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

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

I'm actually thinking of attending a neighborhood party this year. I saw an advertisement for it in my building and I figured it might be a good chance to connect with my neighborhood a bit more. At the same time people, strange people specifically, and lots of kids is kind of a massive negative for me.

It's been a slow and gradual increase. At first it was no sugary drinks, then it was once a month (usually long weekends), then it became once a week, then it became more frequent. Don't get me wrong, my main drink is still water. I drink probably 2-3 liters a day depending on the day but if I go out for lunch I snag a can of iced tea or a pop. On Fridays I like to snag an iced coffee from the farmers market across the street. When I go out for a walk on Saturday I might snag an iced latte from Starbucks or something from A&W. There is also a bubble tea place on my route I want to check out. I just realized that it all adds up and I'm probably drinking to many sugary drinks.

It's Friday, my coworker is back on Monday, things are crazy busy but today, today will be quiet and peaceful. No drama, no water mains breaking, no leaks, no parts not working properly, no stress. Just a quiet and peaceful day that ends quickly so I can get to my weekend full of reading.


And now that I've said that a zombie portal is being ripped into our dimension at my work. Probably somewhere near my work bench. While dealing with that a rogue meteorite will also show up targeting my work bench. That and I'll get hit with 10 rush orders that all have to ship out before 4 this afternoon. That will probably only be the first five minutes of my day and it will escalate from there.

To top everything off I'm trying to cut back on my sugary drink intake this week. Nothing crazy or anything. I've just noticed I've got a little to generous with things. Needless to say I really want a junk food break right now.

I've got a leak at work... right over top of my desk. Right in front my computer. It's a small leak but I finally confirmed it when I got peppered while sitting at my desk.

Can I just say that today is Friday and tap out of this week?

5 Stars
Exit Strategy
Berserk Deluxe Edition Volume 11
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1


4 Stars
W.I.T.C.H. Part I: The Twelve Portals, Vol. 1
Foxglove Summer
Reincarnated as a Sword (Light Novel) Vol. 3
Solo Leveling, Vol. 5 (novel) (Solo Leveling
Yu-Gi-Oh! (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 9: Includes Vols. 25, 26 & 27
Princess Jellyfish 2-in-1 Omnibus, Vol. 5
SAKAMOTO DAYS 7
Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Vol. 3
Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 3
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection, Volume 3

The bad
Killing Them Softly

There are several things that I am excited for in June.
Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 13 (Volume 13)
Solo Leveling, Vol. 6
Fractured
Dark in Death
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

1. What were your top rated books in May?

2. What were the worst books you read in May?

3. What are you looking forward to reading in June?

Well that is some good news. The replacement is an internal one and it's someone I've already got a great working relationship with. This will be a "smooth" transition.

It's not a very high bar for them to step over.

Just to clarify this will be a manager for a different department that has to work closely with us. We work in their area but report to someone else but both parties have to work together.

That was an incredibly introverted train of thoughts. At work one of my biggest sources of annoyance, stress, headaches, etc is now gone and there is much rejoicing. I then had a train of thought this morning where I came to the horrible realization that they will be bringing in someone new and I have to start all over again with a total stranger. I have to learn all their beats, what kind of person they are, what makes them tick, etc. I have to be extra nice to them instead of stony faced silently ignoring them until they go away. I'll have to deal with all those socially niceties as they put their best foot forward and are feeling me out as well. The idea of this social dance is just *shudder*.

And now we've discovered we are getting a high level safety audit. This day keeps getting better and better. Is it to late to go back to bed?

Well this is shaping up to be an interesting day already.

When we left last night there was water boiling up through the street. We got confirmation this morning that it was a water main break and that there is no running water in the building today. This is going to be so much fun today.

The provincial election is done and it went pretty much as I expected. I can't say that I am happy with the results but I'm not surprised. I won't get into a tear about what happened but it's sad that a political leader with these kind of views, running on this style of politics, with several members in her party that believe in this style of politics was able to win.

I'm reading the next volume of the TMNT IDW collection and this is such a simple trope that I love. Some small accident happens and it just sets off this string of events that just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. Raphael and Casey and screwing around and Casey drops one of his bats from a roof. This causes a car to crash and a briefcase to be ejected from the car. Turns out that the car is full of gangsters on their way to make a deal with another gang. That briefcase is full of diamonds needed for the deal. From their we've got two different crooked cops, different factions in the first gang fighting for control of the diamonds, the second gang wanting their payment getting involved, the other turtles getting involved because of Raph. It just keeps getting worse and worse and worse and I love the chaos.

Yes, I'm joking. Yes, I know different parts of Canada have different accents. Why do you think it's so easy to pick a Newfie out in the crowd. Again, joking... to some degree.

Excuse me! Canadians do not have an accented version of English. How dare you share such slander.

Time for that weekly update and warning in advance, there is a lot of manga. If you're not interested in that you might want to skip this week... and next week as well.

Heroine Complex -3 Stars
This book was a bit all over the place and it makes rating and explaining it a bit of a challenge. There are moments in this book where I like what is happening and I'm liking the decisions the author made and the others I'm either bored or annoyed. The book opens with our crew in a bakery battling demonic cupcakes and it's a perfect example of the creativity you can find in this book. Later there is a battle with demons that takes place during a karaoke battle. It's some really interesting story telling. The problem I found though is getting to these interesting moments. Between these interesting moments where just some straight up boring, and sometimes repetitious moments. For instance there is a flashback scene where Aveda helps out Evie by eating 30 spam musubi because she was getting bullied in school. It was the start of their friendship and you get reminded of this moment over and over and over and over and over again. This is just one example of the repetition between big scenes. There is a lot of talk about feelings, emotions, the past, etc, etc, etc that just feel like it all on repeat. Another negative is Aveda herself. I get that she is supposed to be an unlikable character initially so that she can have her big growth moment and show us how much she has changed and grown. You don't want to go to far with the unlikable though and this book went way past the point of no return. She is such a horrible character that I just didn't care about any redemption she had. I'm sorry but I just can't forget the horrible manipulative person you were at the beginning of the book. Now granted she didn't do a full 180 as I think that will be saved for the next book but still. The one thing I was happy about was this book did not fall into the love triangle trap. There was the characters to do it, it thought about doing it, then the MC had the realization that guy 1 was a brother to her and not a lover. This was a nice change of pace honestly. I'd be willing to check out the second book just to see where things go.

Now one special complaint just for the audiobook. The narrator was alright and did a serviceable job with this book with the exception of one character, Bea. Bea is supposed to be a 16 year old girl and there are times where the narrator sounds appropriate for that role. The problem is that the voice for Bea is all over the place. Sometime she sounds something like a 16 year old girl and other times she sounds like a stoned surfer dude.

Now for the manga

Berserk Deluxe Edition Volume 11 -5 Stars
What can I really say at this point. My love for this series is well known. Everyone I knows that I recommend this series with a massive warning about all the nasty stuff you will find inside. I love this series, I love the characters, and I'm kind of sad that there is only two more volumes of content from the original author. That being said I am curious about the new content from his team.

Yu-Gi-Oh! (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 9: Includes Vols. 25, 26 & 27 -4 Stars
This is still in the Domino City tournament arc and we are down to the semifinals at this point but there is just so much more going on in the story at this point. We are starting to get more and more into the Egyptian magic side of things. We get the backstory to Marik in this battle and what happened there. We finally get to see the final god card in action. There is just so many questions and this story is just incredibly interesting. I think we will have one more omnibus in the Domino City arc and then it will move into the final story arc. I'm curious to know how this all ends, what happens to Yugi, etc. There are several spin off series in the Yu-Gi_oh franchise but I don't think I've ever seen this original cast of characters in any of them. I could be wrong as it's not something I've looked to deeply into.

Princess Jellyfish 2-in-1 Omnibus, Vol. 5 -4 Stars
I am really getting invested in this series and I'm about to say something I don't normally say. I think this is a great example of a love triangle done well. You have two individuals with essentially no experience with anything even remotely romantic getting thrust into dating each other. There is a lot of emotional baggage to unpack there already. Then you have one of these individuals escalate things faster than a rocket taking off (no, not sexy times) and you have a super awkward situation. While this is all happening guy two takes notice and comes to the realization that he might just have feelings for the young woman as well but it will better for all involved if he just does not get involved. There are of a course a lot of other parties involved in this whole situation as well. I'm just enjoying how this is all unfolding and how things are progressing.

SAKAMOTO DAYS 7 -4 Stars
I've said this before and I'll say this again. I really want to see this series get an anime adaptation and it to be done by a good studio. The action in this series is just bonkers and I would love to see it animated.

Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Vol. 3 -4 Stars
Finally, after a year and half wait I finally get my copy from the library. A simple sweet yuri romance between adult women. I really enjoy this story and I'm kind of sad that the next book is the final one.

Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 3 -4 Stars
Another yuri romance that I've been waiting forever to get my copy from the library. This is the final book in this series and it had a good ending with the author hinting that there could be more in the future. That being said there was something about this ending that jsut made me feel melancholy for a while after. Great series though if you are looking for a shorter yuri romance.

SHWD, Vol. 1 -3 Stars
Alright this one is going to get a bit weird. This is a yuri romance sci-fi horror manga that is a bit of a hot mess. The "romance" is a barely there subplot that just feels weird. The sci-fi horror is interesting but you just aren't given enough to really truly invest you into anything. This manga has a "unique" selling point though and I'll admit that it is what piqued my interest. The women in this manga are... quite muscular. I don't normally include images but below is an image of one of the main characters. This is of course before you cover her in layers of tactical body armor. How does she even fit through the door? This is one of two super large and super jacked female characters in this manga as well. I just like the trope of the female warrior who looks strong enough to bench press a dump truck. It's a weird niche but it's a fun one.



Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1 -5 Stars
Alright, final manga of the update. This is a slice of life manga from the mid 90's that has kept popping up on my radar as one of the greats of the Slice of Life genre. I never had a chance to read it as it wasn't easy to find as a lot of older manga usually are. My library got a copy of this new deluxe edition and after giving it a read I can see why it's considered so great. The setting is a futuristic Japan that is slowly dying after an environmental apocalypse. Very little is told to us about what happened but the evidence is everywhere. Not in ruined buildings but the water level of the ocean. We see a lot of things like street lights sticking up above water and are told about how Yokohama had to be moved up into the hills. The book is set in a remote location and our main character is a robot called Alpha who runs a small cafe. Each chapter is a small story about something she is doing or someone around her is doing. There is a simpleness in the story that is just enchanting and there is enough mystery in the world to keep you curious. For instance there is a character called Osprey and we know next to nothing about her except stories passed on from other characters. Who is she? What is she? What is her deal? There is another character who has a flying fish that wears goggles to protect their eyes from drying out. There are no massive conflicts, there is no evil villain trying to destroy/take over/wipe out anything. It's just a simple story set in this foreign world full of mysteries. I can't wait to get my hands on the second one and see what happens next.

Now for what is next.

The Lost Stories
I'm finally getting around to this audiobook and looking forward to more time in this world.

Outside of that I've still got a monster stack of comics/manga to read and will probably be working on that for a couple more weeks.

This has been an odd week. Work has been busy but not really stressful if that makes sense. My coworker is off and there is a ton of things to get done but I've got a list of priorities and I'm just working through it. Then there is my walking. For the last couple of weeks I've been doing an extended walk in the morning. It's only an extra 2km/1.25 miles or about an extra 15-20 minutes and I've been enjoying it. It's been easier to add extra to my morning walks as that is when I'm most lively. For whatever reason this week I've just felt tired all the time and completely unmotivated to go out for walks. Any walk at all this week has just felt like a chore. Maybe it was because work was more physical this week but I've just felt off. Even now I have to go out for my library run and I'm struggling to find my motivation. It also doesn't help that the book I just finished has left me feeling extra melancholy. It's hard to explain as it was a "happy ending" but it still left me feeling just "off". Weird how the best way to explain this week is just "off".

Anyway, sorry for the ramble and the not so happy vibes. Time to put on my big boy pants and then get out there and get things done.

That was me

Talk, talk, talk, talk. If the whole point of things is to get angry and smash things talking is the opposite of it. Get angry and start smashing things already.