Something next to normal, that's the thing I'd like to try

Happy New Year! I had a lovely holiday, but alas, I come with bad news for those of you (basically just ever_neutral) who were dedicated shippers of my cat, Chelsea, and her nemesis-turned-boyfriend, Clinton.

Chelsea had an extended vacation at my parents' house this year, and that ship went down in FLAMES. Apparently, it was a relationship that worked better long distance.

( Read more... )

But at least Chelsea got to look pretty for Christmas, right?

I went to an Oktoberfest party a couple weeks ago (it is that time of year), and to go along with the theme, I baked a German Apple Cake to bring. (I told my mom I made it and she responded, "What makes it German? My recipe is a Jewish apple cake, I bet mine's better." Well, the Germans add cream cheese frosting, so...) I cannot vouch for its authentic Germanness, but I can certainly vouch for its deliciousness. I followed the advice of the commenters and didn't bake it for the full 55-60 minutes. I was a little concerned about whether it'd be not totally baked in the middle, but it was more like slightly underdone brownies than raw dough. 

And now, books!

Forever Free, Jim Halderman: Okay, so this is clearly a series with diminishing returns. I mostly liked the first book, was rather ambivalent about the second (which was not actually a sequel of any kind), and now the third, which IS actually a sequel to the first book... I just... don't even know where to start. It starts off pretty slow, catching up with the characters from the first book twenty years later and establishing their life on their new planet (by sapping them of every characteristic that was interesting or unique about them, and these were not terribly fleshed-out characters to begin with). Then it picks up when they decide to go back into space and things start to go wrong, which was a plot I was actually interested in, both for the perils of the space journey and for the potential changes in the far future society once they returned. But then before any of that gets to develop, it just goes completely off the rails and then the book ENDS. It's like the author had no idea where to go with the story so he just threw in a literal deus ex machina or four and said, "Screw it, I'm finished."

To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Jenny Han: This is a DELIGHTFUL YA romance about Lara Jean, a quiet, reserved teenager who writes love letters to boys she likes that she never means for them to read. Except, of course, they do and things get all topsy-turvy for Lara Jean. I actually watched the movie before I read the book, and I think I like the movie better (and if you haven't seen it yet, get thee to Netflix immediately). But the movie has a pretty firm ending, whereas the book has a definite cliffhanger as the beginning of a trilogy, which makes it harder to evaluate. (The movie ALSO has adorable leads - I knew Noah Centineo from The Fosters, but Lana Condor is new to me, and both are great.) But I'm definitely going to keep reading.

The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability, Rogers Connors, Tom Smith, and Craig Hickman: Meh. This one was assigned reading for work. It's got some good (if not revolutionary) points, although the Oz framework is pretty hokey and forced. Mostly, though, it just emphasized how dysfunctional my old workplace was and how glad I am that I'm no longer there!

A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles: Set in the 30 years after the Russian Revolution, this book follows a Russian aristocrat who was stripped of his title and placed on "house arrest" in a Moscow hotel by the new Bolshevik regime. When I was describing the plot to one of my friends, she said, "Like that Tom Hanks movie where he lives in the airport?" And, I mean... kinda? But with a lot of Russian politics and literary references thrown in, lol. It's all about the life he builds within the walls of the hotel and the various staff and hotel guests who become his family. The writing is vividly descriptive, with beautiful imagery and colorful characters, with an unhurried, contemplative pace, which (like all Russian novels) occasionally makes it feel a little too long, but definitely worth a read.

Hey, now I am only 5 books behind schedule, so... progress? Slight progress? And June was a good month for reading, because I actually enjoyed all of them!

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Caroline Fraser: I was a huge Little House fan as a child, not only the books, but also the TV series. I knew that it wasn't completely autobiographical, but I was super disillusioned when I learned that both Laura and her daughter Rose (her primary editor, who was so opinionated and overbearing she was practically a co-author at times) were strident libertarians, and the changes made to the story were to make it align with their political views. So I really enjoyed reading a biography that reframed the story in the historical context and pointed out the ways that it was manipulated into being libertarian propaganda. I was also a little surprised when Laura's childhood only took up a third of the book - for some reason I expected it to only (or at least primarily) cover the Little House years, but it continues all through her adulthood, death, and legacy. Since they were so close, it's also practically a biography of Rose, as well - who, by the way, was kind of a sociopath? Like, for real. Compulsive liar, manipulative, complete lack of empathy and ability to comprehend emotions. This concerns me even more than the libertarianism, frankly. 

The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas: Everyone was talking about this book a year ago, so I don't need to describe the plot, right? I am only a little behind the times (yay!), and now I can see why it's so popular. (It's actually kind of hilarious going through the Goodreads reviews - almost all of them are overwhelmingly positive, and the few that are not all start off, "I'm probably going to be called racist for not liking this book, but I'm totally not!" and then attempt to justify why they didn't like it by talking about "reverse racism" and revealing how totally racist they are. I could not find a single negative review that wasn't about how unfair the book is to white people.) So I am going to go out on a limb and say if you're tempted to start sentences with, "I'm not racist, but..." you will probably not like this book, but you should read it anyway because maybe you will learn something? It personalizes the Black Lives Matter movement and creates characters you care about that maybe will help convince people who aren't swayed by hashtags and protests.

The Power, Naomi Alderman: This is a fascinating examination of gender and power dynamics. Its premise - in which teenage girls suddenly develop the ability to electrocute people - explores the question of what would happen if women suddenly had the power to systematically oppress men through physical violence and threats, how that changes society and relationships and gender stereotypes. It's got kind of an odd framing device in which Alderman lives in a universe where women have ALWAYS had this power. She receives the manuscript from a male author and is intrigued by this alternate reality in which men were the dominant gender until this sudden shift, but thinks it would be better received if it were published under a woman's name. Because obviously women are more respected as writers and if a man publishes it, it'll be considered "men's fiction." :D And as much as I enjoyed the book as is, I also kind of want to read more from this world where women run everything and always have, and how THAT might impact the development of society.

The Forever War, Joe Haldeman: Apparently, this is a "sci-fi classic" that I'd never heard of until recently? Some things - most notably the sexual politics - have not aged well AT ALL, but the premise is intriguing: Earth is engaged in an interstellar war with aliens from a distant galaxy, and due to time dilation from near-lightspeed travel, the war drags on for a thousand years and soldiers come back having aged only a few years to find that the entire civilization has changed. Technology, social norms, money, food, education - everything evolves, and although it's primarily a metaphor for the displacement vets feel when they come home from war, the ways in which the author envisions society shifting over the centuries is maybe the most interesting aspect of the book to me. None of the characters are particularly well-developed, and the war itself is too pointless to have real stakes, so the plot is not especially compelling, but I did enjoy it. There are two other books in the series, not sure if I'll read them or not.

Hello, all! Time for my monthly check-in. I took a week off work last week and my mom came to visit, so we had some fun adventures (Monticello! mcmegan! Colonoscopy!). Okay, that last one wasn't fun. It was my 10th, though, so it's kind of a milestone, I guess? Which I apparently decided to mark by passing out before the procedure, because I am a delicate flower. Honestly, I was just trying to save the anesthesiologist some time! I am thinking of investing in a fainting couch or something, because really I pass out more than the average person should. Otherwise, I am okay-but-not-great, health-wise, and may be trying more experimental drugs. 

My mom and I binge-watched The Crown. It's good! It's kind of Downton-esque, but with more politics and royal protocol and less melodrama. It's especially fascinating to watch in the wake of the most recent royal wedding, and seeing how much has changed and how much really hasn't. My mother and I are also in awe of and working on perfecting Elizabeth's ability to express extreme displeasure with a single, disdainful "Oh." (We also talked in British accents most of the week. I feel like that goes without saying.) And, with the series finale of The Americans the same week, we were well prepared for this "Which Philip and Elizabeth?" quiz, lol. 

In other TV-watching news, I am now fully caught up with Jane the Virgin (OMGWTF[spoiler]!) and Legends of Tomorrow, which has been a delightful surprise. Having already committed to the rest of the DC-verse with Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl, I initially gave it a shot, but totally bailed two episodes into the first season, because I hated the villain and at least two of the main characters. But I had heard that it got miles better in season 2 (which, based on the little I saw of the characters during crossover episodes, seemed possible), so I went back and watched just enough to get the gist and then skipped to season 2, which is completely bonkers fun as the time travel series shifts from "OMG we must track this evil dude through history without changing anything" to "watch these dumbasses fuck up history and then try to fix it." Season 3 (which just finished) is just as batshit bananas - a little too dependent on tracking down magical mcguffins, but the truly insane payoff in the season finale makes it worth it.

I continue to be delinquent in my reading - I am now SIX books behind my goal. *facepalm* Here's what I read in May:

Empire of Storms, Sarah J. Maas: Ehhhhh. I'm starting to lose interest in this series. It's gotten repetitive and all the characters are starting to seem the same (must EVERYONE be some kind of royalty and also unbelievably attractive and have fantastic superpowers? Remember when this series was about a scrappy assassin who could not solve all her problems by setting them on fire with her mind?). Also, while the series has gotten increasingly porny, all the good ships got trashed and the ones who are left are dull and so I mostly don't want to read about how much sex they're having. And yet, I will probably continue to read the series because closure?

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, Elizabeth Gilbert: LOL, oh, Liz Gilbert. You have some good things to say. If only you weren't so bonkers and full of yourself. Like, I appreciate the embracing of curiosity and creativity and the encouragement to make the stuff you wanna make and do the stuff you wanna do and don't worry about failing or what anyone else thinks of you, just do it to please yourself (which is fine, I guess, as long as you don't care about making a career out of it?). But man, she presents it all in the context of her belief in magical thinking - like, literal magic:

"I believe that our planet is inhabited not only by animals and plants and bacteria and viruses, but also by ideas. Ideas are a disembodied, energetic life-form. They are completely separate from us, but capable of interacting with us - albeit strangely. Ideas have no material body, but they do have consciousness, and they most certainly have will.... [I]deas spend eternity swirling around us, searching for available and willing human partners.... When an idea thinks it has found somebody - say, you - who might be able to bring it into the world, the idea will pay you a visit... I believe that inspiration will always try its best to work with you - but if you are not ready or available, it may indeed choose to leave you and to search for a different human collaborator."

Some of this comes from the Greek and Roman belief "in the idea of an external daemon of creativity - a sort of house elf, if you will, who lived in within the walls of your home and who sometimes aided you in your labors. The Romans had a specific term for that helpful house elf. They called it your genius." And her point is basically don't let yourself be burdened with the pressure of being a genius, just do your thing. Maybe genius will strike, but you can't control that. All you can do is put in the time and effort and be willing to accept whatever comes out of that. Which is not a bad attitude to have? (But also a lot easier to do once you've become a bestselling author.) It's just weird the way she presents it as though creativity is a religion you have to believe in. 

And finally, since this is kind of a catch-all post anyway, here's a recipe!

BLT Pasta Salad - I made this for a potluck a long time ago, but never posted it. Everyone loved it, and basically licked the bowl clean, so clearly it's good. (It's the bacon. Nothing with bacon can be bad.) The recipe makes a TON, so you might want to scale down if you're not going to a party, lol. I love leftovers, but I suspect the lettuce would get soggy.

Now that March is almost half over, I may as well get around to what I read last month!

Blue Lily, Lily Blue and The Raven King, Maggie Stiefvater: These are the third and fourth books in the YA urban fantasy series The Raven Cycle, and to be honest, I read them so close together that they blur a little bit, but I enjoyed them both! This is a series that I think has improved as it's gone along, fleshing out the characters and the world and going all-in on the magical aspects that were introduced at the end of the the first book (there are 4 total). The plot, ostensibly, is about a girl who grew up in a house full of psychic women joining a bunch of private school boys on a quest to find a sleeping Welsh king, but mostly it is about the deep and complex friendship among the five main characters, and one of the highlights is how each combination of two or three is just as complicated and developed as any other. Apparently, a TV show was announced last year, no idea if it's still happening, but would definitely watch if it does.

Howie Weener Unclogged: A Colonic Noir Musical Memoir, Howie Weiner: I... really don't know how to explain this one. Not only the plot, but why I ever thought it was a good idea in the first place? I guess I thought the combination of musicals and digestive concerns was tailor-made to appeal to me, but first of all, musicals are a lot less fun when you're READING them, and second, the humor thinks it's the kind that is so over the top it's hilarious but actually it's just too out there to be anything but bizarre. And yes, the main character and the author have the same name but spelled differently. I don't know why. I quit reading about halfway through.

A Conjuring of Light, V.E. Schwab: The third and final book in the Shades of Magic series. The premise is that there are multiple worlds which overlap in the city of London. There's Grey London (our world, cut off from magic), Red London where magic is plentiful, White London which used to have magic but is now dying, and Black London which was overrun with dark magic and is now uninhabitable. Only a select few can travel between the worlds, but carrying anything beyond letters between royal families is strictly forbidden. The story kicks off when Kell accidentally brings Grey London thief Lila back to his native Red London, along with a dangerous artifact. I remember finding the first book kind of slow to get going, but I really liked the second and third, probably because the worldbuilding was already established. I also appreciated that each book has a distinct and not repetitive story to tell - it's not one of those series where each book has basically the same structure and hits all the same beats, nor is it one long story broken up into three parts to sell more books. 

I was updating Goodreads today and noticed that I have done the reading challenge every year since 2011, every year have set my goal at 50, and only ONCE have I actually achieved that goal (2012). LOL. So this year, I finally caved and lowered it to 45. I want to try to write more, and also encourage myself to read, so I'm going to try posting about books again (and maybe movies and TV, we shall see how it goes). I am making an effort once again to see all the Oscar Best Picture nominees, so I will probably talk about them at some point? I've seen 4 out of 9 so far.

Also, PSA: Being Erica is now available on Hulu!!! Guess who is doing a rewatch. (It's me.) I was thinking of looking for a new therapist, but this is actually better, lol.

Anyway! Here's what I read in January:

Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese: This was a book club selection - possibly the last, lol. At our last meeting, we discussed making it a "getting-together club that occasionally reads books," because it was too much to keep up with. So this book may possibly have the honor of being the one that finally broke my book club. I ultimately liked it, but it was very slow to get into, and I can understand why some of my friends gave up. The portrayal of Ethiopian culture and medical practice is interesting, but the writing is verbose and uneven - some parts are skimmable, others are engrossing. (It's also, fair warning, just plain gross at times - the author is a physician and sometimes goes into explicit medical detail.) 

Turtles All the Way Down, John Green: Not a fan. I really liked Will Grayson, Will Grayson and The Fault in Our Stars, but even for John Green, the "teenagers having pretentious philosophical conversations and not sounding even slightly like actual teenagers" was too much in this book, lol. I also bumped HARD on the main character, who has OCD/anxiety/some cocktail of mental illness that makes her obsess over getting C. diff (among other things). I know it's a mental illness and therefore it's not rational, and maybe I'd be more sympathetic if it were literally anything else she was fixated on, but I have HAD C. diff. A C. diff infection triggered my Crohn's, which has had a not-insignificant impact on my life, so I kind of have zero patience for this character's imaginary C. diff bullshit? But perhaps if you like John Green and do not have medical baggage, you will enjoy it more than I did.

All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation, Rebecca Traister: I saw this recommended on Twitter, but now I can't remember by whom. Anyway, being a single lady in my 30s, I have been thinking a lot about the issues this book raises - like, am I normal for not being married yet, not wanting kids, etc. but not having a Sex and the City-esque social life, either? (Answer: probably.) The book covers topics like careers, female friendship, sex and dating, and single motherhood. It looks at some of the benefits of marrying later, or not at all, the societal expectations around marriage and babies, but also the race and class differences that may make marriage a more or less appealing option for women. It's ultimately not an argument for being single, but rather for more choices for women. Recommended regardless of your relationship status.

Any of my peeps who have done freelance editing work (or writers who have used one) want to give advice? A colleague of mine, whose writing I have edited as part of my real job, has asked me to work on a side project editing a book he's working on (non-fiction, spiritual/religious - he's also a minister), like, for real money and everything. Which I have never done before!

I've looked at EFA's website for rates and such, but if anyone has tips on things to consider in freelancer/client relationships, please let me know! He's worked with an editor before, someone he found off a job board, but felt like she was putting too much of her own voice and writing style into it. My previous work with him has mainly been short (1-4 pages) reports, so I think I'd probably suggest doing one chapter or part of a chapter to see how it goes before committing to a whole book. I don't know exactly how much he has finished, enough to start sending me chapters, but I also would need an estimate of how much longer he expects to be working on it, and how many chapters it would be, right? So I'm not committing to a George R.R. Martin-length saga that will take 10 years to finish a single installment.

Happy New Year! I am spending the first day of 2018 as I have been spending many days this holiday season: binge-watching Jane the Virgin. Yes, I have FINALLY started watching, and it is as delightful as everyone promised. I've just started season 3, so leave me all your feels.

In the spirit of the telenovela, let me tell you about the epic romance that happened while I was home for a week over the holidays. No, not mine. Chelsea's. When last we left our feline friends, my parents had adopted a cat that looked exactly like Chelsea and named him Clinton. We went home for Christmas last year, Chelsea was a boss bitch and put him in his place, and people started shipping it.

( Click for Epic Cat Romance )

Just checking in to remind everyone that I still exist and have not yet expired from either illness or overwhelming outrage. I am just exhausted. Do you think if we all agree to just take 2018 off and take a collective national nap, we could reach a bipartisan agreement? Even Republicans have to find this exhausting, don't they?

Health-wise, things are not too bad? Still not in remission, which my doctor was kind of hoping for when we started this latest medication (I mean, otherwise it's not really worth poisoning my liver and possibly giving me lymphoma) so another colonoscopy is in my near future. THIS IS NUMBER TEN, YOU GUYS. It's a big round number so I feel like I should mark the occasion somehow, lol. Maybe they will give me a little extra anesthesia to celebrate. 

I am still doing the online dating thing, but my dates have been more boring than weird or creepy, which on the one hand is good, but on the other hand, it does not give me many hilarious stories to report. However, one of my coworkers challenged me that we should both decide we're going to be married (to other people, not each other) by the end of 2018, so I guess I'll have to work a lot harder at this, lol. (You can tell he's a dude because he thinks less than a year is sufficient time to plan an actual wedding, NOT EVEN COUNTING the time required to meet someone, date, and get engaged.)  

I did, however, have an inadvisable hook-up (at the wedding I was kind of dreading but which ended up being really fun) and am now having inadvisable ~feelings. Nothing bad, really, just a guy I know is a player and probably not interested in a relationship at a time when I definitely am wanting one, even though I'm not even sure I want one WITH HIM but now I'm thinking about it anyway because a thing happened? Part of me thinks I just find online dating to be awful but I don't have other good ways to meet someone so I'm like, "Well, here's someone I already know! Let's date that one!" 

In other news, I am doing the job search thing again, and have had some interviews that hopefully will lead to a good announcement in the near future, but trying not to get ahead of myself. Also sort of scared to think about changing jobs because even though my current one is frustrating me, I do like most of the people I work with and I'm comfortable there and don't want to take chances with changing my health insurance, lol.

What else? I saw Mean Girls the musical. That was fun even though I am even really a big fan of the movie? (I've seen it once, it was funny but obviously not something I felt the need to rewatch.) I probably wouldn't have gone except a few of my friends really wanted to see it and I am the go-to musical girl, lol. I am planning a trip to BroadwayCon in January, which is exciting. (Yes, Broadway has its own con. I've never been but it seems like a thing designed especially for me.)

What is going on with all of you? Any exciting holiday plans coming up?

Legit just came across a guy on Match who says he wants to get to know a date in person, "Preferably deep in the woods or in a dark alley, because I'm romantic like that."

NO DUDE NO

THAT IS NOT ROMANTIC

THAT IS LITERALLY THE START OF A MURDER MYSTERY "well, she went off to meet a blind date and never came back and six weeks later they found her body in the woods"

NOOOOOOOO

(Part of me wants to believe it's an attempt to be funny or satirical, but I CANNOT TELL.)