Assess the new look

I have had two problems with my lifestyle lately. One, I’m spending way too much time sitting in front of the computer– which remains vastly preferable to the alternative, but still an issue. Two, I am bald and for some reason bald this year has been cold in a way that it simply hasn’t in previous years.

Enter the skullcap, which fits nicely (more of a problem than you might believe; it’s nearly impossible to find hats that fit) and which I intend to wear around the house and outdoors on these sorts of days, and the fact that I am back in glasses, sort of, which will sit by the computer and be worn nowhere else, as they are blue light blockers and are supposed to cut down on eyestrain. I have close friends who will be mildly berated if they don’t work.

(This is not true. I have been describing myself as reasonably financially comfortable for a few years now, and my definition of “comfortable” is “can spend $20 pretty much whenever I like.” These glasses were $20. I won’t even bother returning them if I decide they don’t work.)

I sort of like the look of the skullcap (feel free to yell at me if you disagree) but I’m not in love with the Harry Potter style of the glasses. Then again, this picture will be the only time anyone who isn’t married to or genetically related to me sees them, so I don’t much care what they look like. I’ve gotta say, it’s weird having glasses back on my face again.

(Figures eyes are already hurty enough for the day, takes them off, figuring it won’t get worse)

(Questions own logic)

(Does it anyway)


Blah blah blah blah election panic-cakes. Amy Coney Barrett’s successful nomination makes it all the more critical that we take the Senate and then pack the hell out of the Supreme Court, hopefully impeaching Brett Kavanaugh along the way. My position all along has been that Coney’s nomination was legitimate– there wasn’t a “no election years!” rule when Merrick Garland was nominated and there isn’t one now– but that she should nonetheless be opposed with, well, every arrow in our quiver, Ms. Pelosi, and with every procedural trick and lowdown dirty bit of nonsense our parliamentarians can come up with.

Welp.

There are a number of dark and depressing paths my brain could wander down at the moment; I’m doing my best to cling to what little optimism I can find. If the election is won by a large enough margin we don’t have to worry about the electoral college or the Supreme Court stealing it, and if the presidency is won by that large of a margin it should take the Senate with it. We’ll worry about that first, then move on to the other stuff.

The degree to which the last two Supreme Court nominees are poster children for overpromoted white mediocrity is pretty impressive, by the way. I actually brought up Coney Barrett last time around as an example of a nominee they could have picked who wasn’t a drunken, belligerent rapist and would still be a stenographer for whatever the Republicans wanted, but I still feel like there still has to be someone out there who has maybe been a judge for longer than I spent in high school, or, like, actually been a lawyer, maybe. But whatever. It’s fine, she’s white, that’s good enough for them, yeah? Sure.

Okay I can’t do that

…yeah, I had a whole plan to write today’s post early and make it be About Something, and basically utterly failed at that, so instead I’m just going to pop in and point out that I slept surprisingly well last night except for a random hour between 2 and 3 AM, and that in the shower just now the thought What if I have to sneeze during the surgery? occurred to me and now I am completely obsessed with the idea.

So that’ll be fun.

Have a woodworking video:

See you (hah, a pun!) tomorrow.

Okay I can do this

Starting to get just a liiiiiittle jumpy about tomorrow, y’all. While scheduling the surgery for 2:30 is good for me in terms of coming home and going to bed, it’s less good for keeping myself Not Nutty between now and it actually happening. I’m gonna wake up at four in the morning and spend the rest of the day imagining pew pew lasers blowing my eyes out of the back of my head, I swear.

Be aware that I will probably write a post today to pop tomorrow sometime so that I don’t have to do it before the laserating. I’m not supposed to look at screens or read anything in between the surgery and the doctor’s follow-up the next day, and I’m fairly certain I can’t write a blog post without doing either of those two things. So once I’m home from my follow-up on Tuesday y’all can hear all about how it went.

I’m sure you’re looking forward to it.

New Jayashree story!

UnknownWarrior Jayashree and the Roc is written and finished.

Oh, you don’t see it on here anywhere?

It’s because it’s the first exclusive post on my new Patreon.

Which…

Holy crap, guys, this is terrifying.  I mean, I was jumpy when I released Benevolence Archives, Vol. 1 out into the wild a few years ago, but somehow the notion that I’ve gotten uppity enough to ask people to send me a little bit of money every month basically just because they like my work is humbling and terrifying and maybe I’m gonna throw up and please just one or two of you buy into this?  Please?

I’ve been going back and forth on this for a while, and I think I’ve come up with a reward structure I like and a use for the page– there are going to be lots of microfiction-type stuff posted there, along with some short stories as I write them, deleted scenes, stuff like that.  I might eventually post what I got written of Sunlight before it fell apart; who knows?

But anyway:  I’m currently supporting about five or six people on Patreon to the tune of $2 or so a month.  I would be humbled and honored if anybody out there feels like I’m worth that much, and if you happen to have some money burning holes in your pocket and want to throw in more, awesome.  And hey– new Jayashree story!  Everybody loves Jayashree, right?

(I love Jayashree.  I might love Jayashree more than Brazel.  Don’t tell him.)

Click here to view my Patreon page.

(Please?)

Oh god

 THIS IS REAL.