Bubble Water

Right now I’m reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I enjoy the author’s irreverence and like The Martian it’s a pretty fun, compelling read.

Very true and I should at least appreciate the fact it made a bunch of people excited about reading :)

I love this take- I think you’re onto something

I wouldn’t say I disliked it but Harry Potter just seemed like an ordinary story with nothing special about it in terms of writing or plot to me. Made me wonder if I was missing something since it seems to have had a huge an impact on popular culture.

I just finished Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail and it was a pretty interesting read. There is a local mycologist who disappeared on a hike around here a few years ago and I still wonder what happened to her and if they’ll ever find her.

Back when I was on Twitter I used to follow a bunch of writers and Yellowface was so entertaining in its portrayal of that domain. Idk if you have heard about the recent Cait Corran scandal but it had me thinking about that book again.

I watch new eps of Castaway Diva and season two of The Gilded Age every week. Castaway Diva is a super soap operaish kdrama and sometimes the plot devices are so unbelievable I roll ny eyes but the characters are cute. The Gilded Age has beautiful sets and costumes and the plot is okay but the acting is terrible (with a few exceptions).

I’ve also been churning thru The Expanse, which was recommended by someone on Beehaw. it’s pretty good, kind of hard to connect with the characters but interesting plot.

yep they’re all in bed together and so shady! have you been by the “dog park”? what a joke. also did you hear the city manager is claiming he didn’t see the email warning them they need to use the 1 mil in homeless funding or lose it? he had responded to it the same day. they have no intention of actually helping the unhoused, clearly.

oh ya I voted for Teresa. anyway, cool to see a neighbor on here!

I think we live in the same city, one that recently awarded 40k a nonprofit who in turn is giving it to a shady org to sweep the camps. This is the first local election where I feel super strongly about the candidates, mostly because of the cartoonish hijinks going on.

Where the Crawdads Sing. The main mystery was predictable, the writing was nothing special and neither were the characters. After I read it I was kinda stumped why I had been seeing it everywhere.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber and The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

It’s supposed to be kind of over the top as an allegorical novel about the nature of humankind and society. Remember it was written after the atrocities of WWII so these things must have laid heavy on the author’s mind. I read it a long time ago though, so not sure what I’d think today reading it. I do remember I identified with Piggy a bit.

yep elementary school in the 90’s. we rang a little bell when we got to the top. it was fun!

I have similar trouble with taking mean interactions personally. As a result, I really limit my commenting and mostly read stuff. Sometimes when I do comment I won’t read the responses for a while. For some reason putting some time between me and the conversation makes it less scary to read mean stuff. And I don’t respond to mean comments, even if they’re misrepresenting what I said.

Anyway what that person said to you was seriously messed up. I hope it doesn’t stick with you for too long.

this is why diversity initiatives are important. a team of all white dudes is gonna have some blind spots

I was going to say snake too. I’d feel guilty though because I love snakes.

Matsutake/pine mushroom

I have a mastodon I’m active in (on?) and a kbin that I only look at and never comment because it feels a lil like reddit to me. I’ve looked at calkey/misskey and while the UI looks nice I don’t see a server I’d feel comfortable in that has more than a handful of users.

I have a Samsung as well. It’s quite old and in order to print I have to:

1. press print
2. wait for it to try and fail
3. turn it off and then on
4. press print again
5. push the paper in right as it’s trying to grab (otherwise it won’t grab any).

If I don’t follow all these steps it won’t print. I bought a 2 pack of toner, though, so I am not allowed to get a new one until I use it all, which will take forever since I rarely print because it’s such a pain.