Warning for some modest body-shaming, mostly in the form of competitive dieting, and PTSD-related depression.
Before we get into the final Giffen-DeMatteis story of their original run, I wanted to insert our next-to-last Justice League Quarterly tale, John Ostrander and Barry Horne’s “Blue Beetle: Fighting Trim” from #6. It doesn’t quite fit into the timeline, but this is the spot it comes closest to fitting. And it resolves an important question about Blue Beetle’s history: how did he lose the weight that plagued him for the last year or so of Giffen-DeMatteis comics? ( Talk Booster into scoring him some 25th-century Ozempic? )
1. Pleased for the weekend, finally. Got the trash taken out. Did exercises. Slept in - so got the requisite 8 hours. End of a stressful work week. And, I discovered that it takes anywhere between 6-8 weeks to get insurance approval and additional four to order and receive the injection from the pharmacy - for the knee injections. So that doctor's appointment was pushed out to June. Means only PT, lab and maybe X-rays next week. June's going to be dicey scheduling doc appointments around work.
2. Pending Strike
Sigh.
They are going to bully each other until the last minute, to see who backs down first. I'm guessing the agency, since the union is being backed by the Feds. And for once? I agree with the Fed's. The irony is not lost one me.
But the agency's contingency plan gets more anemic as we go. "Oh, we have a few buses lined up and are reading out to area businesses and schools to have folks just work remotely."
Some of my fellow humans need to be smacked upside the head repeatedly.
3. Mother felt the need to regale me with her new friend's past life on Long Island. Most of my mother's friends moved from New York to Hilton Head, Mother is kind of an outlier in that she moved from the Midwest. (We might as well all be from NY at this point, my brother and I have lived here longer than we've lived anywhere else and far longer than a lot of alleged born and bred New Yorkers have.) Apparently her friend's family was friends with the Fondas (as in Jane Fonda, Henry Fonda, Peter Fonda - the Hollywood family) - who lived out on Long Island. But her friend doesn't see herself as wealthy? (She is, she lived out in the Hamptons and Suffolk County....) I've learned that people who have a lot of money - don't see themselves as having all that much, and don't appear to understand or appreciate what they have?
People take things for granted. I want to force them to sit next to homeless folks on the subways. Then, they may change their tune?
Jane Fonda as a kid didn't sound all that interesting - outside of being in a body cast as a result of diving into a shallow pool and breaking her back.
4. From - I've binged S3 now, which wasn't quite as good as S1-2. S3 has a few really annoying story threads. I'll warn anyone intending to watch this? The last three episodes have a torture sequence that I could have done without. [*Note - it is no where near as bad as the torture sequences in Game of Thrones, and you don't see the torture - just the aftermath. So more implied - than actually watching it? While in Game of Thrones - they actually showed it. So it's nothing like Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, or The Last of Us - mainly because it's on MGM+ and not HBO and AMC. Word to the wise - if you don't like graphic violence and torture steer clear of these types of series on AMC and HBO.] I spoiled myself for it - so at least I knew it was coming and was prepared for it. S1-2 aren't quite as violent and unsavory as S3 (where the writers clearly got bored and decided to get a touch sadistic). Also, S3, suffers greatly from annoying character syndrome or disposable side-character syndrome, replacing some highly likable characters with a few new and highly annoying ones?
The writers have a tendency to show conflict by having various characters explode with rage (yelling at everyone and smashing things) or having mini-temper tantrums, often lashing out at other characters who are either trying to be helpful, or trying to communicate something, or just get them to calm down. No one listens to each other in this show? Communication is a major problem. If they could communicate and listen to each other - they'd probably figure it out and find a way out of the town. But alas, no. (That said? It is realistic. I'll give it that. People really are like that. So, hyper-realistic horror?)
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Saturday to midnight on Sunday (8pm Eastern Time).
Most of the icons feature characters from the Monsterverse (aka Godzilla 2014 and Kong: Skull Island universe, namely Monarch Legacy of Monsters Season 1) but there are a couple of Godzilla: The Series icons (since I found a couple screenshots of the series). A lot of these are alternates to my characters20in20, tvmovie20in20, and ships20in20 - so usually different shading/colors/cuts.
Yesterday was exhausting. Errands are so tiring! I did a day in the office, then bought two birthday cards for my niblings on the way to the station; once I got off the train, I collected the prescriptions I'd forgotten I'd ordered ten days earlier, then took the bus three stops down the road to collect the furniture oil I'd reserved at Wickes. Then I waited 35 minutes with my heavy tins for the every-seven-minute bus back, changed over and waited for a second bus home, and finally made it to my flat only one hour after collecting them.
That left me 45 minutes before I needed to go out again for choir practice at St N for next week's Matins, and I decided that I needed to lie very still rather than e.g. unpacking my bag, making dinner, taking my jacket and boots off, etc. I did eventually drag myself up and out, went to the choir practice, bought some chips for tea, finally picked up my new prescription swimming goggles from my neighbour the optician, and came home, before finally collapsing for the weekend at about 21:00. I was in bed falling asleep over my book before 22:00.
However! That was lots of items ticked off the list. Now I just need to take approx one million follow-up actions and also do all the non-errand items. But next time I go swimming I will be able to see things, and I'm very excited about it - my current pair have completely lost their anti-fog and it's a toss-up whether I can see more with them on or off...
Do Before Leaving list: 72 items checked off, 19 remaining
Pack And Bring list: 33 items checked off, 16 remaining (including 5 items to be worn for travel, not packed)
Pretty good, for three days in advance!
A friend has offered to give us a ride to the train (that goes to the train that goes to the plane that goes to the plane that goes to where we want to end up, whee), so that's very nice indeed.
I played a lot more Hades II and had a lot of fun. And I even finally got a Melinoe icon, look. (Still too lazy to type the dots on her name every time.) I finally got all achievements and fulfilled all prophecies, which is a good moment to finally post my run notes.
Title: Nadine v.2 Credit to:pagans Base style: Tabula Rasa Type: CSS Best resolution: 1024x768 and higher Tested in: firefox, chrome Features: minimalist, single column, DIY background if desired
This picks up when Danny's been Dreadnought for a while, and is getting a bit too into the violent aspects of the job. This aspect is quite well done - you understand what's going on with her, but it actually is a bit unsettling. Also, Valkyrja reappears, sort of; an evil techbro wreaks havoc; a TERF is threatening the world; and Danny works on her relationships.
I liked this more than the first book. Danny developed as a character and spent a lot less time being abused by transphobes. I'll grab the third book when it comes out.
The sequel isn't as good as the first book, unfortunately. I'd have been happy with more of Zax, Minna, and Vicky exploring the multiverse, but this book is much more plot-driven and Minna and Vicky only show up three-quarters of the way through. Half or more of the book is narrated by a new character whose identity I'll leave out as it's spoilery for the first book. She was fine as a character but her storyline was less interesting. Zax gets a new companion, and I did quite enjoy his adventures with her. I also enjoyed Minna and Vicky when they finally appeared.
But the plot-driven parts were less interesting, and the structure was really odd and not in a way that benefited the book. Instead of picking up where the first book left off, we get a retrospective summary of what happened some time after that point, then we get the entire backstory of the non-Zax narrator bringing her up to the point where she meets Zax in the first book, then it jumps forward and we get what's happening to her now, then we catch up with what Zax is doing now, and then, about three quarters of the way in, we finally get the story of what happened immediately after the first book left off. I think it would have worked better to tell the story more linearly. And also, to have much more Minna.
It's not a bad book and it does have some really good parts, but there are some baffling choices made.
A week ago I got back from Japan where I was a guest at HALCon, an annual SF/F convention held in the Kawasaki International Center, and it was awesome. (Though right now I am still dead from jet-lag.) The convention itself was great, I walked to so many cool people, and was treated to so much good food. The Japanese edition of System Collapse translated by Naoya Nakamura had won the Seiun Award, and they presented me with that, which was also awesome.
Afterward we went down to Kamakura, which was the seat of the first Shogunate, and saw the Great Buddha https://www.kotoku-in.jp/en/ and two other Buddhist temples, one in a bamboo grove, and a huge Shinto Shrine. It was an incredible trip and I'm so glad I went.
Tour dates for Platform Decay, the next Murderbot novel:
The Magician of Tiger Castle, Louis Sachar, 2025 fantasy novel. Sachar is best known for Holes*, famously tight and well-constructed, so I kept reading this one (his first book for adults) in hopes that it would all suddenly come together into something satisfying. Spoilers: it did not.
*although I know him best for Sideways Stories From Wayside School, which I reread many times as a kid
(And I remember basically nothing else about the Holes sequel but I do sometimes still think about the scene where the popstar sings Janis Joplin.)
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