Gord’s Comments (group member since Apr 06, 2017)

Gord’s comments from the Vampires, Weres and Fae! group.

Ahhh the never ending roar of leaf blowers as everyone and their dog now feels the need to use a leaf blower for every single yard related tasks. Single leaf on the ground, spend an hour outside with your leaf blower. Single snowflake in the sky, break out that old leaf blower. Dog pooped in your yard, leaf blower.

I know I sound like an old man yelling at clouds but I've been listening to leaf blowers for something like 6 hours now.

Oh man can I relate to the "Introvert Blues". It's no secret that I love my solitude but I know that there are times when it just gets to be a bit much. I usually find a week straight of nothing but me is usually my max before I start feeling off. Christmas is also a rough time. While I am alone I'm still engaging with the world. Watching Twitch, watching YouTube, chatting on Goodreads, etc. Around Christmas time though everyone takes time away from that stuff and I feel this real sense of isolation and, I guess the best way to put it is loneliness. Especially on Christmas day. There is a feeling that the entire world just pauses and I'm not part of it.

Anyway, enough depressing stuff.

The weird thing about that is that the list will go by quick once the book releases unlike an older book where it seems like every person takes the allotted 21 days. Or at least that is my experience.

I just want to give myself a small pat on the back. Today was a bit of a rough day and I was, and still am to a small degree, tempted to find some comfort in food. I was going to ignore my lunch and go out to get something or go out after work to get a pile of junk. Well, I didn't go out for lunch and I'm going to make sure I go straight home after work.

Take those naps when and where you can.

Just need a second...

(view spoiler)[
My motivation just took a swift blow in the junk. I've got to rip apart everything I've spent the last three days working on because the sales person screwed up the order and I didn't notice until the last one. This entire week is essentially shot and now I'm behind on things. I'm not even pissed really. Annoyed, yes but not really pissed. My motivation just died and I don't really want to work on anything. (hide spoiler)]

From what I've been seeing on the weather channels this winter is supposed to be above average temperatures for this side of the country. The east coast on the other hand is supposed to be cold this winter, real cold.

Looks like temps could be dipping below freezing for a day time high next week and there are whispers of snow as well. It won't stick around but we might get our first snow next week.

Alright, time for an update.

Snatched -5 Stars
This was a super intense novella and I was kind of shocked by that. I have some mixed feelings when it comes down to novellas and a lot of it comes down to length. I just feel that it's harder to build a good story with such a page restriction. Now .5 books in a series has a bit of an advantage as they already have the characters and worlds built so it's just a matter of telling a story. Regardless, this story was a super fast paced story. Will is being punished and is sent to work at the Atlanta International Airport working surveillance to catch people having sex in the bathrooms. During one of his shifts he notices a man and a young girl that trips his "cop senses" but he looses them in the crowd. What ensues is a whirlwind chase as the man is captured but the girl is still lost. There is this looming ticking clock over everything that relentlessly pushes the plot forward and it just makes for this intense thriller that I devoured.

Frankenstein: The 1818 Text -4 Stars
If you have been following me over the years you know I have a mixed history with "Classics". The older they are the harder of a time I seem to have them. Knowing that it's not a big surprise to find out I was filled with a lot of trepidation heading into this book. In my mind this was not just another classic this was one of The Classics. This was the start of both the sci-fi and the horror genre which are both genres I enjoy. The fact that the book was over 200 years old also added to the trepidation. Was this going to be another verbose and boring book? Now if I was actually reading this book there is a good chance I would have been bored but I was listening to this on audiobook and it was pretty good.

The story was rather slow moving but it was oddly engaging at the same time. It slowly took it's time exploring both characters and what lead them to where things were at the beginning of the book. That's why I feel that both characters are equally the protagonist and the antagonist. I know that is not a hot take on things but I feel that both were wrong in some way and their actions led to this cycle of self destruction. I was also really surprised by just how wrong pop cultures image of Frankenstein and his monster really are. That image is shaped by many, many different re-imaginings of the source material over the year. No big lightening storm, no Igor, no bolts in the neck, none of that.

The Voodoo Killings -3 Stars
Not sure what lead me to this book but I picked it up at some point. This was not a bad book but it just never wowed me either. It's an urban fantasy book. Takes place in a big city (Seattle), has a female MC, and a unique "take" on the supernatural (focusing more on ghost and zombies). This was one that leaned more towards the UF side of the pool then to the PNR side of the pool but when you are dealing with zombies that's probably for the best. Not a lot to really say about this one honestly.

Artemis Fowl Movie Tie-In Edition Artemis Fowl Movie Tie-In Edition -3 Stars
I've got this ongoing monthly genre challenge I'm participating in and I never would have thought that this months genre would have been such a problem. This months genre is humor/comedy and apparently I don't actively read a lot of books in this genre. One of the challenges was to pick a book off of a Listopia list and after many pages I decided on giving this a reread. It was either that or more Stephanie Plum and I just didn't have that in me. I forgot how much of a villain Artemis was in the first book. He is the antagonist of the story really and a very clever one at that. Overall a fun reread, I don't think I'll be rereading the entire series but it was fun to revisit the first book.

W.I.T.C.H. Part I: The Twelve Portals, Vol. 3 -3 Stars
I snagged this up from the library in the midst of a bunch of other comics I was requesting. I kind of forgot to request this one months ago when I first started the series. To be fair to this book I don't think I was in the mood to read this book yesterday but library due dates and other people waiting. This book was alright but I just wasn't feeling the whole "we can overcome everything with the power of love and friendship" shtick that books of this nature rely heavily on. This was the last book in the initial trilogy and it relied heavily on that theme throughout the book. I got through it, got it back to the library, not sure if I want to read on in the series though.

Now, what is next...
The Capture
I think this will be my next audiobook. I need to get a particular challenge moving again as I've been stuck on it for a while now.

Monstress Book One
Golden in Death
These are the two big books I want to finish this week. I started Monstress yesterday and it's a lot. The art is beautiful, the world is deep, and there is just a lot going on. After that it's back to In Death which I think is something I need right now.

Oh it was a great plate of nachos. It had pickled onions and radish, pico de gallo, vegan chorizo, grilled zucchini, and hand made chips. It was super tasty.

We went out for Mexican for lunch today and that was super yummy. I got a plate of nachos and a virgin margarita. The plate of nachos was so big that I'm having nachos for dinner tonight. The other funny thing was that lunch is only supposed to be an hour long. We might have been gone for about 1.5 hours. I knew we were out for a while but I didn't know it was that long.

That sounds super fun!

Happy spooky Friday everyone. Hopefully everyone has a good day and an easy start to the weekend.

I might be slowly lowing my mind. There is an individual out the warehouse that seems to love the Rich Men North of Richmond song. In the last three hours I've probably heard it about four times already. Sometimes they are working close to our department and it's loud and clear. Other times they are on the far side of the building and you can just make it out.

That sucks that you're sick and it really sucks that your work is being scuzzy. Here is to to things getting better soon for you.

And you can tell I'm a tech and not a scientist. I was thinking it was some sort of special paper for recording temperatures or something.

Only the barest of things. The post apocalyptic sci-fi world that was more of a blend of medieval times and horror. I don't remember the aliens but I know there was talk of space ships leaving the planet. I also remember that D is the son of (view spoiler)[ Dracula (hide spoiler)]. I think most of what I remember is from the movie honestly.

This is really making me want to read the series.

Today was a bit of an interesting start. I had a good nights sleep meaning I didn't get up until 4 which is a bit later of a start to my day. I had my breakfast and was just relaxing when I happened to look down and see that it was already 5:30. I should have been getting ready to leave at that point and not melting into my chair. Needless to say there was a good 10 minutes of panic getting ready to go.

I've read some of them, it has been a good long time since I've read them though. I've been meaning to read them again at some point. I remember watching the 1985 movie of Vampire Hunter D. That was one of the early anime things that got me into anime back in the day.

Review went well, basically I'm doing a great job, I'm super helpful, and people have noted and appreciated my kindness (that last part feels odd saying it out loud). As a plus there was no mention of the committee thing so I think I might have dodged a bullet.