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

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

Work decided to update everyone eligible to Windows 11 today at the same time across the entire company. Needless to say it is wreaking havoc on the system and everything runs like we are back in the 90's using dial up.

Speaking of falling out of habit with things. I have a goal of walking 2,000 km this year or 1,242 miles. Heading into June I was showing gains each month and was getting into the groove of walking 200 km/124 miles a month. Then I hurt myself, didn't deal with it properly, and ended up taking week off walking. Since then I just haven't been able to get back into that groove I had heading into June. I want to say that there are valid reasons but there is a part of me that feels like it's just excuses. It's hot, it's raining, work is busy, etc.

Now I haven't stopped walking entirely. I'm still walking to work in the morning but I'm taking the shorter route because I am starting over a hour earlier. So far this month I've walked 79 km or 49 miles which isn't bad. If I keep doing the bare minimum that I am now I'll be about 150km/93 miles. I know that I'll be doing more than that though.

As for what motivates me? This is going to sound funny and nerdy but audiobooks. I've done the walking thing many times now over the years and eventually they have all failed because ultimately I got bored. Audiobooks have fixed that for me and are great motivators to get out there and listen to more of the story I'm working on. Especially if I'm heavily invested in the story and want to know what happens next.

To quote Marvin the Martian "Where is the Kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth shattering kaboom."

That was about the last hour of my work.

John wrote: "I think your perspective would be quite valuable to those of us who live a long way away! "

I moved my thoughts over to the current events folder as it's a bit heavy for this thread. Hopefully it's semi-coherent as it's early and I'm tired.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Alright, I figured I'd borrow this to share some stuff that John was asking for. I figured it's more ugly nature would be better here then in the reading thread. I'm still going to put it behind a spoiler wall for those that don't want to read this kind of stuff. Also please keep in mind that this is just my experience and stories I've heard either second hand or from friends. I'm also going to keep certain details purposely vague. Things like company names, names of people involved, etc.

(view spoiler)[
So I've been working in one way or another for the oil industry for some 20 years now. Initially I got into things about 05 just before the boom doing drilling motors. I then moved to another job doing third party logistics for the oil sands. Now a days I do actuation assemblies and I feel a bit of a separation from the oil sands and the oil industry in general. Don't get me wrong a good chunk of what we do is still for the oil industry just because of where we live but the services we provide are not just limited to the oil industry. I provide material for mining, pulp and paper, water, food industry, laboratory services, basically any where that might have a pipe line of some sort.

Back during the boom of 05-08 things were nuts from the view point of worker. Work was plentiful and money flowed like water. Jobs were everywhere. So many people had the mindset of just not giving a fuck. If I get fired I can literally walk down the street and get a new job by the end of the day. I knew a lot of young people that basically surfed from job job for a bit more money. Work a few weeks, leave, get a new job somewhere else for a couple bucks more, work there for a few weeks, find something with a bit more pay, rinse and repeat. It was also hard to compete with the juggernaut of the oil sands up north. Jobs were plenty and they paid well. With the isolation, cost of living, and demand for bodies the pay was nuts. When I started working basic warehouse work the pay was about $12 a hour. For the same job up north you could easily be getting over $20 a hour. It was widely known that you could get jobs out on the rigs for $30-$40 a hour and all the overtime in the world. If I remember correctly, if you were able to get into driving the heavy haulers (those are those giant dump trucks the size of house) then you were looking at $45 a hour to start. Then there is of course the trades. Mechanics, welders, electricians, etc. Those were skilled jobs and they paid well, very well. If you were a welder with your own truck and some skill, easily over $100 a hour.

There was also a lot of ugly that came with all of this as well. As I mentioned overtime was pretty much guaranteed as there was always more work then bodies. Like I said there was a period of time where I was working 12-16 hours a day, six days a week. At my peak, I had one paycheck where I had 80 hours of regular time and 90 hours of overtime in a 2 week period. No, I do not recommend it and no the money is no where as good as you might think. The government loves you when it comes to taxes as pulling things like that will likely kick you into a higher tax bracket which means more money gets taken from you. Money aside it's a hard thing on you mentally and physically. At that time I was walking to work because I did not have a vehicle and my money was tied up in something. Don't want to mention what as it's personal but no, it wasn't drugs or anything illegal. I'd walk about a hour to work, work 12-16 hours, and then walk a hour home at the end of things. Basically my life was work, sleep for a couple hours, more work, sleep for a couple hours, more work. As for how I managed to do that, caffeine and sugar, a whole lot of sugar. I was drinking probably 4-6 liters of pop of day, coffee, energy drinks, etc. Any thing to get a little bit a pick me up. It was during this time I also started smoking again. Not to deal with stress either but as a way to make myself take a break. Outside of lunch I'd just work straight through the days and smoking was a way to stop for 5-10 minutes here and there. When I wasn't just smoking while I worked. Oddly enough I only ever smoked at work and never in my personal time.

Now for the real ugly. A lot of the work I've done is primarily male dominated. With the exception of my time doing third part logistics it's been male dominated. I'm not saying that there aren't women who do these jobs but they are more the exception then the norm. I've been doing my current job now for nearly 10 years and I've only seen two women come through. I've heard it all. Lets cut to the chase, I've heard it all. Racism, homophobia, sexist, misogynistic, just a lot of bullshit in general. I also know that what I hear working in the city is nothing compared to what you will see and hear out in the field. To be clear it's not everyone and it's not all the time but it's not exactly rare either. It also ranges from the openly out there asshats who hate anyone and everyone who isn't a white male to the more subtle things. Crude jokes, casual off hand comments that are pretty nasty if you think about it, etc. Now to be clear I think it's better now then it was back when I first started but I think part of that is just I have a better place of work now. It will heavily depend on where you go and the kind of culture in that work place. The industry has changed a lot now that things aren't booming. There is more bodies then work and the employer can be more picky about who they are hiring.

The other thing I want to touch on is the drug culture as it was mentioned in the book I finished. There was a line in the book that mentioned not smoking weed as it sticks in your system for two weeks plus and is easier to detect. Instead do cocaine, it's out of your system in 24 hours. Yeah, this was rather common knowledge and from what I've heard practiced a lot. Drug tests were required to get jobs up north and if something serious happened drug tests would be required. There was talk of bringing in random drug tests for people working on sites but there was push back from the unions about violating workers right to privacy. As mentioned above there was also the "fuck it" attitude. Get fired from one site and you can get work at the next site down the road. Hell I've heard stories of people working with one contractor getting ejected from a site for something only to end up back on that same site not long after with a different contractor. I've also heard stories of open drug use on the rigs. People would be working long ass hours and to keep going there would just be a community bag of coke at the base of the rig. Take a coffee break, grab a coffee, a smoke, a snort of coke, and back up the rig you go. Legalizing weed has been an interesting change to the industry. Most sites still have a ban on it. You just cannot smoke it on site and it makes sense. In the city though that's a different matter. We had a guy that would take multiple breaks in a day to go out to his vehicle and just blaze. I don't think that guy was ever sober in the entire time he was working with us.

Anyway I've rambled on long enough. I don't think I touched on half the things I had rattling around in my head. Yes, the industry can be rough but it's not all bad. Like so many things in life there are good and bad with everything. My life is no where near as chaotic as it was when I first started. I am working some over time right now with the project I am working on but that is not the norm. Outside of inventory happening twice a year I basically don't work weekends any more. I don't smoke at all and haven't in years. I do still like sugar but again I'm long past the days of drinking 4-6 liters a day. I try my best to only have one or two pop a week in general. I didn't drink coffee for years and it's only been in the last year where I've started experimenting with iced coffee and fogs. I simply refuse to even touch an energy drink. Just, no, not for me. (hide spoiler)]

I just finished Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands and oh man do I have thoughts an opinions. This book hit home for me as this is something I know. While I've never worked up in the oil sands or stayed in one of the camps, for good reason, I have worked in jobs adjacent to the oil sands for some 20 years now. It's hard not to have some tie to the oil industry in some way living where I am. When this book was taking place that was shortly after returning from overseas for me and that was a massive boom time. I remember working 12-16 hours a day, six days a week for months on end. Coming in at 2-3 in the morning to make sure shipments got onto the trucks on time and then not going home until late into the evening. The things that were talked about in this book are nothing new to me. I've heard most if not more and it's not just limited to the oil sands up north. I won't say the things here because, well, they're just not nice.

While the book is heavily critical of the oil sands and what happens up there I do appreciate that eventually the author took a more balanced approach. Like so many things related to this industry, and life in general, it's not a simple black and white or good and bad thing. There are bad things that happen and bad people but there are good things and good people. I could pick up another book tonight but I think I want to let this one stew in my brain a bit more before starting something new.

I am feeling super stressed today. It's work stuff so behind the spoiler wall for those that don't want to read it.

(view spoiler)[
I've just got July stuff for my big project done and I've already got people riding my ass for the August stuff. I didn't even get the final approval to start work on any of this stuff until this morning and that was only because I started pushing on people for that approval. I'm working on this big project, I'm also doing day to day orders as well, and then I get another branch riding my ass about repairs today that I haven't done in a couple of months because of this project. There just isn't enough me for everything that needs to get done right now and I'm feeling a bit stressed as a result. I just want to crawl into my blanket fort and not come out until this all goes away. (hide spoiler)]

I don't feel like a superhuman walking machine but thank you for the compliment. I'm kind of blushing now.

As for starting the thread, go for it. It could help someone either now or in the future.

Another week, another update

Undone -5 Stars
With this book I feel like this series has hit its stride. In the last two books in the Will Trent series the books were good but there was just something missing. Some element that just made them miss that 5 star mark. What it was I can't really tell you but what ever it was this book finally hit it. If I was to hazard a guess a lot of it came down to the MC, Will, himself. In the first book we were introduced to Will but I never felt we got to actually know the character. In the second book we got to see some more of the character but again that connection just wasn't there 100%. In this book I feel like we not only get to finally see his character but we get to see movement. Now in usual Karin Slaughter fashion it's not all sunshine and rainbows but I like that. This felt like the start of something. This was that moment where you can say that someone started to change. Now of course this is not just the Will Trent series you have other characters and you also have a string of violent and twisted crimes. That moment of growth and change was there for his partner, Faith, as well. We got see more of Amanda and yup, scary as well. We also get the return of the MC from the Grant County series and I have to hand it to the author. This reappearance was handled really well in my opinion. It's set up that it has been 3.5 years since the end of Grant County and the MC is a shell of her former self which makes sense considering what happened. What I loved here is that the character wasn't immediately thrust into the limelight as being this character that the whole books hinges around. This character straddles this line between side character here for a book and being part of the central cast of characters. This was all done while letting the reader know what happened in those 3.5 years and laying the groundwork for the character to work their way into the central cast of figures. All with the usual box full of secrets and hints at other things. Overall this book was just a joy to read and I can't wait for the next one.

Christmas Cake Murder -2 Stars
On the other end of the spectrum we have this cozy mystery and this book was just dull as dishwater. Now I will admit that I am jumping into things essentially at the end of the series and I only picked this up for a challenge. I haven't read the rest of the series so I don't have that intimate connection with the characters that a normal reader might have. That being said what I found here was just boring and poorly written. Normally I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to cozy mysteries since I know that they all follow a pretty standard formula but they can be entertaining. This was just people talking for 90% of the book. Not just people, the nicest people in the nicest town in the entire world. This level of happiness and politeness was so much that it slipped into that uncanny valley place. These people just felt fake and plastic. This felt less like a normal small town and more like a small town from a horror book/movie. The one where everyone in town is super nice but are secretly cannibals, crazy cultists, or some other horrifying group waiting to harvest your organs or sacrifice you to some dark being. Any way, the book revolved around primarily 4ish people who basically say there giving each other compliments while eating food for the entire book. I know that in cozy mysteries that the tense/violent stuff happens off page, hence cozy mysteries, but in this book everything happens off page. The primary driving factor in this book was the town recreating this Christmas ball for a local beloved senior citizen. How did this all happen? No flipping clue. Like I said it was kind of discussed as a group and then things just happened off page. Speaking of the mystery, this was just a dud. The book was just the characters talking like I said and then a murder happened at the 86% mark. It's not even a mystery as the murder happened right in front of the sheriff and the guy was immediately arrested. Oh and I can't even call it a murder as the victim actually lives. Just... what in the hell was that? It's like the author got so wrapped up complimenting her characters and sharing her recipes with the reader that she forgot the mystery part of the book. Then at the last second tried to crowbar it in. There was a bit more to it but the way it was set up there was no indication that there was even a mystery going on. Then the author tried to pull a twist and suspenseful ending but it was just clumsy and rushed as it was all crammed into the last chapter essentially. Just bleh but it was super helpful for numerous challenges.

Orochi: The Perfect Edition, Vol. 3 -3 Stars
This book was just two short stories and the first one was meh. It was a convoluted revenge story with a plot twist telegraphed from a mile out. Now the second story was really good. Or at least until the ending that was but more on that later. In the second story we get to meet this young boy who has the world nicest dad. This man is super kind to everyone and everything. He has become a real role model for his son who looks up to him. Now dad served during WWII, keep in mind this book was originally written late 60's, early 70's) and his son knows he served in Guadalcanal but father will not speak of what happened there. One day the young man learns a horrifying truth about his father. He learns that his father and other men on the island survived by resorting to cannibalism. This shakes him to the very core and he starts to question whether he can even trust his father. How can this super nice fan do something so horrible? It's a wonderful exploration into this dark subject. The problem comes at the end because I don't think the author knew how to end it. The story sets up a tense moment, not going to spoil anything here, and then just ends with no resolution. Now this by itself is not a bad thing as an open ending can be interesting but this just felt like there was a couple of pages missing somewhere. There was the start of an ending and then nothing. No clues what happens next, no hints at what happened, it just ends halfway through the climax. It just didn't sit well with me at all.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 5 -4 Stars
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 6 -4 Stars
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 7 -4 Stars
More Frieren and I can't really talk about anything without spoilers but this series is just a fantastic read.

Now, what is next. Well I've already got a couple of books on the go.

The Bookshop on the Corner
I'm currently a little over 30% into this book and I'm enraptured with this book. I picked this up to help with a couple of challenges with no real expectations. It's not my favorite genre but I'll give it a whirl. The authors little blurb in the beginning about her love for reading just resonated with me. Then the MC's simple joy for reading is just infectious. As an introverted book nerd I can't help but feel this bond with this mousey little librarian and her love of books. I'm genuinely excited to go out for walks just so I can hear more of this book.

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax
I'm returning to this series and this book moves at a blistering pace. I'm a little over 25% of the way into this book and it's just flying along. I love the absurdity of this series and how it places it super straight. This should be another fun ride.

After that I have to start working on my next batch of things that need to be returned to the library.

It could be like the Peter Grant series where suppliers wont sell to the library

I just don't want to adult today. I just want to spend my weekend trying to do as little as possible outside of my personal hobbies. I just want to be a lazy bum for a couple of days before I have to return to work on Monday and I don't think that is asking for to much. Instead I have to go out for a walk, I've got to go to the library, I've got to get food, I've basically got to be a responsible adult. A part of me wants to walk a longer route today because I haven't been walking as much during the week and part of me wants to take a shorter route so I can just get everything over with and I go back to being lazy.

Random question not so much related to new releases. How are the book clubs on Discord? I've tried looking for some local ones and have had no luck at all.

August is a bit of a switch up. I still have some small stuff but this is where I start transitioning over to larger stuff. There is less larger stuff but it has got its own set of challenges because it is larger.

I feel like I need to take a moment and celebrate for a second. I've been working on this giant project order now for a nearly three months and it's been a lot. In particular the July stuff did not go smoothly. Between delays in paperwork, inventory count, and my vacation the July stuff got started about two weeks late. I have been grinding away at it now almost nonstop since my return from vacation 3 weeks ago. Well today I finally got the last of the July section of the project done and heading out the door.

Now to get started on the August stuff which I don't have the finalized paperwork for and is already behind schedule. Why does this sound familiar???

Alright, time to put on those big boy pants on and finish this "mystery".

I don't use the feature but I tried it out and it seems to be working fine. I got this massive long list of all m rereads that I had done.

Kat wrote: "Gord wrote: "I just need a second, a wee tiny second to vent a bit.

I don't thing you can really call yourself a murder mystery if the murder doesn't happen until the 86% mark in the book and the ..."

I feel like I'm pretty lenient when it comes down to cozies and give them a bit more of a pass then I do other books. This one just isn't that great. Now I'm not judging the entire series off of one book but at the same time I'm not exactly running out the door to get more of them either.

As for the murdering, I'm fine with only one happening but more bodies can keep the pace going. It depends on the author and their writing honestly. Also the murder doesn't have to happen in the first chapter but it should happen in the first quarter of the book. Then the rest of the first is setting up the character, the setting, etc. The rest of the book is then solving the case. Obviously books can deviate from this but it needs to be handled well.

Cee wrote: "Well then... that's not great. At least you're done with it???"

Almost, I got to the murder just as I got to work. I've got less than an hour of audiobook left but I'm listening to it at 1.25 speed just to get through it.

Nothing, nothing at all. Basically the book has been split into three parts. There is the family getting this old hotel ready to recreate this Christmas ball for a local well loved senior citizen that is not doing well. Most of this involves them sitting around talking, eating things the MC cooks, and more talking. All of the work that gets done is off page. Then there are the recipes of course. Basically if the MC cooks something in that chapter there is a recipe at the end of the chapter. Including three different versions of bunt cakes. Then there are parts where they're reading this notebook they found in the senior citizens house. It's supposed to be this seniors attempt at writing a "thriller" and totally not a journal of herself. It involves this women running away after her husband comes home one day and tells her to run because bad men are coming for him. Basically it's her story, her husband snitched on the mob, and the mob hitman is the one that killed her at the hotel. The thing is that there is no real suspense to it. To the characters it's just a story and to the reader that's what it's supposed to be as well. The big twist is that it was real all along.

I just need a second, a wee tiny second to vent a bit.

I don't thing you can really call yourself a murder mystery if the murder doesn't happen until the 86% mark in the book and the sheriff immediately arrests the killer within a few sentences. Maybe certain books that take their time to set up the tension, the suspense, suspects, an actual mystery can get away with it but this book has none of those elements. I've had 85% of the book being a string of never ending compliments between the worlds nicest people (I'm starting to suspect that they're robots, crazed cultists, or cannibals because no one is this nice), recipes, and pointless descriptions. This book is just dull as dish water and I'm so glad I'm nearly done with it.