My Calm Response to a Medical Issue

The closest thing I came to excitement this week was complaining to a chat nurse about a soreness on my face, right where my mask hits. I was thinking pimple. They were thinking dermatologist, which resulted in my getting an appointment the next day to see if I needed a biopsy. (I called and got an appointment for next week; they called back and fit me in that day, which was a bit alarming.) 

So I figured I was doomed and told my kids they'd better take care of the lawn and arranged a special knock so they'd recognize me after the doctor had to perform a face-ectomy. I always prefer to panic in a very flamboyant and ridiculous way; I mean, I wasn't really worried, lots of my family have had basal bits removed, but it's still seemed a bit fast to go from "I'm too old to have a pimple" to "facial lesion" to "five days seems a long time to wait" all between an idle evening check with my phone health app to see if my mask issue could be addressed and waking up to phone calls from the doctor.

Getting a "facial lesion" evaluated in COVID times is a fun dance, since they perform elaborate contortions to keep the mask on my face as much as possible. The consensus was that it's probably an infection, so now I have a cleanser, a cream, and an ointment that all need to be applied twice a day, as well as antibiotics that should be taken with food to avoid nausea, but not with calcium or other minerals, so between the pills and my vitamins my meals are very carefully planned. 

Speaking of meals, I made a spanakopita thing, since my son was ignoring my menu hints. It's basically the inside of the spanakopita, baked in a dish instead of messing about with phyllo. I've always avoided making spanakopita because phyllo is so fiddly, but we all really like it. So this was a fun alternative. The boy did make the red-pepper/spinach and brie pasta thing, so he wasn't a complete slacker.

I had fun walking in the Botanical gardens on the weekend. I showed up with my mask, but mainly because the medications also make me very sensitive to the sun and I wasn't sure I'd remember to keep my hood up. It was really nice, and my walking buddy and I plan to keep it in our walk rotation as the spring approaches.

Some people checked out the list of all the Cybils finalists I made, and Max has tied my high score! But watch out -- I ordered a bunch of graphic novels so soon I will top the lists again!

Deep Space 9 has gone into the past, so I'm watching the riots in 2024. It's always fun to see what the past thought the future would be like. 

The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or have read each week called "It's Monday! What Are You Reading" and I'm going to go sign up. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers.

Started

Mexican Whiteboy, Matt de los Pena. This has been banned somewhere, so I'm reading it for my Torches and Pitchforks banned book month.

Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe, Carlos Hernandez. Because it was a lot of fun watching them break it.

Completed

The Real Thing, Brenda Jackson. For the Fake Relationship Romance series meeting next week. This reminds me why I'm very picky about my contemporary romance reads; there's a lot of fake conflict over why they don't just get together, especially if the author really pushes how wildly sexy they are for each other. The plot doesn't really work. Also, I was much more interested in the problem that caused the fake relationship -- she was being harassed at work, HR told her to put up with it because the dude was well connected, and so she thought faking having a boyfriend would make him back off. So the B plot was dealing with this situation, but I didn't really care about the love story (I mean, they were fine together! story over) and wanted more action on the work problem.

Ice Planet Barbarians, Ruby Dixon. This is the most Vaginal Fantasy of all the Cloudy book club books I've seen since we had to go on without Felicia Day's show. I approached it with some trepidation, but it was fine. A short story worth of plot, tucked in with a lot of sex and thinking about sex, much of which I skimmed. The character was interesting in the way she broke the mold I've come to expect in modern romance; she's openly willing to trade sex for favors, has no intellectual pretensions, and embraces her sexuality in an enthusiastic but very gendered way. If she had stayed on earth, I can see her not getting vaccinated because nobody she knows believes in the threat of COVID. But I won't get to discuss this at book club because I've just received free tickets to a Cirque du Soleil performance!

One Good Deed, David Baldacci. Once I sat down with this the pages turned themselves -- our hero is a very Baldacci guy, so he's very observant and smart and a good fighter, but still barely manages to get himself out of jams. The author's hand came down heavily a few times (the nice murder detective's help and then collapse) but it's good to see our guy figure things out. And since Baldacci often doesn't even let me see the clues, I don't have to feel like a slacker for not figuring things out. The courtroom scene at the end was a lot of fun, and then the reunion ending was well done.

-------  And now a book from my blogging hiatus! Someday I will mention them all -----

The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik. I had instructed my kids to get me this for Christmas, as it came out in the midst of Cybil judging madness. But then they left it at home! So I didn't get it until New Years. Novik again had me gripped to the page, although I did find the intensity of super-powered angsty teens a bit much sometimes. I picked up on a lot of clues as to where things were heading, so the ending wasn't as big a shock as it was for my son, who read it much faster. I like how both El and Orion and learning new things about relationships, both between themselves and also their relationships to their peers -- friends, colleagues and rivals. And, of course, now I really want the third book. 

Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:

Ok, I'm only going to put a book in here when I actually try to read it. This week I made some progress in:

Decrypted, Lindsay Buroker. I carry this around but have been distracted by library books.

Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emyrs. I am at an exposition bit so I've paused.

Forfeit, Dick Francis. Hmm, maybe I should read another Francis while I get up the nerve to read the hard part.

Of Curses and Kisses, Sandhya Menon. I'm trying to finish this, but neither protagonist is much fun. 

The Guinevere Deception, Kiersten White. 2020 Cybils YA Speculative Fiction finalist. Oof. Every ambitious teen's nightmare just happened.

Never Fall For Your Fiance, Virginia Heath. I enjoy this if I impress on myself that it takes place in an alternate reality, not on a historical Earth.

Live Free or Die, John Ringo. This is The Baen Free Radio Podcast serial, so every week they read a few pages to me. 

Picture Books / Short Stories:

None.

Palate Cleansers

These books I'm barely reading; lately I use them as bribes to get me to deal with the mail. Hmm. I should get back to that. 

The Educated Child, William Bennett. I'm very close to the end. 

Wool, Hugh Howey.  

Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho. 

 

Dates From Hell, Kim Harrison & others.

Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Still on pre-Christmas music. 

Reading Challenges

1. Cybils 2021: I've ordered up all the graphic novels for February.
2. Early Cybils: Working on Guinevere Deception. 
3. Reading My Library. The library had a pipe break and is closed for repairs!
4. Where Am I Reading 2022. Two more -- I have declared One Good Deed to be set in Oklahoma, but it's dry but has major storms. And Texas is in driving distance. Plus Colorado for The Real Thing.
5. Libraries! I'm working on a Ten to Try and have checked off 5 Extreme Categories.

Future Plans

I'm putting this at the end because I suspect it's complete fiction, but I feel I should attempt some structure.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Decrypted. Next: Forging a Nightmare
• Library Book: Mexican Whiteboy. Next: Sal & Gabi Fix the Universe
• Ebook I own:   Winter's Tale. Next: ???
• Library Ebook: Of Curses and Kisses.  Next: Never Fall For Your Fiancee
• Book Club Book: Mexican Whiteboy Next: Child of Fire
• Tuesday Book Club Book: Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Review Book: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb  Next: Back Home
• Rereading: Forfeit
• Meal Companion: Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe
• Audio: Empress of Salt and Fortune  Next: ??