kaberett | vital functions

... is a placeholder; apparently getting the bus to a hospital appointment today ate my entire brain, and I need to be up early tomorrow morning for a different medical appointment for a different body part in a different place. (Why am I being sent to get an ultrasound four stops down the Piccadilly line instead of five minutes up the road? A MYSTERY.)

Reading. Progress on my pile of tabs, mostly in the form of short stories! I got to close all the Ann Leckie on account of since I opened those Lake of Souls has been released so I read them all there. But that left me with:

I finally finished reading the Simple Sabotage Field Manual (CIA origin, 1944), which was doing the rounds here a while back. Technology sure has changed a lot.
The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat, Brooke Bolander: fun (FSVO) little fairytale.
The Thing About Ghost Stories, Naomi Kritzer: adored this one.
STET, Sarah Bailey: did not enjoy this one, like, utter failure to suspend disbelief over the framing device, and I also feel fairly unsympathetic to one of the two protagonists.

Also a short story, but in this instance from The Pile Of E-mails: Legacies, this month's Seanan McGuire Patreon short. Definitely exhibits the Baby Knights Like Ducklings preoccupation, and the characteristic inadequacy of proofreading, but quick and diverting nonetheless.

And finally Library Books In Progress:

What Is Queer Food? (James Birdsall): gradually plodding along; I'm enjoying learning about how many of the people involved in various culinary anecdotes with which I was previously familiar in outline... were queer, but so far (a little over halfway through) the attempts to construct a narrative or category of Queer(ed) Food feel quite contrived to me. Possibly this is because I have yet to come across an instance of Academic Queering of Whatever that, like, speaks to me, you know.
A Physical Education, Casey Johnston (in audio?!). ADORING THIS. Probably gonna buy myself a copy. Fuller notes to (possibly) follow (look, I've written some of them up at this point--). (Actually finished at the time I am filling this post in, though it wasn't at the point at which initial post was made, so I am absolutely holding out a bit on writing up...)

Writing. I continue to eke out words. :|

Watching. One (1) episode of Farscape (S2E08), while bleaching A. It sure was a Farscape episode.

Listening. More Hidden Almanac! And also (see Reading) A Physical Education, Casey Johnston.

Playing. ... we are tentatively trying an Inkulati run with Exploders at max difficulty. It's... working? I'm suspicious about how well it's working (so far) (and I am also annoyed that I couldn't make my beloved foxes work this well).

Eating. Enjoyed discovering Kiernan's Coffee at Wimpole; particularly appreciated the cinnamon bun but the multi-inch stack of whipped cream on top of my hot chocolate was also extremely welcome (albeit messy). That was not my only ridiculous pile of whipped cream of the day; I also got Birthday Cake later on in the afternoon...

Exploring. Had a good poke around Wimpole on Saturday. Enjoyed the Walled Garden feat. nonsense petticoat daffodils out in force, and also bimbling round Home Farm, where there were sleepy Shires and tiny (squeaky) piglets.