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

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

This is exactly why I struggle with food. Had a bit of a morning, probably a full day really, and I hit the farmers market for lunch. Zero impulse control and I got extra samosas, my favorite snacks, apple crumble pecans, sweet chilli cashews. I use food as a reward, I use food to feel good, I eat food when bored, etc.

Sorry, just in a mood.

I was going to rant but fuck it, don't feel like it anymore. I just want my iced coffee, my samosas, some snacks, my books, and most importantly, not be at fucking work right now.

Sorry if the above is rambling and doesn't make sense. I'm trying to type this while at work and my brain is split into thinking about different things.

For me food is the hardest part to manage. Sure I might not always feel like going out for a walk but I've got that routine where that is how I get to work so I have to do it. I've got this nasty cycle with food though. Something sets me down the path of eating better (usually weight gain) and initially I do really well. I'll be good for a year or two and then something happens. Usually linked to be suddenly getting busy at work or just a real bad day. Then I'll have an extra cheat day, then I'll make this exception, then that exception, and this exception. Next thing I know I'm back to where I started out. That's pretty much where I'm at right now. Don't get me wrong I keep some things along the way. For instance I was eating an absolutely disgusting amount of food before. Now, my portion control has slipped a bit but I'm not eating any where near as much food as I was. I guess the other problem is laziness and boredom. Sure I can eat fruits and vegetables but there is only so many bananas, peppers, carrots, etc you can eat before it just gets boring. As for laziness it is kind of the wrong word but not fully. There are definitely times where I am just lazy as hell. During the week though I only have a few hours to myself. I walk an hour to work, I'm at work for 9-10 hours a day on average, and then there is the trip home. I'm gone for 11-12ish hours a day and generally by the time I get home I just want to relax and enjoy some me time before having to go back to work. That is why I usually eat carb heavy food. It's quick, easy, and filling. I've also got a serious weakness for snacks. Chips in particular is a snack food that I am addicted to. I try to limit myself to a snack pack size bag once a week. Then with exceptions I'm back up to a full size bag. Same with pop. I was down to once a month but now I'm back up to multiple times a month.

I just need to get back on the straight and narrow but it's a struggle.

Well that is a sign of the season. We got our first frost advisory for tonight. we aren't dropping below freezing but it's close

At least it was only a tap as I was stamping tags and not trying to persuade something to fit somewhere it probably shouldn't.

Congrats!

That nice little nice reminder of an important life lesson. Hammer plus thumb equals pain. Can't say I ever really forget that lesson but life seems to feel the need to remind me of it every once in a while.

Random Sunday morning thoughts from the emptiness of my brain.

It's another smokey day here and it's making me feel a bit bleh. Tired of the smoke this year.

Oreo's are vegan and I love the mint Oreo cookies but I find them a bit much. A nice treat every once in a while but a bit much. I found something dangerous yesterday though and that is dark chocolate Oreo thins. These are so delicious and the fix pretty much every issue I've got with Oreo's. They are thinner which means crunchier cookie and less of the sweet icing in between. Further temper that with it being dark chocolate and just yum. I need to purge these things from my brain and pretend I never found them.

Time for that weekly update and I've been a busy little book worm this week.

Broken -4 Stars
The author is finally returning to Grant County and man was this book a tense one. It has been four years since the end of the Grant County series and many things have changed since we, the reader, have been here. Frank is the intern police chief and lets just say that standards have slipped a bit. Lena is of course back and *eye twitches* is of course still a detective. This was a mystery for sure but it was one where the mystery was almost a background thing for the characters to have their moments in the foreground. Will, Sara, and Lena all have some big moments in this book as they work through the case. Overall I finished this book just feeling frustrated but not necessarily in a bad way. It was just that feeling that justice was not served in the end. Which brings me back to Lena. It always amazing to me when an author can do such an amazing job creating a truly despicable character that you still want to see redeem themself. Don't ask me why but there is a part of me that truly wants to see Lena get better, to do better, to be better. I swear that the author knows there are suckers like me out there and they tease it just enough to get my hopes up before crushing them. Lena is like a cockroach. Just when you think she has finally been cornered and will be held accountable she scuttles back into back into the shadows and escapes somehow. Still loving this series and I've already got my next book on hold.

Clockwork Doomsday -3 Stars
This was one of those GraphicAudio audiobooks and this was my second experience with this style of audiobook. My first left me feeling kind of "meh" towards the whole thing but this one worked for me. Yes, there were times where the sound effects don't perfectly match what is being described in the book and yes, a lot of the sound effects are repeated but it all just kind of worked for a popcorn read like this. There was a scene early on where I knew I was digging it. Our MC was escaping Russian smugglers in a graveyard. There was the sound of automatic gunfire, heavy Russian accents, the sound of blows hitting when our MC got into a fight with bad guys, all with this nice metal riff. It just clicked and I found myself standing at the traffic light grinning like an idiot while listening to it. As for story itself, it was another Rogue Angel story. Mysterious artifact from history, exciting adventure, loads of action scenes. Just a great popcorn read.

In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 7 -3 Stars
Much like the above book this is another "low brow" kind of book but I do enjoy reading these books. There isn't a lot I can really say anymore without getting into spoilers at this point. Our MC is still perfect, our MC still crushes all problems before him, and it's just dumb fun. He is almost at his full harem though in this one. As trashy as this is the one thing I like is that there is none of the "who will the MC choose" romantic trope in this one. He chooses them all, yup, polyamory is normal in this world and he now has something like 7 or 8 fiancees currently. We know exactly how many he will have in total as well as it was foretold in the past.

Hammered -3 Stars
I picked this up for a challenge and was initially intrigued by it. Much like the Innkeeper series all the different races of creatures are from different planets. Our MC is half dwarf and half Samoan which is an interesting mix. It was all rather interesting to start with. As the book went along though it just kind of became another urban fantasy. Which isn't a bad thing as I did find it entertaining but at the same time it just didn't have that "it factor" to push it into something cool or super memorable. You can see the start of the expected romance, you have the quirky sidekick characters, you have the big mystery, etc, etc, etc. There is enough there to keep me reading for now but I'm hoping for a bit more.

Perfect World, Vol. 1-3 Stars
Perfect World, Vol. 2-3 Stars
My only manga this week and I have some mixed feelings about this. Initially I was getting the same kind of vibes I got from Run On Your New Legs. Where it was this slice of life that gave you peek into the life of someone with a disability. If the covers didn't make it clear the male lead suffered a spinal cord injury (SCI since I don't want to type it out a hundred times) and is confined to a wheelchair. Then the romance aspect of the series started to emerge and it wasn't bad in the beginning. It tackled the questions of what dating someone with an SCI was like and the challenges faced by both. It kind of started to go a bit sideways though in the second volume for me. Our main male lead has a nurse assistant who comes to his house to help him. She is young and pretty which leads to some jealousy but it's revealed that she is married. Great, a little tension, a moment for growth, etc. Then it just plunged full steam into the drama. Turns out the assistant is actually divorced and in love with the main male lead. Then it introduces another male character from their childhood who has a crush on the female lead. It just felt like the series was adding drama for the sake of having drama. Like the author was trying to shoehorn in drama at every turn and it all started to kind of overshadow that slice of life peek into the life of someone with a disability. It honestly felt like one of those daytime soaps where everyone is trying to sleep with the everyone else's wife/husband/dog/nanny/chauffeur/etc. I'm going to give it a couple more volume to see where things go but if the drama keeps piling on like this I might just toss in the towel.

Now for what is next.

And Then There Were None
I'm reading this for a challenge but it's not my first time reading this. The first time I read this it still had the title Ten Little Indians. If you know the history of this book then you know that the title has been changed a few times to be less offensive over the years. I'm really looking forward to this one as I've enjoyed it every time I've read it.

For normal books it's going to be a lot of comics and manga for a while. My library got a big shipment of manga in recently and I might have gotten a little trigger happy requesting some copies. I've got a pretty big stack of manga to read plus a few books to work through.

I saw vegan egg nog in the store today. Way, way, way to early in my opinion but I'm not surprised to see Christmas stuff already.

Aundrea wrote: "Gord wrote: "Good news: I got a brand spanking new 24" monitor at work and it is glorious.

Bad News: It's way to big for old ass desk that was probably built when typewriters were the main means o..."

Never! My desk is this old metal behemoth that has a billion and one notes scrawled all over it and I don't want to get rid of it for some cheap particle board thing.

Books, many, many, many books.

Nope, done with everything. When I've got to spend probably an hour to clean up other peoples stuff just to get to my stuff that's it for me for the day. That is a Monday problem and I already know that Monday Gord is going to be a grumpy bear.

Sorry, just need a second

(view spoiler)[
This day sucks. This is a day we call "a death by a thousand cuts". Every five minutes it's just one more thing that someone needs, one more thing that needs to be done (usually right now), one more quick thing. I'm done with people and I want my blanket fort with snacks and books. Not a long rant just needed to get that out there (hide spoiler)]

Well the call hasn't happened yet which means that is looming over me today. I've also got to train someone on how one of our systems work first thing in the morning. On one hand it will help take some work off our plate and put it back where it belongs. On the other hand I have to train people. Today sounds like a day with a lot of people and public speaking. Can I just call in sick now?

This is the one thing I dread with my job. The dreaded technical phone call with a stranger. I'm having some problems and I need some help so the manufacturer is getting a hold of me to help me out. The thing is I don't know when they are calling so I can't really mentally prepare myself. It's just going to happen "soon". Bleh.

I've been working in this kind of environment for some 20ish years now in one form or another and you just kind of get used to it. Don't get me wrong there are certain things that are still annoying and then just bad days where you don't want to deal with noise. One of the ones I hate most are backup alarms. Some aren't bad and some are loud enough to be heard 10 blocks away and the pitch of the alarm is something akin to nails on a chalkboard. It just pierces the brain.

As for the dust and grime, again good days and bad days. I'm just used to having dirty hands. There is pumice soap to clean up with. That being said somethings are nastier than others. Hydraulic fluid for instance leaves a distinct smell on your hands regardless of how much you clean them.

I don't mean to chuckle at your plight but as I'm typing this my coworker is testing a unit. All I hear is the slow build of air and then a short loud roar as it's exhausted. That is beside the usual sounds of forklifts and backup alarms.

That aside, I get you. There are times where the noise gets to be to much even for me.

After last year where I maxed out my holds because of the new release challenge we were working I was determined to keep my holds list down this year. For the most part I've been pretty successful with my wait list being about 25 books on average. My library has got/ordered a bunch of manga lately and temptation was to great and I might have gone on a slight ordering frenzy. I checked this morning and my wait list is now 46 books long. I'm 7 books away from maxing things out again and with all the movement on the manga/comic front lately I don't think that will take very long.