Elizabeth Bonesteel's Blog, page 7

This Post Is Procrastination

Writers are supposed to be honest, right?

I’m so tired. I have so much to do, my brain is juggling so many things, and I’m so tired.

I am certain I’m not the only person who’s coming out of the pandemic with a to-do list fatter than the old Metro West Yellow Pages. The amount of practical stuff that’s backed up is staggering: dental appointments, the ophthalmologist, checkups and routine tests. Not just for me, but for my kid, and for my parents–the most logistically complex set of appoint...

Random Thoughts #4,562,914

I got Moderna #2 on Thursday. It hasn’t hammered me too badly, apart from chronic exhaustion and vague headaches. The worst, like last time, is the pain in my arm, and that’s dramatically better today. But is my mind more organized? No, it is not! So I will do the ping-pong thing.

I finally went back to Horizon Zero Dawn, mostly because I’ve played both Prey and Control into the ground at this point. (Also because I read plot spoilers on line, and yes, I’m That Person, don’t @ me.) I thin...

Review: PROJECT HAIL MARY (2021)

I got my little hands on an ARC of this. Any inaccuracies are mine (or the ARC’s).

SPOILERS AHEAD!

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Spouse and I talk a lot about science fiction, although most of our discussions revolve around film and television. One thing we’ve recognized is that SF narratives can support pretty much one structural premise the viewer shouldn’t examine too closely.

One example is Edge of Tomorrow, a film I love. The central premise has to do with an alien that can “reset...

The Beginning Of The After

Today I take The Kid for her second shot.

Spouse is two weeks behind her; I am three. (Privilege of youth for me.) We’ve been talking about all the things we need to do once we’re all properly vaccinated: get some kitchen appliances replaced, all the dental appointments, looking for summer work for The Kid. And I’ll visit my parents, at last, although their situation has changed. I’ll be speaking with their caregivers to figure out the best way to approach the situation. I think it’ll be a wh...

Acceptance. Maybe. A little.

I struggle a lot with the Meaning of Life.

This is a luxury. In much of the world—most of it, throughout time—basic survival takes precedence: food, shelter, safety. How do I get these today? How do I get these tomorrow? How do I live my life so I don’t have to worry about these for the foreseeable future? Existential Angst is privilege, really; but I think most of us want something more substantive from our lives than a guaranteed next meal. I don’t think I’m especially unusual in this regar...

Grief

When I was in the second grade, I failed a clock-reading test.

“Tell me,” the teacher said, “when one minute has passed.”

I had managed to learn, erroneously, that one minute started when the second hand passed the minute hand, and ended when it passed it again. Sixty-one seconds, not sixty. I was wrong, in a very rigid, seven-year-old way.

Another kid in class insisted a minute had passed when the second hand swept the 12, no matter where you started, and we got into a screaming match....

Review: “Control: AWE” and “Control: Foundation”

Spoilers abound for “AWE” and “Foundation,” the two available expansion packs for Remedy Entertainment’s 2019 game “Control.” (Here’s my review of the original.)

Summary: Essentially extended side missions, both are a mix of familiar battles and new locations. You might, though, miss the immersive narrative of the original.

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A confession before we begin.

I should have been the perfect audience for these, despite their considerable narrative drawbacks. I love...

Avoidance

When I was in college, for one winter break, I worked as a temporary secretary at my mother’s lawfirm.

(This would have been 1984, or maybe 1985; at that point my typing speed meant I could command a pretty good rate, and I never lacked for assignments. I don’t think jobs like that exist anymore. Computer programmers are on Fiverr; my 90+ wpm typing speed wouldn’t even get me that. But I digress.)

Every profession attracts its set of interesting personalities, and the law is no different. ...

Sunrise

The world looks different before the sun comes up.

Out here in the woods, we don’t get a lot of light pollution, so the shift from true night to that faint, overall, blue-gray glow that precedes sunrise is gradual, letting you know the time without a clock. I used to see it all the time when The Kid was a baby; she’d wake up, and I’d feed her, and I’d cuddle her for a while until she went back to sleep. She wasn’t a great sleeper, and I’d see that glow emerge over and over again out her bedro...

Things I Learned In 2020

I am extraordinarily lucky to live with people I like.

People-watching isn’t just an idle hobby for me. It’s emotional sustenance. It’s story fodder. It’s basic spiritual maintenance. I miss it more than anything else “normal.”

Our government isn’t based on rules, but on poorly-defined agreements that can be violated at any time without consequence. Like much of the world, I read a bio of Alexander Hamilton this year, and learned most of the founders of the US genuinely believed in honorab...