I know I’ve used that joke before, but I’ve genuinely been sitting here for ten minutes trying to remember what the hell I was going to blog about tonight, and I can’t bring it to mind. Today was a really long day for like the fourth day in a row and I think maybe my brain is starting to revolt.
Tag: archer
That’s How We Get Ants: a #review of @chuckwendig’s INVASIVE
Today was my day off. In honor of my day off, I got home from taking the boy to school, read yesterday’s comic books, finished Invasive, and then went to bed until about 4:00. I didn’t oversleep; I didn’t take a longer nap than I wanted to. Sleeping for the entire day was the plan and I regret nothing. On Saturday, I worked an 11-hour shift, 6.5 on Sunday, 8 on Monday, and 11 on Tuesday and Wednesday. That’s nearly fifty hours, all of it on my feet, including unloading furniture trucks on Tuesday. I needed the sleep.
So. Yeah. Invasive.
I think the best thing I can say about this book is that I wish to hell I had written it. Invasive is exactly what I want my own work to be: it’s a fast-paced read, hugely cinematic– of everything I’ve read of Wendig’s, and I’ve read a fair number of his books by now, this would most easily translate into a movie– and juuust futuristic and sciencey enough to keep things interesting. I like books that have characters in them who are smarter than I am, and half the characters in this book make me look like Sarah Palin by comparison.
Oh, and it’s creepy as hell, too, to the point where reading it is virtually guaranteed to literally make you physically uncomfortable at times. Take a gander at the cover, there, and understand that the book begins with a definition of the word formication, which I’m going to be a jerk and make you Google rather than defining it. This book is gonna screw with your head. It’s gonna screw with your body. And once you’re done being creeped out, you’re going to appreciate it.
Note that if you go to Amazon and check out the listing, you will see that this book is listed as being part of a series– a sequel to Zer0es, which I also quite liked. The links are very tenuous. There’s a character or two in common and one brief reference to the first book. I almost didn’t realize it was a sequel, and if you haven’t read Zer0es, there is absolutely nothing to worry about.
So go read it.
(Oh, and there’s an extended Archer riff. There are not characters in this book named Archer, Barry, Ray, and Pam by accident. There just aren’t.)
Sometimes I tell lies
Remember Monday, when I was all like “regular programming resumes tomorrow”? And yesterday, when I said I’d try and write something today?
The best part is that he’s learning
(Context for the title. You should all watch Archer.)
So I’m starting to enjoy fiddling with Scrivener.
I spent a chunk of last night sleepily going through the (rather impressively detailed) tutorial that they include with the program, and got through about half of it. It does an impressive job of using the program to teach the end-user how to run itself, and by the time I was halfway through the thing I was fully in the okay it’s time to start writing now and figure the rest out later stage of working. And, well, as you can see I’m actually accomplishing things. Mostly. Sorta.
So far I’ve been on summer vacation for eight hours and nineteen minutes if I start the count from when I got up this morning. During that time I’ve received fifteen emails and four phone calls– one from my assistant principal, and her summer vacation started a week ago. Each and every one was about stuff that I really shouldn’t have been needed for. But whatever, at least no one has asked me to come back in. Yet.
It’s cloudy outside. It’s been cloudy outside for a week or two now, and that telescope that I acquired at the cost of high personal drama hasn’t been outside the damn house yet. Tonight will be the peak of the Jupiter-Venus conjunction, and if I can’t see it at least with naked eye because of the clouds I’m going to be pissed. It cannot possibly stay cloudy all summer long, but I have a feeling that it’s going to try. The forecast is showing a clear window between 9:00 and 10:00. That ought to be enough, as sunset’s at 9:23, but keep your fingers crossed for me. I’ll take pictures if I’m able to get set up at all.
Make up your mind, boy
Managed to get, like, fifteen errands run on the way home from work today, which has me feeling Awesomely Productive and Ready to Face the World… just in time to get home and have little left to do other than take out the garbage and wait for the boy to go to bed so that MLW and I can watch Walking Dead tonight. Right now I’m sitting on the couch typing this on the iPad while cycling through Sesame Street YouTube videos for the boy.
Full episodes don’t really do it for him anymore; it’s easier to select one of the few dozen songs we have in our YouTube history and watch it a dozen times, then insist that it’s time for “different singers.” Now, “different singers” could mean anything, but the one thing that “different singers” does not mean is the video you think it does. And he doesn’t seem to know what “yeah” means, either.
“Do you want to watch Elmo’s song?”
“Yeah!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah!”
“So I can play Elmo’s song. And you’re sure that’s the one you want to watch.”
“Yes.”
Daddy begins to play Elmo’s song. Screaming ensues. “DIFFERENT SINGERS!”
Ah, so… not that one, then. Rinse, wash, and repeat… forever. Even if he specifically requests something by name you can’t assume that he actually wants to watch that. It’s a ruse.
Speaking of ruses: He’s decided he likes Archer, of all the goddamn things in the world, which may make us the greatest parents in the known universe but probably actually makes us the worst parents in the world. Fun fact: the first season of Archer was on a loop while MLW was in labor. For many, many hours.
The nurses had absolutely no idea what to do with us.
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