Blood on Snow
Book Notes kitt decided around 20:55 on 22 November 2020 to publish this:
This is book one of the Blood on Snow series.
So, I rather liken this book to The Cleaner in the sense that the main character is a killer, and we are, somehow, I do not know how, we are supposed to feel sorry for the guy when things don't work out well. I am not a fan. I rather like Nesbø's Harry Hole series, so I thought I'd give this one a try.
Ehhhhhh...
We have Olav Johansen, who is a fixer. He fixes the problems of, read: murders people for, the local top pimp and heroin kingpin, who is in a turf war with another heroin kingpin, I mean crime boss.
The crime boss Daniel Hoffmann contracts Olav to kill his wife, Corina, whom Hoffmann suspects of adultery. Turns out, Corina's lover does exist, and is more than a bit of an asshole. So, Olav kills the lover instead.
Apparently, fixers aren't supposed to think. Instead, they are supposed to just follow through on orders.
What makes the tale interesting is that the narrator, Olav, is actually thoroughly delusional. The story we read might be the his story, but might not be, we don't know. That not knowing is what makes this book more interesting than seen at first view.
That said, while I like the writing, I'm not a fan of the premise.
If you're a fan of Nesbø, sure, read the book. If not, eh, skip.
The way Maria was in love with her junkie boyfriend. Some women don’t know what’s best for them, they just leak love without demanding anything in return. It’s almost as if the very lack of any reciprocation just makes them worse. I suppose they’re hoping they’ll be rewarded one day, poor things. Hopeful, hopeless infatuation. Someone ought to tell them that isn’t how the world works.
Page: 43
“What do you want to do, Olav?”
I got up from the kitchen chair. “See if I can find you a blanket.”
“I mean, what are we going to do?”
She was okay. You know someone’s okay if they can ignore things they can’t do anything about and move on. Wish I was like that.
Page: 58
“You haven’t asked,” she said in the darkness.
“No,” I said.
“Why not?”
“I suppose I’m just not a very inquisitive person.”
“But you must be wondering. Father and son…”
“I assumed you’d tell me whatever you felt like telling me when you felt like it.”
The bed creaked as Corina turned towards me. “What if I never said anything?”
“Then I’d never find out.”
Page: 126
I was walking across the frozen path with short, quick steps, my knees slightly bent. That’s something you learn as a child in Norway.
Page: 167
And Canada.
She helped me off with it, then ran her fingers over the bruises left by the Dane’s bullets. Loving. Fascinated. Kissed them. And as I lay in bed and felt the shakes come, and she wrapped the duvet around me, I felt just like before when I lay in Mum’s bed. It almost didn’t hurt any more. And it felt as if I could escape it all, but it wasn’t up to me; I was a boat on a river, and the river was in charge. My fate, my destination was already determined. Which just left the journey, the time it took and the things you saw and experienced along the way. Life seems simple when you’re sufficiently ill.
Page: 178
Half-Resurrection Blues
Book Notes Posted by kitt at 21:14 on 21 November 2020
This is the first book of the "A Bone Street Rumba" series. I picked up the book after a second recommendation for it, one from Claire and one from the XOXO slack. One of the strong recommendations from both was, "listen to this book." The book is read by the author, whose voice caresses the listener as it takes the listener on a wild ride.
So, I listened to this book more than I read it. The audio version recommendation? Totally worth it.
In this book, we are introduced to Carlos Delacruz, an in-betweener who is half-alive, half-dead. He worked as an agent for the New York Council of the Dead, a vague power group who directs its people to reap souls to keep the dead in the underworld, and the living out of the underworld. We learn about Carlos as he vaguely recalls things. He doesn't recall his life before his resurrection. He follows the rules of the Council. He leads the dead back to the underworld, or reaps their soul for the second death or some such.
At the beginning of the tale, Carlos meets up with another inbetweener, wait what, there are others? and kills him, per the order of the Council. Turns out, on his dying breath, the guy Carlos kills asks Carlos to watch over his sister, Sasha. Another wait what? She is also an inbetweener. And apparently very very hot. Of course they hook up. But what is this pull and what are all these ngks? Well, the ngks are tiny, exercise bike riding spirits with a hive mind contracted to kill an old spirit in order to open the entrance between the Underworld and the real world. They're kinda mean, too.
So, Carlos uncovers his past, Sasha's past, what the ngks are, who is orchestrating the opening of the Underworld, and just how meh the Council is. The book is a fun read, worth reading / listening to.
"At first? Chaos. The hungry dead will pour through the gate, scatter out into the world in their vast multitudes. The living will wander in. There is always a painful period of absolute crisis at the pinnacle of any great change.”
Page: 257
Thoughts on a California Curfew
Blog Posted by kitt at 23:17 on 19 November 2020California went into curfew tonight. All non-essential businesses must be closed between 10pm and 5am for purple (the worst) rated counties (most of us) for the next month.
On the news, we hear people interviewed saying, "This is stupid. What the virus is going to be more active from 10pm until morning?"
Which shows just how much our country lacks any type of critical thinking skills and any form of creativity. It also shows just how disrespectful people are, which is one of the many reasons were are in this mess in the first place.
Heaven forbid people could actually speculate on what is actually happening. Heaven forbid people would actually try to understand the reasoning for a measure, or understand why the curfew would be considered a helpful measure.
Allow me to, once again, think for the people who choose not to think, and speculate for just 3 minutes. I set my timer for three minutes and...
1. Curfew means that traditionally late night venues will need to be closed. Said late night venues include bars and strip joints, both places where people drink alcohol. Drinking means no mask, which means higher transmission rates. Alcohol also means lowered inhibitions which means people are more likely to engage in risky behaviors leading to the spread of the virus. Curfew reduces these vectors.
2. Curfew forces people back into their homes, if they have one, early. This means that people will leave whatever (stupid, idiotic) larger group they may be in and in a place where they can be sheltering. Curfew breaks apart larger group that may happen in the evening.
Wow, typing this up, and I'm only at one minute and forty five seconds so far.
3. Curfew means that law enforcement and health workers have a chance at a break, a moment to breathe, before needing to care for the idiots who are not sheltering during the day. Wouldn't that be nice?
4. Curfew is an experiment to see if we can reduce transmission rates by altering this part of people's behavior.
Meh. Rather than complaining about the rule, maybe the irresponsible person being interviewed could, you know, show some curiosity and find out WHY the rule went into effect.
Oh, I just found out the interviewed person I quoted above is a Republican. OF FUCKING COURSE. Republicans are the group of irresponsible people who like to believe you can wish away an organism that is LITERALLY KILLING US. Explains his response: he wants to fight reason, fight science, manipulate people to keep power.
Good lord. I hope he catches Covid-19, has it very bad, and survives.
What am I eating that I'm going to regret?
Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 18:39 on 13 October 2020I have a number of food items that I often wonder about. Like, are these foods that I'm eating to improve my health going to be items that in a couple hundred years people are going to think, "What the hell were they thinking, eating that thing? How stupid they were!"
I mean, take Lewis and Clark. They regularly consumed mercury-laden pills to help with constipation. While, sure, they managed to purge their digestive system quickly, they also poisoned themselves in the process. I use magnesium for this process, am I slowly poisoning myself?
Or the protein supplements I consume? I suck at consuming protein, hence the supplement. Am I slowly poisoning myself with mercury in the marine-sourced supplement? Or destroying my kidneys with a protein overdose?
I don't know.
I wonder frequently.
Well, That Was a Waste
Blog Instead of being asleep at 22:11 on 12 October 2020, kitt created this:Today was not so great.
I took Chase to the expensive vet today for them to figure out what is wrong with him such that he isn't eating. Yesterday wasn't good, and today didn't appear to be much better, but we were unsure what the vet was going to do, so we didn't encourage any food this morning.
His drop-off appointment was "around" 10am. When arrived "around" 10am, which is to say, I arrived at 10:10am, I was told that the wait was an hour to drop off Chase. I was honestly unsurprised, given cars were double parking in the lot as I arrived, from which I inferred I'd be waiting for a while.
I wasn't expecting as long as I waited, and my original day plans were pretty much shot, but doggo, and what's good, what's bad, who knows...
Eventually Chase fell asleep, on my lap no less.
One can see how exhausted he is to have fallen asleep while waiting for the vet.
I managed to make my work meeting, which was okay, but not enough to distract for the rest of the day. With the ongoing knee injuries and honestly low motivation, I managed to stand during the day, along with some shoulder exercises, and not much else for movement or productivity (well, not exactly - managed to hit flow state with a couple bugs and a new feature, so there's that).
Unsure how much not-worrying-about-things-I-cannot-control one can be expected to do in a day in this year of JFC just be better already. My house didn't burn down today at least.
The vet called around 6pm. They found nothing. They ruled out cardiac issues. They ruled out cancer returning as far as they could see. They didn't tell us anything we didn't already know or believe, and sent us home with the dog, antibiotics (tried that), anti-nausea meds (tried that), and appetite stimulants (tried that). None of this helped.
Chase avoids cold foods.
Chase approaches food as if he is interested in eating it, but turns away from the food without eating it.
Chase likes soft, bland food.
I'm still convinced this is sore teeth or a stupid foxtail stuck in his throat, and not all the things all the vets keep testing him for.
What a waste of time and money today was. Lots of time, lots of money, and in the end, we are still tasked with tormenting the dog by shoving pills down his throat to force him to be hungry.