Catching up.
It has now been so long since I went to New York that it’s only the same amount of time again that I’ll be back in New York, but damnit, I wrote this trip write-up and so you’re gonna get it whether you like it or not. Well, not that you actually have to read it or anything.
NEW YORK
» I went to NYC, and promptly got some kind of bug on the plane that kept me largely out of action for a few days, except for going over to chuckro and jethrien's place a couple times for Jethrien's birthday and then an evening of gaming (and a Labor Day party complete with Super Mario Bros. showing). Oh, and seeing Captain America, which I enjoyed even more than predicted. Just as I was getting better, we got the news that Hurricane Irene was coming. While we weren't too worried, xannoside lives on the waterfront and had absolutely no emergency supplies whatsoever, so touristing was put by the wayside in favor of disaster prep. In the end, Chuck and Jethrien graciously let us bunk down at their place overnight. (They put up wit me rather a lot during this trip. Thanks, guys!) As it turned it, it was effectively a nerdy sleepover with a lot of rain in the background, and we came home to find my brother's apartment entirely intact with no flooding in the vicinity. Still glad we left, though -- if nothing else, hearing those tropical storm/hurricane force winds around our many, many windows would not have been fun.
» All that effectively cut the length of my trip in half, so I didn't get to do as much as I'd planned. I did some exploring, and went The Strand for the first time -- no, I don't understand why it took me so long, either! I bought … quite a lot of stuff, mostly remaindered Spider-Man trades I've had my eye on for a while; the most interesting items were the Connie Willis novella collection, American Born Chinese, and a Spider-Man UK annual from 1991 which reprints a favorite Hobgoblin story of mine (Amazing Spider-Man _____, featuring Harry and Liz being dears and MJ being a BAMF) in an oversized hardcover format. I also finally bought the bullet and bought Adam-Troy Castro's Gathering of the Sinister Six on amazon, so I can finally read the full Sinister Six trilogy instead of just the last two parts. octopedingenue, if you're reading this we must chat on the subject.
» Also in Spider-Man news, snapples-apples and I met up for an afternoon to talk RP and get rush tickets to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. It's pretty much exactly as described in reviews: a schlock spectacle with great special effects. In the interests of not dragging this entry out anymore I’ll crosspost my full review when I’ve finished writing it up for FYSW. But yeah, totally worth the rush price if you’re a diehard Spidey fan like me -- otherwise, well. snapples-apples said she really enjoyed it, though!
» reverendjmg and I met up to stroll on the waterfront, catch up and have dinner at a lovely diner called Dorian's, which I highly recommend if you're into American cuisine. Fabulous sweet potato fries and mozzarella sticks, and my pulled pork sandwich was great too, if messy.
» One of the last things I did was get a new computer, since my previous laptop was starting to fail on me after chugging along for a good 4.5 years. I got a 13" MacBook Air, which was a bit of a splurge, but hey, my MacBook lasted half as long again as your average notebook! And I need the balance of portability and power considering I (a) do not want to get two computers but (b) need something small enough that petite, easily-fatigued me can haul around when I travel cross-continent. So I'm sure I'll be getting my money's worth.
SINCE THEN
» So while I was in New York, my parents were on their own "yay Dad is retired!" trip in Greenland, where my mother fell and hit her head. At the time she felt fine, but a month later, shortly after we'd all gotten back, her legs started feeling funny and week, and after several days of doctorly puzzlement she went to the ER. It turned out that she had a subdural hematoma and had to have immediate neurosurgery to stop the bleed before there was permanent damage. Luckily she was not in any actual danger, but unfortunately due to the logistics of French → English medical translation while the translator is woozy and waiting to have her head opened up that wasn’t entirely clear for me or my dad until after the surgery, so it was a bit of a rough night.
Anyway, the surgery was fine, she went home from the hospital a bit ahead of schedule, and didn’t even need any physical therapy. Her follow-up checkups have been good as well, so she’ll be able to start driving again in a week or two and travel soon after that. She’ll be visiting my grandparents, who I’m pretty sure still don’t know she had to have surgery and were told by my aunts when Mum was in the hospital and couldn’t pick up the phone that she was visiting friends and had forgotten to tell them … um. Yes, my family has issues.
» Not much of note, really. Slowly getting back into the rhythm of life here (just in time to leave again), trying and failing to catch up on my various shows … I haven’t bothered to finish Torchwood, though I may eventually for the sake of closure. I do still need to watch the last SJA serial, although I’m putting it off because I’m not ready for closure. Doctor Who’s finished as well, of course, so my current weekly shows are Dexter, My Little Pony, Merlin, and then several other shows that are backlogged. I may end up trying to join in on of_rassilon’s chronological Classic Who rewatch once they get up to The Keys of Marinus, which is where I left off.
No new shows yet this season, unless you count Tiger & Bunny -- which I highly recommend to anyone who’s interested in American superhero tropes both de- and reconstructed through the lens of Japanese superhero tropes, or plain ol’ lighthearted buddy cop action. Crossing my fingers that we’ll get a second season in 2013!
» Bookswise I petered out in the middle of A Clash of Kings and the rest of the Sinister Six trilogy, but I’ve been reading a lot on my iPod. Since I have many but brief snatches of reading time waiting for the bus/at the doctor's/etc I thought short stories would be ideal, and I'd been meaning to try P.G. Wodehouse for a while so I downloaded his first few collections. It's almost entirely pre-Jeeves stuff so far, so if you're a Jeeves and Wooster fan you'll have to wait for my verdict on that (on tenterhooks, I'm sure), but I've really been enjoying it. The plots are a bit repetitive (if the hijinx aren't romantic they're financial, but usually both), but I love the sense of humor and the well-defined voices he gives all his characters. My favorite story so far is At Geisenheimer's, simply because until the very, very end of the story it's pretty easy to read as narrated by a 1917 version of Mary Jane Watson. Seriously, try it.
I've also been catching up on gaps in my Terry Pratchett reading, namely the Discworld short stories and the Tiffany Aching books. Not really sure how I feel about the latter. They’re definitely enjoyable so far (I’ve just started A Hat Full of Sky), but Tiffany feels a little too … planned as far as protagonists go; I think characters like Susan, Vimes, Angua, Moist and so on felt a lot more real to me after reading one book with them than she does. But I’m not even halfway through her extant books, so we’ll see!
NEW YORK
» I went to NYC, and promptly got some kind of bug on the plane that kept me largely out of action for a few days, except for going over to chuckro and jethrien's place a couple times for Jethrien's birthday and then an evening of gaming (and a Labor Day party complete with Super Mario Bros. showing). Oh, and seeing Captain America, which I enjoyed even more than predicted. Just as I was getting better, we got the news that Hurricane Irene was coming. While we weren't too worried, xannoside lives on the waterfront and had absolutely no emergency supplies whatsoever, so touristing was put by the wayside in favor of disaster prep. In the end, Chuck and Jethrien graciously let us bunk down at their place overnight. (They put up wit me rather a lot during this trip. Thanks, guys!) As it turned it, it was effectively a nerdy sleepover with a lot of rain in the background, and we came home to find my brother's apartment entirely intact with no flooding in the vicinity. Still glad we left, though -- if nothing else, hearing those tropical storm/hurricane force winds around our many, many windows would not have been fun.
» All that effectively cut the length of my trip in half, so I didn't get to do as much as I'd planned. I did some exploring, and went The Strand for the first time -- no, I don't understand why it took me so long, either! I bought … quite a lot of stuff, mostly remaindered Spider-Man trades I've had my eye on for a while; the most interesting items were the Connie Willis novella collection, American Born Chinese, and a Spider-Man UK annual from 1991 which reprints a favorite Hobgoblin story of mine (Amazing Spider-Man _____, featuring Harry and Liz being dears and MJ being a BAMF) in an oversized hardcover format. I also finally bought the bullet and bought Adam-Troy Castro's Gathering of the Sinister Six on amazon, so I can finally read the full Sinister Six trilogy instead of just the last two parts. octopedingenue, if you're reading this we must chat on the subject.
» Also in Spider-Man news, snapples-apples and I met up for an afternoon to talk RP and get rush tickets to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. It's pretty much exactly as described in reviews: a schlock spectacle with great special effects. In the interests of not dragging this entry out anymore I’ll crosspost my full review when I’ve finished writing it up for FYSW. But yeah, totally worth the rush price if you’re a diehard Spidey fan like me -- otherwise, well. snapples-apples said she really enjoyed it, though!
» reverendjmg and I met up to stroll on the waterfront, catch up and have dinner at a lovely diner called Dorian's, which I highly recommend if you're into American cuisine. Fabulous sweet potato fries and mozzarella sticks, and my pulled pork sandwich was great too, if messy.
» One of the last things I did was get a new computer, since my previous laptop was starting to fail on me after chugging along for a good 4.5 years. I got a 13" MacBook Air, which was a bit of a splurge, but hey, my MacBook lasted half as long again as your average notebook! And I need the balance of portability and power considering I (a) do not want to get two computers but (b) need something small enough that petite, easily-fatigued me can haul around when I travel cross-continent. So I'm sure I'll be getting my money's worth.
SINCE THEN
» So while I was in New York, my parents were on their own "yay Dad is retired!" trip in Greenland, where my mother fell and hit her head. At the time she felt fine, but a month later, shortly after we'd all gotten back, her legs started feeling funny and week, and after several days of doctorly puzzlement she went to the ER. It turned out that she had a subdural hematoma and had to have immediate neurosurgery to stop the bleed before there was permanent damage. Luckily she was not in any actual danger, but unfortunately due to the logistics of French → English medical translation while the translator is woozy and waiting to have her head opened up that wasn’t entirely clear for me or my dad until after the surgery, so it was a bit of a rough night.
Anyway, the surgery was fine, she went home from the hospital a bit ahead of schedule, and didn’t even need any physical therapy. Her follow-up checkups have been good as well, so she’ll be able to start driving again in a week or two and travel soon after that. She’ll be visiting my grandparents, who I’m pretty sure still don’t know she had to have surgery and were told by my aunts when Mum was in the hospital and couldn’t pick up the phone that she was visiting friends and had forgotten to tell them … um. Yes, my family has issues.
» Not much of note, really. Slowly getting back into the rhythm of life here (just in time to leave again), trying and failing to catch up on my various shows … I haven’t bothered to finish Torchwood, though I may eventually for the sake of closure. I do still need to watch the last SJA serial, although I’m putting it off because I’m not ready for closure. Doctor Who’s finished as well, of course, so my current weekly shows are Dexter, My Little Pony, Merlin, and then several other shows that are backlogged. I may end up trying to join in on of_rassilon’s chronological Classic Who rewatch once they get up to The Keys of Marinus, which is where I left off.
No new shows yet this season, unless you count Tiger & Bunny -- which I highly recommend to anyone who’s interested in American superhero tropes both de- and reconstructed through the lens of Japanese superhero tropes, or plain ol’ lighthearted buddy cop action. Crossing my fingers that we’ll get a second season in 2013!
» Bookswise I petered out in the middle of A Clash of Kings and the rest of the Sinister Six trilogy, but I’ve been reading a lot on my iPod. Since I have many but brief snatches of reading time waiting for the bus/at the doctor's/etc I thought short stories would be ideal, and I'd been meaning to try P.G. Wodehouse for a while so I downloaded his first few collections. It's almost entirely pre-Jeeves stuff so far, so if you're a Jeeves and Wooster fan you'll have to wait for my verdict on that (on tenterhooks, I'm sure), but I've really been enjoying it. The plots are a bit repetitive (if the hijinx aren't romantic they're financial, but usually both), but I love the sense of humor and the well-defined voices he gives all his characters. My favorite story so far is At Geisenheimer's, simply because until the very, very end of the story it's pretty easy to read as narrated by a 1917 version of Mary Jane Watson. Seriously, try it.
I've also been catching up on gaps in my Terry Pratchett reading, namely the Discworld short stories and the Tiffany Aching books. Not really sure how I feel about the latter. They’re definitely enjoyable so far (I’ve just started A Hat Full of Sky), but Tiffany feels a little too … planned as far as protagonists go; I think characters like Susan, Vimes, Angua, Moist and so on felt a lot more real to me after reading one book with them than she does. But I’m not even halfway through her extant books, so we’ll see!