Bryce Moore's Blog, page 57

Movie Review: Dune

I watched Dune with the fam on Friday night. Daniela’s been looking forward to it for at least half a year, so she wanted to see it ASAP. (Had to talk her down from watching it late on Thursday night.) Yes, we watched it at home, but it was on quite a big screen. That said, I do think this is one that is best suited for as large of a screen as you can find. It runs on spectacle.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. The effects were fantastic, and the acting was all solid. The action pieces were well done, and the plot actually made sense (as opposed to a certain earlier adaptation of the book . . .) I’m going to assume people are familiar with the plot of the book. It’s been out a long time, after all. If you aren’t, then be aware that there will be spoilers ahead. Hard to talk about what I want to talk about without them.

That said, I had a number of issues with the film as well. Some of them are no doubt due to the higher expectations I had going into the movie, but I think I likely would have had the gripes even without those expectations.

The movie is 2.5 hours long, and it feels much longer. One of the main reasons for this is that there’s a serious lack of tension a lot of the time. House Atreides gets to Arrakis, and we’re told there have been Harkonnen sabotages. True, we see a couple of them: the faulty spice miner lift, and the attempt on Paul’s life. But in each of those cases, the problem appears sort of out of nowhere. We aren’t prepped for them in any meaningful way, and they’re both resolved as soon as they crop up, then not really addressed again in the film. It felt at times like the movie was just a string of isolated conflicts. It would have been helpful to know the stakes and know what the overall goal was.The main characters often don’t seem to be in any real, meaningful trouble. Some of that is because of the visions, so we’re reasonably sure certain characters will be fine. But a lot of it also stems from the fact that so many of their problems are resolved for them. Paul and Jessica get out of the attack by . . . getting drugged. True, they have to get free of their captors, but once they’ve done that, they have convenient supplies that make their desert journey seemingly not that big of a deal. I don’t sense any danger for them, other than the sand worm, which appears and disappears just as conveniently.The soundtrack felt very generic and underused. It’s Hans Zimmer, so it should have had potential, but overall it just felt like a bunch of blaring sounds that did little to add or enhance the mood of any scene. It was a disappointment.I had a tough time really connecting to some of the characters. Yes, there are a ton of them, so that’s some of it. But even significant characters like Paul’s father just left me sort of . . . meh. For 2.5 hours of movie, I would have thought more of it would have been devoted to actually establishing those character relationships.The movie feels like it’s almost all set up, and very little delivery. It’s setting the stage for what could be a really excellent Part Two, but how do I rate Part One without seeing how Part Two pans out? I would have liked to see more pay offs in the first part, and really felt the lack.Even knowing that the movie was going to end abruptly, I still disliked the way it finished. It didn’t feel like it had any real significant climax. It just . . . ends. Yes, there’s the fight, but it’s not a fight that we saw coming, the same as so many of the other conflicts. And it didn’t seem particularly more important than any of the other fights.

I have read the reactions of many people who are big Dune fans, and they’ve all been quite positive. This leads me to believe that much of the success of the movie is hinging on one’s familiarity with the source material. I’ve read the first book a long time ago, and I remember liking it, but that’s about it. It doesn’t help that the ads were trying to call it the next Star Wars or Lord of the RIngs. Those are big shoes to fill, and I don’t feel this movie was up to the task.

What would I have done differently? Cut some of the characters. Combined some of them, perhaps. Do we need the random Fremen maid? No. She does nothing. How about the short, squat man with the beard who works for House Atreides? I can’t even remember his name. He does nothing meaningful, but the movie wasted time trying to keep showing that Paul likes him.

Ditch the long tent scene Paul and Jessica have, and instead devote the same time to them traveling. Show them in danger and really struggling to survive. Have them have one or two close calls with a sand worm, and have them use their wits to avoid them. Have them maybe struggle a bit to learn how to do the Fremen desert walk?

These aren’t revolutionary ideas, though maybe they would be if I were a mega fan of the series. My gut says it would have helped to combine Duncan and Gurney, giving more time for the movie to develop that character and those relationships. I also would have liked more time devoted to the Harkonnens actually doing things instead of just attacking and yelling all the time

I don’t know. The more I think about the movie, the less enthralled I am by it. Was it a better adaptation than the earlier one? Definitely. Is it a good movie? Sure. Is it a great movie? I’m far from convinced. I would love to hear what actual fans of the books have to say about it. What made you like the film? What made it really stand out? Because at the moment, it’s reminding me more of the Harry Potter adaptations than anything else. Movies that were fun the first time, because I liked seeing how the books were imagined on the screen, but which really haven’t stood up for the most part.

The movie still has strengths, and I know I didn’t dwell on them nearly as long. As I said, it really felt like spectacle was the main thing moving the film forward, and it delivered on that in spades, enough to bump what would otherwise be a 5 or 6 out of 10 movie to a 7 for me. I’ll watch the second part if it’s made, but I’m really hoping it fixes some of the many flaws I saw in the first.

What did you think about it?

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Ted Lasso: Season Two

NOTE: there are most definitely going to be spoilers in this post, so if you haven’t finished the season yet, you’re better off waiting to read this until after you have.

Okay?

Okay.

Denisa and I finished watching the second season of Ted Lasso last night, and naturally I Have Some Thoughts. I know the season has been somewhat divisive with fans of the first season, particularly Nate’s character arc. I’ve read many complaints that “Nate would never act like that” and “it was just too forced.”

Having seen all of it now, I have to say I definitely come down on the side of thinking it’s all too believable for me. In season one, Nate is a victim of bullying. He’s constantly belittled, and Ted takes him under his wing and frees him from all of that. While it’s nice to think that from there on it would be happily ever after for Nate, it’s not very realistic to think that.

First of all, as a victim of abuse, statistics say there’s a significant chance he’ll become an abuser himself. The show is very open about this early on in the season, showing the way Nate treats the new water boy. When given the chance to be free from abuse, Nate begins to do to other people what was done to him. Is it enjoyable to watch? Well, not if you’re a fan of Nate. But I found the arc believable and compelling.

In addition, it’s right in line with the “power corrupts” adage. I’ve seen multiple instances of this in real life, where people are essentially promoted to a place where they stop being the person I knew and turn into someone who’s . . . different. You really don’t know how someone’s going to respond to newfound authority until they have it.

For Nate, his values change. He begins to be much more concerned about his image and how he’s perceived. In many ways, he seems to be overcorrecting for the self-hatred he feels. (Spitting on himself in the mirror as a way to feel better about himself?) He’s constantly insulted that he isn’t automatically more important in everyone else’s eyes. Roy Kent doesn’t see him as a romantic rival. Ted doesn’t see him as the end-all-be-all of coaching wisdom and mentorship. Waitresses ignore him.

When it comes to his big final speech to Ted, detailing all the ways Nate’s been slighted over the course of the year, you can see why he might feel that way, but I also see how he’s chosen to interpret things the worst way possible time after time after time. When you set people up for these unknown tests (“Will Ted put the picture I gave him up in a place of importance?” “Will everyone listen to my latest coaching plan?”), you set everyone around you up for failure. They just don’t realize how important those seemingly random events are to you. Nate should have gone to Ted or Roy or Coach Beard or anyone and talked. Expressed how he’s feeling. Instead, he bottles it up inside and assumes the worst.

That’s not unrealistic. That’s all too believable for me. And by the time Nate actually shares what he thinks, his feelings are set in cement. He’s already made up his mind, and there’s nothing anyone around him can do to change it.

I can understand why some might not like that arc in a show they viewed as a lighthearted comedy. What’s up with this season suddenly bringing in topics like suicide and abusive relationships and affairs and more? But if you look back in the first season, it was doing that then as well. Ted Lasso isn’t just a comedy, and it’s not just a drama. It blends both, playing the whole emotional keyboard. For me, that makes it more powerful, not less.

I thoroughly enjoyed the second season, and I look forward to seeing where it goes from here.

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Life with Ferris

It’s been a bit since I gave a dog update, which actually shows how smoothly things have been going with the little bounder. It’s definitely still been a learning curve figuring out how he fits into the family and how to make sure his needs are being met, but it’s been a fun learning curve (for the most part). I thought I’d take a minute to jot down some observations I’ve had about him from the last while.

He’s learned that human food is generally preferable to dog food, and that we often have human food just sitting on the kitchen island, unattended and free for the taking, if he can just reach it. On Sunday Daniela and I were making sugar cookies, and we set out four sticks of butter on the island to come to room temperature. They were not close to the edge, but they definitely weren’t in the middle of the island, either. When the time came to make the cookies, only three sticks of butter were left. Either we both totally spaced it and just put out three sticks in the first place, or we have a grade A butter thief in the house. Seeing as how we all remembered putting out four sticks, my vote is for the butter thief. Ferris has a really good innocent face, however. Whoever took the butter, they made it disappear completely. No wrapper. No buttery smears anymore. My bet is a certain golden retriever put his paws up on the counter and snagged a stick, wolfing it down in one gulp, wrapper and all. The good news is it didn’t give him any indigestion, at least.A tired Ferris is a happy Ferris. As long as he gets a good walk in, he’s usually fine for the day. Luckily, our kids have picked up running as a hobby. Denisa has also started taking him for runs. If nothing else, having a dog has increased the activity levels around our house.Despite his love of activity, he’s also gotten much better and just lazing around the house. He’ll happily sit in his cage (with the door open) for hours at a time, though he sometimes prefers his dog bed out in the open. In his ideal world, he’d crawl under the futon in the study and stay there for most of the time. It was easier for him to do that when he was a real puppy. These days he still tries, but he often gets stuck. “E” for effort, though.He is definitely fond of routines. When we got all the kitchen cabinet boxes, it totally weirded him out. He’s very confused by this whole kitchen renovation, and I think he’s wondering why in the world we thought this was a good idea. (It has officially stated, by the way. Our old counters and cabinets are being dismantled even as I write this. There’s no going back now . . . ) I don’t know what we’re going to do with him while the renovation is going on. It’s going to change his current room where he sleeps. The puppers is going to have to figure out a new routine, poor thing.Like with most dogs, he has a mysterious attraction to very odd things. He likes to eat poop and cigarette butts and rocks, and it takes a keen eye to make sure he’s not eating any one of those three times at any point on our walks. If you blink, he’ll be rolling in something vile, as well. There have been more than a few emergency dog washes.He’s terrified of fly swatters, or anything that he doesn’t recognize in someone’s hands. I have no idea why. We haven’t hit him with a fly swatter (or anything else, for that matter), but if he sees you pick one up, he heads for the hills.He still gets the random zooms. He’ll just run and run and run and run. It’s best to sit back and let him get them all out, when that happens.He sleeps from around 8:30pm to 8:00am each day. He’s a good sleeper.He’s not a fan of us watching television, but if we’ll sit with him and play with his rope or pet him, then he’ll usually be okay with it.He still views MC as an equal, and one of his favorite hobbies is antagonizing her, probably because it gets him so much attention. That said, she loves the dog, so it all works out.He’s generally the best behaved for Daniela, probably because she’s so likely to give him treats. He will do pretty much anything in the world as long as you have a dog treat in your hand. If you don’t . . .

Overall, he’s an energetic, playful dog. Sometimes a bit much energy, but overall a good fit for out family.

Now if he’s only leave the cigarette butts alone . . .

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Knowing When to Compromise Goals

I’m a well-established goal-oriented person. I basically construct my whole schedule and life around a series of smaller goals, and then I stick to those goals week in, week out, to keep my life on track. And for the last long while. that has really served me well.

Until this semester. Right now, with all the different demands on my time, I just haven’t been able to keep up with everything I’ve wanted to do. I know that for some people, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to just jettison some of the different things they have going on, but for me, it’s been a real struggle. I’m a completionist at heart. I like to finish what I start, and I like to meet the goals I set for myself.

However, when all those different goals are just getting to the point that I’m feeling overwhelmed, I’ve realized there comes a time when I have to just decide to let some of them go and (more importantly) not beat myself up about it. I think somehow I have it in my head that if I stop doing all of these things for even a little bit, that I’ll stop doing them forever.

Part of this, no doubt, is due to flossing. Hear me out. Each time I go to the dentist, I leave determined to Do Better. To floss every day. To brush my teeth thoroughly. And as long as I stick to that “do it every day” goal, then I’m fine. But I know myself, and I know that as soon as I start skipping a day here and a day there, that it won’t be too long until I’m skipping a week or two, and then I’ll mostly just give up. It’s the same thing about me and eating sensibly. As long as I stick to a routine, I’m fine. Blow the routine? Things go downhill fast.

Yesterday I was trying to come to terms with how I was going to stay on top of everything I still had to do, and it occurred to me: I could just not do some of those things. I know this sounds like a really basic concept, but it was a big leap for me, folks. I have a goal to read a book every week, and I’m behind by about two books. What would happen if I just . . . didn’t meet that goal for the next two months? Would the world fall apart? Would I stop reading altogether?

How about writing? I go for 1,000 words every day but Sunday. What would happen if I cut back on that for two months? Would I stop writing, never to start again?

The answer to both of those questions is a definite no. I love reading. I love writing. But not finishing a book a week isn’t going to screw me up for the next ever. Literally no one will notice but me. Not writing as much? I’ve got DON’T GO TO SLEEP already turned into my editor. I don’t have any commitments for any finished pieces coming out beyond that. Yes, I like my current project, and I’ll still work on it to keep my fingers warmed up, but what would happen if I slowed down and went easy on myself for a while?

I’d probably have time to get the other things done that I have going on. The class I’m teaching. Helping Tomas apply for colleges. Renovating the kitchen. Getting the Makerspace set up at work. All these big things that have all converged on this short window of one semester. Get through the semester, and then things suddenly start to open up.

Yes, knowing me, it’s important that I do a hard reset after the semester, because I genuinely like writing and reading and doing all these goals. They give me a great sense of accomplishment. But for now, I need to have confidence that I can let some of them slide for a bit so I can focus on the other more immediate demands.

And keep my sanity. Always that.

So anyway. I don’t know how much reading and writing I’ll be getting done. I’m still going to work on both each day, but perhaps for a set amount of time, or just . . . not pay attention to how long I’ve been at them. And once mid-December rolls around and the class finishes and my kitchen is (please please please) complete, then I can worry about picking up those goals again then.

It’s all going to work out.

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Heading to New York City

Since we moved to Maine, Denisa and I have typically gone down to the Philadelphia area for Thanksgiving to spend time with family. As part of that, we’ve often headed into the city as a couple to go see a show and grab a bite to eat. However, we’ve never brought any of the kids in with us. Growing up, I went into New York very regularly. My parents had an office there, and my brother and sister and I would go in and spend time there. I can’t remember how often we went, but it was often enough that I always felt at home there, if that makes sense. When I think of a city, Manhattan is always the one that really means “the city.”

Since this is Tomas’s last year at home, we thought it would be good to at least get him into the city once, and as long as we were taking him, why not take the whole family? It also helped that we had a few free Marriott nights to burn through. With the way our schedules our, Thanksgiving was really the only time that made sense to head down.

So we’ll be doing something I really never planned on doing: spending the holiday actually in the city. It’s been a good long while since I planned anything with a complex itinerary, and this was seemed more complicated than many I’ve done before. How long did we want to stay in the city? Where would we stay? What did we want to see? What was the most economical way to see those things? I did a deep dive into the interwebs, and yesterday after a marathon session, I’ve got our plans more or less in place.

We’ll be staying just across the river from Manhattan, in Jersey City. It’s significantly cheaper there, and we could also find rooms that fit 5 people. (Not the easiest thing to do in a city). I actually had to really accelerate my planning because I discovered the hotel I wanted to stay at was losing availability quickly. I had procrastinated making the actual reservations, and when I went to check again, some of my dates were no longer open. So after some frantic finagling, we’ll be staying four nights: two in a Marriott, and two in a Hilton.

I’m notorious for planning too much to do on a trip, so I’ve tried this time to rein myself in. On the agenda? A Broadway show was a no brainer, but I wanted to pick one that would be good for the whole fam. There are the Disney shows, but I wasn’t too keen on going Disney for their first intro to Broadway. Instead, we’ll be seeing Wicked. I think they’ll love it.

We’re also planning on going to the Thanksgiving Day parade, perhaps against my better judgement. It had never been high on my list of Things I Want to Do, mainly because I don’t really love crowds, and I worry there are going to be hordes of people there. That said, the parade route is very long, so I imagine we’ll be able to find some place to watch some of it without being too overwhelmed. But since we were going to be in the city on Thanksgiving, it didn’t make sense to skip the parade or just watch it on TV. (Plus, there aren’t a whole ton of options for things to do on Thanksgiving Day, you know? We’ll also be going through Central Park, going up the Empire State Building, and eating dinner at a nice restaurant. It won’t be Thanksgiving-themed, though. Trying to get a “real” turkey day meal in the city was going to cost an arm and a leg. Some places I was looking at were charging $125/person. Some were “only” charging $55. We’ll have a nice holiday meal when we get back home.)

There are a ton of other things to do in the city of course. I wanted the kids to see the Statue of Liberty, but having been before, I don’t really think it’s that necessary to be on the actual island to see it. Going up inside is always a madhouse, and I believe it’s closed right now due to COVID. So the initial plan had been to just take the Staten Island Ferry for free to go by it on the river. However, after checking into other options, I decided to go with an evening river cruise instead. We’ll get to see much more of the city, it’ll be at night, and it should be a lot of fun.

Other than that, we’ll be going to the Met, the New York Public Library, Rockefeller Center, the 9/11 memorial, and eating at a couple more restaurants. I’m sure there will also be pizza, bakeries, bagels, and goodies galore.

I’m excited for the trip, especially now that all the planning is done and the reservations are in place. The kids are super excited to be going, and it’s good to have something to look forward to. Knowing me, I’m sure I’ll be less excited the closer we get to actually going, but then once we’re there, it’ll be a great break. There are COVID notices for everything I booked: vaccinations are required for anyone 12 and over, masks are required for everyone, and for Wicked, MC has to have a negative COVID test before we can go. So there will be a lot of COVID protocols, but that doesn’t bother me at all. (I just hope no one makes a scene around us about not wanting to mask or be vaccinated. The signs have been very, very clear. I tend to think New Yorkers aren’t going to mess around with objections. This is NYC, after all . . .)

Anyway, that’s it for now. Guess I’ll go back to obsessing over my kitchen renovation for the time being. What are you going to be doing for Thanksgiving this year? Going anywhere interesting? Got any fun plans?

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

The Cabinets Arrived!

So the good news is that, after a long wait, the cabinets have actually arrived. The bad-ish news is that THEY TAKE UP SO MUCH SPACE. Also, they’re much, much heavier than I imagined they’d be. These things are chonky. Moving them and storing them until they’re up and on our walls is going to make the house feel like a warehouse for the next while.

Also, people always talked about how you needed to inspect the cabinets when they arrived. That made sense, until the cabinets actually came. I mean, getting into the boxes and seeing what’s actually there and what condition things are in is going to be a chore and a half.

But hey: they’re here! Let the construction commence. Monday. Not today. Only two weeks after I posted about how excited I was for the construction to actually commence. Maybe we’ll be done by New Year’s?

Excuse me while I go hyperventilate.

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Cabinet Update: 10.14.22

It’s been another very busy week, so I’m really short on time. (And my apologies for not being able to post yesterday.) However, enough people keep asking about the cabinets that I thought I’d give an update on where we stand with them.

The short answer is that they’re still not here. We were told they’d be delivered on Tuesday. Then that it would be either Wednesday or today. Yesterday, they said that it would be this morning between 8:30am and 12:30pm. When they hadn’t come yet (Denisa had to leave for work, and we needed to know if I needed to come home from work to be thee), Denisa called them, and they said, “They’ll come tomorrow. Just like we told you.”

I guess they’re taking that song from Annie a little too literally. My cabinets are always a day away.

We have complained vociferously to Lowe’s, who apologized profusely and explained they’re not the ones who do the delivering on cabinets. We’re still trying to get our $300 delivery fee refunded, because what exactly did we pay it for? This morning, the delivery company hung up on Denisa when she was trying to figure out just when these cabinets were coming. Yeah. It’s not been a great experience.

At this point, I’m just hoping they come, and (just as important) that they’re not banged up in any way. Because getting replacement cabinets to show up will probably take until spring, at this rate. We ordered these cabinets April 28th, people.

At the moment, the plan is to start the renovation Monday. We’ve heard that before, though . . .

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

A Weekend Away

Things have been crazy hectic this semester, as I’ve noted on here multiple times (to the point that most of you, I imagine, are getting sick of it). So it was very nice to reach Indigenous People’s Weekend, where the kids had Friday and Monday off, and the university gives us Monday (and I don’t have to teach today!)

Looking at the semester ahead of us, Denisa and I decided back when this all began that it would be a good idea to head somewhere else for the weekend. As is usually the case with me, by the time the appointed date came around, I was seriously beginning to question why in the world I’d decided to do this in the first place. I was stressed, I had a ton of things to do, and we were just driving 1.5 hours away to go be in a house that wouldn’t be that much different from the house we live in every day. Sure, it was on a pond, but I can drive to a pond any time I want. Why in the world had I thought it was a good idea to spend a bunch of money, just to give myself something else I had to do?

But the nice thing about spending all that money ahead of time is that it forces me to actually go through with things. So we packed up and headed out. I was in much less than a good mood.

However, as is also usually the case, by the time I reached the end of the vacation, I was very glad we had gone. Yes, technically it was about like being at home, but there’s something to be said for not being at home. When you’re at home, there are a bunch of little things you know you need to be doing. They’re always there, nagging at the back of my mind. Going somewhere else makes them all go quiet. We could just relax and spend time together as family without worrying about pretty much anything.

Did we do anything stellar? Not really. We paddled around in kayaks, went swimming (yes, in cold water), watched movies, ate good food, played board games, and generally lazed around. We did go to a rather epic corn hole tournament a friend hosted on Saturday, but other than that it was just taking a nice breather.

And that’s the thing about breathers: yes, breathing is something you do all the time anyway. Do you really need to take some time to just keep breathing? Well, when you’ve been running at a full sprint for far too long, yes. Yes, you do. Taking that time to catch your mental breath can be incredibly refreshing. I felt much better heading home than I had heading down.

Now if only our cabinets would come. The current “delivery date” is tomorrow. I’m crossing my fingers, toes, and eyes . . .

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Be Careful What You Blog About, Especially Kitchen Renovations

I’m not going to say this kitchen renovation is cursed, but I’m also not ready to say it isn’t. The cabinets were supposed to come last Saturday. Then it got changed to Monday. Then to Wednesday. We kept trying to figure out what was going on, to no avail. Finally on Wednesday I reached the customer service of the company that had been in contact with us about the delivery date. It was being run from an office in the Philippines, from the sound of it (distant connection, heavy accent, no ability to actually do anything to help, and no real connection to anyone who could do anything.)

Sidenote here: I’m at the point with customer service that when I get offloaded to an overseas help desk, I take it as a statement that says, “We don’t care enough about our customers to actually want to help them.” Instead, it seems to be a delaying tactic. A way to discourage people who have problems from actually getting in touch with people who can solve those problems. Make it obnoxious enough to get help, and people will just give up instead.

In any case, it turned out that company wasn’t actually delivering our cabinets. They handle smaller deliveries for Lowes. So I called Lowes, who said they’re not handling our delivery either. That’s supposed to come through Kraftmaid, who’s doing the cabinets. Except when I called Kraftmaid, it turned out they weren’t handling our delivery either. That had been given to some company in Massachusetts.

Who wasn’t answering their phone.

Once I finally got in touch with the MA people, they said the cabinets were actually going to come on Friday. I said, “For sure?” They said, “Yup.”

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but today is Friday. And Denisa just got off the phone with the MA delivery people. “That’s odd,” they said. “We canceled that delivery today. Someone else in Maine canceled their order, and so we don’t have enough cabinets to warrant the trip.” When would they be delivered? “We’re not sure. It depends on when we get enough cabinets to make it worth our while.”

We are, to say the least, Less Than Pleased. So Denisa called Lowes and complained, and they’re currently talking to Kraftmaid about refunding our delivery fee and, you know, actually getting the cabinets delivered. And here I thought the windows were going to be our biggest problem.

One day this renovation is going to start. One day. Until that day, we’ll just keep getting strung along, day by day.

Any and all good thoughts and vibes sent our way would be greatly appreciated.

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Back to Bach

I know I’ve been complaining about how busy I’ve been this semester, so you would think I would have been reluctant to add anything else to my already bursting schedule. After all, I’ve been working on doing less things, not more. And yet, I still added an honest-to-goodness college class that I’m taking as a student, the first one I’ve done in years. Why in the world would I have done that? Well, a few reasons.

First of all, Denisa’s taking the class with me. We’ve been wanting to find something to do for dates other than “go to movie” or “go to dinner.” Where we live, the options aren’t exactly abundant, so when this class came along, it felt like a good excuse to get us to actually go out, and I think that’s important in and of itself.

Second, the class doesn’t last that long. It’s just 5 sessions, once a week. That’s a pretty low bar of commitment, and since (again) it was something to do with Denisa, it made sense.

Third, it’s about Bach, and it’s taught by the illustrious Steve Pane, who can really make a class on music shine. He’s great at teaching hard-to-understand concepts in a way that’s easy to grasp, and his lectures are a lot of fun to listen to. So I knew it would be a good class going into it. No need to worry about being bored or anything like that.

Fourth? We could take it for free. It’s a perk that comes with working at a university that we’ve rarely taken advantage of. Why not finally put it to work?

That’s four good reasons to do it, and the only reason I could come up with to not was that I’m busy, But since I knew if we didn’t take it, then the odds of us going on dates were slim to none this semester, it made the decision that much easier.

We’ve now gone to two of the five classes, and we’ve enjoyed them both. We’re learning about the Goldberg Variations (which, it turns out, aren’t written by a guy named Goldberg, as I assumed all these years . . .). It essentially means that my Tuesdays start at 7am and don’t finish until 8pm, so it’s saying something that I’ve been having a good time in spite of that. We’re also being challenged to try our hand at music composition. That’s been much more challenging than I even guessed it would be, but it’s a good kind of challenging.

Honestly, when you’ve got so many other things going on, it can be a nice change of pace to do something completely different now and then. Something you don’t have to do, but which you’ve chosen to do in spite of that. I’m still extra super duper busy, but I’m glad we’re taking the class in spite of that. Definitely a net gain for my sanity this semester.

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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.