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

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

We've had a few incidents with people turning left without checking here and it's just frustrating.

I'm so sorry for your loss

Today feels like there was a memo going around that I was not included on. Of the five people in our department, two are off, one took the afternoon off, and my boss is working from home this afternoon. I'm here in the shop all by myself this afternoon. In general there are a lot of people off today or or for just the afternoon.

On the plus side all my work is done so I've got a few hours of reading time ahead of me.

I was looking at my lab results last night and to my untrained eye everything looks normal which is more or less what I expected. They have ranges where things should be and break everything down if you want to dig into it. It's helpful when trying to figure things out .

We've had some fog here as well. It really makes those early morning walks fun. Everything just seems a little bit softer in the light haze.

Ohhhh yeah, one other thing from my physical yesterday that made me feel good. I've lost another 5 lbs bringing my grand total to 30 lbs lost so far. 30 lbs is not an insignificant amount of weight. That also makes 30 lbs lost in 12 weeks. It kind of feels a bit weird as there is a part of me that feels like I'm not really doing anything either. I know I am but I'm also not sweating the details. I'm not counting every little calorie I eat, I'm not out there fighting for my life in the gym, none of that.

Yeah, my BP was way higher at the doctor's office than it normally is. Or at least the top number was. the bottom number is like a rock that barely moves.

My physical is today and man that old hamster wheel of doom is just spinning this morning. Logically I know that there is nothing to be nervous about but that very vocal part of my brain is stressing.

I started this on my morning walk and so far so good

I remember the TB test we got when we were in the army. Those tests were always weird. We are injecting a random fluid into your arm to create a bubble. If the bubble goes away in a day or two, you are good.

This is going to be a long, long week. I have about 10-15 minutes of work for the entire week currently. Now, I'm sure thing will come down at some point but it's going to be a long week. I'm definitely sneaking in some reading this week.

Oh, and I also have my first physical this week. Kind of nervous about that but not really.

Another week of reading is complete and it's time for all the updating.

My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World: Volume 1 ⭐⭐⭐
I really hope you like hearing my thoughts on isekai novels because I am deep in a mood right now. This was a new series that I started that has been on my radar for a while. As you can guess from the title our MC dies and is reincarnated as a blacksmith in a fantasy world. He lives out in a cabin in the middle of the woods and he has cheat skills for blacksmithing. The novels are not deep alright, stop looking for more. Basically this novel is just a set up of this series. Finding the cabin, getting a roommate (a cat girl), setting up a way to sell things, getting an apprentice (a dwarf girl), etc, etc. I like how the MC is not just reincarnated as some teenager but as a 30 something year old man. I also like that while maybe setting up a harem it wasn't weird about anything. Then we get down to the slight grumble and this is real life knowledge creeping in to mess up my fun. This master blacksmith makes these amazing swords by casting them. You don't cast swords, especially iron/steel swords. It doesn't work like that. Amongst many things it was very clear that this author knows nothing about actual smithing but you know, wave your hand, fantasy cheat skills makes it all work.

Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill: Volume 2 ⭐⭐⭐
Back with this one and it's what I expected. Lots of food, busted fights, isekai world building. Just a fun relaxing read.

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, (Light Novel) Vol. 5 ⭐⭐⭐
I warned you that I was in a mood this week alright. Yup, another isekai novel and it's more of what I expected from this series. That being said I did like how things picked up a bit towards the end. Seeing our MC taking what is considered useless spells in general in this world and figuring out how to use them effectively in combat was interesting. Also, that last fight was interesting as it wasn't just our MC steamrolling things with his busted skill set. He actually had to work a bit and strategize. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't super deep or anything, but it was a nice change of pace.

Now for the manga

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 4—Diamond Is Unbreakable, Vol. 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The story is starting to shift a little bit now. We had more stories of the week as we've had up until this point but now we are starting to get a main villain introduced and he is an interesting one with some interesting abilities. I am really curious to see where this goes.

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
More slice of life stories from these three young demi humans. I love this chill series.

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Vol. 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I have no idea what to even say about this series. Each volume is only 160 pages and I feel like I'm trying to decipher an ancient language with clues from the back of a crumpled up napkin. I just want to know what is going on. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that in a bad way. Everyone and everything is being all cryptic and weird and I'm just trying to puzzle it all out.

Now what is next

The Scions of Shannara
Still working on this audiobook and really liking some of the changes I am seeing compared to the original trilogy.


The short list of things I need to read this week

I think that depends on who you talk to. Personally, I know that there are various differences, opinions, etc, etc, etc. Other people though, well, they just lump Americans all together.

Now that I think about it a bit more, there was a bunch of propane heating used as well. We had the 100 pound bottles that were used for the kitchen stove but our grandparents next door had this giant propane tank in the year that was used for the furnace. Something like a 500 or 1,000 gallon tank that was bolted to a cement pad.

I don't think I've ever seen fuel oil used in my neck of the woods. Growing up we relied on wood stoves for heat and propane for cooking. People in town had natural gas I do believe.

No one is rolling their eyes at the actions of the US government. No one at all, nope, no one.

Honestly, it's more like running into the homeless guy talking to themselves on the street corner. You do your best to avoid eye contact so you don't accidentally set them off. If you do set them off you might suddenly get hit with a round of tariffs, threats of invasion, or some other bout of random madness.

That is exactly why we are a little salty about this whole thing. Our part of the company is always punted to the side but this was just some salt in the wound. Especially as the day that this happened was the last day of our fiscal year and we were stupid busy trying to ship anything and everything that wasn't nailed down. To then find out that while we were trying to pull this off people are having all this fun on the company dime, yeah, a bit grumpy.

Once again our department is stirring the old pot but only a little bit. Last week there was an HR letter that came out and in that letter was this thing about how our company celebrated employee appreciation day at the end of July. People got things like catered lunches, food trucks, live music, games, etc. We couldn't help but notice that our part of the company didn't even get so much as a whiff of all this fun stuff. Today they released this as an article on the company internal website and with that article was a metric ton of photos from across the country. We took that article and forwarded it on to the building manager asking of there was perhaps something we missed at some point. Now we sit back and wait

Stupid health issues making me feel like crap and messing with my sleep. The last 24ish hours have been a bit rough. Nothing serious, just more of the same

I have a few things to talk about this week. Unfortunately I started the week out with a couple of duds but it did get better. Without further ado lets get into it.

My Lovely Wife ⭐⭐
This is technically the second dud of the week for week. I'll get to the first one later. I need a book with a psychological thriller tag and I found this floating around in my TBR pile. After some digging I realized that I had read something else from this author and really liked it. That's what lead me to getting this book. By the time I got around to listening to it though I wasn't 100% in the mood for yet another thriller but I needed to get this done. I will say that this book had an interesting premise. Basically a loving wife and husband kill people to spice up their relation. Interesting idea that could be a fun read. That is about the only good thing I have to say about this book. We follow the husband who remains unnamed throughout the book and I found this character extremely unlikable. Combine that with the fact that the first about 75% of the book is just set up and flashbacks which was just boring as hell. All of this made getting through the book an absolute drag. What kept me going was wanting to see the big twists that was inevitably coming. All of this slog was leading to the big twist. By the time I got there though I just didn't care anymore. The ending of the book was also a let down as well. Basically every big twist wasn't really a twist at all. It was all stuff that was super obvious and very predictable. It was more of a surprise that the MC never saw any of this stuff coming. I'm just glad this was a stand alone and that I am done with this book.

Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill: Volume 1 ⭐⭐⭐
This is an isekai that I have been meaning to read for a while and it's a fun little read. Basically our MC is accidently summoned to another world, no one recognizes his skill, and he is kicked out of the castle by the shady king that summoned him. Our MC's broken skill is "Online Shopping". Basically our boy here can access Amazon in a fantasy world and what ever he orders is instantly delivered to him in said fantasy world. This is not so much an action adventure or anything like that. This is more of slice of life fantasy story based around food. Our boy here can cook and with his ability to order anything he wants he is able to whip up all sorts of tasty dishes. This allows him to enter into a contract with a Fenrir, one of the legendary beasts of this world. It's a fun simple read and I am looking forward to more.

London Calling ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This audiobook crept up on me out of no where. This book was released this year and I was waiting for an audiobook format to come out. When I finally noticed it was out I was in the back of a bit of a queue. This was supposed to be a couple months out still when it suddenly became available. I'm not complaining and after how bad my last audiobook was this was a well deserved treat. As for the book, it was everything I wanted for this book. I'm not sure if there was contract stuff behind the scenes or what but this book felt like it was the final book in the series. A lot of the overarching story lines we had been exploring throughout this whole series were all wrapped up in this one. There is a big family reunion, we find out what happened in Paris, we learn about Clementine's story, the big bad is caught. The thing is that even though the overarching story lines are wrapped up this is a story that could easily be continued and after reading the synopsis for the next one that is what is happening. I'm both excited for more stories in this world but also a bit cautious as well. If the author only intended for their to be six books and was forced to write more due to popularity maybe he won't be as invested in it. Maybe the story lines will be a bit more flat. Only time will tell. I will be back next year for the next one when it comes out.

Isekai Walking: Volume 2 Holy Kingdom of Frieren Arc ⭐⭐⭐
Yup, not even a month later and I am back to this series. It's a popcorn series, something easy to read while I am waiting for a bus or on lunch. In many ways this continues a lot of the bog standard tropes that you expect from an isekai. Our MC is slowly growing a harem of beautiful girls who all adore him. There are a couple things I want to touch on. There were a couple moments where this novel got a bit darker then I expected. Far from the darkest material that I have ever read but the things being hinted at/implied where a bit darker then I normally see in a fluffy isekai. The other thing I want to touch on is a trope that I really loathe seeing. The stupid slavery trope that is becoming more and more prevalent in anime/manga/light novels. I'm not saying you can't explore themes of slavery in a fantasy setting. It's how these franchises handle the subject. The author's go through some real gymnastics to both imply that slavery is very bad but that our good MC is not a bad person for participating in the slave trade. Either they get a special class of slave that is not treated horribly, there is an implied promise that they will let them go, or just a hand wave of they don't treat them like slaves. I'm sorry, the MC is still participating in the slave trade. They are buying slaves. This is not a good thing. What this really is, is merely a lazy trope to get our MC, who is a stranger in this world, companions that are loyal to them. I know this genre is not a genre known for having a very high bar for quality when it comes to its writing but this is a new low. This is just a trope that needs to go away.

The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash (Light Novel) Vol. 4 ⭐⭐⭐
Yup, another isekai. Listen, I'm in a mood lately so don't judge. More fluffy isekai fantasy, not a lot to really say here.

Now for the manga/comic
Godzilla: Skate or Die ⭐⭐
This is the first true dud of the week. I snagged this book because Godzilla and I was really curious how they were going to shoehorn skateboarding into this one. You have two different story lines going on here. There is the story line involving Australian teenagers who love skateboarding and stuff like that. Then there is the Godzilla story line where he battles another Kaiju. These stories exist... in the same city and kind of brush up against each other in a fashion. Basically Godzilla and this other kaiju are duking it out over top of this old factory site where the kids hangout and board. The kids want to go there and get something before the site is destroyed because that seems like a great idea. The government gets involved because of course they did. I was just bored reading this one and could not really care about anything going on.

Flying Witch, Vol. 3 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is such fun and comfy read. There is a reason this series is up there as one of my favorites.

What's next
The Scions of Shannara
My next audiobook and it feels good to be returning to this franchise

As for my physical books, I'm not sure. I have to check my library and plan what is due next, what can be renewed, etc.