Month: January 2018

The State of the Reader: 1/31/18

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<–The State of the Reader: 1/17/18          The State of the Reader: 2/14/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Purchased: 15

  • Witch Hunt on Crystal Lake by Brittany Batiste – $2.99 @ Amazon
  • The Trial by Franz Kafka – $0.99 @ Amazon
  • The Emerald Dragonfly by Shaun Hume – $0.99 @ Amazon
  • Evolution by Kelly Carrero – $0.00 @ Amazon
  • The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories by Robert W. Chambers – $0.99 @ Amazon
  • Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H. R. Ellis Davidson – $4.49 @ Amazon
  • The Arrival of Missives by Aliya Whiteley – $8.50 @ Amazon
  • The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton – $8.69 @ Amazon
  • The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses by Johann Schiebel – $9.95 @ Amazon
  • The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden – $11.35 @ Amazon
  • Modern Man in Search of a Soul by C. G. Jung – $8.95 @ Amazon
  • The Luster of Lost Things by Sophie Chen Keller – $10.20 @ Amazon
  • Saga: Volume 8 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples – $9.35 @ Amazon
  • The Fall of Lilith by Vashti Quiroz Vega – $2.99 @ Amazon
  • Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics by Jim Al-Khalili – $1.99 @ Amazon

Yup, I bought a shit ton of books in the past month or so.  Those Amazon gift cards really came in handy.  I’ve already finished Witch Hunt on Crystal Lake, as the author asked me to a beta reading, but since I like to support fellow authors, bloggers, and friends, I bought it as well.  Obviously, I bought Saga (once I reminded it was out.  Thanks Ignited Moth!), and I’m probably going to read it next before I continue with the Death Note series.  The purchases were a mixture of eBook and physical (the less expensive ones are the eBooks), and I currently have a box of books sitting under my end table.

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Valiant Hearts: The Great War

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More video game reviews can be found here.

Genre: Puzzle, Adventure, Educational
Developer: Ubisoft Montpelier Studios
Release Date: June 24, 2014
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Network (PS3), Xbox 360 Games Store, Xbox One

The cover of Valiant Hearts: The Great WarLet’s Player: Cryaotic

Some spoilers for the beginning.

“War makes monsters of us all.”
-George R. R. Martin “A Game of Thrones”

“I was never a hero.  That’s just how they justify war.”
–Northern Lights

There is nothing great about war, but there is something to be garnered from its portrayal.  Inspired by letters found during the First World War, Valiant Hearts is nothings less than a a bittersweet masterpieve.

I actually wound up watching this game by accident; I thought I was clicking on Vandal Hearts, but even when the realization set it, I was already hooked.  Valiant Hearts: The Great War manages to be entertaining, funny, heartbreaking, and educational.  I learned more about the first World War than I ever did in history class.  I knew about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand (hell there’s even a street near me named after him), but I didn’t know about the treaties France had signed prior that drew them into the conflict, nor was I informed about what they did to their German residents, though I’m sadly not surprised.  It’s not without its precedence, nor have we presently learned.

Karl, a farmer living in the French countryside with his wife Marie and their son Victor, is forced to leave and return to Germany where’s he promptly drafted (like…seriously?  Why would you do that France??  Obviously any able-bodied men sent back are going to be conscripted!  I mean…I understand the “logic” behind it, xenophobic and paranoid as it is, but I don’t understand why they didn’t realize that someone like Karl would be loyal to the land where he and his family resided and ousting people like him from the country is a bad move since it only served to augment their enemy’s ranks *sigh*).  Not long after Karl’s forced departure, Marie’s aged father Emile is impressed as well, leaving the young mother alone to tend to the harvest and care for her son.

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The State of the Writer: 1/28/18

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<–The State of the Writer: 1/14/18          The State of the Writer: 2/11/18–>

A biweekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 5

  1. Final Fantasy Type-0 Game Review – 1/16/18
  2. Top 20 Books of 2017 – 1/21/18
  3. The Scorpion Rules Book Review – 1/24/18
  4. Ori and the Blind Forest Game Review – 1/25/18
  5. Shadows on Snow Book Review – 1/27/18

It was a productive two weeks.  Yeah…I’m surprised, too.

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 261,308
Prior Word Count: 259.474
Word Difference: +1834
Status: Revising
Progress: Chapter 2

I almost didn’t update this week, and that would really be a shame since I made some significant progress with my revisions.  I was able to integrate a huge chunk of my notes, and I believe I only have one or two more smaller ones to figure out, so I’ll be able to do a reedit with the new stuff soon.

Also, as much as I love Seph, I should be using more pictures of Aeris.  This is her story after all.  I mean she’s the titular character for Planet’s sake *hmph*

Cancelled

  • 2018 Gaming Plans – Not doing it.  I’d rather just do it instead of talking about it, savvy?

In Progress

  • Audio Recording – I meant to do this on Friday, but my voice hasn’t been cooperating.  I noticed when I stopped drinking coffee, it was better.  This is quite problematic, since coffee helps me…function.  It’s quite a dilemma.  I’ve significantly cut down on how much I drink, but I think it’s the milk/cream I put in it or my earl grey tea that does me in.  I’ll try to do the re-recording again this Tuesday.  There have been some other reasons it hasn’t happened, but those are more mental/personal.  It’s always something, isn’t it?  Suggestions are welcome.  I’ve tried tea with lemon and honey.  I actually like my speaking voice, not to be a…oh wait :p
  • Favorite Game Every Year I’ve Been Alive – Thank you iplayedthegame for reminding me I was working on this.  I don’t have a draft open on WP so I didn’t think about it.  I’ll think of a better title before I post it, but in an idea from The Well-Red Mage, it’s a project where you post your favorite games every year you’ve been alive (pretty self-explanatory from the title).  1980-1985 were the toughest in terms of finding games at all, but later years are challenging for other reasons.  Except for 1997.  No problems with that year at all 😉

Did I ask anything interesting last week?  I think it was just my standard closing statement, my…benediction as it were.  Of course I wish you all well and want to know what projects you’re working on!  This has been a rough week for me.  I haven’t been keeping up with my resolutions.  I didn’t update my Facebook fanpage for the second weekend in a row, though I did take some notes on what I will write, but that doesn’t satisfy the terms of the agreement.  Hearing about your accomplishments always gives me a boost though 🙂 ♥

<–The State of the Writer: 1/14/18          The State of the Writer: 2/11/18–>

Shadows on Snow by Starla Huchton (Flipped Fairy Tales #1)

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More book reviews can be found here.

Title: Shadows on Snow
Series Title: Flipped Fairy Tales
Author: Starla Huchton
Date Started: July 30, 2017
Date Finished: August 15, 2017
Reading Duration: 16 days
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Romance, Young Adult

The cover of Shadows on Snow by Starla HuchtonPages: 250
Publication Date: November 3, 2014
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Media: eBook/Kindle

Once upon a time, a dark evil crept into my kingdom, stealing my loved ones and the happy life I knew. The world turned against me, and I swore to become stronger, to keep myself safe.

Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince, hair dark as ebony, skin as pure as the freshly driven snow, and I became the only one who stood between him and death.

Once upon a time, our stories intertwined, and now, healing my heart may be the only way to save us all from the evil that threatens to destroy what little we have left.

I’ve always loved fairy tale retellings, so much so that I write them myself and infuse the all to familiar tropes in all of my works both fanfiction and original.  Starla Huchton has taken it upon herself to delve into terrain fairly well trodden in order to present the old in another new way.  Since this is the first of her stories I’ve read, I’m going off of assumption here, but it appears as though what she’s flipping is the gender of the participants.

The seven dwarfs are now seven sisters (who still manage to be princesses in their own right), the evil queen is an evil king, and Snow White is an ebon-haired, snow skinned prince named Leo who is a kind capable ruler that any man would be willing to follow and many a princess would want to marry, but he’s not the main character; the Rae is.

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Ori and the Blind Forest

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More video game reviews can be found here.

Series: Ori
Genre: Puzzle, Platformer, Adventure – Fantasy
Developer: Moon Studios
Release Date: March 11, 2015
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360 Games Store, Xbox One

The cover of Ori and the Blind ForestLet’s Player: Cryaotic

Some spoilers for the beginning.

Ori and the Blind Forest is a beautiful Metroidvania game that had me weeping within the first ten minutes.  That beats Up’s record.

A screenshot of Pixar's Up with Ellie and Carl lying on a blanket in the grass

I was a mess five minutes later though.

The moment the game starts, you’re sucked into another world, and everything about it facilitates this journey: the painting-like scenery of forest, the ethereal music, and the instantly endearing relationship between Ori, who fell out of the Spirit Tree during a  storm, and his adoptive mother Naru who could’ve stepped straight out of a Miyazaki movie.

A picture of Ori and Naru

Ori and Naru by chupacabradiet

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The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow (Prisoners of Peace #1)

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More book reviews can be found here.

Title: The Scorpion Rules
Series Title: Prisoners of Peace
Author: Erin Bow
Date Started: June 29, 2017
Date Finished: July 26, 2017
Reading Duration: 27 days
Genre: Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Dystopian, Young Adult

The cover of The Scorpion Rules by Erin BowPages: 384
Publication Date: September 22, 2015
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Media: eBook/Kindle

The world is at peace, said the Utterances. And really, if the odd princess has a hard day, is that too much to ask?

Greta is a duchess and crown princess—and a hostage to peace. This is how the game is played: if you want to rule, you must give one of your children as a hostage. Go to war and your hostage dies.

Greta will be free if she can survive until her eighteenth birthday. Until then she lives in the Precepture school with the daughters and sons of the world’s leaders. Like them, she is taught to obey the machines that control their lives. Like them, she is prepared to die with dignity, if she must. But everything changes when a new hostage arrives. Elián is a boy who refuses to play by the rules, a boy who defies everything Greta has ever been taught. And he opens Greta’s eyes to the brutality of the system they live under—and to her own power.

As Greta and Elián watch their nations tip closer to war, Greta becomes a target in a new kind of game. A game that will end up killing them both—unless she can find a way to break all the rules.

The concept of children as bargaining chips for their parents’ cooperation stopped being strange (at least in young adult) after the debut of The Hunger Games, and many YA novels have risen out of the slush pile clinging to its coattails, but there’s enough of a spin on the paradigm in The Scorpion Rules to make it stand out.  Games are still played, but they are far more subtle than the Capital’s spectacle (though to be fair The Hunger Games is more about navigating the subtlety than it initially appears); however slaughtering children for their parents’ mistakes still fits within that same motif.  These futuristic dystopias showcase a potentially missable prospect: holding the future hostage to make us slaves to the past.  When you are willing to kill off the next generation in order to control the prior, it shows a distinctive lack of progress even in a technologically advanced world.  There is little hope in a regime whose best boast is that it can wipe entire cities off the map with ease.

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The State of the Gamer: 1/23/18

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<–The State of the Gamer: 1/9/18            The State of the Gamer: 2/6/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Tuesday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

What I Played

Nintendo 3DS

Title: Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth
Series: Etrian Odyssey
Genre: RPG/JRPG – Fantasy
Developer: Atlus
Release Date: August 4, 2016

I’m on the third stratum now, lovingly called the Fetid Necropolis.  As you can imagine there are a lot of undead enemies, including these Zombie Mutts with spinning heads that give you Confused Needles if you kill them while they’re panicked (otherwise known as confused).  There are also Skeleswords, which are more annoying than terrifying.  They follow you around unless they come across a patch of light where they disappear.  I’ve spent a lot of time beating them, because they give you Rusted Swords, which are useful for upgrading Fencer weapons.  They’re irritating though, because you’ll often find them in a line, and you can get mobbed by them.  EOV is the only turn-based games I’ve played where you can be attacked by another enemy while you’re in the midst of a fight.  I can usually clear out a floor fairly quickly, but I’ve been wandering around the 12th for a while now.  I should hopefully find the stairs up to the 13th soon and more enemies with conditional drops.

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Top 20 Books of 2017

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I set my Goodreads challenge to complete 15 books, and I read 73.  There’s something to be said for underestimation.  I low-balled it because last year, I put 20 on my challenge, but only finished 19; however, I discovered that by putting books on my schedule/to-do list, I could complete them like a fiend.  At some points I was reading eight at a time, but I mostly stuck with my favorite number: seven.  That…was too much though, and while I love to read, I also want to have enough time to do other things.  So I cut down to four, which might still sound like a lot, but one is a Kindle that I read on my lunch break; one is a fiction/fantasy; one varies between a classic or a non-fiction/reference (before I was reading one of each); and the last is a graphic novel/manga, which are easy to breeze through.  Compare this to two Kindles, one fiction/fantasy, one classic, one non-fiction/reference, one graphic novel/manga, and one library book. I’m currently borrowing Death Note from the library for my manga, and I’ll borrow fictions/fantasies from there, too.

Total Books Read: 73

  1. Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin
  2. In the House of the Wyrm by George R. R. Martin
  3. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
  4. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
  5. Rest in Piece by B. W. Ginsburg
  6. The Missing Orchid by Fia Black
  7. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
  8. The Quantum Door by Jonathan Ballagh
  9. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
  10. The Illustrated A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
  11. Descendants by Rae Else
  12. The Mabinogion Tetralogy by Evangeline Walton
  13. Riddled With Senses by Petra Jacob
  14. The Quantum Ghost by Jonathan Ballagh
  15. Radiance by Grace Draven
  16. Saga: Volume 1 by Brian K, Vaughn
  17. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
  18. Eidolon by Grace Draven
  19. A Father’s Protection by K. J. Hawkins
  20. Saga: Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughn
  21. The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia (edited) by Patrick Thorpe
  22. Saga: Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughn
  23. Silent Child by Sarah K. Denzil
  24.  A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
  25. Saga: Volume 4 by Brian K, Vaughn
  26. Saga: Volume 5 by Brian K. Vaughn
  27. Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
  28. Saga: Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughn
  29. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
  30. Talon by Julie Kagawa
  31. Saga: Volume 7 by Brian K. Vaughn
  32. Stone & Iris by Jonathan Ballagh
  33. Gaslight Hades by Grace Draven
  34. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
  35. Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
  36. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Volume 1 by Katie Cook
  37. Poetic Edda: The Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes by Anonymous
  38. Never Never: Part One by Colleen Hoover
  39. The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow
  40. Never Never: Part Two by Colleen Hoover
  41. Never Never: Part Three by Colleen Hoover
  42. The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa
  43. Goldie Vance Volume 1 by Hope Larson
  44. Shadows on Snow by Starla Huchton
  45. Red as Blood and White as Bone by Theodora Goss
  46. Monstress #1: Awakening
  47. An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel
  48. A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
  49. Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman
  50. The Archived by Victoria Schwab
  51. Dweller by Jeff Strand
  52. Abstract Clarity by B. W. Ginsburg
  53. Chobits, Vol. 1 by CLAMP
  54. The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare
  55. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
  56. Death Note, Vol. 1: Boredom by Tsugumi Ohba
  57. Master of Crows by Grace Draven
  58. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
  59. The Diamond Tree by Michael Matson
  60. Promethea, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore
  61. Blink Once by Cylin Busby
  62. Death Note, Vol. 2: Confluence by Tsugumi Ohba
  63. The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
  64. The Daemoniac by Kat Ross
  65. The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
  66. Death Note, Vol. 3: Hard Run by Tsugumi Ohba
  67. Death Note, Vol 4: Love by Tsugumi Ohba
  68. Gyo by Junji Ito
  69. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
  70. Parallel by Anthony Vicino
  71. Death Note, Vol. 5: Whiteout
  72. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
  73. Death Note, Vol 7: Give-and-Take by Tsugumi Ohba
Total Fiction/Sci-Fi/Fantasy: 46 (63%)
Total Classic: 3 (4%)
Total Non-Fiction/Reference: 4 (5%)
Total Graphic Novels/Manga: 20 (27%)

I was going to do this whole shebang with “Most Read Author,” “Favorite New Author,” “Favorite Series,” and all this other stuff, but I decided on just doing a Top 20 with that number as an increase from the original 10.  I marked around 14 books as potential Tops and figured I could find six more.

20. Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman

The cover of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David EaglemanOne of the best parts of reading this book was the perfect timing when I read it: in the midst of watching a Let’s Play of SOMA, which I’ve spoken of at great length (even though the review/essay is still to come).  Incognito explores the intricacies of conscious, subconscious, and unconscious processes and how the latter two form the foundation of the first.  It’s written in such a way that psychological novices can still follow with relatable analogies and examples, but the volume is not without some major issues, which I started noticing around Chapter 4 with Eagleman’s views on beauty/attractiveness that spiraled unfortunately towards racism (yes…really).  He also didn’t fully explore the reasons behind why we have unconscious biases, which never just come out of a vacuum.  While the author has a flair for piquing interest in subjects that could easily come off as tedious, his essentialism and (seemingly) unwillingness to take environmental influences into account raises my brows (and hackles) a bit (e.g. his insistence that having a Y chromosome essentially makes one more violent without considering this propensity could be due to how those perceived as having a Y chromosome are treated from [often before] birth is only one of many).  While I enjoyed the book for what information it imparted, especially for those unfamiliar with psychology, the fore mentioned (and other) issues prompt me to insist it be read with a discerning eye and copious grains of salt.

19. Dweller by Jeff Strand

The cover of Dweller by Jeff StrandThis novel was like a more fucked up version of Harry and the Hendersons, if the Hendersons were a once brutally bullied loner and Harry was a man eating abomination.  I really wanted to know where the monster came from.  Was he some government experiment gone wrong?  A throwback from an early time?  A creature from an alien dimension?  Everything about him just breeds more questions, but his relationship with Toby is both poignant and disturbing.  A lot of fucked up things happen in this book.  I was initially unsure about Strand’s writing style, but it grew on me as did Toby’s character.  It made sense why the author wrote it in this way: it perfectly reflected the MC’s mental state.  This is one of those books that has the perfect ending, as in there’s no other way it could’ve ended for these characters that would’ve been as satisfactory.

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Final Fantasy Friday – Town Tunes

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Final Fantasy Friday

Once I thought up an alliterative title I just had to go with this question.  I was going to open this post stating it’s been a while since we’ve had a music question, but then I noticed Winter Fantasy was not long ago in the queue, so we’re just going to go with the fact that I love music, especially video game music, especially Final Fantasy music.  With that in mind…

What is your favorite town music?

All of the Final Fantasy town music has such a “homey” sound to it.  I wish I’d done better in music theory to be better able to explain what exactly that entails, but I do support a creator on Patreon 8-bit Music Theory who could.  I believe you’re allowed one request a month if you’re a supporter, so I might utilize that.

After listening to some amazing music, my initial choice remains the same it’s been for over 20 years: Final Fantasy VI’s “Kids Run Through the City.”

The repeat of the first verse when that haunting under-melody comes in almost always brings a tear to my eye and this is in the original as in non-orchestrated version.  There are more gorgeous covers of this song than I can shake a stick at, but RebeccaETripp is the one currently on my editing music playlist, but there’s still something about the the original.

Honorable mentions have to go to the following: FFIV – Baron Castle; FFV – Harvest (Kerwin Town Theme); FFVII – Mining Town; FFVIII – Balamb GARDEN ~ Ami (the orchestrated version of the song); FFIX – Frontier Village Dali & Sleepless City ~ Treno; FFX – The Travel Agency; and finally (heh) FFXII – Nalbina Fortress Town.

Some of these aren’t specifically town themes you say?

Twilight Sparkle of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic as a human

Here’s a picture of human Twilight Sparkle shrugging, ’cause I don’t know what to tell you.

Image Source: Smug Shrug by semehammer

I might have played a bit fast and loose with the “town theme” rules, but I considered anything that takes place in a populated locale where you weren’t susceptible to enemy attacks fair game.

What’s your favorite town theme?  The games started to have more than one as their numbers went up, which has a 100% approval rating with me, as it provides some variety.  Does your favorite town them coincide with your favorite game or is it different like mine?  Let’s talk town tunes in the comments!

The “Final” State of the Reader

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<–The State of the Reader: 1/3/18          The State of the Reader: 1/31/18–>

Update:  Okay…so maybe I was a bit too hasty (I even say it down below).  Due to popular demand (and yes, I count 2-3 comments as “popular.”  Your opinions are very important to me), I’m going to keep this post, but it’ll be more compact, just what I’ve finished in the duration and what I’m currently reading.  That should take me two hours or less every other week, which is really all I ask for. 

I’m sorry for seeming capricious.  I don’t normally make decisions this quickly, and I think it was more my chronic fatigue talking.  I was extremely exhausted last night and just didn’t have the energy to do the post.  I think if that happens again, I’ll just say that instead of just completely nixing something that generates such good conversation.  The next SOTR post will be in two weeks with whatever new format I decide to go with.

On a positive note, I can say that I’ve used the term “final” just like my favorite game 😀

<–The State of the Reader: 1/3/18

A weekly post I was updating every Wednesday then every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I added to my to-read list.  You can still friend me on Goodreads where I have an account.

I don’t usually make decisions like this so quickly, but as I was doing my evening reading, tired as usual, I started to consider what benefit this post actually brings.  Obviously I love talking about books/reading, but I can do that when I post my reviews. This post sometimes takes me over three hours even with the modifications, and by the time it’s up it’s late.  I usually have nothing else pertinent on the days I do it, because it takes so long, and since I’m trying to catch up on all my reviews and play all the games, I had to do some account taking.

“But TSN,” you shout, “didn’t you move to a biweekly schedule in order to make more time?”

Yes, dear friends, I did, but I’m fighting a never ending battle with time and fatigue…and they’re winning.  The rules of war constantly change.

“Are you going to nix the State of the Gamer and State of the Writer posts, too?!”

As of now, no.  SOTG doesn’t take nearly as long as SOTR did, and I do SOTW every other Sunday, which is a weekend.  Also since I schedule out my reading as opposed to scheduling out my gaming, I’m going to keep up with the former without needing a weekly or biweekly status update.

I’ll continue to update my progress on Goodreads every Wednesday again, since that takes like five minutes, and of course you can message me there if you want to talk books.  There’s also Twitter and my contacts, which should both be under my About section.

By doing this, I’ll free up an immense amount of time, which I can then use to catch up on my myriad reviews, watch LPs, play games, write, etc. so I think it’s in both my and my blog’s best interest.  It also gives me more time to interact with all of you lovely people since I’ve started checking the WordPress reader on a daily basis instead of relying on the weekly email explosion, which can take me over a week to clear up.

I love the idea of status posts, and they’re great so long as they don’t take up too much of your time, but when posting about what you’re going to do takes more time than you actually doing it, it might be time to consider other options.

And that, as they say, is that.

Or not…I can be so damn capricious.

<–The State of the Reader: 1/3/18          The State of the Reader: 1/31/18–>