photo saturday: monochromia

Well, The Amazing Seraphina had opinions over the course of about a week. Also, she was one of those DnD Character Colouring Book characters that wouldn't have come together without Photoshop.

Initially she was in black and green, with green eyes, with the pseudodragon on her wrist and the cane held higher in her hand with the standard sphere on the top. And then I started looking at the list of Great Old Ones by renowned white supremacist H. P. Lovecraft for inspiration for a patron... although, honestly, I think the more unknowable an unknowable eldritch horror is, the better... 

But it resulted in a black and white aesthetic with a can with an "octopus" topper and a Lovecraft quote in runes... which is how she encountered her Great Old One and how she taps into it's/her powers.

Normally I would have ended up with a white pseudodragon, I couldn't refind the same pose, or it didn't come out as strong as this little buddy. If she was a Warlock under the playtest rules, the "Aberration (knot of tentacles)" familiar from an old playtest would have been good... or the slaad tadpole...but, honestly, I just want to, as I've said about 100 times already, have a pseudodragon familiar at some point.

I'm kind of into the idea that it is normally a pseudodragon and then at certain points, it just transforms into a tiny eldritch abomination. Tiny eyes all over it's body or a whole body split or too many tentacles. Something weird and messed up. Or even going down a Flerken from the Marvel Universe route... although that kind of comes under a "too many tentacles" heading. And having just looked up when the Flerken inside the cat looks like... yeah, that'd work.

Also, did I name the familiar in order to be able to have a "Hey Presto" joke every time she summons it or asks it to do something... yes, yes I did. And of course, it appears from and disappears into it's pocket dimension by going into the hat. Because of course it does.

Anyway...

This week has been the poster child for What The Fuck Is Weather. Over 40C, high humidity, heavy rain, chilly evening... not all at once you understand, but, mostly individually, over the course of the week. Blah.

Humidity is the one that does my head in. I just can't.

The Hexagon Cardigan Project continues... I have done 48 rows (rounds?) across both sides of the cardigan... and would have done one more earlier today had I not gotten to the start of the round only to discover that, like an idiot, I forgot to do the corner properly, so had to frog (undo) the entire round. So, fuck my drag I guess. I mean, it kept my hands occupied while watching a movie, so it's not the worst thing in the world to have to do it over. And at least I noticed it before I started a second row.

With that hour and a half long screw up, I'm at a little over 34.5 hours for the cardigan thus far.

And as proud as I am of the Granny Square Blanket... the literally chasm between that project and this one is enough to drop small countries into. It's amazing what using a slightly smaller hook than you need can do vs picking a hook because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Granted if I'd done the blanket with a smaller hook it would have been a much smaller blanket. Or I would have needed to make a lot more squares. Or, you know, both.

Friday Night DnD was cancelled due to the Friday public holiday... and Thursday Night DnD... would have been better had it been cancelled.

Anyway...

Something something supermarket, something something unpacking... and then we watched Mrs Harris Goes To Paris. Because it was a movie I saw the poster for ages ago, and then I discovered it was based on a book, and read said book... and then borrowed the movie from the library.

A mini review... it adds things that weren't in the book that kinda mess with the vibes of the original story, although I like the ending of the movie more than the book. But it is very sweet... not as good as Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (also, sometimes I look back on my early movie reviews and cringe), but I'd put them in roughly the same category.

photo saturday: fan-atic

I did mention when the fan item came up during the Hero Forge Advent Calendar that I needed to redo/had redone my trashfire cleric, Whipmaster Demyan, formerly Paingiver Demyan, in line with what he always should have looked like...

And if I'd been thinking about it clearly back when I was playing him, I would have reflavoured his fan as his shield all the way back then... because it never completely made sense that he was walking around carrying a shield. And I always had a fan on hand when playing him, because it just became his aesthetic after I brought a fan to a game when the aircon in the gaming shop was questionable that summer.

Demyan is also one of the models that are first in line to get a makeover when major new content happens. He was one of the first to get coloured by me, then one of the first to get official Hero Forge colouring, he was one of the first to get a new face... plus he's been updated when the dropped new whips and the breastplates. The downside is that to actually get him to look the way I want him to, there's a non-zero amount of Photoshop involved to take the high collar from one set of armour, the sleeves from a different shirt and the breastplate and then get him where he needs to be.

Although if he ever went up to his final position in the church, then I'd have to do a version in white... which, now that I've mentioned it again, might have to happen. If only for me. I've had different versions in my head of what that final outfit would be... the same black but with white accents, etc... but I kinda wanna do a full white version. Hmmm... yeah, that doesn't quite work... let's shove that on the back burner.

Anyway...

This week has been... fucking weird.

My stove did a weird on Monday night... and I've been avoiding both the stove and also reporting it to the land agent all week... I'm mostly mentioning it here to hold myself accountable... must do that over the weekend.

Also, do you know how sometimes you have those friends who are the literal definition of Golden Retriever? And sometimes they give themselves a ball... but then they're torn between the ball they have and the ball they could have and they just stand there with the ball in their mouth looking at the ball they could have and whining. Yeah, that... for basically the whole week. I mean, I love this idiot very much... but also, they need a literal slap sometimes.

Wednesday I went to buy more printer ink. Because also, fuck printer manufacturers and the cost of printer ink. So I was going to get the off-brand, eco printer ink, which is half the price of the on-brand ink. But when I got to Officeworks they didn't have any on the shelves... because it may or may not be online only now... because fuck my life I guess. And they didn't even have the other, non-eco off-brand ink... and I wasn't about to pay $128 for printer ink.

So I bought a $40 printer.

And it would LITERALLY be cheaper to go and buy a new printer every time I run out of ink rather than buy new ink. The FUCK is wrong with the world?

Given that I repeatedly looked at printers when I first moved into this place and couldn't come to a decision, it's amazing all it took was literally a minor inconvenience in order to make me buy a new printer.

And it's all fancy and prints over the Wi-fi and stuff. Which I know has been a thing for a hot minute, but I bought my old printer in 2009... so... it's been a minute. Granted, I think it spent several years just sitting under the bed and only being used once a year... but it's had more work to do in recent years. But at least now I don't have to drag the laptop across the room in order to print.

So there was minor ARGH while I set it up, just because it's always that way until things actually work... but it was no fuss no muss.

Thursday, after a couple of failed attempts, I started my Hexagon Cardigan project. I also finally got around to stitching together my second attempt at my little voodoo doll and he's adorable. He's also doing actual duty as a pincushion for my crochet needle.

But the cardigan is going to be both very soft and quite light I think. Basically it's going to be about on par with some of my lightweight hoodies I think. And that's fine, but it's not going to replace my thicker Winter old man cardigan like I thought it might.

Thursday Night DnD was... a lot of nothing. And very much one of those times when I really wish we played with less people than we do. Because it's difficult to herd cats. And I wasn't even the one doing the herding.

Most of the work I've done so far on the cardigan happened on Friday... because Friday Night DnD was a no-go due to visiting visitors.

Anyway...

Today was basically just the supermarket. Because the weather has been all over the place and today took a turn for the warm.

photo saturday: sea fae

This is what happens when you make a character sketch and your brain says "well, yeah, that's an idea certainly... but you'd never play THAT version... how about we make a version you WOULD play?"...

And then, when you've made that version you think... "yes, but what if also sea themed?"... and then when that versions done, somebody drops a blank pose on Reddit and you think "well... now I just need to redo the whole thing again from scratch and lean into the vibes more"...

Of course then you fuck around with textures and tattoos and Photoshop edits... and by the time you're finished, you really, really want to play this character. But you also know that the likelihood that that feeling will last long enough to actually make it to a new campaign is... slim.

So, say hello to Marinus... he's currently the obsession, until the next one comes along.

Welcome to DnD Character Colouring Book... that's basically what happens here.

Anyway.

The first half of the week is something of a blur... given that the latter half of the week was more weighted with activities.

Oh, I did make some chutney... only a small batch, because I didn't have a ton of ingredients, but needed to use up some peaches and plums that were starting to go soft. Which is always my preferred way of using them up.

And for once, because it was such a small batch, I'm keeping the majority of it for me.

Our first Thursday DnD game of the year actually happened. And we definitely entered the Third Act. Well, we will be next week. Granted, I almost derailed us into the Third Act early, because it made more sense to me to go straight there rather than doing what seemed like busywork.

But it was good to be back, and to be getting on with things.

Friday was Chiro Day...

Which also meant that it was also Return The Christmas Presents That Were Slightly Borked. Which were both books. Because Saga had some weird pink printer ink marks on the first few pages, and The 99% Invisible City had an issue with the binding and was basically going to pull itself apart over time.

But it was no muss, no fuss, and I got them changed over.

Friday Night DnD, we kicked a cat's ass... well, that cat was also a murderous, jewel thief druid... so... you know... she had it coming.

Oh, and we found a magic carpet. Well, I found it.

Anyway...

Today was pretty much just shopping. Because, honestly, the weather isn't really conducive to going anywhere and going things.

photo saturday: miss magnolia

The one thing I like about Monks and Barbarians is that you can put them in all sorts of ridiculous outfits. And today's DnD Character Colour Book also makes use of the cropped corset top and boots from the Hero Forge Advent Calendar.

This was one of those "character drops into your head" moments though, based on something I was watching.

I do need to make a fairy character though. And I always like the idea of making small barbarians... plus I need to play another barbarian sometime soon. But I've said that about a lot of things.

And speaking of the 2023 Hero Forge Advent Calendar...

The main reason that I'm including the last two items is that they're such a study in contrasts.

Because the two handed sword is... honestly, the worst modelled item from the whole month. It's lacking in details in all the important areas and it's just kinda ugly.

By comparison, the final day's staff was not a real surprise to anyone since it was pretty clear in the promo silhouette, but it's beautifully modelled.

Will I use either of them? Well, definitely not the sword. Maybe the staff. Although I can more see myself taking the owl motif off the top and turning it into a necklace or something with some Photoshop.

What I will say is that we could have done with less shields, more pants and at least one new hairstyle. But also, it was a whole month of free items, so I'm not complaining too hard.

Anyway...

We covered New Years Eve and Day already...

The rest of the week was something of a non-event. Mostly because the weather took a turn for the hot and humid and I mostly wanted to hibernate. Because I am that rare animal, the Summer Hibernator.

Thursday Night DnD isn't back until next week.

Friday Night DnD was called off on account of a mild case of heat exhaustion and an additional case of "not feeling quite right"... which was honestly fine, because I wasn't necessarily feeling that up for it myself.

I did finally restart one of the crochet projects I messed up before Christmas. Still not perfect, but considerable better. I still have trouble with things that involve counting stitches... but I'm getting there.

Anyway...

Today was... hot, wet, humid... in that order.

We did the supermarket thing, and might have done something else, but the weather went from hot and cloudy to full on rain and has now settled into humid. Which is my least favourite flavour.

But it decided to rain right at the point we might have gone out and run an errand, so we didn't bother.

my 2023 in books

At the end of January, I wrote the immortal line in my weekly roundup...

...libraries are very much going to define my 2023...

And that was because I'd read 9 books in a month. I had no fucking idea how accurate that was going to become.

So... because I can... here is the parade of everything I read in 2023, presented in reverse chronological order (mostly, Goodreads occasionally gets confused when you finish more than one thing on the same day).

At the end of 2023, I'd officially read 198 books. Which is more books than I read in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 combined. I'll be honest, it might be the most books I've read in a year since I was a teenager.

Even when I did a montage for the first hundred and then second hundred books I read when I first started adding them to the blog sidebar back in 2006, those still took about 18 months.

But this giant up-tick in books is entirely thanks to the aforementioned Libraries SA and their One Card system where you can borrow books from any library in the state and have them sent to your local library to pick up. In fact, of those 198 books, 177 (89%) were from the library.

Also, yes, beyond just logging them all into my Goodreads through the year (and reading 825% of the 24 books I said I was going to read during the year as part of their yearly Reading Challenge), I also might have made a spreadsheet for some end of the year math. Shush.

Digging into the numbers a little more... just over half of them (52%) were books and just under half (48%) were graphic novels. I also stepped my queer reading up, because a quarter of everything I read this year had gay themes.

My average rating for everything I read was 3.3 out of 5. According to Goodread's star ratings, that puts it somewhere between "Liked it" and "Really Liked It". And that sounds about right given that about 60% of the books I read were one of those two ratings.

It wasn't all smooth sailing though. I "Hate Completed" a few titles, pushing myself to finish things that I mostly wasn't enjoying. But I only abandoned 9 books, for a myriad of reasons, mostly because I just wasn't feeling whatever it was or it wasn't grabbing my attention... but sometimes because it was just abjectly terrible. Throughout the year I developed a "100 page" cut off. If I wasn't enjoying the book by 100 pages, I would (and should) just give up on it.

That didn't always work, especially when someone had recommended a book to me, or, like in October, Fluffy and I did a Halloween Book (well, two books by the same author)... and they both sucked.

I discovered (rediscovered? realised?) throughout the year that, for the most part, I love Urban Fantasy, Fantastical Realism or Low Fantasy much more than High Fantasy. Given that I have friends who love to read giant, foot-crushing High Fantasy tomes and every time they talk about them, my eyes glaze over and I'm just not interested. This shouldn't really have been a revelation, thinking back, even to when I was a kid, I'm not sure I ever was. I love High Fantasy movies. Clearly, these days, I love DnD. But I much prefer something more grounded with fantastical elements. Who knew?

That may also have something to do with the fact that my average page count for the books I read was 244 (from a total of 48258 pages read). Honestly, I can't really be bothered with big long books at the moment (with some exceptions)... and it definitely indicates that I read a lot of graphic novels. But, yeah, over the year, I've kind of decided that I prefer books in the 250-300 page range.

I dipped my toes into some Japanese fiction throughout the year, both regular novels that had been translated, but also some manga for the first time. Like, real manga, that you have to read from right to left and from the back.

I went through a cozy mystery phase, specifically a number of ones that were bakery themed. I'll be honest, a lot of them aren't very good. Or that if the book starts out with cozy baking, it will end with somebody being involved in a car chase or being shot at or otherwise one step away from being murdered. I also got sucked into a number of series (both novels and graphic novels) as the year progressed. More on those shortly.

While the majority of stuff that I read was published after 2000, the oldest thing I read all year was from 1884. And was a science fiction/mathematical fiction book that was half social satire, half dimensional geometry. Very strange, and a little dry, but at least I can say that I've read it.

That was one of the fun things about all the reading I did this year, to be honest. If I saw a book that looked interesting, whether that was online, or in the library or because somebody mentioned it to me, I could just borrow it. That included things that have been on my To Read list for several years, things by authors I already liked, or stuff I'd never heard of before. And then, when I was done, whether it was good, bad or indifferent, back to the library it could go.

I also tend to lean towards fiction over non-fiction. Although two of the non-fiction books I read through the year were about working in bookshops. Make of that what you will.

So, taking a leaf out of my yearly movie round up, let's cover some of the best books I read this year...

Before we get there... a brief list of honourable mentions... Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer, Sins of the Black Flamingo by Andrew Wheeler and Travis Moore, Baking Yesteryear by B. Dylan Hollis, the Locke and Key series by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez, and Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty... interestingly, there are several sci-fi titles there.

These following titles are not really in any particular order than mostly chronologically the order I read them... along with except from my Goodread reviews at the time.

Legends and Lattes
Travis Baldree

I don't know that I've fallen in love with a book like this in... a good long while. Or ploughed through something quite so quickly.

This was a very early read, but one that stuck with me through the year. I recommended it to other people, and even thinking back on it now gives me warm fuzzy feelings.

The Travelling Cat Chronicles
Hiro Arikawa

It's beautiful, heartfelt, well written (which, also in this case, means well translated by Philip Gabriel) and just... delightful.

Another early read, and not my first book translated from Japanese, but possible the first one I've read narrated by a cat.

The House in the Cerulean Sea
T.J. Klune

This book is... exceptional. It made me smile, it made me cry, it made me angry (in a good way, at the people who deserved it), and it just made me very, very happy.

I had something of a rollercoaster ride with Klune this year, reading four of his books, and loving three of them. This was the first, and although it has become a little controversial or problematic since, I still love it very much.

They Both Die at the End
Adam Silvera

This book is... sensational. I wasn't sure about it at the start, I wasn't sure I was going to like either of the main characters, but once they meet, the book finds its wings and soars.

This is how you tell a story. And one where Silvera states the end of the book right on the cover, and it still manages to keep you guessing right until the very end.

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
T. Kingfisher

Is this exactly the kind of book I would have read when I was in my teens? Oh, definitely that. Is it because it takes place in a universe that has a magic system that I desperately want to explore more of? Hell yeah.

Magical baked good. Gingerbread warriors. Sentient dough. Do I need to say anymore?

The Starless Sea
Erin Morgenstern

This book is deep and layered and interwoven and intense. It smells of old books and long closed up spaces... it tastes of honey and lemon and spice.

I adored Morgenstern's previous novel, The Night Circus... I adore this. But differently. And I'm perfectly find with that.

Bloom
Kevin Panetta

Books about people who bake is so my thing right now. And this is a beautiful self contained story with a great art style. Honestly, there's something really lovely about single-colour tonal colouring in graphic novels.

The sole graphic novel on the list. Not because there weren't other good ones (see also the Honorable Mentions list), but this one just did everything right.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built/A Prayer for the Crown-Shy
Becky Chambers

Chambers manages to create a world with a full and rich history in less pages than other books use to say nothing at all. It's a world that I would desperately like to visit, if only for a little while.

And while I want both of the Monk and Robot books to be made into one book so that I can press a copy of it into everyone's hand and say "just... read this... then come find me when you're done", I also get why they're two different books. Because they're telling two completely different, yet equally valid stories... or maybe asking two different questions.

There were only a small handful of books this year that went onto the list of "I'd like my own copy of this eventually". These were two of them. They might also need a re-read.

White Trash Warlock/Trailer Park Trickster/Deadbeat Druid
David R. Slayton

What I didn't expect this book to be was possibly the single best version of the Urban Fantasy/Magic aesthetic I've ever read. Because this book is flat out amazing. The world building and mythology/fantasy is top notch, the writing is excellent, the mystery that runs through this book ended in a way that I absolutely did NOT see coming. Plus, gay male, magic using protagonist. Not a thing you find every day.

I picked this up because the title was too good not to... I then fell in love with Slayton's world.

The Murderbot Series
Martha Wells

This is also another one of those books that manages to create a whole world in very few pages. Sure, it doesn't really flesh out many of the characters other than the titular Murderbot, but I also don't think it needs to, given that they are our point of view character.

One of the best sci-fi series I've read. Partially, I think, because it's often less about the sci and more about the people. They're also short and sharply written and I will keep reading them for as long as Wells keeps writing them.

Wolfsong
T.J. Klune

There are a handful of books that I count as being Important To Me. This is very much on that list.

So... this feels like cheating. Because as I said in my review, this book speaks to me in a very, very personal way. Which means that recommending it to other people to read feels... weird. It's like saying "here's a piece of my brain, please read and enjoy". I fully intend to read the rest of that series... but I'm almost afraid to.

2024

Hello 2024!

Also, hello to the International Year of Camelids... which includes camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas and guanacos.

It also led to me discovering the batshit crazy image that graces the top of this post... which, just this morning, I discovered was from an even more batshit crazy commercial for a Norwegian "acupressure" product that... doesn't seem to exist under that name anymore.

Also, there is "no reliable evidence for the effectiveness of acupressure", according to Wikipedia and anybody with any sense. The image is still great though.

So that was my morning. How did you start your 2024?

The thing about traditions... or just a day where you do things because it's that day... is that just traditions... I'm very good with words and thinking and making sense of things this morning... wait, where was I...

Oh, traditions... the thing about them, given that we're talking about ones that only come up once a year, is that they don't tend to change very much from year to year.

My New Years Eve is very that. The only major thing that tends to change is what day it's happening on, which changes some of the minor details.

Yesterday was very much both an average Sunday and also an average New Years Eve.

I did my usual porridge and coffee breakfast, I had pizza for a late lunch/early dinner. I'd already taken down my Christmas decorations (such as they were) on Saturday night, I did some cleaning up, I vacuumed the floors, mostly because they needed it anyway and less specifically because it was New Years.

I changed my bedding from the festive green IKEA swirly quilt cover with the red fitted sheet that I make from a combination of two different regular sets of bedding with the exact same pattern of quilt cover, but in all black and white (which are the other halves of the Christmas sets)... and every year the monochrome version is so very restful to the eyes in a way that I don't think about until it changes over. Also, I think that's the most awkward version of that sentence from any of the New Years posts in recent memory. Like I said... I do words good today.

And then Fluffy came over so we could do what is fast becoming our New Years Eve tradition, which is just the New Years Tradition I was already doing, just with another person. Essentially, watch movies until New Year happens.

I did make little tiny pizza scrolls though, which were successful for the low effort it took to make them.

We also have fallen into a pattern where I show Fluffy a vintage movie he hasn't seen, and then we watch either a movie he's seen and I haven't or something new that neither of us have seen.

This year we started off with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, ticking "Marilyn Monroe" off on his Movie Education Bingo Card... and then we did The Mitchells vs The Machines. Which is... decent. It feels a little too... "I've seen this story 9000 times already" and also "This movie is clearly not aimed at me" and also "LOL, wut, random" or whatever the current generation version of that is. But, to be fair, it's less of that as the movie goes along. I don't think I have enough to say about it to make a whole review though.

We had decided to wander down the road a little to see if we could watch the fireworks down one of the side streets, so we killed the little bit of time before midnight with a frankly terrible episode of the David Suchet Poirot series that was very short and full of very bad acting. And I realised, about halfway through, that the story had also been part of the Anime Poirot and Miss Marple series I watched a bunch of last year.

Was the "watch the fireworks" plan successful? I swear that last year, I saw the fireworks very clearly as I was driving home from having dropped Fluffy home... but, I guess... trees grow in a year. So... we saw what can best be described as both diddly and squat. But we did head people yell "Happy New Year" in literal surround sound as people in the houses around us all yelled it at midnight. So that was novel.

And then I drove him home. I think maybe next year, we just go for three full movies.

This morning, being a Monday, started with my morning walk. And now we're here. So, 2024 definitely has some built in chaos energy already, we'll see how things progress.