cornerofmadness

I had to go to Chillicothe to get my oil changed and on the way back, in the dark and in a construction zone an 18 wheeler realized he was going off the wrong ramp (it's an easy mistake to make in this area, if you're in the right lane you're on your way to Portsmouth like it or not) and he rolls right down the embankment back onto 35 right in front of me without slowing down. I can't move because there's a wall of construction traffic to my left. Thankfully my brakes are fine but Jesus dude... (of course you can't exactly stop an 18 wheeler on a dime.

Speaking of which on the way up there was a massive accident as well on the other side, took out much of the guard rail, was probably down in the creek. I couldn't see it through the lines of traffic and half dozen cop cars but it was no doubt a bad one.

Got another fandomtrees story done at the garage waiting on the oil change and then went to my coffee shop to work on another one but...my coffee shop is gone WTF? I don't go to Chillicothe for 2 months and this happens? It's a new store with a big menu (lots to look at. Sweetie, I want fucking coffee not overpriced sandwiches) They only had two lattes. I went with the candy lane...and it was tasteless. If you can't make chocolate peppermint right, I won't trust you again (I'm looking at you too Tim Horton's. Yours tasted like burnt coffee and cleaning chemicals). Sigh. Now the new place wants you to do conferences there and murder mystery dinners....You can't make coffee. I'm not trusting you with food.

TJ Maxx was so packed there weren't even carts 0_0 (did find some Pistachio cream)

The shoe store about damn near made me cry. I can't find shoes. why is everything WIDE? And then I put on a pair of new balances that should have worked but were wide and they were...NOT wide. How the fuck cheap are we making them these days? I usually take a narrow and this so called wide wasn't too wide (the arch was wrong for me though)

I finally got to sit down to write cards. If you want a holiday card from me and you haven't asked for one yet head here.

And since I forgot the books yesterday here we go
What I Just Finished Reading:

Wytches - a graphic novel horror I got from the library


Ripped Tide - short mystery I got at the WV book festival. It is...bad.

What I am Currently Reading:


Death at the Door - a meh paranormal mystery

To Die Once - a Maisie Dobbs mystery which I haven't read one of these in a while and this is...slow



What I Plan to Read Next: Poorly Made and Other Things


I forgot my tea advent again

Day 9 - Blueberry limeade green tea - Green tea, organic lemon peel, butterfly pea flowers, and natural blueberry limeade flavor. It was good

Day 10 Winter Wonderland Rooibos Herbal Tisane - Organic green rooibos, organic cacao nibs, organic cinnamon pieces, winter wonderland flavoring, and blue cornflower petals. not as good as the peppermint one...what is wonderland flavoring anyhow

Day 11 Organic Turmeric Ginger Citrus Herbal Tisane - Organic turmeric, organic ginger, organic hibiscus, organic lemon peel, organic orange peel and organic lemon myrtle. this balance the dirt flavor of turmeric well so not bad but why the hell are so many of these freaking herbals?!?

Just everywhere but the laundromat. Did I mention the assholes broke both washing machines here and I had to go to my old one in Jackson. Well...I won't bitch about the time i had to go to the one in Gallipolis last month. Holy shit, 10$ to do two loads of wash and one full dryer (I hang a lot of my good clothes).

This put me in mind of something evil_little_dog posted the other day about how expensive it is to be poor. Which is 100% accurate. Like now that I'm not sure I can buy a new car (or newer I should say) but mine has 111K on it. If I don't, something is going to blow and it'll be expensive to fix. I CAN afford a laundry suit for home (but the hook up is fucked up) but imagine doing a WHOLE family's laundry at those prices because you can't afford a washer/dryer. Jesus. (it's much cheaper here at the apt)


The coffee shop was packed. I did get a spot, talked to former students, thought about exploding the heads of the adult son/mom combo who was letting their 3 year old daughter/granddaughter run everywhere for the full hour I was there (and they were there before me) She was nearly hit by the door multiple times and nearly took out the waitresses more than that. eye rolls.

Kroger was predictably packed. I have to make cookies for a giveaway but found out my baking powder smelled like ass so I had to go get more. Like the Hunger Games in there. How many people wait to the last second to buy things (asks the idiot who also forget eggs and milk for her baked goods. I had...the lemon. Whee)



They were also beginning to pull down one of the historic buildings today. I got pictures (It was beyond saving which is sad)

I managed to finish a second fandomtrees don't get too excited. This was a rec one. Easy peasy.

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. The temperature fell like a rock today but could be worse. I see what's coming to places I used to live (Lake Erie beach side, Wisconsin). But my issue is a tickle in my chest that says let's get sick. Shut up lungs. Go be weak on your own time, not mine. And my lower left wisdom must be lonely missing its upper wisdom buddy because the entire gum is swollen and painful. Exactly what you want the day before a big meal.


What I Just Finished Reading:


The Tea Dragon Society - very sweet


Revenge Serve Royal - historical mystery, it was pretty good. Found out I read book one and this is book three. Guess who didn't read book 2


What I am Currently Reading:


A Twist of Murder - Charles Dickens is the detective, yes another real person fanfic mystery. So far I am unimpressed.

Death at the Door

Wyches - a graphic novel horror I got from the library today


What I Plan to Read Next: Haunted Cemeteries of Ohio

This is my second to last yoga session and this is the first one where I am hurting afterward. Like a lot. Yay. head desk. I am encourage to know our instructor is looking for her own studio and is thinking of adding chair yoga. I would sign up for that. My days of doing floor yoga is coming to an end.

And I'm THIS close to getting water fitness on the books at work for next semester. yay.


What I Just Finished Reading:

nothing. sigh, not even fanfic

What I am Currently Reading:

Blacksad - a anthropomorphic noir graphic novel

Haunted Cemeteries of Ohio - you know why

Anne of Green Gables - I am shocked at how much I like this


Revenge Serve Royal - historical mystery

What I Plan to Read Next: Elfquest for popsugar

Today we were talking about muscle fatigue and one of the causes is psychological. It's easy to convince yourself you cannot do things but you can just as easily convince yourself you can do it. Like I told them I still hike in spite of my arthritis and disability because I believe I can. Sometimes it gets me in trouble but sometimes I get to do things going on sheer belief. I also told them just thinking about yoga tonight was me hitting the fatigue wall and I didn't want to go (storm came in bringing pain) but I did it because I know I can.

And I did. And I'm so proud of the instructor. She was a former student who has become a great adult. She's a beautiful teacher, knowing we're all older and not in great shape. She heard several of us talking about the pain (from the storm) and she modified her class so we were less stressed. She also reminds us we can modify the poses to fit our body's abilities. No judgment no shame and those are words we need to hear.

Mom isn't done giving me a stroke. So I'm in my 10 AM class and my cell phone rings. It's Mom's cell. She never uses that thing. My answer was 'what's wrong?'

Mom- I didn't mean to call you

Me - well here we are. What were you trying to do

Mom - to send you a picture.

Me - this is not how you do that. I'll explain how tonight.

Me- (to students) Mom. She's 82 and is a hazard with a cell phone.

Mom (to me tonight) you never hung up the phone and I was listening to your lecture

Fine, we're both dumb.

Right now I SHOULD be watching Hazbin Hotel. Am I? No. Why? I've been logged into my brother's Prime for over a year now no problems. Today it fucking logs me out AND won't let me back in without texting my brother's phone. yay. Thanks for nothing Amazon.


What I Just Finished Reading:

Mirage City - Really good, really depressing, deals heavily and I do mean heavily with historic homophobia and LGBT rights in the 1950s



Lackadaisy vol 2 - huge volume, gorgeous art, love the story


What I am Currently Reading:



Haunted Cemeteries of Ohio - you know why



Spellbound - turned into 100% male fantasy fulfillment




What I Plan to Read Next: Anne of Green Gables

Not even going to mention the ongoing online nightmare at work other than one of my coworkers asked was that your halloween stuff or are you screaming into the void again? (the void JM, the void)

Today I went to the library (my library this time) with TH for Spooky Storytelling. First we hit the Mexican place which had something new a tamarind aqua fresca that wasn't worth the money. Mostly it just tasted sweet. Eh. Oh well, not every new venture pays off.

There usual crew was at the library for this talk including two little girls with their mom who were jump square queens (one, the other wasn't paying attention) He keeps his stories on the mild side for them but he was an excellent story teller, definitely an actor doing a one man show.

My only issue was I had one of those exhausted spells where I kinda go down while actively doing shit and I was in and out for most of this. Embarrassing. He probably noticed. Sigh. I was only truly there for the last 10 minutes of the hour. (I do plan to tell the doc about this tomorrow)

TH would like to do storytelling at last night's library and the StoryTeller here is talking about a local Story Telling con in the works. I'd like to do that too. I'm not sure I'd be good at it though. I can do the theatrics. It's voices I'm not good at. Irony: half the panels at the con this weekend are all so you wanna be a voice actor....

What I Just Finished Reading:


Ash's Cabin - a YA graphic novel a queer coming of age Oh boy did I dislike this one. Ditto Fall Through by Nate Powell (a graphic novel about a punk rock group whose lyrics break the space/time continium)





What I am Currently Reading:

The Gallery Assistant - a mystery set in the aftermath of 911 and I already hate the protagonist (figures, it's an arc and I feel obligated to finish those) This is not getting better.

The Queen of Blood - a YA fantasy I've had on my shelf for too many years now. It's not bad so far but yes the first quarter is more dark academia, fit to survive school (eye roll)

The Cat Who Saved Books - my healing fic pic. I'm bored

Haunted Cemeteries of Ohio - you know why


What I Plan to Read Next: I'm so behind on my challenges. something for that.

that I have BIG classes this semester and if I put all the tests on one day, I'll be working for hours to grade it all in one night. That was my entire day.

That and finding out one of my EOBs was a denial for my DexCom monitors and I wrote and asked them WHY they denied a claim from the company they INSISTED I use. I hope that gets straightened out because that's 1000$ to me if they don't.

We needed rain bad. We're now on day 4 and flooding. fantastic. Lost my power third day in a row too. It was raining inside my building again. Also someone turned on the heat. Again. It was 77 when I showed up to work outside so WHY the heat is on....


I did manage to finish a fandomgiftbasket story but I'm worried that it's toeing the DNW list (Jealousy is one request but so is no other pairings other than listed...)



What I Just Finished Reading:

Nothing Special vol 2 - a fantasy webtoon, it's cute

Jaws - I needed as J and one of my dentists handed me this to read. Someone's thesis on why there is so much malocclusion. Riveting (no, it's not)



What I am Currently Reading:

Cards on the Table - Agatha Christie - a good reminder she was a woman of her time and that Italians were NOT liked well in the 20s and 30s The victim seems to have deserved to die because Dagos are shifty and untrustworthy....it's not in there much but it was there in the beginning and I set this aside for years and now it's back about mid way in...

Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World - imagine Gavin or Lindsey trying to get promoted at Wolfram and Hart and you more or less have it. It's interesting but it's hard to root for Colin since he's actively evil and petty


What I Plan to Read Next: I'm so behind on my challenges. something for that.

So today I get woken up by Macy's credit card calling to tell me I missed a payment (I did. Well fuck)

Then I get a text from CVS back in Pittsburgh. They have two pills filled and waiting for pick up. I have zero pills on auto refill (hear the internal screaming yet) I don't have time to deal with them.

At work my vascular surgeon's people call me in great concern. 'Are you okay? WHY do you need more blood thinners? You have an active script.' There's me in front of my class going uh what? I never asked you for more blood thinners. CVS called us. They did WHAT? a) I don't need a refill yet b) I don't need a new script. I have like 3 months left on this one. OMFG CVS.

Later that same class the surgeon calls to reconfirm my appt tomorrow which great because I was going to call after class because I don't remember them asking for my birthday and wasn't sure they made the appt.

I spent all weekend redoing the links on my online portions of class. Still not working as it turns out. (this is where my soul left my body)

Got an email from the dean. Is your art project ready? Technically no. I did around for my bones to put in my piece...and realize the small animal bones I had I gave to wild life so now I'm over there digging for tiny bones while talking to the head of wild life about the fact we need to add a 200 level research class because in spite of this never happening before in 20 years I had a second student ask me about doing research as a sophomore. She's a h.s. student who'll graduate in may and will graduate college with her associates as well. She wants to go to OSU to their dental program and can I help her. Not this semester young lady. We're 3 weeks in but next semester you bet because I need more work but I can't hardly say no to someone who is begging to do this (unlike my usual senior who has to be corralled and forced).

I get bones. I come home and get all the leaves I preserved last year for this. In spite of following a YT tutorial none of them kept their color but they ARE pliable. So that's ready, leaves, moss, bones. By friday it'll be art.

Also I'm doing Ashes of Them, where I decided to burn some poetry in my sink and mix visible text with ash and a 'wedding ring.' What could go wrong here? Well the smaller version of the poetry burnt so fast it burnt the text. WAH. I had the larger version that I made by mistake. Burnt it but it's still too big (will reprint tomorrow after the company party.) Burn even more paper for more ash. Because art!

Wanna bet Dana gets banned from faculty/staff art show next year.


While home I call CVS in Pittsburgh and ask why they refilled my script. they can't tell me AND somehow my doctor sent my new script there. They claim they didn't call my doc about that script renewal.

I call MY CVS, ask them to transfer those scripts and all my others. We need the names of them scripts. I start telling her and she says 'call us back on the weekend.' OMFG. By the way WHY do you have my pills also auto refilled and waiting (who the fuck knows which ones, she couldn't tell me)? And why did you call my doctor.

we didn't do that. Uh huh

Then United Health Care called about other Dana. I go into my spiel. 'oh my, how did that happen? I'll take your number out of the system.' Uh huh. Yinz been saying that for four years now.


BOOKS!

What I Just Finished Reading:

Solid Gold Murder - solid mediocre



Within the Darkness - a nonlinear fantasy jumping back and forth between 2017 and 1917, it was pretty good


The Secret of the Orange Blossom Cake - romance magic realism with a lead you want to slap into next week


What I am Currently Reading:

Wrong Side of the Grave - Bryna Butler mothman as an alien...she's local


What Moves the Dead - T. Kingfisher a very cool, queer coded retelling of the Fall of the House of Usher


What I Plan to Read Next: I'm so behind on my challenges. something for that


And finally August's reading. You know how I like to talk books so if you're interested in any of these let's talk


Ohio's Black Hand Syndicate: The Birth of Organized Crime in America true crime

Within This Darkness YA rural fantasy

Atlas of Unknowable Things gothic

Pantomime fantasy

A Dark and Deadly Journey historic mystery

The Wood YA rural fantasy

( under here for political crap )

One of my students tells me on the way out. Are you buttering me up already? It's only day 3. Then again compared to the other two biology profs I know you had, yes yes I AM cool. In this same class we were talking about radium and I went off on a radium girls tangent and how their medical records were doctored to make it look like they were loose girls with syphilis vs taking accountability for what these companies did and how things like the FDA came from these cases and the story of Eben Byers, the rich dude who was drinking so much radithor health drinks his jaw fell off.

Don't google this. Five seconds later they're all around one one laptop, stunned.

You googled it.

THIS CANT BE REAL!! Yes, sorry radium jaw is real. And that's what runaway predatory capitalism looks like.


But also WHY the fuck was the heater on today? Yes it was 57 this morning but I didn't think (nor does anyone think) that our building has sensors that should kick on the heater. It was 87 went I got there. I bitched. By noon the a/c was back on. WTF.


Today I stumbled onto the beginnings of a charity event with the Amazing Digital Circus crew playing Peak. Okay I still don't get the whole watch people play games thing but the charity was a good one (money to help immigrants fight back against what happens after ICE) so I donated and listened for a while.


What I Just Finished Reading:

What Can't be Said - a Sebastian St. Cyr book I called it but loved it




What I am Currently Reading:

Atlas of Unknowable Things - this is strange, good but weird

Solid Gold Murder - the one in my writerly ways this sunday. It's a little better AND the dumb ass thing I was talking about has come back and hit her in the ass so huzzah



What I Plan to Read Next:
The Secret of the Orange Blossom Cake - I bumped this to here5

Mom had to drive my SUV today so I could take the Bronco back (no problems) and from there we went to Primanti Brothers, started in 1933 which I love (it's the one famous for having slaw and fries on the sandwich, and man they're good fries)

From there we went to the casino. I lost. Mom won 200$. It was fun for an hour.

Came home, finished my syllabi (barely in time, due friday) fielded some nonsense at work (there's plenty of it)

Got excited because I can finally go out to watch the Persaid meteor shower. It's raining. Naturally.

What I Just Finished Reading:

Dark and Dangerous Journey - WWII mystery arc, really enjoyed this.

Pantomine - an LGBT (intersexed main character) fantasy, I like it thought it ended well, set up for book 2

The Black Hand Syndicate in Ohio, one of those over priced history books you use in local drug stores. Well researched, but not as interesting as you'd want it to be for 25$


Holy crap I need to get caught up on my book reviews


What I am Currently Reading:

The Wood - an urban fantasy so far so good

What Can't be Said - the latest Sebastian St. Cyr book (or is it last year's and I need to get this year?) too soon to say, but I love this series

The Secret of the Orange Blossom Cake - WHY did I ask for this arc? It's a magic realism romance. Was it the magic realism (Not nearly enough of it) or because it's set in Italy? It's too contemporary romance for me but it's not badly written but there are logic gaps and the main character is SO irritating.



What I Plan to Read Next:

I have so many arcs

I had been short listed for my weird west thing but didn't make it in. I'm sad. I loved those girls. There is another weird west open call but the pay is low and I am not feeling it. Sigh. Had one for my watery colonial monster but that open call doesn't want historicals. Sigh. Sometimes it's hard to feel appreciated as an author that's for sure.

So have the book thing

What I Just Finished Reading:

Cinders of Yesterday - Buffy/Supernatural vibes, urban fantasy, lesbian partners (by a queer author) really liked this. It was set up for a second book but I don't see any yet. Maybe she'll be at the Gettysburg Steampunk con again


Zero at the Bone - an old true crime not badly written saggy in the middle

The Crossing Places - really a good mystery but my god the fat shaming in this

Victoria's Electric Coffin #3 - I had no idea this was gonna end in 3 books but in some ways I like that


What I am Currently Reading:

War Child - a Deep Space Nine Novel lackluster like most Star Trek books

The Wood - an urban fantasy I literally lost under my bed for years

Dark and Dangerous Journey - WWII mystery arc


What I Plan to Read Next:

Pantomine - an LGBT (intersexed main character) fantasy, I like it but i'm shelving it for a bit