- The good thing about freelancing: you can set your own schedule. The bad thing about freelancing: you can set your own schedule, and thus wind up working weekends on a fairly regular basis despite never intending to. Ah well. At least things have progressed a little on the getting-me-to-France front. More details once ACTUAL progress is made.
- For any of my flist who are OMGCP fans: come play at
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checkpleasefans, or parsitive if you're a Kent fan. Bonus: a far lower population of idiot children than on Tumblr.
- Speaking of comms, does anyone have recs for icon comms? I have several free slots that need filling.
- IT IS SO GODDAMN HOT. Seriously, I'd forgotten how bad a Chennai summer can be after two years and change away. Mercifully between the air conditioning and the inverter it hasn't been TOO bad, but I'm dreading May.
- Benefit of taking last week off: I managed to make a dent in my Read Harder list. 8/24 so far, it would have been 9 but I refuse to count Chai Chai as a travel memoir when it's mostly a recounting of shitty booze drank.
Read a Book About Books: The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester (4 stars): The story of two of the main contributors to the original OED, Professor James Murray, and William Chester Minor, an American surgeon and Civil War vet who made his massive, and incredibly influential, contribution to the dictionary from an insane asylum in Broadmoor, where he spent all but one of the last 48 years of his life. It's a really well-done book, well-researched and gripping, and is compassionate but not condescending towards Minor. As a huge history and language nerd, I really enjoyed it!
Read a Debut Novel: The Star-Touched Queen, by Roshani Choksi (4.5 stars): OMG SO GOOD. Seriously. The writing is gorgeous and lyrical, the female characters complex and compelling, with well-drawn relationships between them, even the antagonists, and the plot draws from Indian mythology without being a tired reworking of a familiar tale. My only quibble is that the love story isn't as strong as it could be.
Read an LGBTQ romance: Mr. and Mr. Smith by HelenKay Dimon (4 stars): So for all I read a stupid amount of slash, I haven't, actually, read that many published M/M romances. This one was a good start - as the title suggests, it's about two spies who have to deal with the aftermath of their respective secret identities not being secret any more. I really liked that the characters went on a journey, and that while they were tough guys who weren't great at communication, neither were alphaholes or completely incapable of feeling things other than sexual desire. And the ending was flat out adorable.
- Remember I promised myself I was gonna go 100% ebook? Yeah, that ain't happening, because my mother is a terrible influence. I picked up A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas and Loitering with Intent by Ritu Menon.
- Good thing: Pens up 2-0. Less good thing: Having my only RL Hockey friend be a Caps fan so I can't even squee in peace. Le Sigh.
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