thistlechaser (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thistlechaser) wrote2013-08-18 08:37 pm
thistlechaser) wrote2013-08-18 08:37 pm
Four books (Uglies, Choose Your Own Adventures for adults, Flesh Cartel, Doglands), RP, move
After a string of great books, I hit three duds and a meh one.
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. I looooved Westerfield's steampunk trilogy so much, but I hated every single word of every page of this book. Or, well, of the couple chapters I read. If a book were ever written for the exact purposes of me hating it, it would be Uglies. I read a lot of YA books, so unfortunately I encounter a lot of teenagers with teenage problems; I couldn't care less about that sort of thing. This book couldn't be more that. In Uglies, everyone is born "ugly" (normal), but at some age in their teens everyone gets a ton of surgeries to make them into a Pretty. Uglies live in Uglytown. Pretties live in New Pretty City (kill me now, I hated those names so much). What little I read about this book was stupid teenagers in godawful stupid romances thinking about nothing other than being "pretty". If I could kill myself with a book, I wouldn't be writing this post now.
The Adventures of Whatley Tupper: A Choose Your Own Adventures book for adults by Rudolf Kerkhoven and Daniel Pitts. I bought this book soon after getting my iPad. "It uses ebook technology! Clicking links to make decisions, using your back button to get out of them!" Seemed like a good idea at the time, yet this book sat in my To Read pile for years. Eventually I started it just so I could be done with it. I went through one possible story in it. It wasn't awful, but it was far far from good. Way too few choices to make, and the writing was silly (silly-stupid, not silly-funny). I just didn't enjoy it at all and didn't bother going back to see where the other options lead.
Flesh Cartel: part 9. I'm not even going to link to the damned thing. I said I wouldn't continue with the series even if I got it for free, then I found it for free and said 'whatever' and grabbed a copy. Skimmed most of it. Finally started getting into it... only to have it end. Because it's only 40 pages long. Pissed me off even more than I had been about this series. Why can't they just release it as a whole book?! Grrr. (Oh yeah, because they make $3/40 pages this way...) Never ever ever have I been so happy an ebook was being pirated.
Currently reading: Doglands by Tim Willock. I love talking animal stories, but alas this isn't a good one. It's not awful, it's not bad enough for me to stop reading (yet?), but it's not very good. The writing is unexciting, the characters are flat and unbelievable, the worldbuilding is poor. (Wow, I think Doglands is another example of paid reviews showing up on Amazon. All 5 star reviews other than one 4 star.)
The first three books aren't being included in the 2013 count, but Doglands might be if I get at least halfway through it.
RP! Eeeeee RP! RP! I feel like twirling around in circles until I get dizzy and fall down. It's been so long (more than a year!) since it's made me so happy and excited and eeeee! I have no idea what the difference was. Was I burnt out and I just got over it? Was I tired of the character I was playing? Was it just not the right type of RP*? I don't know.
* I hate to admit it, but apparently I do have a type of RP I like. I love RPing relationships. I'm not in it for the ERP/cyber/tiny/whatever name you know RPing sex as ("tab A, slot B" gets really boring to me nowadays), but the whole emotional connection thing just sends me floating through the roof. (The character I was previously playing basically had zero chance of a meaningful relationship, he was too damaged for it. Lately I've been playing a new (er, old character that I dropped) one, who is perfect for relationships.) And luckily I found a good player! Our RP styles seem to match SO WELL WHICH IS SO EXCITING IT'S MAKING ME TYPE IN ALL CAPS. But seriously, nowadays there are so many different types of RP, it feels so special to find someone who likes to post in the same way I do (same tense, length, style).
It makes me so happy! I know it sounds silly, but it makes me grin endlessly that someone wants to RP with me and is willing to plan to RP with me in the future. It's silly because people are willing to do that now! But the new guy is someone who I don't know, so he's not wanting to RP just so I think he likes me or blah blah some stupid messed up crap. My brain has issues, I know. But it's been more than a year! And it's silly to get so excited, we only RPed twice and have one more scene coming, but it's so nice to be excited about RP again. (Really! A whole year of having NO interest in it!) Midway though tonight's scene I ICly gave his character an out to end it now (I wasn't sure if he had OOCly wanted to RP again) and he didn't take it! He extended the scene of his own will! SOMEBODY LIKES ME! (Silly, silly me, I know. :D )
On moving: As usual, I panicked too soon. I went insane packing the first couple days, then I was mostly done and did little the next few. Then I panicked again (STUFF LEFT TO DO!), then I did nothing for a couple days... I'm almost as done as I can be while still needing to live here, and I have 10 days left! Heh. I have so many boxes packed, I can hardly walk through the apartment. I still need to deal with moving electric etc to new apartment, and updating physical address with about a kazillion companies I deal with.
Oddly, Ellie New Cat isn't reacting at all to any of this. She's not climbed on single box (she's not a climbing cat in general, the sofa is about as high as she goes). She hasn't shown any reaction to any of these changes at all. I realllly hope that continues once we're in the new place. I have horrible worries that she'll get stressed out and pee on stuff.
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. I looooved Westerfield's steampunk trilogy so much, but I hated every single word of every page of this book. Or, well, of the couple chapters I read. If a book were ever written for the exact purposes of me hating it, it would be Uglies. I read a lot of YA books, so unfortunately I encounter a lot of teenagers with teenage problems; I couldn't care less about that sort of thing. This book couldn't be more that. In Uglies, everyone is born "ugly" (normal), but at some age in their teens everyone gets a ton of surgeries to make them into a Pretty. Uglies live in Uglytown. Pretties live in New Pretty City (kill me now, I hated those names so much). What little I read about this book was stupid teenagers in godawful stupid romances thinking about nothing other than being "pretty". If I could kill myself with a book, I wouldn't be writing this post now.
The Adventures of Whatley Tupper: A Choose Your Own Adventures book for adults by Rudolf Kerkhoven and Daniel Pitts. I bought this book soon after getting my iPad. "It uses ebook technology! Clicking links to make decisions, using your back button to get out of them!" Seemed like a good idea at the time, yet this book sat in my To Read pile for years. Eventually I started it just so I could be done with it. I went through one possible story in it. It wasn't awful, but it was far far from good. Way too few choices to make, and the writing was silly (silly-stupid, not silly-funny). I just didn't enjoy it at all and didn't bother going back to see where the other options lead.
Flesh Cartel: part 9. I'm not even going to link to the damned thing. I said I wouldn't continue with the series even if I got it for free, then I found it for free and said 'whatever' and grabbed a copy. Skimmed most of it. Finally started getting into it... only to have it end. Because it's only 40 pages long. Pissed me off even more than I had been about this series. Why can't they just release it as a whole book?! Grrr. (Oh yeah, because they make $3/40 pages this way...) Never ever ever have I been so happy an ebook was being pirated.
Currently reading: Doglands by Tim Willock. I love talking animal stories, but alas this isn't a good one. It's not awful, it's not bad enough for me to stop reading (yet?), but it's not very good. The writing is unexciting, the characters are flat and unbelievable, the worldbuilding is poor. (Wow, I think Doglands is another example of paid reviews showing up on Amazon. All 5 star reviews other than one 4 star.)
The first three books aren't being included in the 2013 count, but Doglands might be if I get at least halfway through it.
RP! Eeeeee RP! RP! I feel like twirling around in circles until I get dizzy and fall down. It's been so long (more than a year!) since it's made me so happy and excited and eeeee! I have no idea what the difference was. Was I burnt out and I just got over it? Was I tired of the character I was playing? Was it just not the right type of RP*? I don't know.
* I hate to admit it, but apparently I do have a type of RP I like. I love RPing relationships. I'm not in it for the ERP/cyber/tiny/whatever name you know RPing sex as ("tab A, slot B" gets really boring to me nowadays), but the whole emotional connection thing just sends me floating through the roof. (The character I was previously playing basically had zero chance of a meaningful relationship, he was too damaged for it. Lately I've been playing a new (er, old character that I dropped) one, who is perfect for relationships.) And luckily I found a good player! Our RP styles seem to match SO WELL WHICH IS SO EXCITING IT'S MAKING ME TYPE IN ALL CAPS. But seriously, nowadays there are so many different types of RP, it feels so special to find someone who likes to post in the same way I do (same tense, length, style).
It makes me so happy! I know it sounds silly, but it makes me grin endlessly that someone wants to RP with me and is willing to plan to RP with me in the future. It's silly because people are willing to do that now! But the new guy is someone who I don't know, so he's not wanting to RP just so I think he likes me or blah blah some stupid messed up crap. My brain has issues, I know. But it's been more than a year! And it's silly to get so excited, we only RPed twice and have one more scene coming, but it's so nice to be excited about RP again. (Really! A whole year of having NO interest in it!) Midway though tonight's scene I ICly gave his character an out to end it now (I wasn't sure if he had OOCly wanted to RP again) and he didn't take it! He extended the scene of his own will! SOMEBODY LIKES ME! (Silly, silly me, I know. :D )
On moving: As usual, I panicked too soon. I went insane packing the first couple days, then I was mostly done and did little the next few. Then I panicked again (STUFF LEFT TO DO!), then I did nothing for a couple days... I'm almost as done as I can be while still needing to live here, and I have 10 days left! Heh. I have so many boxes packed, I can hardly walk through the apartment. I still need to deal with moving electric etc to new apartment, and updating physical address with about a kazillion companies I deal with.
Oddly, Ellie New Cat isn't reacting at all to any of this. She's not climbed on single box (she's not a climbing cat in general, the sofa is about as high as she goes). She hasn't shown any reaction to any of these changes at all. I realllly hope that continues once we're in the new place. I have horrible worries that she'll get stressed out and pee on stuff.
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Did she pee on stuff when you got her? That's almost exactly the same sort of change she would've been dealing with.
But, if you want to be extra cautious about it, look into a product called Feliway. It's kind of pricey, but the plug-in variety is just like an air freshner diffuser; it releases a pheromone similar to mother cats and is supposed to have a calming effect.
I used it when I moved into my new place just to help Toast and Arnold with the adjustment. Don't know if it helped, but it didn't hurt, either. :)
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I'm glad you read Leviathan! I sure do wish he'd write more of that.
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