I don't know you
Blog Instead of being asleep at 23:59 on 4 November 2016, kitt created this:
After a late flight, the last one out to Portland, I taxied over to B's place and let myself into the building with my key. I thought little of my actions of entering the building except the delight of having my own key to his place. His building has a badge/buzzer system at all the doors, so I waived my little fob over the sensor, waited for the doors to buzz, opened one, and went in.
After I entered the door, I do what I always do with buildings with locked doors, I turned around and pulled the door shut behind me.
As I pulled the door shut, a slender, blonde woman approached from behind the closing door and reached for the door. I unintentionally pulled the door just fast enough that it remained out of her grip. When the door clicked shut, I started to turn, and heard her said, "Well, okay then." I finished my turn, and started walking away.
Turns out, the woman had her own fob to the building and was either a resident or a well-known guest like me. She used her fob, opened the door on her own, came through the door, and yelled out to me down the hall, "Thanks a lot!" in a most sarcastic tone.
I yelled back, "I don't know you!"
This is what gets me about this situation: this woman should have had both zero expectation that I would hold the door open, and gratitude that I didn't, wouldn't, hold a door open for strangers. There have been a number of thefts in the building, presumably from non-residents but who knows, and a notice sent out not to allow tailgaters into the building. Why be an ass when I'm helping protect the woman's own property?
I was flustered enough that I talked to B about what I had done, and he was completely supportive. "You did the right thing!"
Yay for brother support and hugs!
Grave Peril
Book Notes Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 21:03 on 2 November 2016
I remember when I first read this book being very surprised at the abrupt introduction of Michael Carpenter into the Dresden Files series. He shows up on the first page of this book, yet is already Harry's best friend. He's also a Knight of the Cross, having been one for the previous twenty years. The man had killed a dragon and knows a lot of lore that Harry doesn't know.
There are a number of other series characters introduced, what with Thomas showing up, Charity having incredibly stilted speaking patterns, and Lea revealing more of Harry's past.
I recall thinking while reading, that the book felt choppy. The plot rather goes along nominally linearly, but references a lot of events that had happened a couple months before. It also has a few jumps from location to location, and starts a lot of unfinished threads.
This is, however, the first book in the Dresden series where Butcher catches his stride. Harry is Harry, and starting to come into his own. The world is fleshed out a bit more, with the lore starting to solidify. If I could direct an author's hand (which I can't, and wouldn't even with the chance), I'd rework the first two books to be more like this one and later books: being Dresden and less Dresden-becoming.
That said, yep, Harry, love the series. Recommended.
The Terracotta Bride
Book Notes Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 19:23 on 31 October 2016
I don't recall where I picked up this book. Likely from Book Riot, since it isn't a Mom-book (I know, shock). It is a short and beautiful in a sad way.
The book blurb says:
A tale of first love, bad theology and robot reincarnation in the Chinese afterlife.
In the tenth court of hell, spirits wealthy enough to bribe the bureaucrats of the underworld can avoid both the torments of hell and the irreversible change of reincarnation. It's a comfortable undeath … even for Siew Tsin. She didn't choose to be married to the richest man in hell, but she's reconciled. Until her husband brings home a new bride.
Yonghua is an artificial woman crafted from terracotta. What she is may change hell for good. Who she is will transform Siew Tsin. And as they grow closer, the mystery of Yonghua's creation will draw Siew Tsin into a conspiracy where the stakes are eternal life – or a very final death.
Which is to say, it's the story of a died-too-young girl who doesn't have enough life experience to understand intrigue, but does have enough life experience to love. The good parts of the story are the parts not explicitly described, the parts where the reader understands through actions and moments.
It's a quick read, the book being 51 pages long and all. I enjoyed it.
Escape Clause
Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 20:47 on 30 October 2016, kitt created this:
Okay, book nine in the Virgil Flowers series. This one did not actually have beagles in it. It did, however have rare tigers in it. Does that count?
The two sentence summary is "Two rare Amur tigers are catnapped, and f---in' Flowers is assigned to the case. In true Virgil Flowers fashion, other things happen, though the case is resolved in a crazy mess." I crack me up.
Once again, the plot is shallow. In this one, however, Flowers seems more human: he doesn't have everything figured out in the first 43% of the book (unlike in the previous book). He catches a number of lucky breaks to move forward in the case, otherwise he's bored (though, Sandford doesn't do a great job at expressing the weight of boredom and waiting, summarizing them in a sentence here and there as "He was bored"). The bad guy is just plain weird. I have to admit not understanding said bad guy's mental state, but nothing's new about that.
The banter wasn't as quick in the book as in previous books. I laughed out loud only once in the book. And there were a lot of references to Prey books, which, hey, might sell more books for Sandford or develop the Flowers universe more. Maybe. In reality, it made me feel I was reading a filler book instead of its own stand-alone book.
Not one of Sandford's best Flowers books, it's also not bad enough to say this is book one of the two bad in a row that will cause me to stop reading a series. If you're reading the Flowers books, continue.
Morning Furnace
Blog Instead of being asleep at 18:15 on 26 October 2016, kitt created this:
It is a well-known, documented human physiological phenomenon that a person's body temperature will lower during sleep and rise before waking. Whether the body temperature rise is considered a trigger to wake or the result of another process is unclear.
It is a significantly-less well-known that my normal daytime body temperature isn't the usual 98.6°, but rather, is the confusing 96.8° Every once in a while (say, like, once a month, you make the connection), my normal temperature rises to 97.1°, but it generally hovers below 97°. Anyone who has touched my hands or other extremities can attest to this generally always cold(er than normal) temperature.
Upon waking, however, tying both these facts together, is the newly documented fact that as I wake, my body temperature spikes. It usually goes over 100° and rarely goes to less than 99 and something degrees as I wake up. 99+° is pretty "pfft" in the grand scheme of body temperatures, until you recognize it is a 3+° bump. Not bad, not bad.
Normally, I am amused by the spike. I AM THE FURNACE in the morning. I've been like this all my life, so I consider it normal. The furnace turning on signals to me it is time to leave the bed in the morning.
I'm not actually likely to leave the bed, but I have the signal.
I want to say that the furnace triggering doesn't bother me, and it usually doesn't bother me.
It does, however, bug the crap out of me (no, not literally) when it triggers at 2:51 in the morning. No, jet-lagged body, it is NOT time to get up, it is NOT time to get out of bed, it is NOT time to start the day.
Which is all really amusing, except it really is the signal to wake up and get up. I have been struggling to fall back asleep these last four nights after waking at two something in the morning. At first, it was amusing, and I would read. Now it is becoming frustrating. When my bedtime is now 8:30pm so that I can go to sleep then wake at two something, read until five something, then sleep again until nine or ten in the morning, and this goes on for days, I fear it turning into a permanent sleep pattern. Sure, I'm reading a LOT these nights, which is great, but having only 12 hours of waking time to do life activities makes for a difficult set of days.