Book 9: The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

I found this book while browsing the Science Fiction section at the library. 

Dietz enlists in the infantry during the war against Mar; she wanted to become a hero. The soldiers are broken down from mass into light for interplanetary travel. But some soldiers, including Dietz, experience combat drops that differ from those of the of the platoon. They are members of the Light Brigade. 

The concept of "getting busted down to light" reminds me of the Star Trek transporter system. But it's much less understood and safe. I enjoyed the book, but it was a little long.

I remember reading Kameron's blog in the mid 2000s. I read about some of her work about Nyx and God's War. When I picked up The Light Brigade, I read that she had written several books--several award winning books. 

I have to admit it made me feel inadequate. I'm struggling to write. Maybe seeing Kameron's success will give me the kickstart. I need. 

Happy Birthday and Blogoversary

Yesterday was my birthday--Jace's too. Today is my 16th anniversary posting here. Jeff and I are in the process of getting a financial plan including wills and health care power of attorney. And, of course, Jeff's sister died in April. So, I'm thinking a lot about time, i.e. the time that I have left. 

I want to use some time to revisit my Merwinsville book. Over the last few days, I read about the Merwin and Gaylord families and double checked some dates. For a few minutes I wondered if I was wrong about Sylvanus Merwin and Peter Gaylord being half brothers. Luckily, I was right. 

I was surprised to see I hadn't written or edited anything in over a year. (Although I believe I journaled about Merwinsville a few times.) I'm trying to get into that head set and think about the people. I need to develop the rivalry between the half brothers and add details. I'll probably lose the original scenes between Syl and Flora. Beef up the conflict. Figure out the ending.

Sporadic Posting, Hospital Visits, and Halloween

I certainly don't intend to post sporadically. What's the point of having a blog if I only post three times this month?

Sometimes I'm too busy, sometimes too tired, sometimes too distracted. 

Two days after my last post, Jeff was hospitalized for five nights. It started with intense pain; then there were complications. I really don't want to go into the details. What's important is that Jeff's feeling much better now and has a home PT appointment tomorrow. 

I was lucky to have friends like Annette and George. They met me at the emergency room, picked up Jace, and then invited me to stay with them. I thought it would only be for one night, but I stayed for two more. It was nice not to be alone. I just vegged and watched TV. 

Apparently Halloween is a big holiday here. I didn't participate except Jace and I continued to walk the trails. Part of the trail was decorated with ghosts, witches, bats, and more. 

I caught two of my favorite horror/Halloween movies. The first: Black Sunday. I watched it without any distractions. It is genuinely eerie and atmospheric. I also watched Kiss of the Vampire. This is not as scary as Black Sunday, and the vampires were whiny brats, but it has some good parts. 

We're settling back into what passes for normal now: slowly getting furniture and learning more about our new town.

Update

Once again, I've neglected this blog for too long. I wish I understood why.

We've been back from Delaware and Maryland for a week. We finally had a little luck. We found two places that we liked. We've been doing research since then, trying to get a better sense of both areas, considering what work we would want to do to the bathroom in one condo, etc. I've been going back and forth on which place I prefer. Our Baltimore realtor sent us listings of six other places. There's one that will work for us and I hope we can see it next week. I think we'll be returning Sunday or Monday.

We finally caught up with a friend we hadn't seen in months. We talked, listened to music, ate some munchies, and drank some wine. It was a relaxing afternoon.

I had volunteered to work at the Merwinsville Hotel last Sunday. Unfortunately, I had a bout of colitis and had to cancel. I ended up sleeping most of the afternoon. My sleeping patterns have been a mess lately. I'm waking up in the early mornings and having trouble falling asleep again. It's been frustrating, but I'll muddle through it.

Mid Year Review

This isn't a fun post to write. It hasn't been a great year for me.

Let's start with the fact that I never put together a list of goals. Here's what I  used for the first quarter review.

Gym visits: I should have 75 visits to be on target for my annual goal of 150. As of June 30th, I have 62 visits (and 5 in July.) Not bad, especially compared to 78 visits for all of last year. I'm happy with my physical activity. I'm walking Jace about 1.5 hours daily. I usually exercise here for a half hour when I don't go to the gym. I have real biceps. I'm now working more on my left bicep so it will match the right. I notice muscles in my thigh that I never noticed much before. 

Reading: I've read 10 books this year. Parable of the Sower was the best. I reread two books: a Nancy Drew mystery and a novel about Anne Boleyn. The other night I picked up Dune when I headed into bed. I just wanted to read something that wasn't a magazine. I got three books at the library today, so no more rereading for a while. 

Blogposts: This is my 61st post. January through March I was writing over 10 monthly posts. Then I fizzled out. Not posting is part of a bigger problem--not writing. Journaling has also suffered. This is something I need to change. 

While I haven't written about moving as a goal, Jeff and still hope to move this year. We've spent a lot of time looking at condos and houses online and have made two trips to Delaware. I continue my decluttering efforts. We just need to find a place to live.

Catching Up

I remember checking this blog last Sunday, realizing I hadn't posted in a week. Still, didn't post on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday.

Why not? I don't know: I was too lazy, too tired, too whatever. 

Last week was an expensive one. I picked up a few prescriptions for Jeff totaling over $300. I hope it's that high because he just changed insurance programs and has to meet a new deductible. We knew one prescription was expensive, but $300 was a surprise. 

What I thought was a slow tire leak ended up with me needing three new tires. At least I took care of that now and not during our upcoming visit to Delaware.(More on that later.)

I went to the dentist. I just needed cleaning--I take good care of my teeth. Preventive maintenance is well worth the cost, but it's still another bill for the week.

I found a place to repair the antique cinnabar lamps we inherited from Jeff's grandparents by way of his sister. I started looking for lamp shades back in December and had trouble with that, before finding I also needed some parts of the lamps repaired. That will cost around $200.

Then there's grocery shopping; I bought many things to avoid tariff increases. But I don't want to keep depressing myself, so I'll just stop here.

Two Weeks

I clicked on this site and saw the last title, "A Month Away," and thought it hasn't been that long. Just two weeks. 

Last week was bad, and the week before it had its own issues. Jeff was in a lot of pain last week; it was hard for him to even walk around our apartment. We cancelled all his appointments even the physical therapy that he needed; just walking from the car to the PT office would have wiped him out. At least he's feeling better--his normal level of pain. It sucks to have a normal level of pain on an everyday basis. He got back to PT yesterday and goes again tomorrow. We booked PT sessions through March. 

About two weeks ago, I felt like I had too many things that I needed to manage. It was if I were juggling and was losing some of the balls in the air. I pulled out a notebook and made a to-do list. Nothing earthshaking here--I just wanted to have everything in one place rather than scattered across my planner. I had nine "to-dos" and was thinking about how/when to do them. 

I quickly realized that I had forgotten two vital items: income tax prep, and health insurance research (Jeff is losing his Cobra coverage in April.) I added two more items. Over the last two weeks, I crossed off five items. That's not good, but not too bad considering. 

Anyway, time to make a new list. A new priority: my grandniece Daphne will be one in two-and-a-half ways. I'm buying her (and my other grandniece Ella) a book my cousin Deb wrote. I also have a copy of Go, Dog, Go! for Daphne. One of my favorite Cooper family photos is one of Daphne's father Kurt with his grandfather who is reading Go, Dog, Go! Unfortunately, that photo is in storage now. Recently, I've been displaying fewer photos, and put several good ones away. Oh well, I need to continue with my decluttering anyway.  

Bad news from the New Canaan Nature Center: the black vulture Mort has died. It might have been the Avian Flu. Mort was easygoing, vocal, and always hungry. Sad: NCNC just lost Ralph in February.

It's not all bad things recently. We had a week of nice weather. First the winds died down, and then it warmed up. Countdown to spring is progressing. We made it to March and are watching the Mets. This weekend we spring forward.

I went to a program on Rails to Whistlestops and made a contact with a Housatonic Railroad historian. This helped me get back into my Merwinsville work after a slow February. I'm also back in a good exercise routine. It helps with the stress and keeps me going. 

Off to a Good Start

It was a good feeling to walk with Jace today around 4:30 and realize it was nice out. It was 40 degrees which we hadn't seen in a while. More importantly, there was no wind. 

It sets the tone for this positive post. I'm happy with how 2025 has started.

Beginning January 2, I've been writing every day (from 223 to 587 words) for about a half hour to an hour-of-a-half. 

I've exercised every day beginning on the 2nd and gone to the gym six times. 

I've written eight blogposts. 

I've been changing up some routines and habits. The most important thing is writing in the morning. I've also changed Jace's walking schedule around. I'm switching up my gym workouts. I'm not spending as much time in the early morning on The New York Times games. That has been the most difficult routine for me to change. 

I haven't done much thinking about goalsetting. Instead, I'm actually doing things that will help me get to my goals.

I'm adding this following because I thought it was funny. It's a paraphrase from a collection of tweets--probably from the Huffington Post. 

                    I don't want a new year. I would prefer a gently used year. 

Time to Say Goodbye

 A week and a half into 2025, and things have settled in a more-or-less normal pattern. I realize that I haven't written a post about 2024 goals, highlights, etc. 

Spoiler alert: it's because 2024 was pretty much a total failure. 

Here goes: 

Dryuary Plus

Achieved.

Go to the gym 150 times. 

With 78 visits, I barely made it halfway to this goal. I was doing well with double-digit visits through March. I hit a funk in April, hurt my hand in May, had to deal with colitis (and am still navigating it to this day.) I was also away for a week in June and one in September. That doesn't fully explain my lack of visits from April through September.

Read 40 books.

I only read 27 books last year. The biggest reading month was June with six books. I wish I had at least read 30. I re-read four Preston and Child books as I waited for Angel of Vengeance (book 17.)

Write 150 to 200 blogposts.

I wrote 132 posts. I wish I had written more. On the other hand, I don't need to write more drivel.

Other writing/artistic work.

I didn't make any specific writing goals, and I barely wrote. The same with artistic work.

Late Thursday Thoughts

I've been meaning to write a version of a post for the past few days. But I've been in a prolonged writing slump. I've written only two posts this month. I haven't journaled since we were in Sea Isle City--about six weeks ago. Needless to say, I haven't done any serious writing. At least, I've been thinking more about writing, but that is obviously not enough.

Jeff and I have been dealing with various health issues and doctors' appointments over the last week-and-a-half including my colonoscopy on Monday morning. There were two days last week when I felt so bad, I could barely walk Jace and throw some meals together. I hope the colonoscopy resolves what's been wrong with me.

I don't think the Mets are going to make the playoffs. Today they lost a series to the Oakland As. At the beginning of the month, they lost a series to the Angels. The Mets are currently two games behind Atlanta for the last playoff spot. They have a three-game series against the Marlins--who are lousy against every team except the Mets. Then they play the Orioles, Padres, and Diamondbacks. It doesn't look good. New York Mets, please prove me wrong.

I found a Vanderpump Rules marathon on tv today--the season that ended with Scandoval. I watched around doing the laundry, walking Jace, taking Jeff to the doctor's. It reminded me that I never wrote a post about the latest VPR season. Maybe that will help me break out of this writer's block.

I'm Back

I haven't posted in over a week--and my last post was a short one. Before that, it had been 10 days. One week I was feeling chilled and lethargic (but no fever.). Later it was just lethargic. For one week, I only left the apartment to walk Jace. I didn't drive anywhere. I can't explain it--I felt like a slug. 

I've still managed to take Jace to Cove Island Park a few times recently. As of Wednesday, Stamford requires a permit to park there, so Jace and I won't return until October. Yesterday was probably the best day of the year. Jeff, Jace, and I ate lunch at Overton's before we drove to Cove Island.

My brother Jim, Jeff, Jace, and I made a quick trip to the Jersey Shore last weekend. The main reason was to scatter my mother's ashes. My mother died in early 2019. She had wanted to be cremated and talked about having her ashes taken to Venice (where my sister's ashes are.) Well, we haven't made it to Venice and don't know if/when we will. So we decided to take her to Ocean City, New Jersey. She had always enjoyed going there; she and my stepfather spent their honeymoon there. It sure beats my closet where the ashes have been for the last five years. (I did save some of her and my stepfather's ashes in case one of us makes it to Venice.)

We also visited with some cousins. We stopped at our cousin Barbara's place in Ortley Beach for a few hours. We met another cousin Elena, her husband Tom, and their golden retriever Franklin in Ocean City. We later spent the night at their place in Sea Isle City. We haven't seen them since my mother's memorial service and had a great visit. 

I hope to do more visiting in the next several months.

2024 Goals

I've been avoiding and/or procrastinating about goals for this year. I guess I'm hung over from 2023 failures. 

I'm two-thirds through my version of Dryuary. Going forward, I'll drink less during the week. (I know that's not specific enough to be an effective goal, but it will do for now.) I'm going to be more mindful of what I drink as well as of what I eat. 

I'm going to continue with my gym goal of 150 gym visits for 2024.

I'll stick with the reading goal of 40 books for the year. Maybe I'll have better luck in 2024. I read an article recently that opined that the type of books read are more important than the number of books read (to be continued in another post.)

Write 150-200 blogposts. I fell short of my goal of 200 posts for 2023. I guess three to four posts weekly is fine. 

Other writing--here is the hard part. I don't want to overthink this. Let's start with writing 200 words a day. 

Art goals? Let's start with something this week in my art journal. 

Maybe the time is right.

2023 Goals Review

I achieved only two of my annual goals.

I am proud that I finally made 150 gym visits for the year. I figured that goal was reasonable based on three visits a week. Last year was the first time I even got close at 143. I realized at the beginning of December that this could be the year I achieved my goal. And I did it, even though I had to go the gym the last six days of the year to do it.

The second success is my version of Dryuary. I didn't drink from January 2nd until Valentine's Day. A side goal was to drink only on weekends. I didn't succeed there (especially around the year-end holidays) but I am drinking much less often during the week, and I'm happy with that. 

Now onto my failures (sigh): reading, blogging, writing, and making art.

I wanted to read 40 books this year: I only read 29. I read 33 in 2021 and 35 in 2022. I'm disappointed that I regressed, but I feel a little better after reading this. Apparently, I'm in the 90th percentile of book reading U.S public. Not too shabby.

Another goal was to write 200 blogposts; I wrote 148. I find it easy to let days go by without posting. I read somewhere you should post at least three times a week. I barely missed that. 

Let's move on to writing and making art. I failed miserably here. My writing goal was to spend at least two hours a day writing, editing, researching, blogging, journaling and in that time produce 200 new words. I did this--maybe--a handful of times.

Another goal was to spend two hours a week making some kind of art. Another big failure. 

I need to continue to think about 2024 goals. 

Goodbye Jezebel, et al.

A few weeks ago, I clicked on Jezebel.com and noticed there had been no updates. I later learned that Jezebel had been shut down. I didn't read Jezebel on a daily basis, but I enjoyed its reporting of feminist issues as well as pop culture. 

I got to thinking about other websites and blogs that I used to read, such as Shakesville, Feministing, Feministe, and Pandagon. Others include: Elle, Phd, Womanist Musings, The Happy Feminist, Shapely Prose, Echidne of the Snakes. Then there were other blogs whose names I don't remember. 

I guess the golden age of blogs was about 15 years ago. On Shakesville alone, there were several contributors, and I would check it out several times a day to see what had been posted.

Some of the website/blog shutdowns were publicized; other sites disappeared without notice. I miss those blogs. Sigh. At  least, Jezebel may return. 

Monday Miscellanea

I'm beat. It feels like it's been a long day (though it's still early.) I woke up around 4:15. I know I slept after that--I remember snippets of dreams--but I'm not sure how long. 

I had a good workout at the gym. I also researched some auto and home insurance pricing. Those were my main to-dos for today, along with this post. I wanted to post because it's been eight days, not because I have anything particularly insightful to write.

Jeff sold his car last week to a cousin of a neighbor. We had a slight snag because he had let the registration lapse. It took us three tries over two days to renew online. If the online system didn't work, we wouldn't have been able to get an in-person appointment until the end of the month. 

I spent a good chunk of Saturday going through all the stuff I got out of his car and consolidating his things with what I had in my car. We had more towels and blankets than we realized. I ended up reorganizing the linen closet and packing up things for Goodwill. 

For several weeks, our temperatures have richoceted from unseasonably warm (90 degrees in September and 80 degrees last week) to unseasonably cold. It's strange to see the beginning of fall foliage and Halloween decorations when it's 80 degrees. At least it feels like fall now, even though it's late October temperatures for now. It's also rained the first three Saturdays of fall, with more rain predicted for this Saturday. Ugh.

It's taken me a long time to recover from my bout with the flu. I don't know if I had a bad case or if I'm just old.

We're watching the baseball playoffs. Things aren't going as expected, but that's what makes baseball fun. I do hope the Orioles turn it around though. 

Blogger's Block

I haven't been posting lately--I barely managed 47 words for Anne Boleyn and that was 19 days ago. 

I decided I must have blogger's block. I've never heard the term, but I was sure someone else had coined it. A quick search found this article.

That got me thinking about regular writer's block. I'm suffering from that too. 

I'm retired--I have the time to write. I have ideas. So, what's the matter with me? An obvious response is that I'm not writing because I'm not taking a spring writing course. 

I've been taking writing classes given by the Norwalk Library since the fall of 2018. The spring session is a ten-week course. Presumably, I would have written ten stories in the class. But one reason I didn't take the class was I wanted to write something other than short stories responding to prompts. 

Unfortunately, I haven't written much of anything--only a little journaling.

It's not enough. Not for someone who claims she is a writer. Not writing makes me doubt myself. I can come up with excuses such as I'm busy with other things, I run out of time by the end of the day, etc.  But, they're only excuses and not legitimate reasons. 

I've found myself letting other things slide too--like housework. 

I decided I had to start somewhere. First, I did some easy things I'd been meaning to do. I ordered some summer clothes, wrote a recommendation for a dog walker/sitter, and wrote a sympathy note.  I worked on this blogpost (I had started it about a week ago.) Today, I sat down to write and finished it. 

Small steps.

2023 Goals

Here are my 2023 goals. 

Stop drinking from January 2 to Valentine's Day: I'm already one-third of the way there. It gets easier each year. 

In addition, I want to limit my overall alcoholic consumption for health reasons. I think wine enhances meals. It's easy to get in the habit of pouring a glass (or two) with dinner, but it's not something I really need. My brother asked me why I don't quit completely, but I enjoy wine, beer, and cocktails. Also, as one doctor in the linked article says, "We did prohibition, it didn't work." I'll limit my drinking to weekends (except for special occasions.)

Reading: my goal is to read 40 books this year (last year's goal was 35). That amounts to less than half a book more each month. 

Go to the gym 150 times: I came close this year with 143 visits. I just have to keep plugging away. I also want to exercise for 30 minutes on days I don't make it to the gym. 

Write 200 blogposts: This is a doable goal even if I haven't done it the last two years. 

Now for the goals that are harder to measure.

Writing: I didn't get around to setting any kind of writing goals last year. I was disappointed in my writing production last year. Is it cause and effect? Could be.

On Friday, I decided I should spend two hours each day writing, editing, researching, blogging, journaling. In that two hours I have to write 200 words of new material. Friday was the only day I've managed to hit the goal. 

Art: I want to spend two hours a week making some kind of art. Right now, I'm thinking of art journals and artist trading cards.

There's work to do. 

Last Week of the Year

I extended my quiet Christmas into Monday. I feel like I've been running ever since. Jeff had two doctors' appointments and two physical therapy appointments. I had a doctor's appointment and took care of the NCNC Birds of Prey twice. On Tuesday one of the aviaries was locked from the inside, the Visitors Center was closed, and the staff was off. Luckily, I managed to find a key so I could care for Jasper. I also had my normal chores and errands, and Jace walks. 

I realize that I've been resisting writing, blogging, and working out for the past few weeks. Julia Cameron (The Artist's Way) writes, "Resistance always has meaning." I need to figure out my meaning. It's beyond being busy or preoccupied. 

I had a skin cancer removed about two weeks ago. I returned to the dermatologist yesterday so the surgeon could remove tissue around the margins. I'm not supposed to lift weights for two weeks. I had planned to hit the gym today and (maybe) tomorrow. I'm bummed I only made it to the gym once this week. I had hoped to be on a roll to start the new year. 

Cooking a duck breast for dinner tonight. I'm not hungry at the moment--we had a late lunch at Sedona Tap House--but will start prepping after I take Jace for his late afternoon walk. We do have all night after all. It's another quiet New Year's Eve for us. I don't need the parties and the fuss. No pressure. 

2021: The Year in Review: Part One

I usually wait until the year is over before reviewing it. I recently heard a segment on the radio about preparing for performance reviews. The report was focused on the workplace, even though performance reviews aren't as popular as they used to be. I thought it would  be a good exercise to start a review of my personal performance.

Covid-19 overshadowed this year as well as last year. By this time last year, a vaccine (maybe two) had been developed, but it was available only to a few. We started the year sheltering and were careful throughout the year. Jeff's health problems were also challenging, and so were Lola's to a lesser extent. 

I'm the healthy one. I took care of all my long neglected health check-ups and tests, got necessary vaccinations. I returned to the gym in June (Jeff too.) Lola is helping me stay healthy too by our daily walks. I am exercising most days between gym visits, walking Lola, and working out at home (mostly stretching.) I'll list my number of gym visits when the year is over. 

As usual, we've done our alcohol fast. It starts after New Year's Day, depending on what day New Year's is. In 2022, we'll probably start Monday January 3rd and end on Valentine's Day (a Friday.) I was proud this year that I wasn't tempted to drink while Jeff was in the hospital. (Similarly, I didn't drink the year I broke my ankle in the wee hours of New Year's Day. Both events would have given me good excuses.)

Looking back at the 2021 goals I posted, they are incomplete and somewhat sketchy. My goal to read 30 books was specific. To date, I've read 33 and re-read five books. I may finish my current book and and list them.

Another specific goal was to write 200 blog posts. This is my 187th. This goal is doable as long as I have enough of interest (at least to me) to post. I've been in a bit of writing/posting mood so I'm feeling optimistic about this. We'll see. 

More to follow. 

A New Look

I needed to add a line or two to my last blog post. For some reason, I started looking at different ways to change the look of the theme. This is what I chose.