Breinthewild

July has been nonstop, from wild work schedules, to trips out of state, to flat tires, to elaborate party setups, to event after event after event (weddings, receptions, movie nights, dinners with friends and family, etc). For a solid 3/4 weeks I had some sort of event every single evening. It was fun but thoroughly exhausting and as a result my reading and writing habits (including this blog) got suspended for a brief period and are slowly getting back on track.

Mug lore: This travel mug was a delightful and thoughtful gift from a family member. It comes with a lid (which I rarely use) and a reusable tea strainer that fits perfectly into the top. I use it primarily when I want to take a large quantity of tea on-the-go but don’t need it to stay hot for hours because I know I’ll have enough time to drink it. In addition, I love the look of the hibiscuses (hibisci?) in the pattern.

What I’m drinking: I’m taking a break from the fancy teas and returning to an old classic from my broke college days: bulk Tiesta tea from WinCo. WinCo is a primarily west coast grocery store that provides the cheapest groceries in my area. They have bulk bins where you can purchase dry goods by the pound (like rice or noodles or even spices) and in that section in some stores, they include coffee beans and tea. During the time in my life where every penny counted for groceries, Tiesta teas became my go-to hot drink. I’d hesitate to call most of their flavors good, but they’re definitely nostalgic. My two favorites are Earl Grey De La Créme (featured here) and Victorian Earl Grey. I tend to keep a bag of at least one of the two in my tea rotation for old time’s sake.

What I just finished reading: It’s been so long since I’ve posted, I’ve actually finished both of these books by now. I read A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman first, followed by Katabasis by R. F. Kuang. In a surprise to absolutely no one, I loved Parade. Like all of the books in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, it was just so fun, so unique, and an absolute delight to go through. I just want to hear more of the thoughts that go through Dinniman’s brain, because what made him think of that? The only downside is now I’ve blasted through all the available books in the series and have to wait for the next one to come out. Sigh.

Katabasis was an interesting one. I’ve sampled Kuang’s work pretty widely now and feel I can officially say it’s not for me. She’s an undeniably talented writer and is doing a lot of interesting things but for whatever reason, her themes and characters tend not to stick with me. Her take on a journey to hell is unique but for me the emotional impacts of the narrative didn’t really resonate and there seemed to be no real difficulty nor cost to the journey, which made it feel airy and weightless as a concept. Kuang’s characters actually emerge from hell better off than they were before with almost nothing to show for their time—allegedly—spent among the damned. Likewise the horrors of hell are distant, academic. There is great emphasis on the “punishments” of hell mostly involving writing an academic thesis, which while perhaps interesting in concept, ended up rather boring to read about. The mystery and dynamic between the two main characters was fun to read and pulled me through much of the narrative but was not enough to save it for me in the end. It wasn’t a bad read by any means, just an okay one.

What I’m reading now: Very little actually, because my friends and acquaintances (and myself to be honest) have convinced me to surrender my soul to Jeff Bezos and get an Audible subscription, for one reason alone:

Dungeon Crawler Carl.

I absolutely hate the Audible monopoly. I hate how Amazon pinches both authors and buyers by funneling them into exclusive deals just so creators can make a living. If I could have listened to the audio book any other way while ensuring the creators still get a cut of the profit, I would.

But there isn’t another way. Because the audiobooks for the series are Audible exclusive. So here we are. I can “buy” the audiobooks but I’ll never own them. Because I’m not actually buying them, I’m purchasing a limited license or some nonsense that keeps the money flowing to Amazon’s pocket, in exchange for the concept of a thing I’ve purchased. Gross. It’s Enshittification at it’s finest.

I’m still having a blast listening to the books, mind you. Jeff Hays and Matt Dinniman (and probably many others behind the scenes) put a lot of work into making a great product. They deserve my dollars as thanks. It’s just a shame because just a few decades ago, I would have enjoyed these books either as a CD or even a download directly to my computer, making it easy to share with friends, endlessly relisten, or even hand down to the next generation. My husband’s uncle just gifted him a vinyl he picked up in the 70s, now 50 years later we’re listening to the same sounds on the same medium. That’s just not possible with Audible’s setup, and that’s a huge loss. It’s the definition of short-term thinking: getting a quick buck now with no thought for how it might impact the future.

What I’m writing now: 70k words and approaching the homestretch of WIP. There have also been a few side-quest writing projects this month but mostly I’m trying to crank this thing out so I don’t have to think about it for a while.