… are you so afraid of?

I just read a book

… feeling are you feeling, bro?

I went back to some punk rock music I haven’t listened to in a long while. I put it on while washing dishes and while doing some relatively mindless work.

… comes after the show?

Duh. The Afterparty.

… books should you read?

Moving away from your childhood home usually hurts, and so does coming back. Returning makes old aches ache again, and creates new one as being physically close points out the distance that grows between people as we age and change. Daryl Gregory’s fiction emphasizes that, and demonstrates that all this shit is extra intense if you’re possessed by a demon, or if you’re a zombie, or if your home town was the site of an outbreak of a strange illness that rewrote the genetic code and mutated the bodies of most of the population.

… are those things?

Quiet, I think I heard something.

… did you hear me say?

I read something about online dictation software that turns speech directly into text. I thought I’d try it. Below is what the computer thought it heard me say. I think this is funny and also kinda neat. It’s a jumble and not something I’d use to record my thoughts word for word. Still, for about five minutes work – three-ish talking plus a bit of set-up time – this isn’t too bad. Certainly the amusement is worth it, anyway.

How to block a shin Russell post quickly I will try it would bill before the movie good for me I don’t I don’t know if we’ll be mad try to talk for maybe 5 minutes to work out why don’t know if dictation work is because I’m off in working places where to run to the quiet place Edwardsville Illinois coffee shops but I am I talking to his much is a writer different comfort with speaking out loud discomfort in the kitchen myself basically but I thought I would try and see what I can’t talk about why dictation software sounds good to me based on my princes writing and doing writing Self getting stuck getting started dictation might be good to get someone to stop quickly right to place where to get bound up I need a break from me to move around physically dictation work phone to call myself excuses to call myself does the voice messages messages converted into a trait I need to do is get up and move around when I need to do I need to be physically make a change from sitting to standing moving need to make a change doing my directions to ship from typing to speaking the office one nation of non walks me bound up I write my way I’m not going to be able to carry my mobile device try price young again give me more coffee the trial indication of time for a woman to get stuff like to because I’ve been speaking into this is doing reverse outline so I will write mn sunrise sunrise give a talk out loud using my bullet point notes help me identify a water balloon chronological deep sea writing Darren argumentative caps according talks with fruit for 3 minutes 30 seconds

… are we trying to forget?

I wish I could remember.

… have I read recently?

Sometimes I stop liking books, or at least I think I do. Usually what this really means is there’s too much dumb life stuff going on, but that means I usually forget the real problem and think it’s just that I don’t like books. As I start to come out of that, I often still have a chip on my shoulder about books, until the next time I read one I enjoyed. (And sometimes when this happens I’ll re-read If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler.)

The most recent books I remember enjoying:
The Lovecraft Middleschool series.
Irvine Welsh’s Skagboys.
Lemony Snicket’s All The Wrong Questions series.
Catherynne Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

Lovecraft Middleschool is fun. I enjoyed reading Lovecraft when I was younger, and I hated middleschool, so it’s a good combo. There’s no fireworks at the level of the prose, but the stories move forward and the sense of creepy scariness is just right.

Skagboys is the prequel to Trainspotting. I’ve read almost all of Welsh’s books. Trainspotting and Skagboys are the best, and of the two I’m not sure which is better. The book is powerful, empathetic, and very sad. I love that it opens with the Battle of Orgreaves during the miners strike, something I’ve only just learned anything about. The book has a good arc too in terms of how it portrays the heroin use as addiction becomes more and more the center of the characters’ lives. The early bits make it seem fun, or at least make it make sense to someone who isn’t a heroin user, and that makes the hellish later bits more compelling and the characters easier to empathize with.

Last night I finished the second book in All The Wrong Questions. I spent most of the first book comparing it to the Series of Unfortunate Events, which I liked a great deal, and being annoyed at the ways that this series is just different. This second book I took on its own terms and really enjoyed it. I like the quirkiness, but it’s the sense of mystery and bleakness that is most apparent, and that’s highly compelling. The main characters are way less cartoonish and much more human. The mystery is interesting too.

Yesterday I also read about half of The Girl who Circumnavigated… I had started it before, and told my daughter about it. She got really into the idea, so we read some of it earlier in the day, and some more at bedtime. It’s a fun book with a strong female lead, and I like how it’s a mix of silly, magical, and eerie. I also have warm feelings because of all the cuddling I got from my kid while we read it.

… is the deal with Sunday night?

I’m in a fight with Sunday night.

me and rick

“Rick? Hello?”
“Hey! The big gringo!”