i may be a bird in a cage but at least it's your cage

What I've recently finished watching:

Wednesday season 2, and I enjoyed it a lot! Okay, there were parts I did not enjoy nearly as much as others; I could have done without the zombie gore and Pugsley in general, and Enid's new boyfriend drama as well. On the other hand! (Which I guess is Thing, no pun intended!) Here are some things I particularly loved, (  behind a cut because they are very mildly spoilery for S2, more spoilery for S1: )

What I recently finished reading:

A reread of Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O'Keefe - here's my original review from 2020:

Space opera that reminds me a bit of Imperial Radch smushed with the Expanse, though it doesn't feel like it's actually inspired by either. There's a sentient spaceship and a culture which dominates the universe and controls the gates which allow passage between worlds (which were invented using a mysterious technology that may have come from another civilization), and generally modern SF style views of gender and sexuality (the main characters, siblings, have two fathers, and there's a character who uses 'they' pronouns, presumably nonbinary). The story mostly follows Sanda, a 'gunnery sergeant' [this seemed odd to me for various reasons - she seems to be an actual officer, not a noncom, but I guess military ranks in this far future world are different?] who wakes up after a battle alone, on board a deserted enemy warship, which tells her that it's 230 years after the battle and that both sides' planets have been destroyed. Other POVs are Sanda's brother, Biran, who has been recently elevated to the political elite of their society, and Jules, a young gangster girl on a planet far away, whose narrative seems to have little to do with the main story until the very end when things are connected in order to set up the next book. I liked it a lot, though I felt that after the first few big reveals (which were great!) things dragged for a while before rushing to a climax that quickly went on to a cliffhanger.

Rereading my review, I guess I still agree with it! I'm sadly appalled that I forgot so many of the spoilery details in the intervening 5 years.

But I'm on to the next book in the series, Chaos Vector...

Went to the audiologist this afternoon as it was time for another hearing test. I hate hearing tests. But things are pretty much the same as two years ago, so that's good. Got off the bus a stop early and took the very very long way home.

As frequently happens after visiting the parents, I came home and have been watching TV. I've now seen both seasons of Ridley, on PBS Passport. I watched the first ep of the Lynley reboot on BritBox. I don't like the original TV series (my mother really likes it) and I didn't care much for the books, either. I wasn't sure about the reboot for about the first half hour or so, then it started to get interesting and I was disappointed that the next ep isn't out until Thursday. Last night I watched all four eps of BritBox's adaptation of Agatha Christie's Ordeal By Innocence, which in the end was rather creepy and twisted.

I've not been on Tumblr in about 3 days. It wasn't intentional. I just didn't get to it as I was reading the new JD Robb and am still making my way through Women in Whitecoats. But I've not missed it too much and I'm certaingly not going to be able to catch up at this point, so I think I'll just extend my break for a few more days. Once I get through the women doctors, I'm going to start the new biography of Luis Alvarez, Collisions.

So, perhaps getting the flu shot and the covid shot so close together wasn't the best idea? I've only ever had them months apart. I don't feel terrible but I also don't feel great. Malaise and fatigue, not congestion and coughing, thank goodness. I didn't set an alarm yesterday, though I did cardio when I finally got up, and I set it for late this morning but there will be no cardio today. I do have to go out later, so I'll turn that into a long walk on the way home.

Friday evening, I got a terrible pain in my right side. I was pretty convinced there was something wrong and I threw together a bag and walked over to the hospital, only to get there and feel fine. After talking to lurksnomore for a few minutes, I turned around and walked home. I'm usually not so convinced immediately and I do wait, but this was a very new and terrible pain. It has, thankfully, not recurred but it was definitely worrying. I'll add it to the list I've got for when I see my doctor next month. Yes, I keep a list. It's a post-it on my calendar for easy adding on to. I'll organize everything and put it into my doctors notebook before I see her. And she's prepared for it! The first time I saw her again after I started full-time at the esteemed!institution for the second time, I came with a post-it. Her response was, ok what's first? I do like my doctor.

Ok, now I need to find some food. I'm meeting conference!roomie on Zoom and then I'll have to find going outside clothes as I'm getting my haircut and then going to a PokemonGO trading meetup.

I made it home in one piece and *knocks on wood* without getting sick. My niblings are growing up - 7, 5, and 3 1/2! - and are becoming such very interesting little people. They're still a little loud but I think the youngest might grow out of that soon. Maybe. I hope.

I got my flu shot yesterday. Then in the evening I got an email from one of my state reps saying that our state had just changed its rules about the vaccine advice that determines which ones pharmacists are allowed to give and that insurance companies are to cover - basically everything that was allowed until the CDC started imploding. So first thing this morning I made an appointment for the new covid vaccine and went back to the pharmacy this afternoon.

Holy cow, it's the 30th anniversary of 2131 on Sunday! That's the night Cal Ripken broke Lou Gherig's streak of 2130 continuous games played. I vividly remember watching it on TV and I admit I cried.