The Cracked Mug v 2.0

[erikavonkaiser]

Weekend things! They have happened!

I took an extra day so I could go to Milwaukee overnight; I attended a birthday party with Sophie, which was nice. It was a bunch of awkward queers doing awkward queer things, including watching a Brad-certified Bad Movie (tm). We watched Yes, Madam, an 80s Hong Kong action movie starring a very young Michelle Yeoh. It was awful, in a fun-to-watch-with-people way. Also, hilariously, we had a pretty full spectrum of pronouns and identities and literally everyone was like damn, Michelle Yeoh She had an 80s mullet and collars popped so high they looked starched, A++

Aside from that Sophie and I hung out a bit and watched Babylon 5. I am enjoying Babylon 5 a lot! I can see influences it's had on other properties, namely StarCraft, and that's been fun to recognize. It was also Sophie's last weekend as an unemployed person! She started her new job today, which seems to have gone well, and I am very excited for her. Today I mostly got some chores/tasks done and I feel fairly rested and ready for work tomorrow; I think after D&D (which is happening right now) I will take care of a few lingering chores and then play Baldur's Gate until bedtime.

I guess that's it for now!

[erikavonkaiser]

also I love playing D&D w/ the homies but we have two players who are very cautious and methodical and me and the other action/high energy player are regularly chomping at the bit to go go go gog ocgh ;sih;odfh;odfhgngf let's gooooooooooooooooo

[erikavonkaiser]

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[erikavonkaiser]

bruh I'm gettin' too old for Goodreads

I was looking up some lists because I'd really love to find fantasy and/or medieval fantasy that's in the sweet spot between YA Fantasy (ew, teenagers) and Decades-Old Dudebro Fantasy (I am not reading the Wheel of Time, or whatever). Here's from an official blurb for a book I was considering:

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I had to Google "HEA" because ???? and it's apparently shorthand for "happily ever after." So there goes the tension, I guess? Also, "steamy scenes, adults only" makes me roll my eyes a little bit and reminds me of when my grandmother accidentally bought a box of Harlequin Blaze novels from the library sale. She was expecting the standard Harlequin romance novel experience where there's a bit of tasteful bodice-ripping, at most, and then a fade to black, but the Blaze books were (to my understanding) pretty straightforward erotica. She had me return the box citing, and I quote, the books were "too spicy."

Anyways, to be fair I think those shorthands are more for people who read romance regularly and are looking for a specific fix, but as an outsider who is browsing for medieval fantasy that maybe has some queer romance, it's a bit off-putting. I'm just not used to a fanfic-style tags system being used outside of fanfic spaces??? I don't guess it's a bad thing, but it does make me feel a bit old and crotchety.

[erikavonkaiser]

I think some of my discomfort is it feels awkward (to me) for a writer to describe their own work as having a "satisfying happily-ever-after"

While acknowledging the Goodreads blurb is likely not the writer's specific handiwork, it is an official way the book is presented so it does end up feeling that way, and I think it's triggering the same thing I used to get in BSFF when people would fall over themselves pitching their own episode as a tear-jerker or "it will make you Feel Things" like bro you're not the boss of my brain how about you feel THESE HANDS

[erikavonkaiser]

I'm proud of the opening to this chapter

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[erikavonkaiser]

This made me feel like I was having a stroke

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[Fetian]

guhtofiggle

[erikavonkaiser]

guhtofiggle

how DARE you bite your thumb at me, sir

[erikavonkaiser]

My shoulder! is! in agony!

This is sometimes a thing that happens when your meat gundam is wretched in the ways mine is. Due mostly to the military, I have no ligament in my right shoulder so it is held together with thoughts and prayers. Sometimes those fail, especially if I have overexerted in specific ways, and I spend an entire day with the sensation of my shoulder constantly slipping in-and-out of socket. That's what is happening today and it's pretty bad, although I'm just gonna pop pain pills and go to work and hope for the best because I don't want to burn an entire sick day on it. If I had more sick days, I absolutely would, because who wants to spend eight hours flipping over bodies when you're in pain but, eh!

Aside from that I was unexpectedly productive yesterday and removed my window A/C unit (which may be what triggered my shoulder pain, woops) as well as got some chores done. Right now I'm double-checking all my bills are paid for next month (including my dumb student loan because [breaks off into incomprehensible eldritch cursing about the Supreme Court]) and then I should probably write or draw. I've been having the struggle lately where I want to draw, but then when I get everything pulled up I feel like I can't or I'm too bad at it. I know it's just something to push through, but it's a bit exhausting.

Anyway, lemme go figure out a thing to do before I have to get dressed for work.