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vital functions
Dec. 6th, 2020 10:55 pmReading. Artemis, Andy Weir. Oh my goodness you were all entirely correct about the extent to which this book is a complete trainwreck. Spoilers, technically, under the cut, though honestly I don't think they really explain anything: ( Read more... ). Serendipity: the scientific crux of the book (...) is the FCC Cambridge process, currently the ESA's favourite in-situ resource utilisation, which I came across for the first time on Monday, because I was teaching it to my undergrads. The key plot-breaking thing Andy Weir doesn't understand, this book, is sociology (and in particular the social dynamics of town with 2000 residents). He's also astonishingly ignorant about mobility aids, in ways that I had to stop and stare at a wall about, and bafflingly in a world (circa 2060) where there's a shuttle to the Moon once a week proximity sensors on cars are still a luxury add-on. Which is just. What.
Anyway, it was trash and I'm glad I read it and it's going straight back into the charity-shop pile.
I have just started Jackalope Wives & Other Stories, T. Kingfisher; most of these I think I've read before, which means they will make an excellent soothing reread, and for once I'm actually in the mood for an anthology of short fiction because it means I am less likely to get sucked into read the whole thing right now whoops where did my day go I was going to do thesis work.
Writing. ... speaking. of which. ( Read more... )
Creating. The other main bit of thesis work I did this week was of course graphic design (
).
Watching. CXG S02E02. Oh my goodness I had a lot of feelings about this. The tiny reprise! The beautiful tensions between the various and contrasting ways people tell the truth and dissemble and outright lie! The sheer joy of Knowing, during That Scene, that Father Brah's actor is also one of the writers.
We also put on A Night In With Rachel Bloom on Friday evening; alas she was in conversation with a... rather green... interviewer. Chief rec I have squirrelled away for future: Forget Paris (1995), which is apparently Rachel Bloom's favourite romcom.
Listening. Suggestion from last therapy session: have music on while A is having [regular meeting], because I find being able to overhear his half of it deeply stressful, so while I can't actually work terribly effectively with music on, for the most part, I wouldn't be working effectively while overhearing the meeting anyway so I had might as well at least be less stressed. Verdict: works excellently! However, next time maybe not Vienna Teng, because I started crying about three tracks in and then just kept right on weeping until shuffle brought up the specific track I had needed to listen to to get it out of my head. Lessons... possibly learned.
Playing. Dragons dragons dragons! Dragons. Some quantity of PoGo, where I am mostly ??? at the new Pokémon released this week. Another batch of Among Us, with cousins et al. A & I also tried making a start on Obduction but I rapidly got sufficiently motion-sick I couldn't actually look at screens for a while, so. Trying again, with me in control of camera view, is on the cards, I think. At some point. When I've got these chapter revisions done.
Cooking. A big vat of vegetable stew with dumplings! And apple & pear crumble, and a leek & mushroom risotto, both as collaborations with A.
Growing. Mrrrgh lemon. (Sigh. Upside: I'm reasonably sure I can nurse it back to health again, this time.) Also mrrgh: the patio-tomato seems to have managed to acquire The Blight, so that's going to need chopping up and feeding to the compost at some point in the near-ish future. So it goes.
On the upside, the pepper I brought home to keep indoors seems to be actually ripening to red, which I'm a little startled about but very pleased by.
I did not make it to the allotment this week. I have more physio on Tuesday, though, and the allotments are right behind the hospital, so At Least A Flying Visit is in my future!
Anyway, it was trash and I'm glad I read it and it's going straight back into the charity-shop pile.
I have just started Jackalope Wives & Other Stories, T. Kingfisher; most of these I think I've read before, which means they will make an excellent soothing reread, and for once I'm actually in the mood for an anthology of short fiction because it means I am less likely to get sucked into read the whole thing right now whoops where did my day go I was going to do thesis work.
Writing. ... speaking. of which. ( Read more... )
Creating. The other main bit of thesis work I did this week was of course graphic design (
).Watching. CXG S02E02. Oh my goodness I had a lot of feelings about this. The tiny reprise! The beautiful tensions between the various and contrasting ways people tell the truth and dissemble and outright lie! The sheer joy of Knowing, during That Scene, that Father Brah's actor is also one of the writers.
We also put on A Night In With Rachel Bloom on Friday evening; alas she was in conversation with a... rather green... interviewer. Chief rec I have squirrelled away for future: Forget Paris (1995), which is apparently Rachel Bloom's favourite romcom.
Listening. Suggestion from last therapy session: have music on while A is having [regular meeting], because I find being able to overhear his half of it deeply stressful, so while I can't actually work terribly effectively with music on, for the most part, I wouldn't be working effectively while overhearing the meeting anyway so I had might as well at least be less stressed. Verdict: works excellently! However, next time maybe not Vienna Teng, because I started crying about three tracks in and then just kept right on weeping until shuffle brought up the specific track I had needed to listen to to get it out of my head. Lessons... possibly learned.
Playing. Dragons dragons dragons! Dragons. Some quantity of PoGo, where I am mostly ??? at the new Pokémon released this week. Another batch of Among Us, with cousins et al. A & I also tried making a start on Obduction but I rapidly got sufficiently motion-sick I couldn't actually look at screens for a while, so. Trying again, with me in control of camera view, is on the cards, I think. At some point. When I've got these chapter revisions done.
Cooking. A big vat of vegetable stew with dumplings! And apple & pear crumble, and a leek & mushroom risotto, both as collaborations with A.
Growing. Mrrrgh lemon. (Sigh. Upside: I'm reasonably sure I can nurse it back to health again, this time.) Also mrrgh: the patio-tomato seems to have managed to acquire The Blight, so that's going to need chopping up and feeding to the compost at some point in the near-ish future. So it goes.
On the upside, the pepper I brought home to keep indoors seems to be actually ripening to red, which I'm a little startled about but very pleased by.
I did not make it to the allotment this week. I have more physio on Tuesday, though, and the allotments are right behind the hospital, so At Least A Flying Visit is in my future!