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So, I get home yesterday, the boy's cutting the lawn. I make dinner (lemon chicken pasta), make his tea, weed the garden while I'm doing this and stick cages around the now fairly sizable tomatoes. At the same time. Come, sit down, watch some Prison Break, write, and I meant to be more badass and continue studying languages and hem after I wrote but apparently this was the part where my brain shut down out of exhaustion and it was all I could do to get my daily words done. But still.

This morning I get up and before 9 in the morning I have done a load of laundry with my capoeira clothes in, taken out two bags of trash and one and a half boxes of recycling, fed cats, fed me, done all my duolingo languages, showered, dressed, did my physics for the first time in ever, and stretched out and done my PT so my back doesn't try to kill me any more than it normally would if I haven't been doing capoeira for three weeks. So apparently yes, I am feeling better now.

I need to figure out a better way to deal with physics, though, because at this point half my notes are stapled or otherwise tucked inside my other notes, thanks to them doing a whole bunch of new videos and cramming them in there. Le sigh.

I changed my goal on Rock Clock now to reflect my counting down towards getting into proper superhero shape for DragonCon. Having decided that the numbers on the scale are absolute bullshit though, I found myself going for drop one size of clothing (preferably two but let's not make myself freak out over not being close to hitting my goal) rather than the possibly more sensible or at least less fraught goal of X minutes of continuous capoeira. Which, continuous capoeira for X minutes would definitely say good things about my stamina and the strength of my body, but let's face it, DragonCon is also a lot about presenting yourself in public to other geeks when you're going in cosplay. Even if it's civvie cosplay. So, thus begins the era of attempting to eat less sweets (oh lordy) and exercise more (capoeira up to three times a week! stretching and training in the mornings! burst of energy!) and so on. And more protein. Always more protein.

What else is there to say. I'm heading to Joann's sometime this week to get the last bit of lining for my coat. I thought I had it all! Then I took a closer look and realized the front panels of her coat were lined in red brocade too, so the bit I have isn't going to be enough. But that'll finish that out, and then that'll be done. Writing continues, somewhat less slow than the past month with the cold and the backache. Languages are starting up again. I think at this point I'm giving up on trying to incorporate beginner lessons in drawing AND guitar at the same time, though I might continue trying to memorize scales if I've done all my other dailies, and on weekends. And. That's about it for this week, I guess. Wednesday reads to follow if, hopefully, I remember.

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Well, that was one of the dumber things I've done in a while. Capoeira today was Groot has become lamed by his own ridiculousness, which is to say he broke his foot trying to get logging done (as he's in the middle of a bunch of work projects, and his work is metal sculpture as tall as he is, and there's a REASON I call him Groot), I was inexplicably dizzy and I still have not accounted for it and I am SO CRANKY that I'm still having to be this careful. And then there was Puck, who was actually healthy but said I looked like he felt last night so, um. And then there was a new guy. So we only did movement exercises for about forty five minutes, so I figured eh it's just forty five, I'll take it easy, I'll be FINE.

If any of you are ever in my vicinity, physically, when I'm at a capoeira practice or doing exercise, and I tell you I'll take it easy? Do me a favor and sit on my legs until I agree to take a couple pre-emptive puffs on my inhaler.

So, you can guess what happened. Full on coughing wheezing coughing up goop because when I wheeze hard enough my body mistakes it for dry heaves asthma attack. So, yes. That was one of the dumber things I've done in a while. Four inhaler puffs and end of class later I'm fine again. Except for the vertigo, which, what the fuck, and also ARRRGH.

ANYWAY. So I guess this is a combination Wednesday Reads/bitch about my malfunctioning body post.

untonuggan kindly reminded me that Manners and Mutiny, the last of the Finishing School series was out, so I grabbed and devoured that. And now I have to go back and read her read on it. I'm... something. I'm not sure if it's been so long since I've read the rest that the enthusiasm doesn't have the first churn through the series momentum, or if it really was as disjointed in some aspects as it seemed? I'm trying to figure out how to describe what nagged at me, but I'm not sure how to except, the transitions between major scenes seemed either too long or too jarring in tone. Despite that, though, I did enjoy it quite a bit.

And then, having found my missing book I sorted out all the Phrynes, and read through 3-5 in short order. (Murder on the Ballarat Train, Death at Victoria Dock, The Green Mill Murder). They're murder mysteries, so obviously they're samey samey in the way of genre series with strict convention, I add this caveat mostly because in the last couple years I ran into a friend who *gasp, clutch pearls* doesn't like police procedurals. Look, I watched Criminal Minds up through season five? six? Whenever the bizarre Irish Mafia plotline started getting going, so I LOVE procedurals. So in our conversations about television I ended up saying a lot, well, I liked this, but probably BECAUSE it was a procedural so you probably wouldn't. So here I say, it is a murder mystery, with all of the prerequisites of murder mysteries checked off, and that tends to be a very identical checklist from book to book.

That said, I do like Kerry Greenwood's style of writing, the books are different from the TV show but I like them almost as much. (Look, I'm a sucker for the Nathan Page-Essie Davis chemistry, that's pretty much the big thing in the TV show's favor.) I did, coming to it from the TV show, have one moment of realization of holy shit these books are way darker and several people are way more hateful than they were in the show. Like, there's unexpected incest and a whole plot that was mostly about a family misunderstanding each other in the TV show turns out to be an evil mother trying to play her sons against each other so she inherits everything holy shit. Wow. But again, not detracting from the enjoyment! Just a surprise.

Um. What else. I am further into Karen Memory than a couple of pages! And while Elizabeth Bear's dialect for the book is incredibly strong (was Blood and Iron like this? I didn't get very far into it because the Kindle formatting for it at the time SUCKED and was very hard to read) I'm finding it kind of intriguing. There are a few phrases here and there that, I don't know if it's the narrating character's attitude that throws me out or the turn of phrase or both. It's not as relaxing rest sit back and devour as, say, a Phryne mystery, but it's fun. I'm enjoying it, I'm looking forward to reading the whole thing. If it helps, so far it reminds me of a lighthearted steampunk Deadwood. Yes, I just said a lighthearted Deadwood.

Oh, and I read Saga vol 5, which I think is the most recent volume so I think I'm current on that. Still enjoying it! Rather cranky about one character death, though. I liked her, dammit. ... actually that volume made me cranky in a couple of BUT YOU WERE DOING SO WELL/I LIKED HER DAMMIT ways. Still going to keep reading though, still enjoying.

I may, however, have to give up on Trailer Park Fae. The whole thing is ornate as hell without having any kind of underlying structure to support the ornateness, not in terms of overall plot so much as in terms of meat on the bones of each scene. Or maybe I mean tendons. There's actions, and there's ornate words to describe it, but it's hard to find the connection between the two. Plus I find myself just entirely apathetic about everyone and everything that's going on in it, which, usually urban fantasy is my thing. This, not so much. I may go back and finish it later, but right now I'm glad I only paid 2$ for this.

In the meantime I have a bunch of Trigun to read, Karen Memory to finish. and then either more Kerry Greenwood to get or other people's Wednesday Reads lists to peruse to look for recs. Either one. Oh, and I'm looking at reading Borderline and Company Town next, anyone have anything to say about those?