Previously, in Trip's Life...
31 March 2019 - Sunday
No gaming. I did manage to go shopping a bit, which is, um, something? Also we watched some more gen:LOCK. One of the plot twists is something that would be a cliche in a setting with more mature uploading tech like Eclipse Phase, which is kind of cool.
In volume 14 of Yotsuba&! (Kiyohiko Azuma), Yotsuba goes to Tokyo and saves the Earth from aliens! Also we see more of her family. (We saw her grandma in vol 13.)
Words: FAIL.
30 March 2019 - Saturday
Ken is not up to cooking, so instead Ayse got us all Vietnamese food. Roast duck soup with extra noodles was too much, but I regret nothing. Nothing!
- Sailor Moon Super S 150: Finally, we see the Amazoness Quartet in action! They are much more efficient than the Amazon Trio.
- Non Non Biyori Repeat 10: Hurray for Renge!
- A Place Further Than The Universe 7: Well, they made it out of Japan, and even on to a ship, despite their brains' best efforts! I totally symapthize with not liking it when people are considerate of you, though (even though I don't think it's actually a good thing).
Finally, I have finished rereading all thirteen previous volumes of Yotsuba&! (Kiyohiko Azuma). They are all adorable.
Words: FAIL.
29 March 2019 - Friday
Ken has survived the Medical-Industrial (or should that be Medical-Financial?) Complex, hurray!
Instead of watching more Story of Ming Lan, we watched the first few episodes of Gen:LOCK, which is by the same team as RWBY but is cyberpunk mecha and has what I consider to be an excessive number of male characters. As always, the fight choreographers have not taken scaling laws into account for mecha combat, but the writing seems to be not quite as stupid as most visual SF about brain stuff.
Words: FAIL.
28 March 2019 - Thursday
I was off-kilter all day because I went to the doctor for an annual checkup in the morning instead of going to work right away, but I did manage to kind of document a thing for a customer. Also I finished the birthday pie Ken made for me.
Neither Marith nor I had ever seen The Goonies, so we tried watching it, but the first ten minutes had approximately zero characters we didn't hate, so we gave up and instead watched the first episode of The Story of Ming Lan, which has at least one character we can root for. (It is by the same team as Nirvana in Fire so although I am not into it yet, there is considerable hope.)
Forever Fantasy Online (Rachel Aaron) is LitRPG, but something is definitely going on and there are consequences to having treated it like a game and I'm pretty sure there's going to be even more and worse doom in the next book and also catgirls.
Words: I sort of want to write pointless smutty fanfic involving some of the catgirls from FFO, but I am too old and full of antidepressants and also generally terrible, so FAIL.
27 March 2019 - Wednesday
Ken was waffling about gaming, but finally succumbed and also provided barbecue foods to eat while Kelsey continued her D&D5E one-shot. Finally we are together and on our way!
Words: Still FAIL.
26 March 2019 - Tuesday
Ghirardelli
12th Ocober 2003 -- 26th March 2019
He Will Always Be Missed
25 March 2019 - Monday
That Ain't Witchcraft (Seanan McGuire) wraps up this story about the third Price kid and the horror she has gotten mixed up with. Of course the good guys win, but the collatoral damage is pretty low for McGuire! The ebook includes The Measure of a Monster, which is about the middle kid and some humans who deserve what happens to them.
Crunchyroll (or at least the app on my old Apple TV box) is failing us, but we managed to work around it to watch another couple episodes of AKB0048. Marith and I would totally be up for this if Ayse wanted to watch it at anime night!
Ghirardelli can't make it to the litterbox any more, which is the point I decided on. But it is late, so I will snuggle him for one more night and take him in in the morning.
Words: FAIL.
24 March 2019 - Sunday
PAD&D5 time!
It's time to charge for the end of the module, so the Heroines of Red Larch leave the residents of Red Larch in a hopefully-safe place and head for the nearest enemy power source. The torrent of bad mojo pouring out of it makes this annoying, but also points them in the right direcation, so after a lot of dragging themselves along, they arrive at the heavily-defended bottleneck right before their goal. Unfortunately for the defenders, the Heroines now have AoE attacks, and the narrow space is turned against them. Muahahahahahaha!
Unfortunately for the Heroines, this takes long enough that everyone they want to clobber has escaped through the magic portal to the Temple of the Crystal Dragon and all they can do is dive after them. The collapsing portal spits the Heroines out elsewhere, but they make it back to the temple before the enemy leader can finish desecrating it, and engage the remaining enemy forces!
Despite Lam getting swallowed by a sewage elemental, the Heroines don't have much trouble cleaning up the enemy. They probably could have done it several levels ago, if they hadn't been busy with so much other doom. They even have enough money to pay for their temple to be steam-cleaned and have some new windows put in, having been saving up since the last time they visited Yartar 1d8-3 weeks ago.
Level UP!
Now that we have no more Gravity Falls, we tried watching The Magicians, but although it was cool, it did not have much in the way of sympathetic characters. (Maybe that's why it's so critically acclaimed?) After one episode, we switched to AKB0048, which Ayse spoke highly of. It is about interstellar battle idols, and is what the kids these days call "extra". So extra. And sparkly.
Words: FAIL.
23 March 2019 - Saturday
Ken very kindly made the turkey chili I like and also parasite chocolate cream pie, and Jus and Nonny gave me handmade cards. Awwwww!
- Sailor Moon Super S 148-149: So much for the *-Eye villains! But their arc did get resolved.
- Non Non Biyori Repeat 9: Still heartwarming.
- A Place Further Than The Universe 5: Finally, they depart Japan!
- Hibike! Euphonium 2 2: More on the Great Apostasy of the previous year, but only a little more toward Reina and Kumiko smooching.
Words: FAIL.
22 March 2019 - Friday
That was quite a finale, but now we are done with Gravity Falls! What will we watch now?
Ghirardelli is still hanging in there. He has a few purrs when I cuddle him.
Words: FAIL.
21 March 2019 - Thursday
Naked sword swallowing (not a euphemism; from We Hunted The Mammoth).
Automated smartphone app generation.
My, the Internet certainly is full of things.
I used the synthetic purring to comfort Ghirardelli. I think he liked it, although he is so listless it is hard to tell. He laid down right next to it, anyway.
Today is my birthday, but mostly I spent it online complaining to Avalon and Sean that my cat is dying. Not very festive. There was virtual cake, though. And Marith made shrimp-tomato pasta yumminess.
Friends are nice.
Words: FAIL.
20 March 2019 - Wednesday
Ghirardelli is still barely eating, but he is hanging in there. I think that is still good. We gave him a little fluids, maybe that will help.
In the evening, I went to Ken's for Thai food and, er, D&D5??! We finished making characters and Kelsey ran intros to get us all involved in the problem and on our way to Baldur's Gate. Dave is the only one who made an actual investigative character for this mystery-oriented adventure, so I will probably just die in the first encounter, but whatever.
Words: FAIL.
19 March 2019 - Tuesday
We couldn't get a vet appointment, so I went home after lunch and we took Ghirardelli in as an urgent care patient. He got seen fairly promptly, although maybe not from the perspective of Marith who had to sit in the car to avoid the fur. Unsurprisingly, he has lost even more weight, and his kidneys are not doing that well. I got a different appetite stimulant and anti-nausea medication for him, and we'll see if those help, but the vet did not think he was going to make it more than days to weeks, and he might stop being a cat before being obviously in such bad shape that I bring him.
We petted and petted Ghirardelli while watching Gravity Falls up to the point where the final boss makes its move. Three episodes to go! And then we'll have to find something else to watch, I guess.
Words: FAIL.
18 March 2019 - Monday
Ghirardelli did not do the noms today. He seems alert, and watched some kitty TV, but he is so skinny. I think he needs to visit the vet again, and I don't know if he will be coming home this time.
Words: FAIL.
17 March 2019 - Sunday
In the morning, I made the trek to Mountain View to get the pro-nomming medicine for Ghirardelli from the 24/7 vet office, but when I gave it to him, he did not eat. That is not good.
Marith and I went to see Captain Marvel, because everyone says it's suitably awesome, and it is! For all the reasons that make Nazi heads explode, and also general awesomeness and lack of compulsory romance subplot (although it would have been fine if Carol and [SPOILER] had been a couple) and Young Fury and tentacles!
When we got back, I tried offering Ghirardelli some sardine, and he eated it! Not much, but some! Good job, kitty! I will give you more medicine tomorrow, and perhaps you will keep eating! Also, we love you even though you do not have tentacles!
Augh, Gravity Falls! Augh! We finally found out Stan's backstory! Augh!
Words: FAIL.
16 March 2019 - Saturday
I bought Ghirardelli tasty smelly sardines and trout bits, but he did not eat them. I contacted the vet, who prescribed medicine to stimulate his appetite, and recommended giving him a tiny dose of human medicine to settle his stomach. I guess I can try it, there's not much to lose at this point.
Ken very kindly made me fish so I did not have to be complicit in pot roast. But it smelled really good. Sometimes it is hard to remember that even though what I do as an individual can't help the world much, it's still not okay for me to just throw my trash on the ground.
- Sailor Moon Super S 147: Makoto was clearly having the most fun when she was dancing with Ami. Boys are completely unnecessary!
- Non Non Biyori Repeat 8: This episode: crafting skills. Also: most oblivious senpai ever.
- Hibike! Euphonium 2 1: Just smooch already!
Hm, apparently I need more yuri fic.
We would have watched more Euphonium, but Nonny had like five separate meltdowns. Apparently it's hard being a kid.
I keep meaning to read more of my huge manga backlog, and today I kind of did! While giving Ghirardelli pettins, because he is the best kitty.
Volume 2 of Fairy Tale Battle Royale (Soraho Ina) shows the first layer of doom hiding behind the monster-slaying and kingdom-destroying, and it's pretty dark. I don't know if it's interesting enough doom to keep reading, though.
I first read Tomo-chan is a Girl (Fumita Yanagida) on a scanlation site, but now it's out officially, so I threw them some moneys and reread the part that's available. I can't claim it's any good, but it amuses me. Gender roles are so messed up.
And, new volume of Yotsuba&! (Kiyohiko Azuma), so I have to reread the existing thirteen volumes first!
Words: FAIL.
15 March 2019 - Friday
A bunch of people from the other office came to this office to drink for Irish People Are White Now, We Guess Day. Apparently that office is going away, to be replaced by something else, because commerical real estate reasons or something, I don't even know. Probably that means some of them will be coming here on a regular basis.
Apparently I don't like humans today. Pie is okay, though.
Hurray, I got paid, now I can afford more vet appointments for Ghirardelli. I just don't know whether I should.
Avalon is not dead! Tired, but not dead.
More Gravity Falls S2! [SPOILER] is back from the first season, and has a good point! Also, Globnar.
Words: FAIL.
14 March 2019 - Thursday
Less brain, but more Gravity Falls! Huh, I hope they come back to that.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes (Hideyuki Furuhashi, Betten Court, Kohei Horikoshi) is a spin-off series about some people with less-impressive quirks who cannot resist helping people despire their lack of hero licenses. This is not legal, but is somewhat socially acceptable. Fight scenes ensue.
There's a secondary character who is a sociology grad student specializing in the era when quirks first appeared, so there should be some good worldbuilding.
Words: FAIL.
13 March 2019 - Wednesday
We won regular 13th Age, so now I guess we're moving on to the variant, and also burritos. (We would have done 5E, but Kelsey was absent yet again.)
This week, we used some version of Runequest (I think) to create the backstory of the clan for the "home team". To make a long questionnaire short, we mostly stay out of the way and let trouble flow past us. Also, we're good at fishing.
I did not like The Raven Tower (Ann Leckie) nearly as much as the "Ancillary" series. It's not bad or anything, it's like Bronze(?)-age Hamlet in second person with interestingly constrained gods and trans representation. But I did not appreciate the imagination as much as in her earlier works. I hope this does not mean her evolution as a writer is taking her out of my zone of preference!
Words: FAIL.
12 March 2019 - Tuesday
Bah, Tuesday. Ghirardelli seems okay, although he still needs to eat more. He's too skinny! (We gave him a little fluids, but that's not the same thing!)
Gravity Falls remains very silly, but is also getting kind of dark. The long-running romance subplot was handled nicely, though, and no one had to get eaten by gnomes.
Words: FAIL.
11 March 2019 - Monday
We (meaning Marith, since she has the car and I am useless) took Ghirardelli to the vet, which was much too expensive, but his heart is doing very well! I mean, he is still an old cat and this is not the sort of thing that goes away, but the vet said to bring him back in 3-4 weeks, which implies his expected time could be significantly longer than that. Good job, kitty!
RWBY episodes are short, so we have already run out of season 6. Woe! But the protagonists have made it to their destination, and perhaps the motorcycle Bumblebee has been replaced by the ship Bumblebee.
Using AirPlay to show video from Rooster Teeth's annoying streaming site is not that great, alas. It doesn't (as far as I can tell) let the Apple TV remote control things, so I have to run back to the computer all the time.
Words: FAIL.
10 March 2019 - Sunday
Ugh, no more standard time, now we have to save our daylight. But not our sleep.
It's PAD&D5 time again! But no Deirdre, she has germs.
Having finally arrived back at Red Larch with the rescued prisoners, the Heroines try to get some sleep, but are woken in the wee hours by reports that [SPOILER] is encroaching on the town. Evacuation and temporary fortifications to buy enough time to rescue major pieces of infrastructure ensue, while the Heroines repulse the initial assault by giant ugly [SPOILER]. Like, really ugly.
When the Heroines scout the evacuation path for the townspeople, they are notified that this is the work of [SPOILER], who they are nominally conspiring against. The townspeople are not important to the villain plan, so they can be allowed to flee, but the Heroines must fight and make it look good so the collusion is not revealed to the other villains before they attack.
Naturally, although the environment is no longer to their advantage, and the enemy is larger, faster, or both, the Heroines win with style. However, they need to shut down the [SPOILER] immediately if there is to be any world to save!
More RWBY season 6! That was actually pretty creepy. Also, humans are dumb.
Words: FAIL.
9 March 2019 - Saturday
All my funds are tied up in cat futures, so I had to have Marith pay the cleaners this fortnight. Embarrassing.
- Sailor Moon Super S 146: Princesses should not skive off official events! Are you taking notes, Usagi? (No.)
- Non Non Biyori Repeat 7: Maybe don't let the 1st-grader write the notes if you want other people to know what's going on.
- Hibike! Euphonium 13: Regionals! The End! Kumiko and Reina did not smooch, boo.
- A Place Further Than The Universe 4: Apparently this is an accurate depiction of orienteering.
- Hibike! Euphonium 14: Side story about the band members who did not get picked to play at regionals and what they did to help the band. Heartwarming!
Words: FAIL.
8 March 2019 - Friday
Because eating while watching RWBY is difficult for stupid capitalism-related reasons, we watched the first episode of Gravity Falls S2. For some reason I thought it was going to be the next summer, but no, it continues on pretty much from where S1 left off. The plot might be finally going, though. (Really it started at the end of the last episode of S1.
Then we huddled around the iMac to watch more RWBY S6. Yep, that was an expository flashback, all right! And it was kind of the thing Marith was hoping it wouldn't be, but only kind of. There's plenty of legitimate doom to go around, anyway, and also higher powers suck.
Words: FAIL.
7 March 2019 - Thursday
Ghirardelli continues to be mostly interested in lying in one place, but he watched some kitty TV while we watched human TV. There might have been pettins.
The end of season 1 of Gravity Falls was quite something! But at least [SPOILER] got his!
Then, since we had more evening, we started watching RWBY season 6. They're in a frozen wastelend, maybe they'll have to snuggle up to conserve heat? But it looks like first there will have to be a Flashback of Great Doom!
Words: Continued FAIL. I need to start writing again at some point, but it seems overwhelmingly pointless because I am so bad at it.
6 March 2019 - Wednesday
I stopped by home to give Ghirardelli his evening medicines and pettins, and he was awake and alert, so I do not have to make any quality-of-life-related decisions today! Also he looks very silly with the shaved parts on his arms from being in the ICU. Poor undignified kitty!
Despite taking that time, I was still the first person to arrive for 13th Age and pho (not counting people who live there).
Wait, that's it? We defeated the main villain that we've been fighting against/over/in for the whole compaign in battle, and we win? Huh.
Yay us!
I guess I better work on that 5E character for Kelsey's one-shot now.
Words: Continued FAIL.
5 March 2019 - Tuesday
I skipped out of work early so we could eat dinner during rush hour and then drive up to Mountain View to get Ghirardelli. I had to stand up Avalon, but now Ghirardelli is home and, well, not great, but awake and alert. He also looks very silly with a shaved ring around each arm. Poor kitty!
Marith continues to be a Hero of the Revolution.
Words: Continued FAIL.
4 March 2019 - Monday
When I got home from work, Ghirardelli was sitting in the litterbox like moving was too much work, and even after I scooped him and cleaned him, he didn't want to move, so we took him in to the vet. They did some tests and it looks like his heart is not so good. Also he was having trouble breathing, so we took him up to the larger hospital in Mountain View to spend the night in the oxygen booth and get started on heart medication (which coincidentally is exactly the opposite from the treatment for his kidney disease).
None of the vet people said anything about time, but it doesn't look like Ghirardelli has much of it left. Poor kitty.
Words: FAIL.
3 March 2019 - Sunday
Ken lured me over to play Gloomhaven again, and we actually did not die from lateness!
The scenario we picked was not part of the main plot, but it delivered the promised riches (and also vermling kills for Ken, which I should possibly object to since my character is a vermling, but fuck those guys, they wear the wrong sunglasses). I was the richest going in and it still doubled my money! Now I can have the Internet tell me what enhancements to buy for my murder rat's own retirement goal.
In retrospect, it might have gone more smoothly if Ken hadn't kicked in the door of a room with seven enemies on the round they drew the "make ranged attacks at the top of the round" card, but these things happen.
As of vol 2 (of a projected three), Fruits Basket Another (Natsuki Takaya) is not grabbing me the way the original did. Points for realistic depiction of depression/social anxiety due to horrible parenting (unlike Tohru's personality, which I recall as seeming a bit contrived), but it feels very rushed and not like it's really going very far anyway. I would put it in the category of fanfic, since the point mostly seems to be to show where the characters are a decade after the original series; it just happens to be written by the original creator.
Words: FAIL.
2 March 2019 - Saturday
Yum, adobo chicken!
- Sailor Moon Super S 145: Usagi, you need to buy up your Dex before you can be a ballerina!
- Non Non Biyori Repeat 6: Jeez, just tell her embarrassing stories about your sister!
- Hibike! Euphonium 12: Oh no, our main character has not spent enough points on Perform (Euphonium)! Can she get more points from growing closer to Reina?
- A Place Further Than The Universe 3:
It looks like there are actually 14 episodes of Hibike! Euphonium and then a whole second season, so we need to adjust the schedule. After we definitely run out of Hibike, we still plan to try Shirobako.
Words: FAIL. I have installed Scrivener, but not managed to use it. (This was easy because the email with my license key was in gmail, not stored locally. There is no ethical disaster recovery under capitalism?)
1 March 2019 - Friday
The Jury Duty website says: "You are released from Jury Duty at this time. Your service is deemed complete and you will receive a one year exemption. Thank you for your services to the Court this week."
I'm a little disappointed, since I've never juried, but I'm sure it would be mostly boring and frustrating in practice.
Words: FAIL.
Sproing!
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