods in Saint Paul, Shawn and I also had planned a short trip out in "the weather" to drop by the Roseville library to pick up the books that I'd requested that had come in. I'm laying in stores for the upcoming winter break. Once Mason is home from college, our big plan is to snuggle in and have a week or so of "pajama days" where all we do is snuggle under blankets and read. I have a novel to write, as well, but I'm hopeless behind on that, honestly. I've been working on it, but not fast enough to make my end of the year deadline, alas. I hope to do some writing, but for whatever reason the words have been coming out at a trickle rather than a flood. It happens some times. This, too, shall pass. I had writers' group last night, so I will do some revision today. That often leads to forward-writing, so fingers crossed for me.

However, I suspect that I'm in one of my "intake" phases as a writer. I've been reading a lot and consuming a lot of TV/movies. Shawn and I finally watched both Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings last weekend. I have to say that I loved them both, much to my surprise. Next up for us in the MCU is the new Hawkeye mini-series. I feel especially psyched about Hawkeye because I was a fan of the Matt Fraction comic books on which they are very clearly based. (Pizza dog!)

In non-fannish news, she and I also finished watching the latest season of Shetland. 

As I also mentioned in a previous post, I've been ripping through as much Star Trek content as I can because Shawn got us one of those free month deals to Paramount +. I watched all of the seasons of Star Trek: Lower Decks. I  am now most of the way through Star Trek: Picard's first season, which I initially found to be slow moving but once they reached the Artifact, the recovered Borg cube and all the hot Romulans, I was all in. Given what my fan friends had said about this series, I did not expect to be as invested in Picard as I am. 

I may take a break before starting the second season of Picard, however, as tallgeese recommended the new animated series, Star Trek: Prodigy, and I'd like to dip my toes into that before everything evaporates at the end of the month. I'm also two season behind Star Trek: Discovery, but that's lower on my list of priorities. (And, I'll be honest, for me, the series flattened out after the death of Captain Lorca. I loved everything about him. He is who I would be in the Star Trek universe, if not a Romulan spy.)

I also ripped through the first volume of a manga called Zom 101: The Bucket List of the Dead, about a salaryman who was stuck in a job so awful that he's actually elated when the end of the world comes because he's finally free to do the stuff he's always wanted, like, have the time to clean his apartment.... (seriously.) The first volume rides high on this schtick, which I enjoyed, but I'm unsure how well that running joke will be able to sustain the story, so I mean, this is not necessarily a ringing endorsement. Plus, it's ecchi? So for those of you who know what that means, you know what that means. (Lots of unnecessary/gratuitous naked boobies. And maybe one dick? But, of course the official English-language version censored THAT, and not the boobs.)
 
Anyway, it looks like the snow has already stopped, alas. We only got a dusting, but I will pray for a bit more so that we can have a white Christmas for those who celebrate. For us, no matter what's on the ground, the days will get longer, so Winter Solstice is never in danger in it's main functionality if there is no snow. If the days no longer lengthen after Winter Solstice, we have a bigger problem than even climate change.

I hope you all are doing well out there, wherever you are.

Comments

[rachelmanija]

Beautiful!

[lydamorehouse]

Beautiful, but very, very unseasonal and strange.

[offcntr]

So our Paramount didn't go away? We joined as CBS All Access, during a free month offer, then they extended it a month, then converted to Paramount + and it's still going, though with commercial breaks. So maybe it won't evaporate?

We stopped watching Disco mid last season, and I'm not sure I'll go back to catch up. *Loved* Lower Decks, in part because I have fond memories of the Animated Series, which they easter egg on the regular (the giant Spock skeleton? Brilliant!). Prodigy is also very good, can hardly wait for the rest of the season to drop.

[lydamorehouse]

Huh, well, I can hope that ours won't go away either. Ours is coming to us via our Amazon Prime membership, though, so perhaps there are different rules.

I finished up the first season of Picard, which, I am surprised to say I rather enjoyed. I agree with you about Lower Decks. I wish someone would dust off the old animated series. I'd love to be able to re-watch that. I just started Prodigy and so far so good.

[bcholmes]

I also liked Picard. I was uncertain about it at first, but I was all in by the end.

I think Prodigy is beautiful. I find the animation amazing.

[offcntr]

I downloaded the app to my Android tablet. It's possible that it continues because we have cable, and are logged in on out Comcast account. Hmmm...

I'm gonna have to re-up for Amazon Prime again to see the second half of Leverage: Redemption. Saw the first half on a free month, but honestly, we order so little physical material from Amazon--primarily ebooks--that I just couldn't see keeping it.

We can rewatch ST:TAS whenever we want, because I sprang for the DVDs when Paramount did a big Star Trek reissue some years ago.

[oracne]

I look forward to the output after your intake.

[lydamorehouse]

ha, me too!

[ihavenoarms]

nice photo

[lydamorehouse]

Thanks!

[pameladean]

That was so strange and unsettling all around. I did a bunch of shovelling the day before so that the really warm air could melt the stuff that was stuck to the sidewalk. But I didn't expect the warmth to last so long after sunset, which is why I wanted to give it as much of a chance as possible to do some work at removing snow. It was 55 degrees hours and hours after sunset. I was so freaked out I didn't even do what I usually do when the sidewalks are about to become icy. I did not take out all the trash and recycling I could lay hands on and clean all the catboxes preemptively. I brought in some things that might blow around, but the stillness, the fog, and the unnatural warmth were SO UPSETTING.

Also when I shovelled on Tuesday the entire back yard was covered with snow, an when I went to put the lawn chairs in the garage, the snow was gone. All of it. I just.

P.

[lydamorehouse]

Very upsetting. I was really hoping today's snow would be more of a dusting so that things could look normal again. Alas.

At least here it didn't get too icy.

[sabotabby]

I've got enforced pajama days coming up. I mean besides today, where I am literally in pajamas at work. But we're about to go into another lockdown so...yeah. No seeing people in real life, so it'll just be work, reading, and writing. Ah well.

[lydamorehouse]

I WISH Minnesota would re-introduce a lockdown. I know it's not ideal for you, but we're dying here in droves and masks aren't even mandated in public spaces.

[sabotabby]

Oh, it's likely necessary, but by the time our government gets around to doing it, it's likely too late.

[wondering_woodthrush]

Love that photo, very moody. I'm down in the south and some really bad tornados moved through a few days ago. As I understand it that's not particularly common for this time of year...but the tornado danger seems to get slightly worse each year. I just moved down here from New England so it's quite a change for me to have to be frequently worried about crazy storms!

I'm a trek fan from way back but have not seen any of the newer content. We just got paramount so maybe that is what I will check out next, I would at least like to watch Picard having been a big TNG fan.

[lydamorehouse]

Oh, if you are a TNG fan you will LOVE Picard. There are a lot of cool cameos in the first season!

And, here in Minnesota tornado season is usually in the summer. It is extraordinarily rare for us to have tornados this time of year!

[lydamorehouse]

Also, welcome!!