2010: Week 46 Blots

BLOT: (18 Nov 2010 - 11:56:07 PM)

Semi-Fortnightly Reading Inventory: November 18, 2010

Ok, so three weeks in, I've managed to keep the flow up by looking at this week to week, slightly over two books a week, but not quite as high as I would like (I would prefer to average about 2.4-2.6, I am more like 2.1). At any rate, this week was two new releases.

Nev Fountain's Geek Tragedy: The first book in the new Mervyn Stone Mysteries line. Semi-polite, semi-sardonic murder mysteries set in the midst of geek culture and featuring a somewhat washed up writer and ex-script editor as the main character. It would be unfair to call him a detective because he's not that good at it. This one is set in a con where one of the head con-gods commits suicide...or was it? Features lots of in-jokes suited to con-going.

Stephen King's Full Dark, No Stars: Collection of four shorter works (two for sure novellas, one for sure long short story, the other one in between) looking at everyday people in extraordinary circumstance, usually at least partially of their doing. Quick read, with four fairly different protagonist (the short story, "Fair Extensions", is somewhat devoid of a protagonist as opposed to a reader-stand-in, but is also the best). Fans of King probably won't be disappointed but fans specifically of old-King may not like it. Still, worth a library check out for that third story.

Ok, over the next week I play to dive into Cthulhu 101, The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics, and finally get back around to The Code of the Woosters. I might focus on lighter reading and try for four smaller books this time, but my urge for some post-modern style works is building, so get ready for some Gravity's Rainbow, soon.

BY WEEK: 2010, Week 46
BY MONTH: November 2010

BLOT: (18 Nov 2010 - 11:48:55 AM)

Robert Llewellyn's pic of the Red Dwarf guys a few years on...

Thought this was neat. Shows the Red Dwarf main quarto in, well, the picture data says 2009 so I guess then. Click on the picture to go to the LlewBlog's photo gallery, that as a few more of Robert Llewellyn in and out of the Kryten mask.

BY WEEK: 2010, Week 46
BY MONTH: November 2010

BLOT: (17 Nov 2010 - 03:14:13 AM)

On the mend and what the mail-man brought...

Will be quick, because I am blogging past my bed-time again, but just wanted to update my condition and talk about an odd little story. First off, I am doing much better. Still tinging towards the headache (have essentially had one since about 2pm, but it stays low enough that I mostly don't think about it until I look too quickly to one side or another). Still a bit woozy and tired. Most other symptoms, though, started clearing up Monday night and finished checking out this morning. I went to work as per normal, and it was a good shift. Outside of a bit of bother trying to summon mental acuity in a few cases, all was well.

Ok, let's rewind back to Monday, though, and discuss an odd incident that occurred Monday at about lunch time. I was on the phone with Sarah, talking to her a little about how I was doing, and right after making a brief but bad joke, got struck with a massive coughing fit. The kind that you end up gasping over. Sucked. Then, right about the time I start getting my voice back enough to continue talking, there is a knock on the door. It's the mailman. Except, I reach out because I assume that he is bringing me a package (he did, actually, two) but he is not here for delivery. His mail-truck had broken down. Since he delivers a couple of books to me a week (well, not really that many, but on some weeks there are a couple of packages) he knew me enough by name and face to know I am usually home during the day and to trust coming to me to borrow the phone. He called a couple of different numbers, got no answer. He headed back to his truck and I told him I would walk down to make sure he was ok in a bit.

By the time I am getting down there, he has my packages on hand, and he said that he did finally get a hold of someone (in this case, he used the apartment office phone). They were going to bring out a battery to replace his. Not a new battery. A battery that had been recharging after going dead last time. Turns out that during rainy days, the trucks have to keep headlights and blinkers and such on, and stay stopped kind often, so they often go dead on such days. SOP is to take the battery out, put another one, and then take the dead battery back to shop and charge it. The reason no one had answered the phone is probably because they were already out doing this with other mail trucks.

And well, it was somewhat pointless, but that is my odd story about what the mail-man brought. As for the packages, there was a Lin Carter history of the Cthulhu Mythos, which I am curious to read since Lin Carter is one of the men responsible for the reconfiguration of the Mythos post-Lovecraft into a Manichean war. I am sure I will disagree with many of his sentiments, but it could be fun. The other one was a collection of three novels about a washed up ex-writer for a now defunct British SF series and the murder mysteries he gets involved with involving various things like cons and recording commentary for DVD extras. Both are awesome things, and yay for weird stories and fun new books on a wet day in which I was quite ill.

LABEL(s): Me in 2010

BY WEEK: 2010, Week 46
BY MONTH: November 2010

BLOT: (15 Nov 2010 - 12:32:01 AM)

Being Sick, School Work, Walking About, HP Podcraft, and sundry other things from the past couple of days...

Showering when you are sick is a different sort of thing than showering when you are well. You take the latter for granted. It is just to get clean. When you are sick though, you feel each shower. The first shower you have right after getting better is the marvelous one, the milestone. It thrills your spirit and washes away that sorry, flu-filled chapter from your life. The one you take while still sick? Strange, unwordly affairs. Your head is spinning, the water if flowing, your sinuses are annoyed, and your whole body feels tired. Soapy and tired. Then you get out, and you do feel more refreshed, better hydrated than you have been all day—or a couple of days—but also kind of clammy and cold. Ah.

Last night, around 7pm, Sarah and I went to Frizzles on Jordan to get some custard sundaes and plays card games. We settled on Rummy, and and she a chocolate and peanut butter affair and me a caramel and cashew set up. Every thing was going well but I could tell something was wrong. About half way through my sundae, I had to just bail on it. It was making me feel tired and weird. I ended up throwing that bit away. Didn't want it around me. I did finish some soda I had—Barq's rootbeer—and we did finish our Rummy game—she one, if just barely. By the time I got home, though, I could tell something was wrong. At the time, I figured it was some momentary imbalance, like getting winded after a flight of stairs or those days where you can't quite wake up. It has now been about 28-hours, and I feel worse, if anything. I even sent in a letter asking for a sick day tomorrow (the weird way our schedules are arranged, I'm not sure it is guaranteed I can get it). Which is the first that I think I have ever asked off at this job. Last Christmas, I went with a sore throat so bad that the act of working the reference desk that day ended up with me losing my voice for over a week. I figure: let's not repeat.

In less sick news, most things have been well. I have settled into the end-of-the-semester lull that sharply wraps around the end-of-the-semester rush. All focus is on two things. The first, a presentation, will be done this Wednesday (assuming I have not given up the ghost to strange microscopic bugs, of course). The presentation is, as far as planning goes, mostly done as is. I just have to give the thing (and it will only be one quarter-hour). The other is a mock conference proposal, which I have mostly written. I am waiting for one grade back before I fine tune the elements down into a brisk, bodice-ripping romance about the struggles of fair Memory imperiled by the harsh, rugged machinations of swarthy E-text.

Glancing back over the past week (it has been about eight days since I have written an entry about myself), not a whole lot has occurred. Worked all day on Sunday, and then Monday through Wednesday are mostly blurs. I know I worked Monday and Tuesday, and had class on Wednesday, but any particulars experienced are largely lost. I cannot even remember watching anything in that time period (surely I plunked down to seem show or another) and did not really read anything until Thursday. It was, essentially, a dead time period for me. On Thursday, though, Sarah and went and walked around Research Park for a couple of hours. I snapped pictures. I love the colors this time of year but rarely actually photograph them. Friday I went back to work and then hung out some with Sarah and we watched Sherlock (the newest BBC adaptation). Maybe. Maybe that was Thursday. We did walk around on Friday and tried to get some more pictures but the camera's batteries died in the middle. I have maybe a dozen good shots, possibly less, and I may post them in a couple of days if no more good sunny Fall days look like they are quickly forthcoming.

Saturday was mostly a build up to our date. We did finish Sherlock (it only has three episodes so far) and that's about all I remember of that. I got sick, and now my brain is half gone.

I have been reading the new Stephen King compilation: Full Dark, No Stars. Almost done with it and likely will finish it tonight. It is four stories. I guess you could call it two novellas (130pp and 110pp or so), a long story (30pp), and a longer story (about 60pp I think). It probably counts as three novellas and a short story. Whichever. The first one is about a farmer who kills his wife to get her father's land, and it goes awry. The second is about a woman who is assualted and left for dead and then she plots for revenge. Both are ok. Both go on for too long. The rape-and-revenge tale especially could have saved a good thirty pages and kind of got down to it. The third story, a deal-with-the-devil bit, is possibly the most refreshing take on that story since Faust. You get to the end, just knowing how it will turn up, and go "Oh." Not read the fourth. That's for after I finish this post.

I'll finish by sending you over to HP Podcraft.com. It's the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast. Has been going on for nearly two years or so, I think. It runs mostly weekly, with breaks here or there. Mixes together literary discussion (of the better sort, not endlessly decontextualized close readings) with humor, pop-culture reference, horror, and just friendly banter. I am working on catching up (about half way there) so that I can read along, which sadly...by the time I get there, they will only have about 1/3 of the stories left, it looks like. Ah well. As an on-topic addendum, have also been discussing the re-literature-ization of horror on Goodreads.com (that linked discussion board, Literay Horror, has a number of topics about horror as more than just empty sets of thrills). If you can see that (and I don't know), you might find it interesting to check out. If not, then you can get some of the vibe by Nick Kaufman's LJ-entry: "The Cult of Not Mattering: How Horror Fandom Is Its Own Worst Enemy".

LABEL(s): Me in 2010, Horror.

BY WEEK: 2010, Week 46
BY MONTH: November 2010