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Chit Chat and Recommendation Post: February 2023 (Patreon)

Published:
2023-03-01 18:38:01
Imported:
2023-09

Content

Welcome to our monthly chit-chat and recommendation post, a nifty little space to update each other on what we've been doing lately and all the things we’ve enjoyed during the month! I'm sorry this one is a few hours late; I accidentally crashed on my couch last night with a book in my lap, and managed to Rip Van Winkle my way through the entire night.

My February was busy, online and off. It was not a great month for me behind the scenes IRL, but I won't bore you with the gory details. Missing out on my usual ADHD meds basically makes every aspect of my life messier and more difficult to cope with, even if everyday life hasn't actually changed much. Here's hoping that whole thing gets straightened out this month! Hanging on by the tips of my fingernails is not it.

Online stuff went a bit better, at least! Februdere was a decent success (stats pending maybe!) Though I wasn't super stoked with flying by the seat of my pants all month, and it really felt like I only managed to get everything done for Februdere by the skin of my teeth, at least I pulled it off! Yay. 

(Although, while I was preparing this post, I realized a month late that I forgot to post February's "Requests and Suggests" post, too! Hopefully that's a one-off mistake that will not happen again.)

Anyway, here's a few things I enjoyed during February!

Articles: This month's offerings are all over the place, which I think reflects how scattered my brain was.

Inside a Decades-Long Quest to Measure Love: Love Testers, those hokey coin operated toys you may have seen in fiction or at your local tourist trap, have an interesting history! I've only encountered a couple in my vast travels, but I can't resist the siren song of a coin op oddity whenever I find one, whether it's one of these or an animatronic fortune teller.

The History of the Puma Clyde and its Impact on Signature Sneaker Deals I have like zero interest in sneakers, but holy crap did I fall down a rabbit hole of Basketball shoe history after reading this article.

Why Dragons Dominated the Landscape of Medieval Monsters : You know I love monsters! And the only thing I love more than monsters and lore about monsters is history of how we got that lore.

Framed: A Mystery in Six Parts: I read this article, the story of an innocent woman being framed for drug posession by an absolutely unhinged lawyer seeking revenge for a perceived slight, once a couple of years ago and considered it a damn fine piece of journalism then. It came across my radar again in February, and I found myself absorbed in its absurb but still unnerving narrative all over again.

The Rude, Cruel, and Insulting ‘Vinegar Valentines’ of the Victorian Era : if you've ever had a dear friend you've lovingly nicknamed something like "butthead," you'll appreciate this.

50 Great Classic Novels Under 200 Pages: With my attention span and free time at a premium lately, I really appreciate these kinds of compilation lists to give me some direction in cultivating my to-read list a bit better. Now I know what's short enough to read in an afternoon! Thanks, Lithub.

The Gun I Have in My Right Hand is Loaded Technically, not an article! But still fantastic. This is a script used to teach the basics of How Not to Write for Radio. The editor in me wants to marry this thing.

Books: Just one got added to my teetering pile of reading material this month, Superstitions of the Sea: a Digest of Beliefs, Customs, Mystery. I've been expanding my home library of lore-related books lately, and this was a fantastic addition to my collection. 

Games! I haven't had much time to play anything, but I did start Pentiment a few days ago, the newest game from Obsidian Entertainment. (The company behind modern classics like Fallout: New Vegas and Knights of the Old Republic 2.) It takes place in the Renaissance period, and uses a beautiful art style inspired by illuminated manuscripts. I quite like it so far! 

And, though I haven't gotten to play them this month, it reminded me of two other games I quite enjoyed: Astrologaster, another game with a clear, historical stylistic vision (which is also funny af) and To Be or Not to Be, a delightfully silly choose-your-own-tragedy take on Hamlet.

That's pretty much it for me this month. What have you all been up to?

Comments

PsionicsKnight

Hello everyone. I hope you've all been well so far! I just finished another term at my school and started a new one--so far, the classes look interesting, and I think (and hope) they will be lighter regarding the work I have to do for both. Things were a bit difficult for me this month. Long story short: we were offered a lot of voluntary time off opportunities at my Amazon facility, and I took too many, leading me to dip into my savings. And while I got some tax returns this year, they still have arrived yet and might not arrive until next week. While I was able to use some free time to do some writing, including a Sweet Yandere Gorgon script I plan to donate to Velvet, I couldn't get anything done that I could publish or send to get money from. And as something that life decided to do to kick me while I'm done, it turns out that Brandon Sanderson's first secret project--Tress of the Emerald Sea--has had a good deal of printing and shipping problems, so my box for that month hasn't gotten here yet. I do appreciate that Sanderson is being transparent, and that he and his company Dragonsteel are trying their best, but it's unfortunate that so much bad luck has happened with just this single package. The good news is that, at the very least, things are getting back to normal at work, so there won't be as much temptation/need to take more voluntary time off in the future. So, I'm sure I'll get things back on track ASAP! Along with this, I've got a few great bits of news! First, my grandpa's birthday is this weekend--he is turning 95 or 96 if I recall correctly--and as long as everything goes well, I will see him! Really excited about that since he and my grandmother live in a different state, and it's hard to see them for multiple reasons. Thankfully, they are both doing exceptionally well for their age, and I wouldn't be surprised if they make it past 100 (maybe even beyond that). Along with this, the 19th of this month will officially mark my four-and-a-half-year anniversary at Amazon. While I certainly don't enjoy the job and do plan to leave after my fifth anniversary, it's a nice feeling to know I've been there for so long. Especially since if I want to/have to work at a conventional job and not just go into freelance work like I want, then I'm sure that the time I spent will make me look good to other managers. Finally, I've not only been writing a bit more, but I even plan to officially publish some stories! They'll probably just be short stories I'll sell electronically on Amazon for about a buck or two, but I'm super excited about getting them done and hope I can do it soon! Especially since one of my decisions is that if I can get about 15 to 25 short stories done by the end of the year, I'll compile them into an anthology. If anyone is interested in that, I'll let you all know once anything is completed. Now, as for what the short stories will be about: right now, I'm planning on doing mostly fantasy romance stories since, when it comes to turning a buck, romance stories tend to be a bit more forgiving since they sell quite well. However, I do want to branch out into some other genres--perhaps have stories that take place in a fantasy setting, but have characters and plots that are not usually found in fantasy (murder mystery, slice-of-life, zombie apocalypse, etc.). We'll see! As for recommendations: for any spooky story lovers out there, I have found a new writer! His name is Jeremy Bates, and from what I've seen, he likes to focus on a lot of his inspiration on urban legends, spooky places, and strange events. Right now, I'm reading his book Dancing Plague, which is about a town coming under the influence of a strange force that is compelling them to dance constantly. What's more, an event like this actually happened: the Dancing Plague of 1518 was a cass of Mass Hysteria where, for about a month, the residents of a town in what is now France started dancing practically non-stop. Other stories Bates has done includes ones about the Suicide Forest in Japan; the Isle of Dolls; the Catacombs beneath Paris, France; the Russian Sleep Experiment; and the Man From Taured*. I would definitely say check him out, if you haven't already! Another recommendation I have, if I haven't already mentioned this book, is Gone To See The River Man by Kristopher Triana. It's a Southern Gothic/Splatterpunk novel about a woman named Lori, who is a fan of Edmund Cox--a brutal serial killer she's been writing to. After her most recent meeting, Edmund sends Lori to the valley of Killen--specifically, to his cabin there--to retrieve a key and meet with his friend, the epynomous River Man. Taking her mentally handicapped sister Abby with her, Lori travels to Killen--only to realize that not only is Killen darker than she imagined, but the River Man may not be human... Definitely a very dark read and not for the faint of heart, but I loved it! And if you like the book, then there's a fan sequel that was done by AlternateAurora that I think is just as good as the book (and is, in my headcanon, the canonical sequel to the book). As one final recommendation, I do also want to mention some excellent I found. Long story short: there's a dark fantasy book series by R. Scott Bakker called the Second Apocalypse, which is very philosophical and has some amazing concepts (like how despite being in a traditional fantasy world, the main villains are super advanced aliens), I also think it's a very dark work that might have stuff that would trigger/turn-off others. Thankfully, a fairly new YouTuber--Twisted Armada--has been kind enough to do a deep dive/explanation of the story with gorgeous artwork in his videos. So far, he's still fairly new and only has covered a bit of the first book in the series, The Prince of Nothing, but if you don't want to read the original books, this is an excellent substitue. You can check his account and videos here: https://www.youtube.com/@cursedarmada88 That's all for me at the moment! I'll talk to you all later, and I hope I can get that Gorgon Script out soon!

TheYounglingSlayer

Hello, and happy March! I hope y'all had a great February. I will do my best to keep this one brief. Work has been pretty good. I shot my holster qualification and passed. I didn't meet my own expectations, but I can always try again later. Plus, I still shot a 230 out of 250, (each round fired is worth 5 points, for a total of 50 rounds) which is good enough to qualify as an instructor. I also got approved to wear my gun belt at work, which is almost fully built out. I'm just missing an ifak (individual first aid kit) and a dump pouch for miscellaneous goodies. I'm currently writing a wild west script for a certain pink gal that I know. It's coming along, but it still needs quite a bit of work! My best friend and I are doing a playthrough of The Forest with a surprise guest: his super cute sister! It's been a blast and her and I are getting along quite well so far. Wish me luck guys and gals, because I'm surely gonna need it! I'm keeping up with The Last of Us series and I've been quite pleasantly surprised so far. I am a fan of the first game and have very little familiarity with the second one, but I know that big screen adaptations of games have a pretty pitiful track record. It has not just met, but exceeded my expectations at just about every opportunity and I hope it can keep it up. I made two big purchases this month. The first was a new (to me) truck. I'm not much of a car person, so I have very little to say other than I have it and it gets me from point A to point B in one piece. The second was one that I've been looking for since around early January. I finally was able to acquire my dream rifle and she is glorious! She is the envy of all my coworkers and I look forward to a long and prosperous career of ringing steel and punching holes in paper with her! I won't bore (heh, bore) y'all with details since it's not really interesting to most folk, but if you want to know more, just ask! Oh, I also dropped like 25 pounds by just eating better. That's neat! Last thing: Dad Advice! Don't be afraid to ask for help. I know what it's like to be stubborn as hell, so I completely understand not wanting to ask for help, but there are some obstacles in life that you shouldn't take on alone. Remember: kings (and queens) are stronger together! Have a wonderful March everyone! I look forward to hearing about how ya'lls month went as well!