Unread Shelf: November 30, 2021

Still so much to read, although I think this is lighter than last month. But I have a beta read and an ARC to get to before this gets any smaller.

A day of minor annoyances

Today was a very special day. Nearly everything that happened today was annoying, but nothing was, like, really annoying, and even taken in the aggregate complaining about my day seems really whiny, even after adjusting for “this is my blog and you’re reading it for free.” It was the kind of annoying day where complaining about all the annoying things that happened is just going to make me seem kinda hateful and grouchy.

I’mma do it anyway.

  • Today was a day with no students, so I stopped to grab breakfast at McDonald’s, a minor tradition. I pulled in to the incredibly exciting sight of no line at the drive-thru only to discover that they were so understaffed inside that it still took fifteen minutes to get my food.
  • And they got my order wrong, giving me chicken McGriddles instead of my requested McChicken Biscuits; this ordinarily would not be much of a problem, except
  • every time I have McGriddles my nose sweats maple syrup for the rest of the fucking day, and since I was at work I had no access to proper face-washing tools or my toothbrush.
  • When I got to my classroom, I pulled my keys out of my pocket, then tried to use the remote for my car to unlock my classroom door, then stood there like an idiot for a few moments wondering why my door wouldn’t unlock.
  • I didn’t get the email with the Zoom link for the training we were supposed to be doing today, so I was ten minutes late to my meeting, with a pit-stop in the wrong meeting along the way;
  • The meeting itself was (predictably) boring as hell;
  • My classroom was the exact wrong temperature– too cold to not have a hoodie on, too hot to be wearing a hoodie.
  • I tried out the new porn salad place (I’m not explaining, roll with it) and the salad was actually really good except for the bacon being way too salty. Like, way too salty.
  • I have never in my life experienced overly-salted bacon before today.
  • Yes, my salad featured bacon, shut up
  • I did not win teacher of the year
  • I got done with everything I had to do today, including my training, an hour before school ended and then got weirdly shy about ducking out early (note that “go when your shit is done” has always been an unwritten rule in this building when the kids aren’t around) so I spent an hour literally just sitting in my chair watching YouTube on my laptop
  • Picking out plastic cups at Target on the way home was way more annoying of a chore than it should have been;
  • I ended up also having to go to Walgreen’s because I needed candy bars for some of my kids and Target didn’t have one of the candy bars the kids requested, so a whole other trip was necessary
  • I got home to discover my wife had made tortellini soup for dinner, which is normally a wonderful thing as it’s one of my favorite foods, except now my nose is sweating garlic instead of maple syrup and I never want to eat again;
  • I ordered a fidget ring hoping it would help me curb my disgusting habit of picking at the tips of my fingers. It arrived today and it is exactly 87% of what I wanted it to be but that 13% may make it unusable;
  • My son got his second Covid shot today at 6:30, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed this fucking “fall back” daylight savings time bullshit but leaving the house after 5 PM nowadays feels like leaving the house at midnight, because it was fuckdark and snowing outside;
  • Twitter is being dumb again.
  • I have forgotten something, and whatever I have forgotten was something funny.

Blech.

Oh right I have a job

I think I’m probably okay with considering today the last day of my break, seeing as how technically I do have to go to work tomorrow, but there will be no children there and we are just in training all day, and I’m pretty sure the day is ending early anyway. I got some grading and planning done today, and I’m not kvetching and Sundaying yet, but it’s only 7:30 and that word “yet” is kinda important.

Four days, five days, four days. Then Winter Break. Take ’em one day at a time and everything will be fine, right?

Mischief Managed, Mostly: A #Readaroundtheworld update

I am forty pages into Annie Proulx’s Barkskins, which is the duly designated novelistic representative of the great state of Wyoming, meaning that I have completed my goal of reading one book from each of the 50 US States, with Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. thrown in for shits and giggles. I’m currently at 39 different countries, a metric I intend to continue to pay attention to for a bit, as I’m still enjoying it, but I have to admit I’m glad to have this particular reading goal in the rear-view mirror. Barkskins is a bit of a doorstopper at 700+ pages, but based on the beginning of the book I think it’ll be a pretty quick and enjoyable read for all that, and once I finish it I have a beta read that I’ve been sitting on (for much too long) for a friend and an ARC to read and review, and then I can move into 2022’s project, which is to read whatever the fuck I want for a year and not worry about the details at all. I’ve had fun with my reading projects for the last several years and I’m sure I’ll revisit the idea again in the future but I want this year to be less about hitting a metric of some sort.

If you’re curious, here’s the list. Hopefully it doesn’t look too heinous outside the editor:

Archaeology from SpaceParcak, Sarah2/13/212/14/21US/Alabama
The Raven’s GiftRearden, Don5/13/215/15/21US/Alaska
Son of the StormOkungbowa, Suyi Davies6/26/217/2/21US/Arizona
True GritPortis, Charles11/7/2111/7/21US/Arkansas
BumpWallace, Matt1/29/211/29/21US/California
The Future of Another TImelineNewitz, Annalee5/9/215/13/21US/California
The Hill We ClimbGorman, Amanda5/30/215/30/21US/California
The Hidden PalaceWecker, Helene7/12/217/18/21US/California
Savage BountyWallace, Matt7/20/217/24/21US/California
Fear and Loathing in Las VegasThompson, Hunter6/10/216/10/21US/Colorado
Rebel SistersOnyebuchi, Tochi2/20/212/23/21US/Connecticut
The Book of Unknown AmericansHenriquez, Cristina10/24/2110/26/21US/Delaware
Robbing the BeesBishop, Holley10/22/2110/24/21US/Florida
Treason of HawksBowen, Lila9/4/219/6/21US/Georgia
Sharks in a Time of SaviorsWashburn, Kawai Strong6/24/216/26/21US/Hawai’i
IdahoRuskovich, Emily10/1/2110/2/21US/Idaho
The Queen of Gilded HornsJoy, Amanda4/19/214/23/21US/Illinois
Hood FeminismKendall, Mikki5/23/215/26/21US/Illinois
Rise to the SunJohnson, Leah7/24/217/25/21US/Indiana
NightbitchYoder, Rachel9/6/219/8/21US/Iowa
Nubia: Real OneMcKinney, L.L.2/26/20212/21/21US/Kansas
Narrative of the Life of Henry Bibb, an American Slave, Written by HimselfBibb, Henry10/17/2110/18/21US/Kentucky
Into the DarkGray, Claudia6/17/216/18/21US/Louisiana
Billy SummersKing, Stephen8/10/218/14/21US/Maine
StillbrightFord, Daniel1/1/211/4/21US/Maryland
First, Become AshesSzpara, K.M.7/2/217/3/12US/Maryland
How the Word is PassedSmith III, Clint9/16/219/18/21US/Maryland
The Lightning ThiefRiordan, Rick12/29/2012/31/20US/Massachusetts
A Queer History of the United StatesBronski, Michael1/17/211/22/21US/Massachusetts
Unknown Man #89Leonard, Elmore5/19/215/23/21US/Michigan
John Crow’s DevilJames, Marlon8/18/218/20/21US/Minnesota
Concrete RoseThomas, Angie2/27/20212/27/21US/Mississippi
The Puppet MastersHeinlein, Robert10/12/2110/15/21US/Missouri
An Absolutely Remarkable ThingGreen, Hank2/7/212/8/21US/Montana
The Meaning of NamesShoemaker, Karen Gettert11/7/2111/10/21US/Nebraska
The Necessary BeggarPalwick, Susan11/23/2111/25/21US/Nevada
The Hotel New HampshireIrving, John10/31/2111/7/21US/New Hampshire
The Empire of GoldChakraborty, S.A.7/26/218/4/21US/New Jersey
The Assassination of Fred HamptonHaas, Jeffrey6/3/216/4/21US/New Mexico
The Traitor Baru CormorantDickinson, Seth1/10/211/14/21US/New York
The Monster Baru CormorantDickinson, Seth1/22/211/27/21US/New York
The Tyrant Baru CormorantDickinson, Seth1/30/212/6/21US/New York
Light of the JediSoule, Charles2/6/212/7/21US/New York
The Dead are Arising: The Life of Malcolm XPayne, Les & Tamara3/17/213/21/21US/New York
The Girl in the RoadByrne, Monica2/11/212/13/21US/North Carolina
Queen of the UnwantedGlass, Jenna10/4/2110/10/21US/North Carolina
The Haunted MesaL’Amour, Louis9/2/219/4/21US/North Dakota
African SamuraiLockley, Thomas & Girard, Geoffrey6/5/216/8/21US/Ohio
JuneteenthEllison, Ralph6/18/216/19/21US/Oklahoma
Cemetery BoysThomas, Aiden1/4/211/9/21US/Oregon
Jade LegacyLee, Fonda8/4/218/10/11US/Oregon
A Court of Thorns and RosesMaas, Sarah5/5/215/9/21US/Pennsylvania
The Book of AccidentsWendig, Chuck8/21/218/24/21US/Pennsylvania
When I Was Puerto RicanSantiago, Esmeralda11/25/2111/26/21US/Puerto Rico
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird StoriesLovecraft, H.P.10/31/2110/31/21US/Rhode Island
Bastard out of CarolinaAllison, Dorothy10/2/2110/4/21US/South Carolina
Parasites Like UsJohnson, Adam11/17/2111/18/21US/South Dakota
Crush the KingEstep, Jennifer3/10/20213/13/21US/Tennessee
Ash and QuillCaine, Rachel12/26/2012/29/20US/Texas
Smoke and IronCaine, Rachel2/24/20212/27/21US/Texas
Pen and SwordCaine, Rachel3/31/214/2/21US/Texas
Persephone StationLeicht, Stina5/15/215/18/21US/Texas
Wings of EbonyElle, J.6/22/216/24/21US/Texas
Escaping Exodus: SymbiosisDrayden, Nicki7/8/217/12/21US/Texas
Heartbreak BayCaine, Rachel7/19/217/20/21US/Texas
LegionSanderson, Brandon9/13/219/15/21US/Utah
Open SeasonMayor, Archer10/10/2110/12/21US/Vermont
The House on the Cerulean SeaKlune, TJ6/8/216/10/21US/Virginia
Across the Green Grass FieldsMcGuire, Seanan1/29/211/30/21US/Washington
Calculated RisksMcguire, Seanan4/11/214/16/21US/Washington
A Promised LandObama, Barack5/30/216/3/21US/Washington DC
The Unquiet EarthGiardina, Denise10/15/2110/17/21US/West Virginia
When the Tiger Came Down the MountainVo, Nghi1/27/211/27/21US/Wisconsin
The Speaker for the DeadAddison, Katherine10/18/2110/21/21US/Wisconsin
BarkskinsProulx, Annie11/27/21US/Wyoming

I spent no money today

Unfortunately, refraining from any Black Friday-related shenanigans is apparently all I had the willpower for, so I’m taking the night off. I’ve been lethargic and bleh all day today, so I’m going to screw around on the PS5 for a bit and go to bed early.