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shadowkatThe sun went away around 10 am this morning, it's been gloomy ever since, with spots of rain and downpours. Although we admittedly need rain. And I'm guessing most of the Western US would like to borrow some of it.
[Ah, we get a sunset - a kind of orange glow sunset, but not bad all in all.]
I bought Blink - Lubricant for Contacts and Blink Lubricant for Cleaning Contacts - mainly because I got confused and couldn't figure out which to get. Same issue as before? I had to get them to unlock it, and they hover as I check, rather impatiently, I might add, as if it were my fault they had to lock them up in the first place. (It's not. I don't steal - I know what happens when people steal from retail establishments? It comes out of the pay of the store managers and employees. It's cruel, and unnecessary. I try not to hurt others to benefit myself - it goes against my moral code. That's not to say, I don't unconsciously do it from time to time or do little infractions - but I do try not to, even when people piss me off, which is often (I live in a city of 12 million people - it's bound to happen, law of averages? Not only that - I commute on public transportation.)
It has been cooler at least. So the A/C is working quite well. It doesn't work nearly as well when it is 100 degrees - then it's usually 78-80 degrees in my apartment. But at 80 degrees - it's 75-76 degrees inside.
**
I'm in between television shows now - or have a television show hang-over.
I may try Castlevania next or Interview with the Vampire on Netflix (except I hate Netflix - it's hard to watch things on Netflix). Maybe go back to The Citadel? X-men '97 drops one episode each week - and I want it to build up a bit. I could go back to From, but not in the mood for horror any longer. Nor am I in the mood for Dark Winds S4 - which recently dropped on Netflix. I want more of something like VOX or the Bear (hence the television show hangover). It's a matter of weeding through stuff, I suspect. I want either action with snappy banter, and a touch of angsty romance or workplace dramedy with a chaotic workplace and focus on the relationships of the characters in it, and becoming insanely competent at solving problems in interesting work environments nothing like my own.
These two types of shows are really hard to find for some reason.
**
Books, I'm doing better with. Enjoying Street of Five Moons by Elizabeth Peters - which is a comedic romantic gothic mystery. The detective, an assistant museum curator in Munich, is adorably incompetent - and self-deprecating. She's also tall, big, and curvy. And blond. The mystery takes place in Rome. She's hunting a band of antique jewel thieves and art forgers. And stumbles into a bantering romance with one of them. Together they manage to escape danger, and reveal the culprit. It's somewhat of a subtle satire of the genre (which honestly deserves it). The narrator (it's audio book) is rather good - they can do multiple voices, including British, Italian, and German accents, and male/female voices without difficulty. I'm impressed. Weirdly female narrators are often better at this sort of thing than male narrators, no idea why.
[I got it fairly cheap - since it's an older book and not that popular.]
And The Thief (Queen's Thief Book 1) by Megan Whalen - "The king’s scholar, the magus, believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure. To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king’s prison. The magus is interested only in the thief’s abilities. What Gen is interested in is anyone’s guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses.Megan Whalen Turner weaves Gen’s stories and Gen’s story together with style and verve in a novel that is filled with intrigue, adventure, and surprise."
Storygraph describes it as follows: The Thief (The Queen's Thief Series #1) by Megan Whalen Turner might appeal to readers who enjoy cleverly constructed mysteries and the intellectual satisfaction of unraveling a complex, layered deception.
I'd initially had issues getting into it - wasn't in the mood - but having picked it up again, it's rather gripping. There's a lot of mysterious aspects to it. I'd say it's a fantasy/mystery hybrid? I wouldn't put it in the YA genre, but others have. [That's the e-book.]
And still reading This Kingdom Will Not Kill ME in hardback, even though I finished the audio version.
***
Almost forgot - Bonnie Tyler died at 75. She's the singer who immortalized the little 1980s ditty... Total Eclipse of the Heart in 1983 and of course, the quintessential 1980s pop song Holding Out for a Hero - the theme song for Coverup, and in Flashdance.
***
Question a Day Meme - July
6. Today is the beginning of Great British Pea Week in the UK. Do you like eating peas? Have you ever grown them?
No. I don't like peas at all. Pea shoots - yes, pea greens - yes, pasta made from pea flour -- yes. Round little vegetable peas? No. Despise them and don't get the point. I think my mother might have grown them and my brother may have - but I don't grow anything. I have a black thumb like my Dad. We're writer and strategists/analysists not growers, unfortunately.
7. It’s the seventh day of the seventh month, and in Japan, it’s the day of the Star Festival (Tanabata). For one day only, wishes, hopes, poetry and dreams are written onto streamers and tied to trees. What would you write on a streamer today?
I think "that everything goes well" - which it did for that day at least?
Re-read it - and thinking this is a broader theme thing? The US gets rid of its current administration, we get a new Supreme Court, the Republicans leave office, and things go back to normal. (I edited it and its still too long - I admittedly want too much.)
Or just World Peace?
8. Artemisia Gentileschi was born today in 1593. She was incredibly famous during her career, but largely forgotten until the 20th century. Have you ever seen any of her paintings?
I have no idea who she is. I had to look her up. Artemisia is the most celebrated female painter of the 17th century.
So probably? Since I've been to the National Gallery, and I'm guessing she had paintings in it in the 1980s? But only a vague memory of them. Her style is kind of similar to a lot of artists - it's naturalist realism. And that is a popular style.
It's not a favorite style of mine? Although I get the point of it back then? They didn't have photographers back then - so naturalist realism was in. I'm more of an abstract impressionist or impressionist realist, swinging towards caricature - artist. I don't understand the point of realism - in that you can just take a photo. But back then? It makes sense.
9. It’s World Misophonia Day. A person with this disorder has decreased tolerance for certain sounds as well as the stimuli that accompany those sounds (for example, loud chewing). Someone with the condition will experience feelings of distress, which may overwhelm them. Are there any sounds that you find irritating, even if you don’t suffer from this condition?
Yes, chalk on a chalk board, high pitched squeaking - like train wheels skidding on a rail, car alarms, barking, and high soprano or a high pitched voice. Also high pitched humming/whistling.
I had a friend who had it. She couldn't deal with movies being too loud, and had to wear ear plugs. She was constantly plugging her ears.
[Ah, we get a sunset - a kind of orange glow sunset, but not bad all in all.]
I bought Blink - Lubricant for Contacts and Blink Lubricant for Cleaning Contacts - mainly because I got confused and couldn't figure out which to get. Same issue as before? I had to get them to unlock it, and they hover as I check, rather impatiently, I might add, as if it were my fault they had to lock them up in the first place. (It's not. I don't steal - I know what happens when people steal from retail establishments? It comes out of the pay of the store managers and employees. It's cruel, and unnecessary. I try not to hurt others to benefit myself - it goes against my moral code. That's not to say, I don't unconsciously do it from time to time or do little infractions - but I do try not to, even when people piss me off, which is often (I live in a city of 12 million people - it's bound to happen, law of averages? Not only that - I commute on public transportation.)
It has been cooler at least. So the A/C is working quite well. It doesn't work nearly as well when it is 100 degrees - then it's usually 78-80 degrees in my apartment. But at 80 degrees - it's 75-76 degrees inside.
**
I'm in between television shows now - or have a television show hang-over.
I may try Castlevania next or Interview with the Vampire on Netflix (except I hate Netflix - it's hard to watch things on Netflix). Maybe go back to The Citadel? X-men '97 drops one episode each week - and I want it to build up a bit. I could go back to From, but not in the mood for horror any longer. Nor am I in the mood for Dark Winds S4 - which recently dropped on Netflix. I want more of something like VOX or the Bear (hence the television show hangover). It's a matter of weeding through stuff, I suspect. I want either action with snappy banter, and a touch of angsty romance or workplace dramedy with a chaotic workplace and focus on the relationships of the characters in it, and becoming insanely competent at solving problems in interesting work environments nothing like my own.
These two types of shows are really hard to find for some reason.
**
Books, I'm doing better with. Enjoying Street of Five Moons by Elizabeth Peters - which is a comedic romantic gothic mystery. The detective, an assistant museum curator in Munich, is adorably incompetent - and self-deprecating. She's also tall, big, and curvy. And blond. The mystery takes place in Rome. She's hunting a band of antique jewel thieves and art forgers. And stumbles into a bantering romance with one of them. Together they manage to escape danger, and reveal the culprit. It's somewhat of a subtle satire of the genre (which honestly deserves it). The narrator (it's audio book) is rather good - they can do multiple voices, including British, Italian, and German accents, and male/female voices without difficulty. I'm impressed. Weirdly female narrators are often better at this sort of thing than male narrators, no idea why.
[I got it fairly cheap - since it's an older book and not that popular.]
And The Thief (Queen's Thief Book 1) by Megan Whalen - "The king’s scholar, the magus, believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure. To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king’s prison. The magus is interested only in the thief’s abilities. What Gen is interested in is anyone’s guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses.Megan Whalen Turner weaves Gen’s stories and Gen’s story together with style and verve in a novel that is filled with intrigue, adventure, and surprise."
Storygraph describes it as follows: The Thief (The Queen's Thief Series #1) by Megan Whalen Turner might appeal to readers who enjoy cleverly constructed mysteries and the intellectual satisfaction of unraveling a complex, layered deception.
I'd initially had issues getting into it - wasn't in the mood - but having picked it up again, it's rather gripping. There's a lot of mysterious aspects to it. I'd say it's a fantasy/mystery hybrid? I wouldn't put it in the YA genre, but others have. [That's the e-book.]
And still reading This Kingdom Will Not Kill ME in hardback, even though I finished the audio version.
***
Almost forgot - Bonnie Tyler died at 75. She's the singer who immortalized the little 1980s ditty... Total Eclipse of the Heart in 1983 and of course, the quintessential 1980s pop song Holding Out for a Hero - the theme song for Coverup, and in Flashdance.
***
Question a Day Meme - July
6. Today is the beginning of Great British Pea Week in the UK. Do you like eating peas? Have you ever grown them?
No. I don't like peas at all. Pea shoots - yes, pea greens - yes, pasta made from pea flour -- yes. Round little vegetable peas? No. Despise them and don't get the point. I think my mother might have grown them and my brother may have - but I don't grow anything. I have a black thumb like my Dad. We're writer and strategists/analysists not growers, unfortunately.
7. It’s the seventh day of the seventh month, and in Japan, it’s the day of the Star Festival (Tanabata). For one day only, wishes, hopes, poetry and dreams are written onto streamers and tied to trees. What would you write on a streamer today?
I think "that everything goes well" - which it did for that day at least?
Re-read it - and thinking this is a broader theme thing? The US gets rid of its current administration, we get a new Supreme Court, the Republicans leave office, and things go back to normal. (I edited it and its still too long - I admittedly want too much.)
Or just World Peace?
8. Artemisia Gentileschi was born today in 1593. She was incredibly famous during her career, but largely forgotten until the 20th century. Have you ever seen any of her paintings?
I have no idea who she is. I had to look her up. Artemisia is the most celebrated female painter of the 17th century.
So probably? Since I've been to the National Gallery, and I'm guessing she had paintings in it in the 1980s? But only a vague memory of them. Her style is kind of similar to a lot of artists - it's naturalist realism. And that is a popular style.
It's not a favorite style of mine? Although I get the point of it back then? They didn't have photographers back then - so naturalist realism was in. I'm more of an abstract impressionist or impressionist realist, swinging towards caricature - artist. I don't understand the point of realism - in that you can just take a photo. But back then? It makes sense.
9. It’s World Misophonia Day. A person with this disorder has decreased tolerance for certain sounds as well as the stimuli that accompany those sounds (for example, loud chewing). Someone with the condition will experience feelings of distress, which may overwhelm them. Are there any sounds that you find irritating, even if you don’t suffer from this condition?
Yes, chalk on a chalk board, high pitched squeaking - like train wheels skidding on a rail, car alarms, barking, and high soprano or a high pitched voice. Also high pitched humming/whistling.
I had a friend who had it. She couldn't deal with movies being too loud, and had to wear ear plugs. She was constantly plugging her ears.
