Happy belated December. I have finally switched to the winter comforter (a couple of weeks ago). The cat approves.
Another major Adulting Event: after three years of faithful service, my final kitchen bulb finally burned out – in fact, the literal day after Lori’s visit – not unlike myself at the bakery. I had to dig the storm lantern out of the closet, and it was lucky the battery was fine. Both bulbs got replaced the next day, and it was……….disorienting. :’D One side of the lights fitzed out several months ago, so to have both replaced at once provided a level of brightness I was not anticipating because to be honest I didn’t think anything of the lights getting 50% dimmer and was completely used to the kitchen being slightly dark. The new brightness is quite nice now that I’m used to it again, though I will admit I tested the lights when I got home on the fifth and thought they hadn’t been replaced yet because nothing happened. Then I checked my email and saw a notification informing me that my maintenance had been completed, and I was indignant, but I tested the lights again anyway, and it turned out there was just a slight lag between the switch and the lights and it would’ve been fine if I’d waited a couple of seconds the first time.
November Reading Stats
Books Finished:
- Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu – Junji Ito
- When You Love a Cat – M.H. Clark
- The Spellshop – Sarah Beth Durst
- Slashed Beauties – A. Rushby
Total Pages Read: 869
I don’t have much to gush over this month, aside from The Spellshop, which was both wonderful and slightly triggering in a very unexpected manner. This is a new favorite cozy read. I will be reading The Enchanted Greenhouse soon, and I am excited to see that there is a third book in the series that has already released cover art?!?!?! What a time to be alive. Depending on how Greenhouse goes, this will most likely be an auto-buy series. (Just need to start writing my Spellshop review. That’s next on my list after I finish this post, lol.)
Speaking of cozy auto-buys, I need to get rolling on Mockingbird Court (Juneau Black). I am still stuck in a reading slump, and breakroom reading sessions have only marginally helped. Part of me just isn’t ready for Shady Hollow to be indefinitely over, but mostly it’s the reading slumps. I had a major change in my life last Wednesday morning (not health-related), and I’m more discombobulated than expected. At this point I’ve shoved most of my publication list into next year, and am planning only two more posts for the rest of 2025. I’m tired and lost and fed up and I can’t keep up with this blog, and I need a break. Though to save face I guess we can blame the lethargy on my cold, because I got the sniffles this week and I am miserable.
But on the bright side, my preorder Shady Hollow character cards arrived!!! They got in at the beginning of November, and I love them. I need to find a good way to display them.
In Hunger Games-related news, I have been obsessively watching and rewatching the trailer for Sunrise on the Reaping, and it looks fucking INCREDIBLE. (I agree with the comments. The movie looks done to me. Release it now.) Little Ampert is already breaking my heart. I’m not familiar with the actor but he is most definitely an Ampert, I have no notes and I will not be taking feedback on this opinion. The casting looks amazing, the whole movie looks amazing, don’t get me started on that countdown sequence because I’ll never shut up about the design. Just sheer perfection. Sunrise is my favorite Hunger Games book, with Catching Fire a close second, and I am hoping the movie will be my favorite as well.
The Ballad movie was a solid adaptation, and they did a good job with difficult material. But I’m really hoping Sunrise doesn’t make the same mistake, which was to spend all their time and budget on the Hunger Games portion of the story, with the result that the second half of the movie was rushed and borderline incoherent. I think Sunrise will be fine: the Games are the point of the movie, after all, and there isn’t an extensive aftermath to get through. Of course, if the epilogue is not included, even as just a mid-credits scene or something, I will riot. Next November cannot get here soon enough. (Also, Glenn Close as Drusilla Sickle and Billy Porter as Magno Stift?! I am DYING. I already know they’ll be perfect. I can absolutely see Billy eating that role for breakfast. I’m still not over his performance of “The Bitch is Back” at the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize concert.)
Currently Reading
Foul Heart Huntsman
Chloe Gong
Current rating: 4-4.5 stars. If there is one goal I am hanging onto for the death of this year, it is to finish one more series, which means finishing the one book that stands between me and the end of the Secret Shanghai series. As of this writing, it’s not going well. This isn’t to say that I don’t like the book, but I am so lethargic and unmotivated at the moment, and the book is so long, and my focus is shot to hell, and I’m mostly just confused at this point. I think things will pick up quickly now that I’ve caught up to the point where I was before I had to restart after I left it sitting for too long, but I’m having a hard time following it and I’m hoping it gets better. And I also hope Chloe will learn some other word than “evenly.”
Brigands & Breadknives
Travis Baldree
Current rating: 5 stars. I don’t know why I haven’t devoured this yet. It’s delightful. What with my focus problems, I might have to restart this one too. I’m only a couple chapters in, so it’s not a big deal. What I have been able to focus on is Thimble’s magnetic interest in Fern. I hear wedding bells.
Luna Cat Collective
I might have mentioned once or twice that I am a hermit and I never go out, except when some exceptionally evil friend plays upon my greatest weaknesses (cats, books, and food, in no particular order) and makes me an offer I can’t refuse. This month that friend was Michaella, and I am glad she dragged me out of my hidey-hole because we visited Luna Cat Collective and it was amazing. I cannot get over the fact that that orange cat is named Cornbread, and that she came from the mean streets of Baltimore. I approve of the bookcases in the corner, especially as they feature so many Asian authors (and a healthy manga collection, which sadly did not include Cat + Gamer – well, nobody’s perfect). I did not take advantage of the Taiwanese snacks and drinks up front, which I mildly regret, but I was unable to resist buying some of the art. I absolutely love that they promote local artists. If I ever get my ass in gear, I want to see if I can sell cat merch through them. Lord knows I’ll have enough of it. Also, that cat book was adorable, 100/10 recommend, that is exactly the kind of thing I want to be doing with my life. Again, if I can ever get my ass in gear. Which I haven’t so far.
After we ran out of time with the cats, we went to the Irish pub out back for dinner. The Irish egg rolls were remarkable. I would order them again. I’m already eyeballing the menu for the next time we visit.
Returning to Barnes & Noble
I worked at Barnes & Noble over the holiday season last year and loved it, so this year I started checking the careers page in the middle of October. Sure enough, the holiday posting appeared the second time I looked, and I am now back for the 2025 holiday season. This is great, but it is also a tremendous relief due to events that will be elaborated upon in my year-end wrap-up. Last year I was so unserious with my budgeting because at that point I still had a savings account, and I ended up trading labor for books. This year I have been much more disciplined. I am quite proud of myself in this regard, although in no other.
An actual conversation I had with Lori, paraphrased: “Why do you need to buy A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms right now? You’ll get your discount back in a couple of weeks.”
She was right.
November photo roundup:
- New fishtank. The pet duck is also new.
- One of my favorite shirts, given to me by my mom. It seemed fitting to wear it on my first day.
- First break room ARC claimed. I have since claimed two more.
- Priory of the Orange Tree stickers. Will I never be free? =_=
- Breaktime snacks. Those tteokbokki mochi are so good, if a bit smaller than they look on the package. Circe heard the crinkling of the snack packages in the morning when I was packing for work and came skittering over at once with her tail held high, though she had literally just eaten breakfast. There will be no second breakfasts in this house.
- Vera pens! They’re not actually supposed to be Vera, but I don’t care.
- A personal attack.
- A personal attack, part II.
- My new work tote, seen here with the two cake slices I got for $3.97 on National Cake Day. I am a sucker. It’s still a nice bag.
November Eats
Normal people don’t spill half of their udon on the stove and then throw a screaming tantrum. I apparently do. This is now a thing I have done. And I wonder why people are worried about me. I wasn’t sure if I’d put it on the blog or if I’d put it exactly like that, but if this blog is nothing else, it is honest, and I want it on record. I have spent decades sweeping this shit under the rug. I don’t know why I am like this, or why I have gotten so astronomically worse over the last several years. When I get my health insurance back – I am not calling that an “if” – I am making it a goal to get some kind of treatment lined up. It failed spectacularly the last time I tried it because I got a shitty therapist who couldn’t even show up on time, but I have to do something. I hate myself so much and I am tired of living like this, and there has to be a better way. (And most of that udon did make it back into the bowl, because I am a neat freak when I’m not screaming.)
Other food-related happenings this month:
- Stuffing-topped chicken casserole with egg noodles. I love stuffing-topped casseroles. This one was particularly good because I used leftover Peri-Peri chicken donated by Lauren in October. I have already made this a second time, with leftover turkey.
- Cleveland Kimchi brought by Lori, which I have since found – completely to my own surprise – at Safeway. The remaining kimchi fit quite neatly in the empty kimchi jar I was keeping. I can confirm that it is excellent when cooked into a pot of spicy ramen.
- Leftover Japanese curry with mashed potatoes. It was okay. The curry overpowered the potatoes. This would probably have gone better with garlic mashed potatoes, the way Lori did it.
- Cornbread. I was craving cornbread for some reason, to go with my leftover casserole.
- Chicken parm pizza with Old Bay fries from my local pizza place, ordered after my first shift back at BN. Both were good and I would order them again, but my favorite remains the Southwest Chicken pizza.
- Instant alfredo, because I’m lazy and instant pasta is delicious, served with the last of my dinosaur nuggets. My dino nuggets are now extinct. This is very sad for a number of reasons, the foremost being that I am out of dino nuggets. 🙁 On the other hand, my freezer is full, so I have no immediate need to buy some more.
- Thanksgiving at home. I actually made it in spite of my bakery schedule, which fortunately only had me working in the mornings. On the plate: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied sweet potatoes with two kinds of cranberry sauce (one with cinnamon, one without), stir-fried cabbage with lap cheong, a sausage roll, and of course a pile of rice.
- The aforementioned kimchi udon. Which was delicious when I stopped screaming.
- My new spice rack, purchased during Lori’s visit, left sitting in a shopping bag beside the table for a literal month before I finally got up the time and the energy to clean the kitchen and swap the spice racks. Its predecessor is now sad and empty and sitting on the counter like a reproach until I find someplace else to put it. It’s such a cute rack that I don’t want to just give it away.
- Red lentil tofu curry with rice and the naan that I keep in my freezer and sometimes remember. This curry just slid into my brain one fine morning or afternoon and a few days later I made it. I’ve made it in the past, but probably not within the last decade. I now want to experiment with using ground chicken in place of the tofu.
Kitty Corner
I rarely see Archie. The last time I did was at his papa’s birthday party and he got thisclose to punching me while I was petting him – he’d already punched one person, and he had his paw raised and everything – so it was nice to see him again when he was in a less punchy mood. And, as usual, I just had to include a handful of Circe pics that didn’t fit into the main post, including that one where I caught her mid-bath and she just completely blue-screened and sat frozen with her paw up for maybe a minute or two. I don’t know what I did, but I think I broke the cat.
Restarting Mossflower
Remember that Redwall-themed island that I was SO PROUD of and said I had no plans to restart? Yeah, that got restarted in a fit of ADHD boredom :’)
It’s been a month to the day since I took these screenshots (on the day of writing, not the day of posting) so I’ve obviously gotten farther, but this new island is called Shady Holl and it will have its own post at the end of the year. Suffice it to say that things are going well, and Shady Holl is beautiful in the winter.
