Happy year of the snake. Guess how many times I’ve watched Wicked since I learned it was out for purchase last Monday? (More than once. That’s all that I’m admitting to, because I don’t actually know.)
Greatest January achievements: looking into Bluesky as a Meta alternative and finally putting together the final Zuri tribute calendar, one month later than I should’ve, lol. Late is better than never, as has been the case for the last several calendars.
In weather-related news, we somehow managed to get ourselves another snow day in the middle of January! This one wasn’t nearly as productive as my last one, but a snow day is a snow day. Of course, the last week has been positively balmy, but now the weather app is telling me we’re in for another winter weather advisory and I’m starting to get whiplash.
And it’s apparently been a year since I last played Pokémon, so I’m starting over (again). This is one of my favorite games to restart, ngl.
Anyway, this post was originally scheduled for Saturday but Circe and I just got back from an extended weekend at my parents’ house, most of which I spent in bed with the norovirus. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my body for installing a 90-second Vomit Warning. It works. I’ve been through a lot of gross shit, but norovirus was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had happen to me and I am including my nuclear periods in that and I feel like it should be a one-and-done. TL;DR: I’d better not fucking get it again.
January Reading Stats
Books Finished:
- The Wild Robot – Peter Brown
- Mirror Mirror – Gregory Maguire
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain
- My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me – Caleb Carr
- Spy x Family 13 – Tatsuya Endo
- Night of the Living Cat 1 – Hawkman
Total Pages Read: 2,324
The highlight of the month goes to my triumphant and long-delayed finish of My Beloved Monster, which I started reading in September and then spent months delaying because I made the mistake of annotating it with sticky notes and that considerably slowed the process. Never. Again.
And my own beloved monster, totally indifferent to our current read:
Annotations aside, the book was wonderful, I have it in audio now, and I want to look into Carr’s other books, particularly The Alienist. If he seemed a bit judgy in places, I really can’t blame him for that. If anything, I only fault him for making me cry so many times and for so many reasons. One of my other favorite reads was Night of the Living Cat, which I’ve been wanting to read for a while and finally picked up during a trip to a new Barnes & Noble. I’m not sure if I’ll continue with the series until I have more space on my manga shelves, but I’m glad I gave it a shot because it is seriously adorable.
On the opposite end of the delight spectrum, Mirror Mirror became the unequivocal first entry in my 2025 least favorites list (even if I forgot to record it until literally just now); Tom Sawyer became the second, though funnily enough I did like Huck Finn, with caveats. I am definitely done with Gregory Maguire. I tried and it didn’t work, and I’m fine with that. Nor am I particularly surprised, given that my strongest memories of Mirror Mirror were based on bad soup and sad incest. I don’t even remember when I first read it except that it came from the library then as now, and I remain grateful that I have never spent money on it.
I was surprised at how much I hated Tom Sawyer, which in addition to being heavily exposition-y – at least in Aunt Polly’s opening monologue – boasts one of the worst literary characters I’ve ever met. I think it doesn’t help that I am so clearly not the target audience and I suspect I’d have a similar reaction if I ever tried to read Catcher in the Rye, but this book just wasn’t for me, and I am mildly sad that I preordered the new Harper edition before I read the library’s copy. I did mull over canceling the preorder, but I ordered it from Pocket Books and I want to support them, and my OCD ass demands that I have this edition to match my Harper Huck. At the very least I’ll have it around for reference if I want to check for continuity errors, because I’ve already spotted a large one.
Currently Reading
Sherlock Holmes Complete Collection
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Finally finished The Sign of Four, which I did not particularly care for, and am now working my way through the short stories. The highlight of my reading life was finding out that this copy of Holmes finally includes page numbers, at least on my new Paperwhite. They still don’t show up on the old Paperwhite, and I’m going to see if I can get a software update or something because I need my page numbers. This shouldn’t even be a debate at this point. GIVE. EBOOKS. PAGE NUMBERS.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
J.K. Rowling
Current rating: 4-4.5 stars. Making fairly smooth progress with my Harry Potter reread. It helps that I’m obsessed with Harry’s time in Diagon Alley at the beginning of PoA, though I also hate the way the boys treat Hermione in this book.
Foul Lady Fortune
Chloe Gong
Current rating: 4.5 stars. As always, Chloe’s writing could be better – particularly fed up with “evenly,” which appears to be her favorite word – but at the same time I just love Chloe so much. Still waiting to see if Phoebe’s final reveal makes as little sense as it did the first time, though it’s going to take me a while to get there. I’m reading the physical book this time, and she is a chonker.
LNY Weekend
Aside from the norovirus, my LNY visit home was great. Circe was unhappy as usual, but she eventually settled in and became comfortable enough to wander around the house a bit before we came home yesterday. I was particularly pleased to learn that she will sit herself down and listen if I start playing the piano. Car trips tend to be difficult for her, but I played piano music all the way home, and she did so well. I am a proud kitty mama. :’D
Thursday
First night of the visit: Trying a new Thai place with Michaella!
After dinner we grabbed Crumbl cookies and then went home to play Life because dammit it’s been a while and I originally wanted to play Life at the holiday gift exchange but couldn’t find it. We had to play around Hato for a while but eventually she got bored and left, or I kicked her off the table, I actually don’t remember which. Oh and also I somehow ended up with a vanful of daughters and I’m still annoyed, but at least I retired obscenely rich. As with the Monopoly game, we forgot all the rules and we played wrong, so I’m not sure our final net worths should actually count.
Friday
I had never heard of Planet Word before Heather told me about it, and now I am indignant that this place is not a household name. Planet Word is nothing more nor less than an independent museum at the historic Franklin School in DC, and it is AMAZING. From the short story dispenser in the lobby to the interactive language lectures to the karaoke room where they analyze the lyrics on the screen to the rude writings all over the bathroom walls, this place is a must-visit for anyone who loves words and anyone who wants to learn to love words. I was geeking out by the time we got on the elevator, whose walls were designed to look like bookcases.
My favorite exhibit was hands down the humor room, which includes several game stations where you and a friend can take turns reading each other jokes (Heather won), and where we tried to teach a computer to caption a cartoon. Second favorite was the karaoke room, though I kinda wish it would’ve played the whole song instead of cutting off halfway through. We started with Moana but went straight to “Hey Ya!” after that, because what kind of American Millennials would we be if we didn’t. I find it hilarious that the room had nothing to say about the actual “Hey Ya”s, lol. Third favorite room: the gift shop, where I managed to limit myself to one magnet and one pin.
After the museum, Heather kindly took me to lunch at a nearby café (which also had great signs), and then we graced the new(ish) Georgetown Barnes & Noble with my presence and my money. It was huge. I will be back.
January Noms
In order from left to right: fried chicken scallion pancake wrap (made with frozen chicken tenders and frozen scallion pancakes, needed to clear those scallion pancakes out of the freezer); Hong Kong scrambled eggs with Spam, which came out a lot better than that time I tried it with leftover takeout chicken; and crazy spicy buldak noodles, tempered with peanut butter. TikTok got unbanned just in time for me to ask it how to make the peanut butter buldak, which in the end came out fine. I’ve already made it again, though following my usual method for Fujianese peanut noodles instead. I liked the second iteration better but it’s spicy as fuck either way and I got a few organs that will never be the same, so tread cautiously.
I am pleased to report that I have not been DoorDashing this month, aside from one moment of weakness the night before my LNY visit (the fridge was bare and I was holding off on a trip to the market until I came back so I splurged on Shake Shack because it was the beginning of a new year lemme alone). I am actually surprised at how much money I have managed not to spend just by canceling every non-essential monthly subscription. Having said that, pet insurance did just destroy the little credit I managed to pay off and I am seriously pissed. That thing better come through in spades if anything happens to Circe, though I will add that nothing better happen to Circe.
My biggest takeaway from unemployment, however, is how much I don’t need Amazon Prime. This is great for political reasons, but it is also just really nice to realize that there actually is life outside of suspiciously cheap goods and free Prime shipping. I should’ve canceled years ago.
Circe’s Corner
Finally got a clear shot of the violent criminal who first assaulted my foot and then stole it completely. I have been hobbling around on a peg for a month. Unsub shows no signs of remorse. She would do it again. Reward offered for any information about the unsub and/or my foot. I don’t want to deport her. I just want to talk.
Anyway, here’s all the shots that didn’t make it into the post above, starting with that damn unsub trying to destroy the tassel on a bookmark that she’d already partially dismantled, curse her, and I’m starting to think the two incidents might be related. She’s currently working on the bookmark I’m using with Foul Lady Fortune. I’ve really gotta stop buying bookmarks with tassels. Same unsub later seen napping comfortably in various spots around the apartment, bold as brass. She really doesn’t have a single thought in that fuzzy little head. Must be nice.
