Day in the Life of an Idiot

 This linear time thing. I am just not used to it.

Since it is, apparently, already Wednesday, I should catch you up on what I have been reading. Some of it is deeply embarrassing, so that should be fun. I can't even tell you why, but for some reason I ended up reading a very racy, rape-y yaoi called Bakemono no Hanayome / The Beast’s Bride by Akihisa Teo. It wasn't even all that hot? The sex was so heteronormative (outside of our heroes basically being furries) that the fox character literally turns into a woman at the end. So, I mean, it was barely even gay. But, you know, in full disclosure, there you have it. My crappy taste in manga.

I am listening (but not yet finished with) the audiobook for Someone to Build a Nest In by John Wisewell. I started it? It's okay so far. Speaking of gay, I like the queerness. I'm a difficult sell on fantasy, but having the point of view character being The Monster works to help mitigate that for me. 

I'm not even sure what else I've been listening to. I've been trying to keep up with Democracy Now (via podcast) because my son shamed me at one point for being too ostrich about news. He was right, of course, but I have such a difficult time, sometimes, consuming the firehose of news that is spat at a person via social media. I do get the physical paper, but then you have to read so much between the lines--I much prefer a news outlet that says, "His racist lies" when talking about Springfield, for instance. "Mistruth" is a gross mischaracterization--it has the word "truth" in there, like some kind of Orwellian newspeak. "Racist lies" is what it is. I like FACTS, thank you very much. 

I also listened to the latest "If Books Could Kill," which is a fun little podcast that does a deep dive on all those kinds of popular/airport books you see, like Love Languages, Hillbilly Eulogy, and, this week's topic, The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom. Because these are the kinds of books people talk about all the time, I am glad to have someone else reading them for me so that I can form an opinion without having to buy and struggle through so much tripe. 

I think that's all I've been reading, etc. How about you? Anything to recommend, btw? I'm going need something after Someone to Build a Nest In.

 Shawn and I have no plans, however. Nothing super-duper romantic, at any rate. I think our big plan is to maybe finally sit down and watch a documentary about the local Co-op Wars, which we've been meaning to do since forever.

Otherwise, this weekend was taken up largely by a visit to meet my GRAND-nephew, Fredrick. He's the 3 month year old baby of Shawn's brother's son, Jon. I had made a quilt for him some time ago, and so we wanted not only to deliver that and a collection of Winnie-the-Pooh books, but also to see how Jon and his wife are doing with the new arrival. I will tell you that seeing a three month old brought back a lot of memories from those early days, staying home with Mason. (In case you are wondering, yes, we did each take a rapid, at-home COVID test before heading over.)

Speaking of, we got a chance to Zoom with Mason earlier on Sunday and he continues to do well. He's facilitating a writers' group for Writers' Block, his dorm, and he's very excited about that. This week is also his first week having office hours for the environmental studies class that he's a TA for, so I'm hoping we'll hear later how all that went. He told us a very funny story about how the Writers' Block's usual "dumpling day" turned into a bit of a disaster, as the smoke alarms went off (there was no fire, only low oil in the frying pan that caused a lot of smoke,) they had to evacuate, of course, and the ENTIRE Middletown fire department arrived to shut off the alarm, etc. I suspect this is a story that he will be telling for years to come, honestly. 

One really nice thing that happened is that I got some surprise money in the mail. A person that I did some guest lecturing for a LONG time ago, out of the blue, dropped me a VISA gift card for fifty bucks. This was totally a gig I thought I was volunteering for, so that was a lovely (and very much welcome, though not at all expected) surprise. I have been happily using it to supplement my caffeine addiction. It will no doubt be emptied in a matter of days since I'm very much in the mode of, "COFFEE ON ME, EVERYONE!" 

I spent Saturday working on quilts. Shawn has discovered the joy of "crumb" quilting on the sewing machine, so while she was playing with that, I continued working on the final border for a quilt I am making for rachelmanija ... I am pretty sure at this point that the quilt is much larger than she wanted, but I'm committed now. The border is quit lovely, so....

Anyway. that's kind of all I know. I didn't go on any HeyGo tours this past week, though I am scheduled for Osaka tonight, if I decide to go. How've y'all been? What are you up to?