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

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

Today should be easy...

I have to get a bunch of stuff put away that I started working on. I've also got to get my bench cleaned up before I leave. Outside of that I need some parts but that will probably be a next week week problem. A lot of things are going to be a next week problem. Not because I'm ignoring them or anything. I just won't get my stuff before the end of today.

Today is Friday, for me at least, and I am looking forward to a nice long weekend. After the last month I'd say that it's well deserved and well needed. No real plans outside of my usual napping and reading really. Oh, I need to finish Season 1 of Darkwing Wick so I can get that back to the library.

I've got two different books that I am down to the final section and I just want to crawl into a cave and finish them. For Broken Homes I have less than a hour of audiobook left to go and I'm so close to it being done.

I've got about 10% left in Triptych and I just don't want to go to work. The sharks are circling on the bad guy, this is it, this is the big climax and I now have to go to work. Just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Sorry, I'm just really wrapped up in this book and I want to see the bad guy taken down really bad.

A sure fire way to tell if I'm into a book is hard is it to put down. I'm not talking about situations where I have options like work but times when I am left to my own devices. I have some stuff that needs to get done today and there has been a whole lot of "wait until the end of this part" or "just one more chapter" or "I still have some time left to get those things done" happening all day long. I finally forced myself to put the book down to get started on things. I still have a couple things to do but, you know, "one more chapter".

And there is that moment when all the stories click together. Or at least I think they did. There were details pointed out that just felt like it was there to make the connection.

I'm now on chapter 14 of Triptych and I feel myself getting pulled into the story. I think I struggled a bit in the beginning because I was tired and I wasn't the biggest fan of Micheal. Following John though has been interesting and yet disturbing somehow. I have a feeling I know kind of what is going on and some theories about his past but I don't know for sure. I also have no idea how any of this ties into the case that is taking place in current time. That story feels like I got shelved once we hit part two of the story.

It's been a bit of slower reading week for me so I don't have as much to talk about. I'll make up for it next week though.

Reincarnated as a Sword (Light Novel) Vol. 2 -4 Stars
The one and only novel I completed this week. Yup, it's been one of those weeks. It's been interesting to see the difference between the anime and source material. Especially with the spider dungeon arc. They changed the arc up to really get that anime season finale kind of vibe. The cuteness of Fran is really played up in the anime which makes sense as it's a much more visual medium then just words on a page. There are a lot more details in the LN, shocking I know, and events seem to unfold more slowly, again it makes sense considering the medium. The other big surprise is that the anime only covered up to about the half way point in this book. I'm used to anime trying to cover more material in a season. That brings me to the second half of this book and probably my favorite part. We get to see Fran and Teacher really tested as they tackle a dungeon well above their level with some near disastrous results. You get to see the characters grow both as adventurers and as characters. I'm really enjoying this series so far and can't wait for the next one.

Tower of God Volume One -3 Stars
I was surprised to see this come up in the new books feed at my library but I knew I had to snag it. Tower of God is one of those massive Korean Webtoons (comics designed to be read on your smartphone) up there with things like King of High School, Solo Leveling, The Breaker, and others. I was interested to see how the format would transition to traditional print and it was alright. I had one slight issue though and it's not the comics fault. The story telling method doesn't translate well to physical medium in my opinion. Bit of a lesson time I guess. A lot of mediums like this, (light novels, webtoons, web novels etc) don't follow traditional story telling methods. If you look at something like In Death each book is it's own individual story self contained to that book with occasional overarching story lines that connect the books. For series like this it's just one massive story broken up into story arcs. Those story arcs can be short and only lasting half a book or be massive sprawling stories spanning multiple books. It also leads to a weird flow when things are transitioned to a physical medium. For instance in the last Solo Leveling novel the epic climax scene took place in the middle of the book with the end of the book being a bunch of slower paced set up for the next story arc. To bring this all back to this first volume of Tower of God this was like the first couple of pages of the prologue. I have no idea what to make of the story because I feel like I've barely even scratched the surface of things. This book was 288 pages and I feel like I got a ten second trailer to a three hour movie. Seeing as this is a new release here in NA I don't know if I want to follow the slow release schedule of the physical book. I feel it would be better to just go on Webtoons and start reading the story there. That is a massive commitment of time though as there are currently over 500 chapters out and it's still being published. Decisions, decisions.

Creepy Cat Vol. 4 -3 Stars
The final volume of this odd and yet charming series. It's a cute cat book, it has horror elements, and it's a comedy. I enjoyed the series and I feel that there is still potential here if the author ever wanted to revisit things. Definitely a recommendation for those that like odd little series and cats.

Beauty and the Feast 06-4 Stars
Not a lot to really say that I haven't already said before. This series is still cute and cozy with those weird moments of something lewd that the author isn't prepared to commit to.

Embrace Your Size: My Own Body Positivity-3 Stars
This is a nonfiction manga about the authors struggles with her body and being bigger than normal. While the first part of the book was a little repetitious the book overall touches on many good points and has a great message overall. I think this is an issue that we all struggle with to some degree and seeing more positive messages out there never hurts.

Up next:

Broken Homes I'm listening to this currently and I'm nearly done. It has felt good to return to this series and the narrator is a real treat to listen to. After that I've got Dead Voices which is going to be a short one.

Triptych I started reading this last night and I have some mixed feelings so far. I'm about 15% of the way into the book and I feel like we are still going through a lot of set up of characters and not so much the story itself. I'm sure at some point this will all come together though and the story will take off.

Weird and random walking story time. I was at the grocery store getting my weekly supplies when this random guy approaches me and says hi. He recognized me because he's seen me walking to work every day. He asked if I really had done that all winter and I confirmed I had. I mentioned I'd been walking to work for about a year and a half now. He then calls me champ, wishes me a great day, and then walks off. I'm used to getting recognized because I don't exactly blend in but it just feels weird when someone strikes up a random conversation because they recognized me.

The ones I have left are:

Historical Fiction
LGBTQ+
Literary Fiction
Short Story
Western
Fable/Fairy Tale/Folklore/Mythology
Comedy
Author of Color
Self Help
True Crime
Poetry
Personal Interest

In March I saved $465.26 bringing my yearly total up to $1,787.62

I had a bit of a slower month this month with work and all that.

5 Star
Rogue Protocol
Solo Leveling, Vol. 4
Secrets in Death

4 Star
Reincarnated as a Sword (Light Novel) Vol. 2
SAKAMOTO DAYS 6
Batman: The Killing Joke
Beyond Reach
Lovesickness
Princess Jellyfish 2-in-1 Omnibus, Vol. 3

2 Star
The Espressologist

Looking forward to
Triptych
Omens

By the way I'm trying out a new format after the discussion on the April thread. Let me know how this looks.

I think, and I'm far from an expert on these things, that there needs to be a bit of both. There needs to be some element of criminalization so that there is a legal means of going after distributors, manufacturers, etc. Basically those that are profiting off of pedaling the poison. At the same time there should also be support there for those that are addicted or trying to recover.

I have 13 done currently. I'm also down to the stuff that I don't normally read and the stuff that I just don't read. At some point I should make a concentrated effort to start picking these off.

In general I hate shopping but I really hate shopping for clothes so this made yesterdays experience extra nice.

Today has got to be the easiest time I have ever had shopping for shoes. In the past I'd wear my shoes for years so when I'd have to go shoe shopping whatever I had previously wasn't there any more. With all the walking I am doing, over 400 km or 250 miles in 3 months just this year, my shoes don't last any where near as long. Today it was simply a matter of walking into the store, finding what I had currently on my feet, finding my size, paying, and leaving. I'd be surprised if it even took 5 minutes tops.

I always use Goodreads on my computer and that's why I prefer using using icons. I have an extension on my browser that blows up the image when I hover over it. This discussion brings up a different view I never thought off and I'll start including links in my weekly updates.

It's Friday, it's the final day of the month, and it will be a good day. For the longest time I never thought this month would come to an end as it feels like I've been stuck in the month for years at this point. We have one final shipment that needs to go out but everything is done. We just have to hand in our paperwork for it this morning. After that it's catch up on things that didn't get done and start prepping stuff for next month. For the first time this month it feels like I can take a step back and breathe a wee bit. Supposedly we are getting lunch provided for us as well today which is nice. The only way this day could get better is if I could stay home and read but that's not really an option. Things to get done and all that. Plus I have a plumber coming over today, hopefully, and I don't want to be home when a stranger comes into my place.

Ohh we got those and we use those to stamp the individual boxes on the inspection forms but the final box at the bottom needs a signature. We used to sign everything back in the day and that was madness. For today's shipment I would have signed my name 300 times back in the day and yes, we've had days like that. Your hand is dead, your signature is barely even a scrawl, and your mind is numb. It didn't take us long to get a stamp made after that.

Nothing like signing 60 documents in a row to help ruin your signature. Not that I really have much of a signature left at this point. It's more of squiggle at this point then a signature. Why am I signing 60 documents you ask? Work. Inspection reports for assemblies going out. I'm signing off on them saying that I inspected them all before they left our facility. I sign hundreds of documents a year just doing that.