Sunday thoughts. Still feeling less than well. Pretty low actually, with a
side of Sunday blahs and stress over upcoming stuff. I was going to work
on chores today, but I'm not wanting to push myself at all today. So I'm
going to stick to what I've been doing and chill. Reload tentacles, that kind
of stuff. I'm watching a fanedit of 'Dune' right now, that I'm really
enjoying. Beyond that, no real plans for today. Possibly picking up
the trash, that's about it.
I have a pile of stuff I've wanted/needed to get done...well, piling up.
Not 'can't live without' but things/projects I want to get working on. But
everything is out of sorts given being sick this quarter. I've also been
pretty darn antisocial the last 2 weeks, and I really want to change that.
I miss human contact, at least the humans I like. And boy am I behind on
movies. I want to see the new Kong flick, and 'Life', and next weekend
is GitS. Gotta get better to I can eye a certain cyborg. *wink*
There really isn't much else to talk about. I'm trying to keep a 'commonplace
book' of ideas that pop into my head, I'm hoping I can get more into posting
things before state of the fox updates and one liners on Facebook. We'll
see. But, for now though...I'm tired of staring at this window. Catch
you all later.
And a week passes, where I spent most of it at home being sick. Went back
to the doctor on Thursday, chest xrays look clear, so we're trying steroids
and more cough syrup, and my first inhaler, since my breathing is still
more labored than it should be. Phlegm is not my friend.
I only worked a half day on Friday, mostly to get there for a meeting.
The next week is going to be pretty busy, so I need to be back something
resembling 100%. So I'm spending the weekend pretty much at home chilling
out.
I'm a little stir crazy, I keep trying to think of something to do that doesn't
take much physical energy. Château Innsmouth is a bit of a wreck, though
I'm picking up bit by bit. Been binge watching Clive Barker movies, including
all 9 Hellraisers (yes, there are 9. No, there shouldn't be). Reading a
lot of history and Mythos stuff. Escape stuff for a Vulpine.
Not much else going on, movies and VM foo this afternoon. Trying to
not worry about what an unplanned 7 days of PTO in the last two weeks does
to my vacation plans, or what I'm going to be like come Monday. *sigh*
I am very sick of being sick. But hopefully Cthulhu will lay his healing
feelers upon me and I'll feel better soon. *crosses tentacles*
Well, I'm sick again. Real sick, as in I've been out sick 3 days this week,
with a doctor visit this morning after spending half the night spasm coughing.
Doctor punted, it's either flu or pneumonia. They could do tests and specify,
but I'm still paying on my deductible and honestly, I wanted out of there
at speed, so he gave me the option to get both tamiflu and antibiotics,
along with the codeine cough syrup. Got the scripts filled, messaged the
boss and coworkers and came home. I'm running on nearly no sleep for the
last few days, but my attempt at a nap became an anxiety spike of too many
thoughts.
Having pneumonia right now is very weird, since 2 years ago almost to the day
that Mom was being moved around post the bout of pneumonia she had before
she died. The fact that I'm sick again, or still, or gods know what this
year isn't helping. I'm more than a little depressed over the whole thing
right now.
So I've spent the day watching Clive Barker movies for "reasons" First 3
'Hellraiser' flicks to start, I was thinking of doing all nine of them.
(Yes, there are nine...that fact seems to boggle a lot of friends of mine).
Then I switched tracks to 'Lord of Illusions' which grows on me with each
viewing. Now watching a more recent Barker flick, 'Book of Blood'. Which
is a weird little ghost/haunting story. Not sure what's next. Ok, after
some false starts I decided to stick with the Barker movies, and now watching
'The Midnight Meat Train'.
So that's about it, I'm going to be staying in all weekend. Not what I
wanted to do, but oh well. Hopefully I can swing up to being healthy again
to go back to work on Monday. I'm kind of blah, lonely sick person. But
it will get better. It always does. One of these lifetimes.
Last night's router foo went smooth, rebooted around 1am, and took about 2
minutes to come back up. I stayed up later, vaguely worried that it
would bounce again. It happens, especially when the other side figures
out they missed something. But it didn't. So I stayed up for the time
change (grumbles about Daylight Savings), and finished my marathon on
Dan Brown movies. Slept less than well, bad/weird dreams. Woke up, didn't
want to. Futzed around for a bit, then went back to bed. Didn't really
sleep, which is probably good for tonight's sleep.
Made myself get moving and go to the store, Walmart on a Sunday is not
conducive to one's faith in humanity. Got what I needed, stopped by
Wendy's for a late lunch and came home. Sorted though the massive amounts
of paperwork in my filing cabinet. Well, kind of sorted. I boxed all of
Mom's stuff in a plastic tote, didn't sort, just piled. Then sorted what
was left (mine) Now...now I think I'm going go hide with a book til bedtime.
Monday morning will show up soon enough. Catch you all later.
Well I managed to sleep in today. Not as much as I'd wanted, but better
than being up at work time. Didn't run any errands before the coffee
gather, I just bummed around the house til it was time to leave. Ran
over to the coffee place and met up with the Ufies. Hung out, discussed
geek jobs, Minecraft and why you would twerk trees (don't ask). Was fun to
see friends. We hung out for about 2 hours, then parted ways to go do
adulting.
Well, not much adulting for me, I went to a Half Price Books I hadn't been
to in a long time, didn't find anything too fun. Then I went downtown
to King Tut's for some tasty Egyptian lamb, and then back home. Threw
the laundry in the wash, and fired up 'The DaVinci Code', as for some
reason I was in the mood for Tom Hanks to describe symbols. Also, since
I'm going to be up all hours I can watch it, and the two sequels will keep
me entertained til the wee hours. Hoping the router update is quick and
painless.
Not much else. Just going to be quiet here at Château Innsmouth, watch
my movies and go to bed once work is complete. *waves a tentacle* Catch
you all later.
Weekly post time. Work week was ok, if not amazing. Still really like
the job and the people I work with. Occasionally get frustrated with
working in big corporation environments, and with some of the past decisions
we have to work with. Still better than the Shoggoth Pit. And my complaints
are low.
Brainmeats have been mean. General low grade depression, with the return
of the nasty anxiety dreams from hell. I've also been pretty antisocial
and wanting to avoid humanity (when I'm not hoping Cthulhu rises from the
deep and goes for snacky time). It's not been fun. Woke up this morning
after more anxiety dreams, but for a change I wasn't down. Magic of Fridays
I guess.
Came home after work, been watching movies and updating the VM horde. Also
spent my tax return monies finally. Nothing big (didn't get much back)
just a replacement laptop bag, and some bits of Cthulhu stuff for
Château Innsmouth. Probably should have spent it on debts or on future
travel plans, but why not. Cultists need cultstuffs. I also really need
to start showing off how Château Innsmouth is turning out. *grin*
Speaking of travel, plans are coming together for both the Alaska cruise,
and the Pilgrimage to Providence. I'm kind of more exciting about Providence
at the moment, but as the Musketeers reminded me, I'll have days at sea
with a balcony looking over the water. And half joking about me sleeping
out there...*grin* I also got the paperwork setup for my passport, i just
need to make an appointment with the local post office for the photos and
to submit things. Not waiting til the last minute. Only been meaning to get
this done since I was I was a teen. Oh well, better late than never.
Weekend plans are to hang out with Ufies Saturday at a local coffee house.
Beyond that, nothing really yet. I may work on chores, or I may run
around doing stuff. Or I could just hide at home. Home is nice after
all. We'll see. Oh, I have to sleep in, since I'll be up late tomorrow
to monitor a router reboot. Should be a 15 min fix, but if I don't watch
it, it will have issues, and I'll get a wake up call. Rather stay up and
do the waking. As for why it's me, well one coworker did a late shift
already this week, and the other's been fighting off a bug. Plus, I kind
of miss being up to wee hours on a Saturday. So lets hope things go
smooth. And lets hope for a relaxing weekend.
Had plans for this afternoon, Lego Batman and dinner. But things got
canceled at the last minute, for understandable reasons. So I randomly
went to a bookstore, got a few things off my wishlists, and then did the
weekly groceries. After dealing with Walmart, especially the crazies in
the parking lot. Came home, unloaded the groceries, and I've camped out
with 80's cheese-horror.
Speaking of cheese, ordered a pizza. Going to ...
*time passes, not much though*
Well psychic pizza delivery just delivered my pizza right as I wrote the
above. Yay food. Besides movies, I'll probably finish 'Dust and Shadows'
tonight. Lets see if Sherlock Holmes can beat Jack the Ripper. No plans
of yet for tomorrow.
And I forgot this post...oh well. Laundry is in the wash, I'm watching a
Hammer flick, and I'll call this a post. Catch you all later.
One of the best bits of Lovecraftian lore I've read in the last 5 years
was Ruthanna Emrys'
'The Legacy of Earth'. A novella about a
Innsmouth Marsh
who is living in San Francisco after World War II. Now anyone who's
read or talked to me any great degree knows I'm rather pro Deep One. Those
last few paragraphs where Robert Olmsted talks of the wonder and glory of
those living under the sea...it's always had a special place in my swim
bladder. So a story from the point of view of an Innsmouth native, I'm
sold. I've sung the praises of this story before, so when I heard the author
had a
novel of the future adventures of Aphra Marsh, well I may have happy
danced a bit.
Skip ahead to last Cthulhumas, and said author said 'Hey I have ARCs, tell me
about your Winter Solstice Traditions, and you may win one'. So I posted,
and guess what, I won one. Yay for pre-reading preordered books. So, in
thanks here is my quick review of 'Winter Tide'.
After the events of 'The Legacy of Earth', Aphra is asked to return to Massachusetts
to look into possible use of Aeonist magic by foreign powers. Shockingly,
it's at Miskatonic U, which is where most of the contents of the libraries of
Innsmouth ended up. There is wild library usage, visited to relatives under
the sea, flashbacks to life behind the wire, accidental magic usage by stupid college kids, Yithians being pissy,
and the wild world of early Cold War spycraft. Yes, it sounds like it's
confusing and muddled from the above, but seriously it works together.
Now, if you think the Canon of Grandpa Theobald is the measure to all other
tales, you'll have issues. This isn't Zadok Allen's Innsmouth. To give you
a non-spoiler, people in Innsmouth call the rocky island offshore 'Union
Reef' not 'Devil Reef'. The lead character is female and Innsmouthian, and spunky. The other characters in her investigation party are not classic Lovecraft W.A.S.P.s either. There's no flinching at how sexism and racism was
in 40's New England, especially in universities. The worship of the Great Old
Ones is basically no different than any other religion. Including that some
people are just like everyone else, except their god has tentacles, and that
others are complete maniacs and kill people. Pretty much like any religion
I can mention... Belief isn't evil, knowledge isn't evil. Evil is what you
choose to do with both.
Long paragraph short, if you want your deep ones evil, pass on this book. If
you want to see things from a different point of view, give it a read.
4 out of 5 tentacles up.
Winter Tide is due out on April 4th, 2017, for Kindle and Hardcover.
P.S. I preordered both the hardback and the kindle edition before I was sent the ARC. I still have them preordered, yes I enjoyed it enough to buy it when I got it for free.
