THIS WEEK IN REFLECTION
Last week I wrote my Sunday Lowdown early because I was getting my booster shot on Saturday and wasn’t sure how I’d feel that night when I sat down at my traditional writing time. Turns out I was fine, though my arm hurt where I got the shot (some people compare it to being kicked by a mule, and I’m wondering if folks have ever been kicked by anything). Later, I had a very slight sour feeling in my stomach and a metallic taste in my mouth, which Biscuit pointed out is a rare side effect, and sure enough, they’re not even gathering stats on it because so few people get the ol’ metal mouth. In general? Totally fine.
Now that I am officially on winter break (I got an “A” in Deaf Culture — hooray!), I have four more weeks to occupy myself. I asked myself, “What if, in those four weeks, my brain dies?” So I’ve been watching videos in ASL and I signed up for every single virtual author event I can find. Powell’s books has one almost every night, including a rather woo-woo presentation during which a white man explained that in the 1980s a Native American cannibalistic spirit tried to kill him, and I had to leave because OMG. Charis Books remains my favorite spot for all things virtual and book buying.
The spouse and I also started watching the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, and we made it through number four, which was not good. I wish these franchises knew when to be done for the sake of the story. Michael Myers? Two. Freddy? Three. Pinhead? Just the one. Same for Jason. Chucky can have all the movies he wants. #FanGirl
THIS WEEK’S BLOG POSTS
Although I loved the hippos in River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey, the characters fell flat for me. My point about a character being a list of identity labels instead of a person made me feel bad, but then I read another book with LGBTQ characters and saw how an author can weave in identity with personality and do it so well. Sounds like most of you agree with me.
#ReadingValdemar only has one more post to go, and that will be a reflection on what my experience of reading Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series over three years with my friend Jackie @ Death by Tsundoku was like. Seriously, so much changed in our lives in those three years. The last book we read together was Beyond, and it was a wonderful way to end the formal aspects of our read-along (another book comes out in June 2022, so there will be a Valdemar novel here and there in the future).
NEXT WEEK’S BLOG POSTS
Korean culture is everywhere in the U.S. right now, but I have no idea why! I’m astounded by their superior horror movies, like Parasite, #Alive, and Train to Busan. The Canadian series Kim’s Convenience taught me much about Korean culture. One of the virtual author events I attended that I mentioned above was by two Korean-American authors. I asked why Korean culture is all the rage in the U.S. right now, and they mentioned Koreans have a tendency to be sincere and vulnerable in their storytelling. After listening to the memoir Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner, I would agree. Review Tuesday.
Comedy, volunteering, picture books, novels — Gail Aldwin does a bit of everything! Learn more about her work on Thursday when I post her Meet the Writer feature.
BOOKS ADDED TO THE TBR PILE
Owned Books on TBR at Beginning of Year: 242
Owned Books on TBR Today: 204
I am definitely reading my own books and ticking them off the TBR. But I’ve also bought a few lately in support of small presses and independent book stores.
Thanks to Michael J. Miller for his book recommendation!
Grab the Lapels 
I want to read Beautiful Country too.
I’ve never attended a virtual author event. I admit, the prospect makes me nervous. I don’t want to be on screen or ask questions, I’d just want to listen. Is that possible?
I love how you don’t want your brain to die in the four weeks off from school, LOL. Very admirable! Enjoy your time off.
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Actually, I’ve never been to a public author event where you’re allowed to be on screen or talk. You connect to Zoom and both your mic and your camera are already off, and you can’t turn them on. They don’t want people to be distracting or show something, uhhh, weird on screen. If you do want to ask a question, there is a Q&A text box that they address at the end, but you don’t have to do that. I love it! Check out both Powell’s and Charis, which I’ve linked in this post. I also like the Philadelphia Free Library, too.
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Ahh, okay, I didn’t know how that worked with the questions. Thanks!
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Congrats on the A! I like that you’re checking out different author events over your break. I still forget how much is available out there and how we don’t need to be constrained by location.
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Most of this stuff has come about because of the pandemic, for which I am grateful. I contacted Charis books, and they said before the pandemic they did not do virtual events, but they built up such a big virtual following during the pandemic that they’re now doing hybrid events for the foreseeable future.
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It’s neat to see the ways that businesses and people have grown through this, in some cases. I’m glad so many places are still sticking to virtual events to reach that faraway audience.
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Well done on your A! And I got the metallic mouth, too, and did every time, plus my glands on that side came up, another rare side effect. Glad you’ve got the jab anyway.
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Was it your armpit or neck? Mine for shots 2 and 3 were both the armpit on the side I got the shot.
I saw on the news this morning Boris Johnson straight saying that two shots is not enough anymore. I appreciated that he just said it straightforward. We are hemming and hawing in the U.S. to avoid fuel to fire conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. I mean, it’s not really fuel, but they cling to just about ANYTHING.
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Both neck and armpit! And hm … yes, he said that as it was but he’s also on a massive PR drive after getting caught hosting parties at No 10 last Christmas when the ordinary people were missing Christmas with loved ones. Also he was even more unkempt than usual, a lot of people don’t trust him, and the NHS trusts weren’t warned, so the next morning you couldn’t book a booster or get home testing kits as the site had gone down under the pressure. So … swings and roundabouts!
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Oh, good gravy, I didn’t know about any of that. I guess I just saw a wee shining moment, lol.
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AND his whole party have turned against him and he had to rely on Labour to vote the amendments through!
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Congrats on the A! Boo on the metal mouth! (So weird.)
Thanks to you, I am on a quest to revisit (or visit for the first time depending on which installment) those horror movie franchises as well. Starting with Friday the 13th obviously. 😉 It will take me forever to do so because I only watch about one movie a week and I skip around but I’m still excited about it. Rob wants to Nightmare on Elm Street with me whenever I get to it. For right now, it’s holiday horror themed movies starting tonight.
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I started my holiday horror with Black Friday. On Black Friday, lol. There are some movies on Shudder that have terrible ratings for the stupidest reasons. For instance, Red Christmas has bad ratings because liberals say it’s a conservative message and conservatives say it “owns the libs.” Uh, the movie wasn’t conservative at all, and I’ll send you an email about it. Anyway, the movie has bad ratings for political reasons rather than what the movie is as a film. So weird.
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We watched Black Friday last week and last night we watched Krampus (2015) because we love it and Rob demands that we watch it every year now lol.
I will look for that email. 🙂
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I didn’t like Krampus the first time I saw it because the characters are so vile to each other and then the ending is super bleak, but I re-watched it last year and liked it more knowing where it was going.
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The funny part about your statement is that this time when we watched it, I looked at Rob and said, “This is your family.” He agreed. :O
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Oh, no! LOL
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Glad your booster went so well! Virtual author events are one of the best things that has come out of the pandemic, but wow, that guy! I’d be hard pressed to not make a wtf chat comment before leaving that one. Congratulations on your A!
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Thank you kindly, Stefanie! I’m still waiting on the results from ASL 3 *bites nails* Do you have a particular library or book store you like that does virtual events?
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My husband works at a local independent, Magers and Quinn, and they’ve done some fabulous events. But Orion magazine, the Poetry Foundation, and Emergence magazine have all done some really great events.
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Excellent! Thank you.
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My booster is set for Friday – really hoping it doesn’t knock me out the way the second jab did, because I have lots of important Christmas errands to run this weekend that won’t wait. Enjoy your break and congratulations on your A!
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I’m so glad you’re getting your booster, especially since you’re back working with people face-to-face. I have the same conversation with myself repeatedly when it comes to you: 1) I hope Lou the nurse is okay at the hospital! 2) Oh, yeah. Lou teaches. 3) Are they going to call Lou back to the hospital because they’re out of staff? 4) Oh, yeah, Lou is training the next staff, and that’s important to get more staff in general. I need my brain to just go to #4.
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Yes, I’m back at work but there are very few people in, so I hope that soothes your concerns a bit! We’ve all been ordered to work from home again if we can. I’ve been given special dispensation to carry on coming in because it’s so much better for my mental health (and productivity) to have a daily routine and come into the office every day. I’m one of about ten people in the whole building today, and I won’t be seeing students in person again until new year at the earliest. Being at work is definitely what’s best for me, irrespective of any concerns about covid – so I’m being looked after really well by my manager 🙂
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Wonderful! I’m glad to hear all of this, especially the flexibility. I was very worried about the 5 weeks I’d have off between semesters because I have chronic anxiety, so I made myself a daily calendar with things to do each hour. It helps tremendously, so I understand what you mean about routine.
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Haha Melanie, you do make me laugh – what would make your brain die in 4 weeks (when you are merely 30something!!) Still never hurts to be proactive I say.
I had my booster shot this morning, so 15 hours ago. So far just a pretty sore arm but nothing much else. No metallic taste as far as I can tell. Fingers crossed nothing more develops.
As for your books, some interesting ones there but nothing I’ve heard of!
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I have moderate chronic anxiety, so any sense of not having a purpose or value or a place to be, or a place in the world, really takes me to a dangerous place mentally. Having an appointment on my calendar (the virtual event) makes me have a purpose, and then watching the event makes me connect to other people through active listening. It’s all a tool to mitigate scary and horrible side effects of mental health issues.
I’m so glad your booster is going well so far; I’d hate to have given you a bum steer! How was the holiday party?
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Ah, sorry, Melanie. I hope I didn’t make light of your situation. I didn’t intend to. I certainly understand what you are saying – and love that you have strategies for managing your health.
The party was really lovely. Nine reading group friends – what would not be lovely about that!
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Oh, absolutely not! I understood what you meant. I was just further explaining because sometimes I feel as if I’m navigating life like a total goofball and want to be clear about the reasoning. I mean, having a daily calendar that is full from 7:30AM to 10:00PM is weird, and I recognize that. Fortunately, it’s just a tool in the ol’ belt to keep me going.
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Thanks Melanie … if you’re a goofball you’re a great one to have in one’s circle is all I can say.
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Why, thank you!
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Woo! Congrats on the A! 😀
Was the whole metal mouth thing short-lived at least? That sounds awful.
I already miss Kim’s Convenience. It was such a good show.
I really need to start squeezing in some holiday horror movies before Christmas. I’m slacking and missing out! The burnout from work is real though. Ugh. D:
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The metal taste kind of came and went for about a week. It was odd. It didn’t taste awful, per se…more like drinking well water, lol.
I’m not sure which holiday horror movie I’m going to watch tonight. I saved several on Shudder, so I’ll just pick one, but I am saving the original Black Christmas for the 24th.
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I’m glad it was only for about a week. Still sounds unpleasant, but at least it didn’t last longer than that. 🙂
I have utterly failed at watching all the spooky Christmas movies I had planned to watch this year. Looking forward to finding out what you think of Black Christmas, so keep me posted! 😀 I can live through you for my holiday horror fix this year. lol
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Ha! Sounds good. C&M was telling me that she and her spouse just watched Silent Night, Crazy Night and now keep saying, “PUNEEEESH” to each other, which is funny, because I was running around yelling, “NAUGHTYYY!”
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I’ll echo everyone else’s comments when I say congrats on the ‘a’!!!! Your description of that woo woo book event made me laugh, some people be crazy, but that’s what I love about this world.
I understand the fear of your brain turning off, but make sure to take time to rest and recharge too – don’t be so hard on yourself 😉
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Listening to people talk about writing and culture is totally relaxing for me. I learned from a vulcanologist there there is a volcano in the ocean — there are many volcanoes in the ocean — but this one has frickin’ sharks IN it, and NO ONE KNOWS WHY.
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sharks in volcanoes? Is that where sharknado came from? LOL
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I have no idea, but it kinda freaked me out because I thought sharks needed really cold water, and you’d think it would be pretty warm by a low-key underwater volcano…
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