Random Raves 54: You will succeed. It is inevitable.

[warpus]

I have ordered another batch of books from thriftbooks.com. Shipping is like $22 CAD and it's an American place (so we don't like to give them money generally speaking), but they have such a great selection of used sci-fi paperbacks that's priced well, I ended up ordering another batch of books, including a bunch of books on my wishlist that I just can never find anywhere in the massmarket paperback format. (DON'T TELL ANYONE I GAVE MONEY TO OUR ENEMIES kthx)

Raft - Stephen Baxter
Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds
Nightfall - Isaac Asimov
Bowl of Heaven - Gregory Benford and Larry Niven
A Talent for War - Jack McDevitt
Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
Cyteen - C.J. Cherryh

All of these were actually on my wishlist aside from A Talent For War. There's just something that pulls me towards McDevitt's work. I've only ever read one book by him, but I now own like 10. Nightfall I used to own, I have no idea what happened to it. Slowly but surely I will also eventually own all of Baxter's work, I swear, but I really wanted to get into his Xeelee sequence. I realize you don't need to read those in order, but I like owning the technically 1st book of well reviewed series. Then if I end up liking that book I can buy the rest.

My wishlist is now down to 20 books

 

[Birdjaguar]

Coney Island Surprise​

Dear Diary:

I was on the Q waiting to leave Coney Island after the Mermaid Parade when I felt something grip my arm and climb onto my shoulder.

Turning quickly, I came nose-to-beak with a brilliantly colored macaw. The bird’s owner, a middle-aged man who did not appear to speak English, tried unsuccessfully to urge the bird off me and back onto his wrist.
After several fruitless attempts, he lapsed into thought for a moment. Then he reached into his backpack and pulled out a live iguana and handed it to me.

All I could do was laugh as my friends took a couple of pictures. Somehow, I managed to get the menagerie back to their owner, who got off two stops later.

— Dan Miller

 

[warpus]

I bought a reading pillow!! It's great, I just tested it out for 15 pages or so. For further context I explain my need for such a product here. This pillow will improve my day to day reading experience and make it easier to engage in longer reading sessions.

For even further context, I have been remodeling some rooms in my house and one of them is now a home library with a recliner in the corner. One of the driving forces behind this is my desire to read more, especially before bed. So first everything was ripped out, painted, new floor was put in, electrical redone, new vent covers, baseboards, all trim painted, bookshelves put in, recliner to read in put in, lamp attached behind it so it points perfectly at my book when i'm reclined, a reading table added, larger table for books of the moment..

And it seemed done, so in november and december of last year I spent a lot of time organizing all my books in there, alphabetically and by genre, and imainging all the reading I was going to do. But somehow I wasn't reading much yet.

Finally last week I bought reading glasses, which I should have probably done years ago. It made me realize that I have been straining my eyes too much reading without them, and that was probably one of the reasons why I wasn't getting a lot of reading done.

So a couple days ago I had my first real marathon reading session in my new reading space. I read about 90 pages, completely lost track of time. It felt amazing, but made me realize that I was often raising the book up and holding it in the air. It made it a bit easier to read like that, the light was better, my eyes were slightly better focused, and the book was more centered in front of me. So I was like..

I need thicker legs.

But gaining that much weight would probably be counterproductive, so I settled on a pillow. It seems to be the perfect height for reading for my setup, which I'm extremely excited about. I am not sure what else I could really still get to improve my reading experience even more. Just more books to add to the collection and some more decorations for the walls

 

[Birdjaguar]

Finally last week I bought reading glasses, which I should have probably done years ago.

As time passes don't forget to upgrade them.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Metro Diary

Penn Station​

Dear Diary:

They never get Penn Station right,
though they try. Patches of old and shabby
still clash with new and renovated; bright
and spacious leads to dark and narrow.

But the people are beautiful! Stoic in rush
hour; in summer, sporting good-luck jerseys
for the Mets, while lawyers in navy suits
step aboard the Acela to D.C.

Two commuters miss the same train. They
vent to each other, trade travel horror stories,
begin to relax. He offers to buy her lunch.
They miss another train.

And in an impatient city, at an imperfect
station, love makes an unscheduled stop.

— Jimmy Roberts

 

[Birdjaguar]

My wife and I were in St Louis last weekend to visit our daughter/siL and our son came to visit also. I discovered that he has a streak in the NYT game "Connections" that is 446 day long without a miss and still going.... My wife and I play and our longest streak without a miss is 68. He also has over 100 purple first. His thoughts are that the people creating the game are all Millennials like he is because he "gets" all the various references and connections.

 

[Arakhor]

My Wordle streak is currently 551, but I haven't played Connections in a long time.

 

[Birdjaguar]

My Wordle streak is currently 551, but I haven't played Connections in a long time.

I only do Wordle when my wife comes to me for help which is not very often. I also play the weekly "Flashback".