drumming, reading, watching

As I sit here, there is much drumming. 

School starts next week for the local kids. I've noticed activity has begun at the nearby high school. This morning, on my morning jog, a large pack of teenagers -  x-country practice, no doubt - made their way along the path. 

And now, the drumming. Marching band percussion sectional happening. Yep, summer break's as good as done.

My two-week break is coming to a close as well. I've enjoyed the lack of commitments. As mentioned, my reading challenge continues. I've completed 31 of 26 (goal) books so far this year. Here are the latest titles since the last report.

Bad Tourists was a mystery thriller that I audiobooked while doing boring things around the house. The rest were book books. I've started writing down quotes that I like from books I'm reading. I'm not much into the mystery thrillers, but will get an audiobook, figuring there won't be anything I particularly care to write down.

Note that there were a pile of DNF's in the meantime, and none of these 6 that made the cut disappointed me.

Hotshot and Wildfire Days were both memoirs written by women firefighters. I learned some stuff about fire suppression and mitigation while also getting some good drama. I am currently reading [Lab Girl] by Hope Jahren - another memoir with stuff to teach me about plants and dirt.

So speaking of which, Magnum and took another play day and went up to Helms Deep yesterday to commune with the plants and dirt. 

I love the quiet up there - no sounds but our struggles and wheezing as we smooth out a few areas for us humans - along with the animal noises. No cows this time, but some deer came along to be nosey. Adolescents loosing their fluffy fawn fur in patches. A couple of hawks circled overhead looking for lunch/sizing us up.

We have a trail cam in place, and had several captures - mostly deer.

See the twins trailing Mom?

Daddy?

Trail cam also picked up a few individual members of this strange pack.

a little squish

I just finished reading [Chemistry] by Weike Wang. It's a novel about a Chinese woman working toward her PhD in chemistry and dealing with the stereotypical strictness and high expectations of her Asian parents, among other things.

It's quirky, it's relatively short, I liked it. It marks 30 books read so far this year in my quest to read 26 books this year. I've overachieved even though I'm not a child of Tiger Parents.

But this isn't a reading challenge update. When I read the above quote, I immediately thought of a conversation I recently had at work with Party Girl and Daffodil. Party Girl was feeling self conscious about having a realtor come to her house.

Party Girl has a little house she bought and lived in after divorce from husband #2. She then married husband #3 (current), moved into his house, and turned the other house into a rental. Now, she's looking to sell the rental.

So the realtor was coming over to the house she currently lives in, not the one she's looking to sell. But due to the realtor being a realtor, Party Girl was self conscious of the scrutiny of her carpets, the colors of her walls, etc.

Daffodil jumped in with some soothing advice:

"When I'm dealing with something like that, I tell myself, 'I'm sure they've seen worse."

...which I feel is a corollary to the above quote from Chemistry. Much less anxiety inducing.

All this to say that I had my routine mammogram today.

Despite my having the nickname ["Cow"] for most of my formative years, it was not for my "udders". I've never been "busty", but rather quite an un-busty, small boned, 50% Filipina.

So while I'm certain my mammographer has seen more voluptuousness, I know I'm at the low end, and I was reminded of Daffodil's counsel. I was further put at ease when I noticed a couple of Asian women in the waiting area, if y'know what I'm sayin'. It's possible that I "outranked" them?

Now, I don't mean to make light of breast cancer. I'm personally at low risk, so I guess I find something else to worry about on mammogram day.

throwing hands

Official day 1 of "staycation". Fall semester begins in two weeks, so I'm currently coasting. I do still have a couple of shifts in the testing center and one day of scheduled tutor training, but that's it. 

Right now, I'm at the downtown library, which is one of my "artist date" places. The phrase was coined by Julia Cameron in her book [The Artist's Way] which I read several years ago. 

I'd checked her book out of the library where we lived at the time. I remember chatting with the librarian about it. She'd told me that the library held a series of workshop sessions built around the book, and a man tried to sue them because his wife asked for a divorce after completing the workshop - HA!

Personally, I got a few good takeaways from it, but overall, the book was nothing earth shattering. 

Anyway, I'd ridden my bicycle here, and as I was locking up, a mom and her two kids were unlocking, getting ready to leave. She has one of those "minivan" e-bikes that can hold cargo and kids. There was a girl of about 5 and a little boy about 3. 

The little boy, rather brusquely, asked his mom for something. 

Her: Can you ask it with manners?

Him: Pweeaase?

How to say no?

But speaking of instruction of children and saying "no", I've noticed an annoying (to me) trend.

Okay, first, how is a pen/pencil held? I hold mine as in this example....

Lately, I've been seeing this particular form:

And I'm struggling with that thumb placement.  I even tried to mimic that grasp and it's not working at all for me. My hand practically refuses to contort in such a way. 

These images were taken off of the tube-of-you thumbnails, and I have no idea who the perpetrators are. But I have seen a few such grips in real life, mostly young people - gen Zs and gen alphas.

What is our world coming to?

book burn

"Although having a girlfriend or wife didn't exempt some of the men from being assholes, they were usually more comfortable with me"

That's a quote from a book I'm currently reading. [Hotshot: A life on Fire]. It's a memoir written by a woman who'd worked several seasons as a wildland firefighter. (Note: they currently identify as nonbinary, but during the firefighting days, "they" was "she").

I'd originally picked up the book for tips on building trails and managing the surroundings at our boonie property, but it's interesting learning her experiences in such a physically grueling, male-dominated job. I purposely chose a book written by a female author for those latter reasons. 

It's also interesting to me since we live in a state that gets its share of wildfires. In fact, our new property is in recovery mode from a 2012 fire. The book isn't just memoir, it gets into ecology and pros and cons of wildfires. I'm learning stuff.

It also marks my 26th book of the year. Recall I'd set a goal to read 26 books in 2026, and I'm ahead of the pace. Here are the books I've completed since my last update in April. Recognize any?

 

Goodreads profile pic

I will note that none of these scream "Favorite book of the year!" for me. They were all fiction except for "Eager" and "Cheap Land Colorado.

For the most part, I liked all of them well enough or I wouldn't have finished them. But they're quite a mix. "Bunny" is super weird, for lack of a better term. The two books by Emily Austin deal with pretty flawed main characters and read like a series of random journal entries. Some readers don't like that, but heck, I read blogs, so that works okay for me.

Whacha readin'?

puberty and connections

I just polished off the last of a big ol' batch of fried rice. I know, big whoop.

Thing is, when I make fried rice, I go big with the egg. I like a lotta egg in my fried rice. I made this latest batch with duck eggs.

Recall that coworker Sarge's family took on three baby ducks a little over a year ago. By late last fall, the ducks reached puberty and began earning their keep.

Sarge typically collects three eggs a day - ample supply for his family of 5. Ample enough that he often brings surplus in to work. 

I brought six surplus eggs home and turned them into fried rice. 

Three duck eggs in hand, one store bought
 large chicken egg for scale

They are noticeably bigger (duh!) than chicken eggs - nearly double the volume. I made double the amount of fried rice I usually make with 6 chicken eggs.

I give 5 stars. The duck eggs are bigger, fluffier, lovely to cook. I don't know how much of that pleasure is from them being duck eggs and how much is from them being homegrown fresh.

Sarge said, at first his kids were all, "Ew, you're eating duck babies?!"

So he explained they're not babies since they're not fertilized. 

Saying they're eating the product of a duck ovulation cycle is much more appetizing.

And speaking of sex ed... I don't remember having that taught to me in school. I only remember "health" class where boys and girls went to separate rooms and we talked a lot about periods and tampons and all the fun that entails. 

The real sex ed came in the form of a book, circulated among myself and several friends.  I was reminded of that book this week. 

Okay, anyone play "Connections", the NY Times game? I play occasionally, and did so this last Tuesday - May 19. One of the categories was books by Judy Blume. Spot them?

I'd heard of Fudge and Superfudge, but never read them. Never heard of Deenie. But I'd most certainly heard of AND read Forever.  

As I recall, there were two very worn out paperback copies that circulated among this little impromptu adolescent girl book club. We read the sh*t out of that book. 

I'm pretty sure it's the only Judy Blume book I've read. I understand it was quite controversial at the time - maybe still is. Also, as far as I know, my mom didn't know I read it, but who knows. She seemed to just know stuff without me knowing she knew it.

In my case, yes, it was educational. 

I don't remember much of it now, but in summary:

Two high schoolers fall in love. They have sex. It doesn't last forever. Everybody's fine. 

192 pages of that for my 13-year-old friends and I to discuss. Dang we were studious.

bunnies, books, 'n' beavers

Happy Easter to those who revel!

It's a lovely sunny spring day here. We went for a coffee bike ride this morning. A happy Easter Bunny waved merrily to us from outside a church, possibly muttering quietly at the bicycle-riding infidels.

This past week felt a little off for some reason. Tutor students struggling more than the usual. On Wednesday, I commented to one, "is it a full moon or something?" Lo and behold, it was. And now we've got the Artemis crew stirring the pot.

In 2026 Reading Challenge updates, I am now 16 books into my goal of 26 books on the year, so a bit ahead of the pace. Here are my latest that didn't end up in the DNF pile. Descriptions mine:

Shy Creatures - a single 30-something art therapist in the 60's tries to help a man who'd been "hidden" for decades and her teenaged niece while having an affair with one of the doctors. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Coworker - Typical Scooby-Doo type mystery from Freida McFadden. Audiobook while doing mundane things around the house. ⭐⭐

Flashout - some weird "artists" doing weird things in the 60's, not all that comparatively weird to other things from the 60's. ⭐⭐⭐

The Raven's Nest - Memoir from a woman who went to Iceland, fell in love with an Iceland man, married him, became an Icelander, divorced the Icelander, wrote a book ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'm currently reading a couple of non-fictions. One is Cheap Land Colorado - interesting book about off-gridders living cheap in Colorado. I happened to see it while loitering around a bookstore. I've been through the area, and the book reminds me a lot of where I grew up.

The other is this book about beavers, recommended by my Step Mother-in-law during our recent visit.

SMIL is a retired chemical engineer, and loved learning about nature's engineers and recommends this book to anyone who will listen.

Beavers are pretty badass, I've been a fan for a while.

BUC-EE

spring fever

I'm waiting for my hair to dry so I can do a grocery run. Exciting, right?

Despite pulling a few extra testing shifts, I've had a lot of free time during this lull between fall and  spring semesters, and classes thankfully start next week. I really should have planned better and done some projects around the house. For instance, every wall could use a new coat of paint. 

As I've mentioned, I've been reading more and have logged 5 books on the year. Technically, it's more like 4 books since I finished one on new year's day that I'd started in December, but let's not get obsessive.

I don't have particular genres or authors I adhere to, just go with whatever inspiration hits me. I check them out from the library, so if any is a dud, it's only wasted time. Here is what I've shelved so far

The Listeners. My favorite book of the year so far. I'd never heard of it, it just showed up when I did a random search of whatever was available.

The Mad Wife. Oooooh, this one was... eerie? Twisty? Is either the right word? Historical fiction based on real things in the 1950s. Could use several trigger warnings.

My Last Innocent Year. It's about a (silly) college undergrad having an inappropriate relationship with a (perve) instructor. 

Ghost Eaters. While riding the bus to work one day, the person across from me was reading this. Curious, I picked it up. It's about ghosts... or 'shrooms... or both?

The Make-Up Test. Formulaic rom-com about rival grad students. Not a typical genre for me. Truthfully, I picked it up because I liked the author's name.

In other winter break "accomplishments":

• I came in 4th out of about a dozen in our extended family's fantasy football league. I changed my email since our league was set up a few years ago, and I never was able to log in this season. Therefore, I never did a darn thing to my auto-generated player roster. That's the secret to my success.

• I have a doctor (nurse practitioner) now. I had been doctorless for about the last five months. The practice I was established with changed hands and was no longer in our insurance network, but I had a physical a couple of months before the switcheroo. When I tried to get into a different practice, I was told I couldn't because I "need 366 days since your last physical". 

The 366-day rule has not been met, but I'm now close enough to where I could at least get on someone's schedule. So there's that, I'm a name in a database now.

And... my hair's dry enough. On to more excitement.

HR logjam, diversions, over here gagging

I've got extra shifts in the testing center again this week. Our new coworker was scheduled to start last week, but they have to make it through all the HR onboarding tasks. Since everything came to a standstill over the winter break, nothing happened with the onboarding, so the start date was pushed out two weeks. So... more shifts for me, which works out nicely since tutoring has yet to begin. 

I'm about to finish another book. This will be number 4 for the year. It's all part of my staving off doom scrolling and social media. Who knew it could be so easy?

I often think I should just chuck the f4cebook account, but it is useful for some things. We don't have a good source of local news around here, so I follow the local law enforcement pages for news I shouldn't ignore. Then there's marketplace, which has come in handy, damnit.

In other diversions and despicables, we'd been watching Peaky Blinders, which is really well done IMHO, but with much violence and darkness and repulsive characters. I finally threw in the towel in the last season. I just googled the ending and decided, okay, no need to watch anymore.

I'm like our cat, Napolion, trying to hide in my mug. Okay, he was actually going after the dregs of my tea. 

I can't imagine he actually wants it, and he does have plenty of water bowls for pets to choose from. I think he's just asserting his alpha-ness and displaying his lack of respect for boundaries...

...and clearly I let him, snapping a pic instead of shooing him away. 

He kills mice with that mouth. Such a jerk.

out with the old

I went to the gym this morning, not because it's New Year's Day, but because it's Thursday, and Thursday is typically a gym day for me. There were a handful of seemingly non-hungover patrons there as well. Just another Thursday morning gym sesh.

I was snoozing at midnight last night, but was awakened by revelrous popping of, hopefully, fireworks. On my bike ride to the gym, I rode through a hefty dose of confetti in one section of the neighborhood.

2025 - I fed some ducks

I took a look into my 2025 blog archives and found nothing very earthshattering, which is often a good thing. But it feels rather mundane, I took no trips out of state. For an entire year. No wonder I feel restless.

Will have to change that for 2026.

Speaking of escaping, one goal I had for 2025 was to "read more". I didn't specify a number or a genre, and I'm happy with how that worked out. My Goodreads wrap tells me I read 25 books. Recognize any?

So while I didn't plan to read 25 books, it feels like a nice coincidence. On that note, I'll set my reading goal to 26 books for 2026.

In addition to these 25, I probably had 10 or so DNFs as I have NO qualms about chucking a book to the DNF pile if it's not doing it for me. I also don't include non-fiction books here, because I typically read only parts of those - parts I was interested in - before returning them to the library.

On that note, all of these books were from the library - either physical books, audio books, or Kindle. Three cheers for libraries!

So Happy New Year! Magnum suggested we go geocaching today. Okay. Haven't been geocaching in forever. Our goal is to add 10 to our "found" list. Seek and maybe find.

whazzup?

The weeks continue to seemingly fly by. We are already nearing the end of October. I'm looking out my window thinking that I need to get on with the leaf raking. I haven't gotten beyond the thinking.

• Got together with Meego and Wolfgang for breakfast yesterday morning. We do this about once a month. There are plenty of good breakfast places in Fort Collins, and we've yet to go to one I wouldn't recommend.

Today's destination was recommended by coworker, Blossom. She's lived here her whole life (whopping 25 years) and is always ready with a food recommend.

• At the start of the year, I'd made a resolution to read more. Fiction and non-fiction both. I think I've done all right by that, but recently hit a slump. I was slogging through two books I'd checked out based solely on the fact that a couple of friends on Goodreads liked them. 

I was halfway through both of them when I realized I wasn't enjoying either and should just take the losses. One of the books was Luster which seemed pretty pointless and just, *ICK*.

The other was The Bee Sting, which was just stressing me out, and I don't need stress from a novel. There's enough of that in the real world.

Anybody read either of those? They weren't for me, but plenty of others like them. 

Now, I'm rereading James Herriot  books. I enjoyed them over 25 years ago, so decided to revisit. Nice thing about that is that I'd forgotten a lot of the stories, so it's like reading them for the first time. Reading is, once again, enjoyable.

• This week in "tales from testing", we had someone leave their cell phone on when they stashed it in the locker. We always ask people to turn their phones all the way off, but there's always those who think, "bah, mine won't make any noise" and ignore us. 

The guy's cell phone started to emit an unending alarm. After tracking down whose it was, we interrupted his test and had him come out and turn it off. 

At that point, he was very apologetic and opened the locker to turn off the phone. While turning off the alarm, he said, "sheesh, that's annoying", to which Siri immediately replied, 

"I don't mean to be"

She sounded so remorseful, I *almost* felt bad for her.

 

fragmentary recall

This was a shortened weekend for me as I worked yesterday - Saturday rotation time again. Another seemingly productive week down. Let's bullet.

• I finished a novel this week - The Silent Patient. When I went to add it to my Goodreads, I strangeley saw that I'd already read it? Really? Apparently, in 2019. Well, it wasn't memorable the first go. And it even has a twisty, big reveal ending. Oh well, 4 stars.
  
  
• Speaking of memory, we watched Total Recall - the 2012 version with Colin Farrell.

It was pretty much what I expected. A lot of shoot-em-up, running around, heavy CGI, etc. But I won't say no to 2012 Colin Farrell. 

• Speaking of pastimes, it occurred to me, out of the blue this week, that I would probably enjoy bird watching. That made me feel old, where did that come from?
  *I know bird watching isn't just for old people, it just made me feel old to suddenly find it appealing*
  
  

• Speaking of hobbies, our tutor bosses at work asked each of us math tutors to put together a "tutor bio". It should be 100 - 150 words and include our educational background, which campuses we support, etc.
  
  

I typed one up, and the word count was 50. *SIGH*. I mean, I said all the things. What more is there? They encouraged us to add "fun facts" about ourselves. Ugh. 

The only maybe fun fact, if you would call it that, is that I've been a regular blogger for over 20 years, but I don't tell real life people about that. 

I'm not saying anything about bird watching either.

Friday five

The college's fall semester begins next week, and we await another batch of new and returning students. So a little recap of this last week of summer daze.

• I took a look back at my summer reading. I'd intended to "read more and doom scroll less" with no more specific goal than that. I think it's going well, and I took a look back at what fiction I read over the summer along with my star ratings:

This list yields an average of 3.44 stars, so good times. The book I'm currently reading is ["You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine"] which was recommended to me because it's "weird, but in a good way". So far, I'm finding it weird, we'll see about the way.  

While I'm reading it, it kind of reminds me of hanging out with my friends in high school around a campfire, possibly smoking something a friend grew in her backyard.

• Speaking of teen behaviors, I worked with Party Girl last Saturday. She showed up seemingly off the ball - if there's to be a phrase meaning not on the ball. She's typically pretty responsble despite her partying ways, but she was slacking off last Saturday. She still did her fair share of the work, but I was unimpressed. Reminder, she's in her mid-fifties and sometimes acts like a teenaged party girl. Her age was really showing on Saturday.

Anyway, this week, she's seemingly cranked up her responsible side. I suspect she feels a little guilty about her Saturday performance, although I didn't say anything to Boss or anyone else.

• Speaking of high school, school started this week for the school district. We live near a large-ish high school, so the morning and afternoon traffic snarl has returned. Plus, there's a big construction job on the main road in front of the high school. I'm glad I'm not in that commute!

• Speaking of responsible coworkers, Star came in for a visit yesterday. Recall that young Star got a good full-time job a few months ago. We miss her, but I'm glad she moved on from part-time at the testing center and is building a career. She now lives with her sister about an hour's drive away, but came home for the weekend. She brought cookies for the win!

• Speaking of family matters and jobs, Sarge's wife - who is the main breadwinner of the family - is having her job replaced by AI after another company bought her employer. She'll get some severance and extension of benefits, but is contemplating her options.

When I first started working in testing, I thought robots would take over "in about 5 years". They're trying, but there are glitches. We'll see.

On that note, time to go do the paid people watching.

eyeballs

We've had lots of rain the last several weeks. We typically welcome the moisture, but now the new fear is that all the rain has produced piles of fire fuel for when/if Mother Nature turns off the faucet.

Oh well, one day at a time. I did get caught in a major downpour bicycling home from work recently. As I was heading out, the clouds were moving in and rumbling a bit, but I thought I could beat it. Wrong!

Once the drops started, I quickly became drenched - DUH-WRENCHED - as that drenching deserved two all-caps syllables. As I soakingly approached our house, next door neighbor guy was also in the midst of his bicycle commute home, seemingly without a care. In fact, I think he was enjoying it. 

"He's got the right attitude", I reflected, "at least it's not hailing"

...just as hail started smacking us in the helmets. Thankfully I was in the driveway by that point.

Coworker Blossom had recently returned from a work conference. She brought little gifts for each of us upon her return. For me, she bestowed two sturdy, attractive bookmarks. 

"You like to read, right?", as she held the little paper bag out for me.

Shortly afterwards, I was enjoying a bike ride while not getting drenched. I decided to swing by the library and play Staff-Picks-Shelf roulette. I often read books on my Kindle, but since I had two virgin bookmarks, I thought I'd get an actual physical book.

Our libraries, like many, have a "Staff Picks" shelf where rudderless patrons like myself can check books out without having to put much thought into it. I've had good luck in the past, and I'm not one that HAS to finish a book once I start it. If it's a dud for me, it goes in the DNF pile.

[Hench] is the book I ended up choosing.  It's science fiction with superheroes and villains and regular people employed by superheroes and villains - not my usual thing, I'm not sure I have a usual thing.

But it's so good! Smart and witty and strangely deep at times.

Another win at Staff-Picks-Shelf roulette!

Thank you, library staff member Leah.

I am trying to read more - fiction and non-fiction both. Social media gets old, too much news is not good for the soul. I'll listen to audio books as well. I often feel, "this could be a good book with a different narrator". It's me, not them.

My libby app tells me I've checked out 34 books this year. PFFFT - proof that I have no qualms about DNF-ing, as I've not read nor listened to anything close to 34 books. 

This morning, I'm off to the optometrist to pick up some new specs. At my recent eye exam, the dr. told me my prescription had actually gotten a little weaker. I contemplated just continuing to strain my neck with the glasses I have, forever searching for the "sweet spot" in my old-lady progressive lenses. But then my spare pair decided to retire by dramatically severing a hinge. 

Well, they'd had several years of service. These were the frames I had during my middle school lunch lady days [when that cart fell on my face, and my glasses took the bullet for me]. Good times.

Whacha reading?

checkup and chopping

Last week, I was feeling rather without purpose after the abrupt end of the semester. Now, one week later, I'm all, "I could get used to this!"

I do still have a couple of shifts per week in the testing center, so I'm not a total slug.

I've checked off many of the things I had back-burnered until this point. For one, I had my annual eye exam last week. Eyes haven't changed all that much, so no need for new glasses.

Eye doctor did confirm that cataracts are still stalking me. "You've got a few years", she says. I recall when she first told me I had signs of cataracts forming, and I was thinking, "B-b-but cataracts are for old people". Oh... yeah.

Meego and I went for a nice hike over the weekend. Wolfgang is out of town and Magnum had a case of what I deemed the "Oompah Loompah Virus" because, whatever it was, it made his voice all gravelly. Maybe the latest iteration of covid? So anyway, Meego and I had an enjoyable time - sort of a Meego's birthday/ Mother's day thing. 

And I've checked off two tasks from my list this week. (1) give my mountain bike some TLC and a good cleaning - not because it's dirty from riding, but because it's dirty from sitting around doing nothing - and (2) chop up an old crappy mattress. Ugh, that was a task.

We have a futon in the living room, which naturally has a futon mattress. When the old one wore out, I bought the crappy one off amazon. It was NOT as advertised and was this big thick lumpy thing that didn't work well with a futon frame. 

After dealing with it for a few months, I gave up and ordered a more suitable replacement. Meanwhile, I'd chucked the lumpy thing out to our back porch, a.k.a "catio". 

Well, the cat loved it. This full sized big cushy lump. I finally got around to unstuffing it and bagging the remains. Really, I hate sending it to the landfill, but it was truly unfit for human consumption.

As expected, the cat was a bit miffed and went all Karen on me upon inspection of the now spacious floor, insisting on speaking with the manager.

I suppose we'll get some peace offering for him, but good riddance to that lumpy POS mattress.

And I did finish "reading" an audio book while butchering the mattress. The book was Small Game. Coworker Kitty was reading it for her book club, and it sounded interesting.

It was okay. I'll give it 3.5 stars out of 5. It made the tedious mattress work go faster. Audiobooks are handy for such things.

Makes me wonder. Will there come a time where people no longer read? It seems to have already begun.

weekend mash up

From the time we start going to school, I think we become conditioned to school days vs. summer days. Once we've gone past July 4th, I feel like we've passed the halfway point of summer, and I start looking ahead to the next thing. But I'm trying to just enjoy the summer "daze".

Our California vacation helped. It really is good to get away from the same old same old and get a change of place. Now that we've been back, I'm feeling a bit restless, like summer's running out.

• Work at the testing center has been slow, as it tends to be in summer. During spring and fall semesters, we have a pretty steady stream of roughly 50% student tests, 50% professional tests. Summertime brings hardly any student tests - averaging about 1 per day. Unlike last summer, we are now fully staffed, and it feels like we comically step all over each other when something needs to be done. Someone often goes home early.
  
  
• On that note, the college DEI department introduced a "summer reading program" at the end of the spring semester. They provided a list of about 5 books for interested people to rank in order of interest. The survey was to determine 1 or 2 books to be read and discussed. 

I completed the survey, then heard a whole lot of nothing afterward. THIS week, we finally get the word that two books have been chosen, and looks like it will be a fall reading discussion. Oh great, just when things get busy :P .

But oh well, a free book's a free book, so I picked up my copy of [Different not Less]. Seems useful so far. 

The book should be useful for tutoring too. I'd say my most challenging tutees are the ones with unchecked ADHD *give me patience*

• And on that note, I've ended up with 3 college tutees and 1 high school tutee this summer, all very pleasant. A couple of them are REALLY lacking and should probably retake the prerequisite course, but God love 'em, they try.
  
  
• I've almost got my running back to where I was before being befallen with a bum foot followed by a foray into physical therapy. Back to where I was was still trying to get my stamina back after covid two years ago, but it's not awful. I'm glad to be chugging along. 

I also acknowledge that I've aged two more years since then, so I'll take what I can get.

I'm typing this at the downtown library. Just had to get outta the house - that restlessness. Strange mix of cute kids and unhoused adults at the downtown library... 

weekend randomness

This week was busy at work with semester finals and year-end certifications. This coming week will likely be about the same until we hit a wall on Thursday with very little on the schedule. As such, we're planning to have our gift swap party Thursday afternoon. 

A few weeks ago, Magnum brought home [this book] that he won from a little contest thrown by the Employee Health and Safety group at work. 

Their EH&S does these occasional contests on various topics, then from the high scorers, a few winners are chosen. This particular contest had to do with emergency prep, and Magnum got the book plus a gift card.

The book went straight to the giveaway pile, and I figured, "welp, now I have something for the lame gift swap"

I skimmed the pages, and it seems to be parody disguised as serious self-help. There are a few worthwhile tips in there for general preparedness.

So... shouldn't the "losers" of the contest get the book instead? As they seem more in need of the information?

And I saw this meme this morning and thought, "AHA! I'm not the only one who thinks this!"

I mean, really. I see some of the filtered selfies and profile pics some people - mainly women - upload online, and I wonder if they realize they don't really look like that. At all? 

Sure, the filters are very flattering, but what happens when they go out in public? Kind of like makeup vs. no makeup, but those filters are next level. 

Anyway, I've got my Christmas shopping done - what little there is of it. But it occurs to me that I might be low on wrapping paper, ribbons if I'm feeling extra fancy. I might need to quick run to the store.

The Zombie apocolypse will hopefully hold off. 

... or are you happy to see me?

Thanksgiving week is upon us. At this time of abundance, I'm doing all the prompts from Mama Kat:

1. Tell us about a current interest.

I've been following the Kaitlin-Armstrong-killed-Mo-Wilson sentencing and trial recaps. Sheesh, what a bizarre case. 

2. Write about something you gave a negative review.

This week I bought some cajun flavored sesame sticks from Natural Grocers. After eating a couple, I realized they were not cajun flavored but garlic flavored and mislabeled. And I was all, "gross", because I quite dislike garlic. But thankfully, no one here is allergic. But what if someone was allergic? That could be bad. 

I let the store know about it via their online contact page. Who knows if anyone reads the submissions? Not necessarily a negative review, but mislabeled food products could land them in hot water.

3. Tell us about something you are looking forward to.

I'm looking forward to a slowed week at work coming up. The test center is open through Wednesday, but students are on break all week, so it should be fairly calm and quiet. 🤞

4. Book review! Share a recent favorite (or least favorite) read.

I'm currently reading Happy Place by Emily Henry. I'm about halfway through it, and apparently it's a popular book. For me, I dunno, it's kinda... bad. It might end up a DNF for me.

5. Write a blog post in exactly 7 lines.

My fritzed foot is still not 100%.

But it feels better with each passing day.

I feel I could go for a short run.

But Dr. Internet says not to run for 4 to 6 weeks. 

So, no Thanksgiving race for me this year.

Boo hoo. 

Still very thankful for lots of stuff.

6. Write a blog post inspired by the word: over

We caught a cheater at work this week. Really, it's a rare occurrence. I've worked there for 2.5 years, and can remember just 4 cheaters, all of them college students.

But this guy, he hid a cell phone in the crotch of his pants, then began using the phone during his test. A coworker busted Cheater and took the phone. When going over the video footage, we also learned that Cheater was chewing tobacco and spitting in his testing room.

Party Girl had a justified cow when wiping down the workstation after Cheater finished, at which point he denied doing any spitting/ mess making.

He knew we have cameras, now he knows that they don't just watch, they record.

Game over?

one for the books

Magnum's mom's husband - a.k.a my step-father-in-law - is 90 years old. For the past something years, he's spoken of this book he's been working on. His memoirs?

He'd tell us some tale of his family and/or past adventures, usually ending with, "It's all in my book". We first figured he was journaling and tracing his family tree - a nice little retirement hobby for him. Then he started mentioning publishers and ghost writers, etc. The book was becoming THE BOOK.

Honestly, this made some of us a bit uneasy, because as part of the family tree, all of us were in THE BOOK along with birthdates, birthplaces, extended family? How much information was he sharing?

A few months ago, Magnum's stepsisters sent Magnum copies of the portions of the book that feature us - our kids, and other relevant people. This so Magnum could check the accuracy and request any edits.  We both looked over the pages and found the writing a bit choppy, honestly. Apparently, SFIL just dictated things to a writer who then put it into text. 

I don't know how much he paid to have THE BOOK all put together and printed, but it is done. Magnum arrived home after a work trip to Colorado Springs, where his mom and stepdad live, bestowing a box and saying, "You're the talk of the town," referring to the senior living facility where his mom and stepdad live.

"Wha...?", my response.

He opened the box and revealed 3 paperback copies and one hardcopy of THE BOOK. Hardcopy for us and a paperback for each of our kids.

"Oh...", I recognized the cover. 

Several years ago, Magnum's mom asked if I would draw a pastel portrait of SFIL. 

Yeah, sure. Why not? 

When Magnum opened THE BOOK box, I remembered that, a few months ago, MIL asked if SFIL could use that portrait for THE BOOK cover. 

Yeah, sure. Why not?

And there it was, all 190 pages, hot off the press. We've sort of been treating THE BOOK as "he's having his fun". Seeing it now, all done up, I'm hoping he's happy with it. I was a bit surprised to find the last several pages include original poems.

I skimmed a few pages, mainly looking over the photos, but have yet to sit down to read THE BOOK.  

Judge a book by its cover?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

5. Book review! (hardly)

a star

I typically have a couple of books I'm working through at any given time.  And I'm not one that "must" finish a book if it's just not doing it for me.  It's been a long time since I've read one that's left a lasting impression.

In fact, I had to go to my goodreads shelf to see what I've read recently. Most all have been mediocre at 3 stars out of 5. The most memorable recent read, I didn't even add to my goodreads shelf because it was SO ridiculous. 

The ridiculousness is what made it so memorable. Here are a few tidbits:

• The main character takes a job as a nurse practitioner in a corrections facility and is advised not to give out any personal information to the inmates she treats. She immediately divulges personal sh*t to just about everyone she meets on the first day.
• The main character does all sorts of other stupid/ditzy/weak things, too many to mention. How did she graduate nursing school let alone become a NP?
• A ten-year-old boy gets off the school bus after school, walks to his house. The people inside know he's home when he RINGS THE DOORBELL. To go into his own house. 
• Main character wants to find two people who walked into the forest from a house after a fresh snowfall. But she has no idea which way they went... WALKING AFTER A FRESH SNOWFALL.  Gosh, if only they'd left some sort of clue.
• The 10-year-old boy, who is small for his age, manages to shake a tree hard enough to have big ass icicles fall from the tree. A tree large and sturdy enough to have 3-inch diameter icicles form on it would be very hard to budge. Then the small boy manages to kill a healthy grown man with one of those big icicles. He's apparently a good baseball player.

I mean, c'mon! Is proofreading not a thing?? Editing??

I'll admit that the kid ringing his own doorbell bothered me for longer than it should have. 

I'm not even going to say the name of the book or the author because it was just SO so bad. But I'll include this blurb:

#1 Amazon bestselling author [blankity blank] is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple Kindle bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. She lives with her family and black cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.

She's apparently published 22 books, which is 22 more than I've ever published. This one has an average rating of 4.19 stars. 

Maybe I have a brain injury.

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Linking up with Mama Kat for the prompt

4. Book review!

iced, joyous, brokenhearted

It's a thankfully clear sunshiney morning as I sit for this weekly wrap-up post. There is a lot of snow and ice hanging around from this week's storm. We rely a lot on the sun for taking care of these things, and the sun's been slacking.

My less than 2-mile walk to work on Thursday was like crossing Donner Pass in parts, but I will give a shoutout to the parks department for promptly and thoroughly clearing the bike paths. Getting to and from the bike paths is another story. Good thing for spikey shoes. 

Speaking of clearing, I've started reading Marie Kondo's second book, Spark Joy. The "master class" follow up to her first book on tidying. 

The first book helps readers get rid of clutter, this book aims to help organize the remains. I think I have more clutter to get rid of first. It's not as joyous around here as it could be.

And speaking of clutter, things are still being sorted at work regarding much restructuring. Duties will likely shift a bit in my department once Boss fully moves into his new position, but no one knows when that will be and what precise shifting is to happen.

In the meantime, I've been training a new coworker whom I will call Gomer (he's an ex-Marine). Nice guy, catches on fast. He's confided in me on a couple of things regarding Boss, wondering if it's only happening to him, Gomer. 

"No", I assured him. "He does those things to all of us, and we are all annoyed by them" - mainly Boss's penchant for talking too much about himself and butting into business where he doesn't know the full story. It's embarrassing really. He's fine if he stays in the office doing Boss things, but whenever he comes out to deal with a customer or student, we all brace for the uncomfortable impact. Can't wait for him to move to his new location.

And speaking of annoyances, I was out enjoying a lovely run this morning. I'm thankful to still enjoy running at my age. No complaints from the various joints. But honestly, I've been sucking wind a bit ever since I had covid last June/July. 

Nothing terrible, and maybe "sucking wind" is a bit harsh, but I'm a little off and just don't have the same pace and stamina of pre-covid me. 

I've visited some discussion threads on the topic, and it seems recovery time for sucking wind is all over the place. So... patience.

As long as I can still beat the mayor.