Day in the Life of an Idiot

But, I went to the Roseville library the day before yesterday and got totally judged by the circ staff who helped me check out.

My Ramsey County library card has been lost for ages, but I always had the keychain bit that had the barcode, etc. Recently, however, the keychain dealio started peeling and finally, the hole that attaches to the key ring had worn through it and it fell off. I forgot about that, however, when I returned a pile of manga to the library on Wednesday afternoon. Shawn was working late-ish, so I decided to do a quick dash through the library, after returning my books, to see what I might pick up to read next. I go to check out and realize, "Oh shit, that's right, the damn keychain thingie is sitting on my dresser in my bedroom." Thanks to years of working at that library, however, I knew that the people at the front desk can check you out if you have a driver's license on you. So, I take my pile of manga to the front desk. I recognize the person helping me, an older woman that I used to work with. I remember liking her a lot, actually. She's a science fiction fan and nerdy in what I'd normally say are "all the right ways," BUT....

First off, she has no idea who I am.  I mean, if this were all that had happened, I wouldn't even find it all that strange.  Yes, sure, I worked right beside her for actual years, but lots of time has passed and I was always an irregular sub. Some people are bad with faces, too. I am wearing a mask, my hair is always different, etc. She does, at least, recognize my name as "that author." Something about this realization--maybe she senses that I sort of thought she should remember me?--makes her suddenly compelled to make chit-chat.

This is where everything goes off the rails.

Just as a spoiler? I want you to know that I totally kept my cool and sat on the fact that I was DEEPLY offended. And, more importantly, I SAVED my rant for y'all. (I know, you're SO LUCKY. :-)

It starts fine? I make some joke about the laser loon card (which I've posted about here--and just to explain quickly for our out of towners, due to some malarky which is too complex and BORING to really get into here, St. Paul, which is in Ramsey County, is actually a SEPARATE library system. Unlike Minneapolis and Hennepin, which are the same system, albeit different from both St. Paul and Ramsey County. The point is, my loon card does not work here.) At any rate, there is some discussion of the new Minnesota state flag, the Weather, etc. It's all going pretty normally, but then maybe the circ staff lady has run out of things to say? To be fair to her, I have made things more complicated by asking her hook my St. Paul card up to my old Ramsey County card and so the awkwardness is made extra long by this slightly more onerous set of things she needs to do for me before I can check-out.

My guess is that while casting around for a topic, she lands on my books, possibly hoping to discover similar taste or something. Instead, she says: "Oh, manga." Which, you know. Good Start with the immediate awkward pause. She then looks up at me, frowns, and adds, "I normally don't see a lot of these going out from the YA section." Clearly, she means, being checked out by ADULTS, because she continues, "Just the stuff upstairs." Which is where the adult manga are shelved. And, of course, she can't mean ever, because teens take out manga by the fists full at this library. Manga is a MASSIVE part of the teen room, it's like eight or nine shelves at LEAST!

After this observation, she gives me the "And your response is..???" stare.

All the things that raced through my head, but I said none of it. I'm weirdly proud of my restraint? Instead, I just said, "Well, these are good stories, too. Adults can appreciate them."

This seemed to end things, with her little laugh and "Oh, of course they can, haha," but HOLY SHIT what I wanted to say (and what I ended up saying to myself on the drive to pick up Shawn) was Legion.

The biggest one was the fact that, not two minutes ago, I was in the teen section (obviously, where apparently I don't belong) and I saw that some (overworked to the point that they couldn't flip through the first three pages) librarian in their infinite WISDOM (not) had marked Lupin III as YA. Now, I don't expect you to know who Lupin the Third is or that the manga about this "gentleman thief" is FULL OF NUDITY, DRUGS, graphic violence, RAPE, and probably a half dozen other things that most mothers (fathers and parents) of young teens probably would NOT like them to see by accident while looking for shounen manga. It was written in the swinging-60s for ADULT MEN. Like, drinking and smoking is just taken for granted, that's just a boring every panel sort of activity for Lupin and his colleagues. (I mean, it's also funny, but it was written for ADULTS.)

Because, AS YOU KNOW, BOB, in Japan, just because something is illustrated does not automatically mean it is for children or teens--which I feel is Manga 101.

Also, in the teen section, they had Act-Age, which, frankly, I'd've pulled from the shelf when the mangaka was arrested and found guilty for child molestation--like you know, they did in Japan. In the actual CHILDREN'S area they have Polar Bear in Love, which sounds cute, but is actually a Boys' Love manga (so, written for adults with gay content)... which relies heavily on the idea that readers find constant harassment and threatened interspecies rape (and violence) funny. Which, hey, for adults, whatever, but it's DEFINITELY NOT something I want to read to my TODDLER??? Meanwhile, upstairs in the adult section, they have Cat + Gamer, which has nothing sexy or adult in it at all, but is an absolutely adorable, WHOLESOME story of a girl who accidentally gets a cat and is such a nerd that she treats learning about it like leveling up in a video game. But, I guess that it's an adult book because maybe some idiot librarian saw the "+" and thought maybe the woman was having sex with the cat??? WHO KNOWS. It would take 5 SECONDS of flipping through the book to see that it is completely g-rated.

So, what's with the "Ah, an adult creeping around in YA, I see" attitude? Or was the circ staff lady going for, "I see you like picture books; do you have the mind of a child?" or WHAT??

AND HOW WAS ANY OF IT APPROPRIATE TO SAY TO A PATRON?

Because the second thing I really would have liked to have said--which I sort of did--is, "So what?" If I want to read actual picture books about ducks walking in the rain in human boots or books with Alphabet stories, I actually can. I am allowed to take out any book I fancy from the library. It is not for anyone to judge. In fact, when I worked at the library, I would occasionally stop and read a picture book or two. They can be lovely. And adults can get the same happy feelings reading them. Who doesn't love a nice little book about baby owls? I should NOT have to justify my reading tastes to anyone.

Also, there is nothing creepy about an adult reading YA literature, illustrated or not. What. The. Actual. Fuck.

But, as to their haphazard shelving, I have long considered writing a sternly worded letter to the Ramsey County library, but 1) I don't want to be that person because it smacks of censorship, which is not my point, (my point is that it would be nice if someone at the library actually knew ANYTHING about manga) and 2) I care/don't care, you know what I mean? Shelve it in a pile on the floor for all I care, I'm just happy that someone in the Ramsey County system is BUYING manga, particularly the re-issues of the old classics like Lupin III, which you used to not be able to find ANYWHERE. I picked up my copy of the first few volumes at Uncle Hugo's back in the day. Uncle Hugo's doesn't sell a lot of manga, but the used stuff they get is often really old? I also found a full run of Kubo's (Bleach's author/artist) previous work ZombiePowder! there.

But, my point is, I don't want to cool Ramsey County's manga purchaser because I actually think they're doing a great job. It's the cataloguer or whoever is making the shelving decisions who needs some better guidelines (or time to actually do a bit a research.)

And, of course, as a former circ staff person, my advice is maybe not shame anyone for what they chose to read.

How do I keep missing posting earlier in the week???

Sorry about that, everyone! I will try to be better going forward. Well, since it's What Are You Reading Wednesday again I might as well catch you all up on that. Let's see, I did, finally, out of guilt (and the library harassing me to return their books) make a decent dent in my TBR pile. I still have more books out and unread than I probably should and I returned several without finishing them... but the pile is smaller, and I did actually find a couple of gems.

The surprise gem for me in the bunch is a manga called My Love Mix-Up by Hinekure Wataru (writer) / Aruko (artist), which I assumed was shoujo, but which turned out to be stealth Boys' Love.

The basic story is a classic romcom, only with a REAL love triangle (instead of a love-Y,) and thus at least 1/3 gay.

Our hero, Aoki, has a crush in class--the girl who sits across from him Hashimoto. Hashimoto is, honestly, a delight. Often in these stories where there's a chance for two guys to get together the women are non-entities or worse. Hashimoto is perky and charming and Aoki is in love with her because she's just really, honestly very kind. So, it's no surprise that when the pop quiz is announced and Aoki realizes he's forgotten his eraser, Hashimoto loans him hers. Erasers in Japanese high schools have their own huge culture, including as "love charms" where girls (and sometimes boys) will write the name of their un requited crush on it and carry it around, sort of a homemade version of what you might get at a shrine. So...  Hashimoto's eraser has another dude's name it! It reads: Ida <3. Our poor hero is immediately heartbroken. Worse, the guy that his love interest likes is the very one who sits in front of him! In his distraction, Aoki drops the eraser and who should pick it up like the gentleman he is?? IDA.

So, now Ida is staring at this love token with his name on it and assumes it comes from Aoki.

Wacky hijinks ensue.

When I was reading this, I thought a lot about the general problem with the miscommunication trope, because in many ways this story depends on people holding on to the wrong idea. However, for me, at least, this issue was mitigated by an author who seemed aware that readers lose patience and start yelling "Just talk to him, damn it!" if you push things too far. So, the first complication to "just tell him it's not your eraser" is extraordinarily Japanese, which is that Aoki doesn't want to embarrass Hashimoto in front of her crush RIGHT BEFORE A POP QUIZ. So, he grabs the eraser back from Ida and says, "Can we talk after school? I need to explain this to you." (Which, hilariously, is often code for "I'd like to give you my love confession"--love confessions are their own huge thing in Japanese high school culture, and savvy readers immediately understand how Ida gets the wrong idea.)

Aoki is ON HIS WAY to tell Ito the truth when Hashimoto corners Aoki and makes him PINKY SWEAR (also its own huge thing, but pinky swears in Japan are meant to be unbreakable bonds. You do NOT go back on a pinky swear) never to tell anyone what it said on the eraser because she's not ready to confess to her love.

So now Aoki is headed up to the roof with no idea what to say this guy who thinks he's about to give him a love confession. Meanwhile, Ida is like, WTF, what do I do? No one ever confessed to me, and my first is another guy?? How do I feel? I need to treat this with respect, but I really don't think I can date a boy, can I??? All the while, Ida is thinking about all the times he remembers how Aoki shared an umbrella with him (<--another trope that romance readers in Japan see as a sign that someone LIKES you,) etc. So, Ida is working up to saying "Thanks, but I can't," but then Aoki comes up, looking distraught because he's upset that the can't just tell the goddamn truth now and he knows how high school is and he does NOT want it getting out that he's gay, especially since he's not... and so he basically just shouts "FORGET YOU EVER SAW THAT. THERE'S NO CHANCE  FOR US ANYWAY, SO WE'RE DONE HERE, K??" and kind of starts to cry, which Ida immediately thinks is Aoki backing away from his true feelings.

Thus, Ida, being the consummate gentleman, says, "Let me consider my answer carefully" despite the fact there's been no real love confession.

Of course, as the story progresses, Ida slowly starts to fall in love with Aoki (and visa versa). Meanwhile, Aoki tries to be a good wingman to Hashimoto, continuously and humorously screws that up so that he and Ida end up together instead The whole time Aoki's bestie, a guy named Aida is hanging around in the background.

And you see that name, right? You can probably guess the twist coming.

This is where Volume 1 ends, basically.

I didn't want to hunt down all 9 volumes from the library, so when I discovered that there was a live-action tv series somewhere I could watch it (Viki), I decided to go for it. The acting is not bad? As you know, I normally prefer 2-D, but I think my used-to-be-anime-night-but-has-morphed-into-C-Dramas friend has worn me down? Plus, the series kept surprising me. Like, it is so clear that part of why this story works for me is because I have finally read enough of these kinds of romance manga to understand the tropes that they are playing with. The eraser, the expectations of a love confession, the umbrella sharing, the crossdressing for the school play, (and, later in the series, the school trip... the first date....) all of these end up getting subverted and twisted, and yet the author actually treated the boys' romance as sincere, without short changing the female love interest--her story remains central and once Aiko and Hashimoto realize they are NOT rivals (another trope), the two of them become confidants, etc. in a really loving way.

The series is complete in nine volumes, which seems to translate perfectly for about 10 episodes of a TV series. I finished the TV series yesterday and am happy to report that the whole thing is charming from beginning to end. 10/10 would recommend. 

Then, I realized that I'd accidentally ordered an e-book from St. Paul which showed up in my in-box and since reading a manga this way (on loan AND on line) was novel, I gave it a go, despite the fact that the manga was a baseball light yaoi... and I am a really tough sell on sports manga. This one was called RePlay and it was by Tsukahara Saki. I don't have a lot to say about this one, other than the fact that there are occasionally romances (and, I feel like particularly yaoi,) where I look at the behavior of the couple and my brain starts screaming that if this were real life I'd be yelling: "RED FLAG! RED FLAG!" in the protagonist's face. Our hero, Yuta, spends his summer busting his chops to get into the same college as his love interest, which would be fine--but it's clearly the other guy's pick because there are programs there for him and Yuta TURNS DOWN A POSSIBLE BASEBALL SCHOLARSHIP to do it.

Don't do this in Real Life(tm), kids, he's never worth it.

The other one I got through last week was Volume 1 of Lord Hades’s Ruthless Marriage by Yuho Ueji which was a silly retelling of the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone, without the kidnapping (and instead, the interference of Cupid, aka the embodiment of Evil Twink Energy.) See my official review to see what I mean about Cupid (this one needs picture evidence): https://mangakast.wordpress.com/2024/03/07/hades-sama-no-mujihi-na-konin-lord-hadess-ruthless-marriage-by-yuho-ueji/ .

One of the manga (actually, in this case manhwa,) I ended up returning without doing more than a light skim was called 7Fates: Chakho by HYBE. It was very pretty, being in full-color, but I tapped out on the idea of "beom," which were just sort of otherworldly monsters that this group of extremely hot dudes are hunting. I mean, normally this is exactly my jam? I can not point fingers at hot monster hunters, given that I'm a Bleach fan. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for it. Plus, sometimes when you get the overdue notice you just think, "eh, to hell with it, then," you know? 

I think that's everything. I don't think I added anything new to my TBR pile, though I did randomly read a couple short things online, which I'll be writing reviews for later today on my other site:  Akuma no Kare / My Devil Boyfriend by Anything (naop) and After Staring at the Starry Sky by Bisco Kida. 

Akuma no Kare is a one-shot that is almost entirely a Plot-What-Plot, so I'm not sure there's enough THERE to review it, except I may end up talking about how on Baka-Updates someone seems to have gone through EVERYTHING that this author has written in order to give it a one star review, even things that have not been fan translated. This makes me think that's just someone targeting  Bara. Bara manga almost never get scanlated in part because it's written by gay men for gay men, and thus is male-gaze at men and NOT women's fantasies about what queer relationships are like. The art is not slender, hairless, androgynous, pretty bishi men f*cking each other in heteronormative and highly gender-coded ways, but big, burly, manly men being into each other (and the romance tends to be absent in favor of "wham, bam, thank you, man.")

I suspect this "look" offends the main readership of yaoi/ male/male romance, which is to say: women. 

Which just pisses me off. Especially since this means that I don't get to read good bara! 

Otherwise, I have spent the week trying to hunt down fellow authors who might be willing to blurb my newest book. I was telling a friend that this is part of the job that I've grown to hate. I never used to mind it, because I've always been part of an ask culture, so I never get embarrassed asking someone who is perfectly capable of telling me "No thank you." But, that was before, when I had a LOT of writer friends. In the intervening years as Tate Hallaway, I have largely lost touch with the SF "it kids." So I'm now in the position of having to cold call people I don't know at all (and, more importantly don't know ME) and ask them for a favor. I can not say that I like it much. 

I do have some other RPG gaming news, but I'll put that in a separate post (and probably a locked one, since it involves local folks.) The short of it, though, is that I had a really good time playing Old Gods of Appalachia -- an RPG based on the fiction podcast -- with some friends. 

I think that's it. How about y'all? Reading anything good this find Wednesday?

I'm still mostly reading manga, but I have been reading a lot of them lately. I caught up on the most recent volume of Blue Exorcist by Kato Kazue and Asadora! by Urasawa Naoki. Actually, they were kicking around my house, gathering dust, but the library reminded me that they would like both volumes back eventually, so I finally just sat down and read them.

Otherwise, I read:

• Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia / Insomniacs After School (Vol. 1) by Ojiro Makoto which I found to be mostly OK. There was nothing specifically meh about it, but it just didn't grab me, alas.
• Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna / She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat (Vol 1-3) by Yuzaki Sakaomi which I liked quite a bit, actually. It's lesbians who eat food together, but also have frank discussions of eating disorders, fatphobia, and abusive portion control. I highly recommend it, so long as none of those things are triggers for you.
• Imouto wa Neko / My Sister, The Cat  (Vol 1-3) by Senko which is as ridiculous as it is wholesome. It's basically about a guy who is adopted into a family of cats, in a world where talking cats are just a Thing That Exists. When I reviewed this over on MangaKast, I noted that the story starts to stray into the whole older brother obsession kink thing, EXCEPT SHE'S A KITTEN and so somehow that makes it all much more adorable and palatable.

 The dino quilt is in pieces now and the fabric has been set aside for some other day. I looked at for a long time and just decided that, even if I liked it (and the majority of people who commented on it had positive things to say), I was now going to associate it with a very dumb internet fight that made me feel bad. That's enough to kill the thing. So I did. It may seem petty, but it's actually self-care. 

A weird thing about me: I remember the shows, the conversations, the songs I listened to when I look at a quilt I've made. I can pick up a piece I worked on for months and get a full wave of sensory memories about the things that happened while I was making it. One of the baby quilts I sent to the UK? My strongest memory is working the actual quilt hook (for the first time, I think?) while listening to the podcast Wolf 359 with Mason.

So, I was never going to love that quilt the same way, even if I had been happier with it when I started it.

Alas.

Today is supposed to be "What Did You Read Wednesday" and I have a big pile of TBR manga in the other room (which I need to renew!) I could talk about one of them, which was Cat + Gamer, which was quite cute, but instead I want to talk about my newest evening routine. I've been picking one old Star Trek episode and rewatching it. Last night I watched "Mirror, Mirror," a classic. The night before was "The Turnabout Intruder." 

It's been interesting to watch these again. For me, it's the first time I've seen them in color. The TV I grew up with was black & white, which, no, I did not grow up in the 1950s. My parents were just very late adopters when it came to color television. If I remember correctly, they didn't get a color TV until I had moved out to go to college, so that's after 1985. 

Star Trek is pretty startling in color, I have to say. The colors are so vibrant that a lot of the special effects actually feel like they stand the test of time. I mean, some don't, of course, but a shocking number actually look very good. Like, almost believable. Which, feels counterintuitive? My brain apparently only remembers the very obviously Styrofoam rocks or whatever. But, the transporter looks fine. The planets, at least when the Enterprise first goes into orbit, look good, honestly.

Things I had forgotten include things like, how much time is spent discussing mutiny in "The Turnabout Intruder." I remember it for all the reasons I'm sure most of you do, which is how grossly anti-trans it is, how sexist it is, and how badly Shatner hams up being inhabited by a woman (see point number one). 

In "Mirror, Mirror," I had forgotten how sleezy a captain Kirk is once he returns to our dimension, In the final scenes (actually as the credits start rolling), he OVERTLY hits on an ensign who has been transferred who happens to be the counterpart (at least visually) to the woman who was "the Captain's woman" in the Mirror, Mirror 'verse. Bleh. The episode was decently good up to that point, for all its cheese. 

Tonight I am considering either "Who Mourns for Adonis?" or "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky." I am taking recommendations. Do you have a favorite that I should rewatch?

 I'm still desperately racing towards the end of my novel. I've figured out where I want to go, I think? I mean, I'm in the middle of writing the last, big climactic battle, so that's something.  The very light mystery is solved, for the most part. I just need, you know, RESOLUTION and I should be golden. (Oh, and probably a denouement because I actually tend to short change those.)

Otherwise, I've started reading a book I've been meaning to pick up for awhile now, Fonda Lee's Jade City. I'm not vey far in yet, however, so nothing much to report there, other than: this is definitely my cup of tea. 

How are you all?

 "Woe" is probably too strong a word for this situation. It's more that I am a complain-y person who likes to complain about things. The current thing I am fretting about is that I agreed to do a Speculations reading at Dreamhaven next Wednesday. 

True confession time. 

I have NEVER liked reading my own work out loud. Despite the fact that I often enjoy re-reading my own work, as discussed in a recent previous post and I generally like speaking in front of an audience, I kind of hate readings. It's one of those things, however, that is fully expected that authors DO. 

There's a couple of personal reasons why I dislike reading, out loud, in front of an audience. I am dyslexic. I've been dyslexic my whole life and so I have a lot of... shame around it? Like, I'm mostly okay with this fairly minor (for me) learning disability, but when I am standing in front of people who are all staring at me and I stumble over my own words, I don't enjoy it. I've learned to make fun of myself and to get around my mistakes by just going with something close to what I've written, but the actual act of reading out loud in this very structured space is not something I enjoy.

My other complaint in my complaining song is that I also, personally, am not fond of going to readings? I have an allergy to the MFA voice. I find it grating at best and soporific at worst. Worse, its prevalent, even among people who are not in Academia. Even when a reader doesn't do the MFA voice, I'm not great at paying attention when people are reading in performance halls, bookstores, and hotel panel rooms.

I don't know why. Like, Shawn used to read to me while I did the dishes (we don't have a dishwasher) for years. She's been replaced by an iPad and Spotify, but having people read to me or tell me a story is not the problem. So, I don't really understand why I find it hard to listen to writers reading their stories at readings. There just must be something about it that feels artificial. I honestly don't know. 

Am I alone in this?

At any rate, I'm also struggling to figure out WHAT to read. My WIP makes the most sense, but this is a book that I'm floundering on at the moment and I'm in that dreaded "I hate this book" phase of writing. I still might find some piece of that to read, and probably will? I could also read some short stories that I've recently sold... and I might do that, if for no other reason than that the editors of the anthologies would probably be happy that I'm out publicizing their product.  

I dunno.

La! There's my complaining song. 

How are you?

 I wanted to note that I finished my first audio book, All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. It was a weird experience having someone read to me when I know Charlie Jane fairly well, at least para-socially. In my mind, I knew how Charlie Jane would say "massive," and then the reader would read it and I'd think, how am I still hearing this in Charlie Jane's voice when this is clearly NOT Charlie Jane reading??!! But, I guess that's the magic of brains?

Anyway, I liked it well enough.

I'm trying to decide what to read next and have chosen Cadwell Turnbull's No Gods, No Monsters, mostly because it was available for immediate download and because I've read and LOVED Turnbull's short fiction, so I'm hopeful for this novel-length book. It won a Lambda, so I mean that's not nothing. 

Does anyone have recommendations? I'm up for pretty much anything. It just needs to be an audio book and not too dark. I'm still not in the mood for anything super heavy. 

 I'm about 125 pages into T. Kingfisher's Paladin's Grace, which I'm loving for a number of reasons, not the least of which is PALADIN BESERKER!!

But, the reason I read so much in one sitting was because Shawn and I spent about seven hours at the ER. 


SPOILER: SHAWN IS FINE. Symptoms turned out to be related to a new neck/spinal degeneration. 

Shawn, who many of you know, Is... medically complicated. There's not one big thing wrong with Shawn, though, just an exceedingly long list of small things.  In fact, thanks to the way one of her medical charts was written, we sometimes joke that her biography would be entitled, "Problem List Continues." 

Long time readers of this blog might also remember that when Mason turned 16, Shawn was hospitalized for a very rare blood clot in her superior mesenteric vein (a vein that returns blood to the heart from the intestines.) When she went to the urgent care that time, she thought she just had a very bad case of stomach flu that just wouldn't go away. Turns out, if she'd waited any longer... let's just say the outcome would not have been good. 

All these things combined makes this family very, very willing to pick up and go to the ER if Shawn says, "Something's not right." Her intuition about her own body is VERY good.

However, because she's got a thousand things going on with her at any given time, it can also be really hard to know what's life-threatening and what's "just a little out of the ordinary." Keeping in mind, of course, several factors, including, she's been right to go when things are just a little out of the ordinary AND women can present with very weird symptoms when they're having a heart attack. 

All of this leads us to yesterday around 4 pm, when Shawn came down the stairs just as I was wondering if I should start a second coat on the final kitchen wall and announced, "I think we need to go to the Emergency Room." I was like, "Whelp, that makes this decision easier," and packed up my painting supplies, tossed the drop clothes and ladder into the basement, and put on my "going out of the house" shoes. I didn't even ask what she was feeling until we were in the car and were halfway there. 

She'd been experiencing a strange pain in her right arm. She would not necessarily have worried about that, but for the past few days, she'd been experiencing odd heart flutters and, because she's stepping down off some blood pressure meds, per doctor's orders, she'd been taking her blood pressure and it was through the roof. 

The ER, thankfully, took her very seriously. They did blood work and an EKG immediately, but not seeing signs of having had a heart attack, they let us cool our heels in the waiting room for a couple of hours until a bed/room opened up. The desk nurse initially didn't want to let me through to sit with her, even when I explained that I was her wife, but Shawn kicked up a fuss when she noticed that a bunch of straight people were allowed to be together as couples. So, I ended up starting Kingfisher's book while we waited for a room.

The docs were all lovely once we were processed. We were only at the ER so late because they absolutely wanted to make certain no heart-related events were in progress or might happen were they to randomly discharge her without making absolutely sure. But, as part of the scan for blockages, the doctor ordered a neck CT, which revealed the possible culprit for the arm pain--which, I should note, did radiate (though Shawn felt it as a cold sensation which initially baffled the doctor) and then as some shoulder pain--new degeneration in C4 and C5 regions of the spine. They called this cervical radiculopathy? Anyway, Shawn knew she had some degeneration in this part of her neck, but had been diagnosed with spondylolisthesis. Which is somehow different? I'm not up, this morning, for a huge amount of web research into the differences. Will do later, though. Shawn is currently pouring over the results. 

The blood pressure was given a shrug and a "we don't worry about it when a patent is upright" from the ER doc, who had clearly SEEN SOME THINGS. But, apparently, it's worse to try to artificially bring down blood pressure just because and so they want her to follow-up with her regular GP. 

At any rate, we were eventually discharged and headed home around 11 pm.

Which, for Shawn and I, is WAAAAAY past our bedtimes. 

On the other hand, I did not have election night jitters.... 

Our washing machine broke a few days ago--almost two weeks ago, actually--and we bought one at Warner's Stellian. In preparation of delivery day, we've been doing a ton of work to make sure the delivery people had a clear path into the basement. I mean, I have a LOT of sympathy for these guys. It's been so hot. Our stairs into the house are steep; the stairs to the basement are worse.

BUT.

They scratched the front of it bringing it in.

And, worst of all, they left with out leveling it.

We bought one of the high efficiency washing machines and they spin a great speeds. It's clearly listed as part of the installation process and, while this is close, this is not quite level.


Image: bubble sitting just shy of level.

Does this matter this much? I'm not sure, but my wife would sure like that bubble to be sitting exactly level... and I'm not sure she's wrong?

Anyway, once again I am not telling you all what I am reading despite the fact that it is Wednesday. This time, at least, I am not telling you because I'm deeply embarrassed by the fact that I went down a yaoi smut rabbit hole (as it WERE) and if you really want to read about it, you can check out my manga review site: mangakast.wordpress.com



Anyway, how are you all? It's been forever! Tell me about your life!

I may risking jinxing it, but the writing thing has been working amazingly lately. I entirely credit all the words that I am getting on the page to my hour long Zoom meeting with naomikritzer every day (Monday-Thursday.)  I will be the first to admit that I usually poo-poo the whole concept of "writing dates," even though they have worked for me in the past, particularly with the MinnSpec meet-up.  They seem like they should be silly? Why would I write more just because I am sitting on a Zoom call? YET. I think having someone who is keeping me accountable totally works, plus, with the daily thing, it's a time I know I have already allocated for writing. It is SO EASY to do almost anything else all day long, instead of writing.

Writers: people for whom writing is more difficult than it is for most people.

Anyway, that's a yay.

I didn't post in yesterday's "What are you Reading Wednesday" meme-thingie because even though you lovely folks have nicely chosen my next book to read (We Have Always Been Here), I have not managed to crack it open.  Not sure what's up with that.  I sometimes feel like a fake fan, because I don't read nearly as much as all of the rest of y'all.  I haven't even been watching all that much anime to make up for my geek cred. I've been stuck working my way through campaign 2 of "Critical Role" (while also keeping up on the current campaign 3... ahhhh! Bye, Dorian Storm!!) My anime-turned-C-Drama friend had me watching the "Untamed (陈情令)" spin-off, "Fatal Journey (乱魄)"  the last time I was there. We also watched a few episodes of "Once Upon A Time In Lingjian Mountain (从前有座灵剑山)" and then switched to South Korea for "Hotel del Luna (호텔 델루나)."

I got her to watch exactly twenty minutes of an episode of "Sweetness & Lightning (甘々と稲妻)."

Sigh.

Let's see, other news... well, speaking of anime, my Japanese pen pal sent a letter recently that included a anime-themed stamp:


Image: Demon Slayer (鬼滅の刃) stamp

As for the rest, you'll have to forgive me. I'm not feeling terribly brilliant today.

The last thing I'll say is that it looks like we're getting an influx of folks who are finally abandoning LJ thanks to the invasion of Ukraine. *waves hello to any newcomers!*