Two for Tuesday: Weird!

Two ducks in Los Angeles (my photo)

I read a couple of strange books recently, and I will share my reviews today. Hopefully, they will be of some interest to my fellow fiction fans.

1. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. This book was not what I expected, which is a good thing! I love to be thrown off balance by a novel. Is Natalie insane, did she get shoved back in time, or is she the victim of an elaborate hoax? The main characters have shifting layers and motivations, which all add to the surreal atmosphere. I enjoyed reading the extreme political/ social POVs personified rather than straight up mocked by the author. It made the wacko ideas somewhat more relatable. Somewhat! Ultimately, the ideas were all skewered, which I loved (both sides, hey). This wasn’t a five-star book for me (I wouldn’t read it again), but it was definitely enjoyable. Four stars.

PS: I waited forever for Yesteryear to become available at my local library ~ the reason I was so determined to read it is because there’s a movie coming out starring Anne Hathaway, and I love her. (I didn’t want to buy the book because it was expensive.) It was worth the wait. The following review is via a library book also.

2. Too Old for This by Samantha Downing. This is a thriller, but it has a catch: the first-person murderer slash protagonist is 75-year-old woman. That's pretty much it, with the "old lady" gimmick featuring on every page with issues such as arthritis making it more difficult to scrub up the blood after a killing. The older you get, the harder it is to stuff a dead body into a freezer. Sometimes you forget and take your phone with you when you shouldn't, and then all that danged info is in the cloud somewhere. Who even knows what happens there? It's a fun and fast read, but totally preposterous from beginning to end. I gave it 3 stars plus an additional .25 for the original concept. (If it's been done before, I haven't read it.)

OK then. Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

I Screen You Screen We All Screen

 

Image created by Meta AI

Screening and blocking are my jam

Lost my patience for your drama

Unknown numbers telephone scam

Screening and blocking are my jam

Liars hustlers full of flimflam

ID stealers got your karma

Screening and blocking are my jam

Lost my patience for your drama

~*~

Quadrille triolet written for dVerse Q258 hosted by Lisa with the prompt of screen.

Rigged and Ready

 

Colorful music notes from Pixabay

For Jim's Song Lyric Sunday today, he asks us for lyrics about fishing, a mariner, sailing, seafaring, or ships, and I decided on "The Last Farewell" by Roger Whittaker. My first thought was "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot, but I figured someone else would take that one, so I checked my Spotify list of trip-themed songs (yes, I have a list for everything), and I found this one. But before I talk about the song, I want to note that when I type on my laptop directly into a blog post I don't have curly quotes or apostrophes in the standard font (which I have never changed), and when I type on my phone I do have them in the standard font. And now I see if I copy pasta a snippet of phone writing into a Word doc, keeping the source formatting, it is different in many ways from a snippet of laptop writing, and this is bugging the absolute crap out of me. I don't know why it took me so long to notice! I don't think there's anything I can do about it unless I update every post so that the font matches, which would be insane. Not that that's ever stopped me. But no, I am not doing that. Nope nope nope.

There's a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbor
Tomorrow for old England she sails
Far away from your land of endless sunshine
To my land full of rainy skies and gales

This is a heartbreaking song, and Roger sings it with such passion that sometimes it makes me cry. It's about a British sailor who was stationed on some exotic island and fell in love with a native girl. Now, he has to return to his ship and plunge back into war. We don't know which war he's talking about, but it doesn't matter, does it? They're all the same: horrible. 

Though death and darkness gather all about me

And my ship be torn apart upon the seas

I shall smell again the fragrance of these islands

In the heaving waves that brought me once to thee

Songwriting credits go to Roger Whittaker and Ronald Arthur Webster. AI says that while hosting a BBC radio show in 1971, Roger invited listeners to submit poems and lyrics that he could turn into original songs. Ron, a silversmith from Birmingham, submitted his poem "The Last Farewell," and Roger wrote the music, recorded the track, and put it on his album New World in the Morning. It's a "fictional dream ballad," not autobiographical or historical.

Enjoy the whole song here.

Mathing the Migraine

Abstract migraine pain via Meta AI

My head is never one hundred percent:

Each morning I check the pain out of ten.

If it’s one or two, then hip hip hooray; 

The odds may be in my favor today.

A three or a four is merely a dream,

While five gets me in a shower of steam.

At six I begin to think about meds

And slowly extract myself from the bed,

As I engage in that age-old debate—

Try OTC or already too late?

Go straight to the stuff Rx’d by my doc

Or give generic Excedrin a shot?

Seven or eight you know I’m in trouble;

Suma and coffee—make mine a double!

At nine I would be passed out on the floor;

Ten takes me right to the hospital’s door.

~*~

Written for Reena’s Xploration Challenge 452 about fractions. 

Alouette on Absence

Dandelion from Pixabay

fly away sweet bird

your song went unheard

until its absence was known

gentle alouette

how soon we forget

the bitter tears we have sown

infinity calls

another life falls

I too have glimpsed the abyss

I always step back

love keeps me on track

too many moments to miss

other people’s pain

the grief they sustain

beyond our comprehension

we extend a hand

trust slips through like sand

suspicious of intention

like ghosts on parade
the memories fade

and pass on leaving no mark

connect with like minds

bond quickly unwinds

then we’re alone with the dark

~*~

Alouette poetry (two or more stanzas of 5-5-7-5-5-7 syllables with rhyme scheme a-a-b-c-c-b) written for Tanka Tuesday 86, hosted by Melissa Lemay, and inspired by the passing of RJ Mitte (RIP).

Hodgepodge with Extra Noodles

Udon noodles with overlaid text (my photo)

I'm participating in Joyce's Hodgepodge this week by responding to the following questions. Since my personal posting has been a bit "light" lately, I can tell before I start that I will be going off-topic into a whole bunch of pointless meandering, which is why I used the Noodling image. Also, I haven't used it in a while. It's always a bit of a struggle with me to decide what to put "out there" in public on social media as I enjoy talking about myself and don't mind criticism over my ideas, but on the other hand I don't want to involve anyone else. It's sometimes hard to talk about my life without mentioning family or friends, but I have learned it's best to keep the mention of other people to an absolute minimum. 

1. Do you think you're driven more by curiosity or comfort? Explain. 

Comfort absolutely 100% no question. While I am intellectually curious, in my physical life I do not crave new experiences. I'm very strange that way compared to other people I know. I like being home. I enjoy eating familiar foods. I'm happy hanging out with the folks I already know as opposed to seeking new contacts. I will always choose the safe and boring over the exciting and different. At least, that's how I am now at age 65; when I was younger, I did try new things. Mostly that didn't work out so well. 

2. What non-food item is in your refrigerator or freezer? 

In the fridge I have soothing cucumber-aloe eye fresheners, although I haven't used them yet ~ I like to know that they're there. In the freezer there are a bunch of ice packs for my head and neck in case of a migraine. Lately though I haven't found the ice packs to be that helpful. It's better to take a hot shower and ingest some caffeine to repel an approaching migraine; if it's already a full-blown attack, then I have to take sumatriptan.

3. Are you comfortable with silence? If you're home alone, do you like silence or do you need regular background noise? Do you seek out times and places to be silent? What's your favorite place to find silence/be silent? 

I love silence! Actually, though, it's never truly silent for me as I have 24/7 tinnitus, plus there's always some kind of lowkey background noise going on, such as the humming of the fridge or the A/C or little kitty paws padding about. At night, I like to have a fan on at the lowest setting for both the white noise and the air circulation, which is a relatively new thing for me. I used to put on an animal documentary to fall asleep by, but I haven't done that for a while. The fan seems to do the trick. 

A lot of noise makes me anxious. I'm not talking about loud movies or music (although those can become unpleasant quickly), but people and machinery. When a bunch of people are all talking at once, I find it impossible to concentrate on anything and soon feel miserable. The same thing happens if a leaf blower is going or a truck is beeping or whatever loud, repetitive thing is conspiring to upset me. My headaches can be triggered from this, but even when they aren't, I just dislike it intensely.

Part of the reason I love staying home is the relative quiet here compared to other places. It seems that the nearby beaches would be perfect for a peaceful experience, and they are somewhat, but they're often windy, which isn't good for my head.

4. Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping...which skill would you most like to possess and how would you put that skill to use today?

I would say plumbing because we recently needed to have a bit of minor work done, but it is done, so that's that. I wish I were more tech-adept and understood how all my electronic devices work and how to deal with them in more than the most basic ways.

5. Do you lean more towards being too needy or too independent? Which do you find harder to deal with in others? 

I don't know what is "too" other than comparing myself to others and/ or taking into account how I have been criticized in the past. In an absolute sense though, how can I know? If I had ever met the right man for me, then I wouldn't be "too" anything, but that never happened so yes I've been on both sides of that equation. I have been criticized for being too needy in the sense of wanting more compliments, more (philosophical) conversation, more affection, more commitment, blah blah. Yet I've also been rejected for not wanting the constant togetherness of a traditional relationship. I don't want to see someone every day! That's foundational to most long-term romances, but I despise it. The idea of having to eat dinner with someone else every single night for the rest of my life makes me want to crawl out of my skin and run screaming off into the wilderness.

In others, I have found both extremes impossible to deal with as well. I have met men who freak out if you don't answer their text within an hour, and I have met men who don't answer my text for three days. Both of these are unacceptable to me. I don't know. I feel that with the right person these things wouldn't be an issue. Maybe I'm delusional, but to me a romance shouldn't be a constant series of exhausting negotiations. Everything would just work out like magic as in a romance novel or romcom. Nope, not delusional at all! LOL. Anyway, for the past 10 years I haven't had to deal with this, which to me is the correct compromise. I know some folks my age are still looking and hoping, but I am over it.

Regarding friends and family, all is good there. More or less. I mean, I occasionally have a burst of rage over something, which I express to someone other than the enraging party or to no one at all, but I get over it quickly.

6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

So, I have mentioned that with this blog I am not into promotion. I hate marketing in any form, which is why a lot of folks don't even know I have 10 books for sale on Amazon KDP. I don't have my current blog indexed on the search sites. If you google "Paula Light blog," you will get the result that I gave up my blog, which is true (along with other incorrect AI info, such as that I'm a hypnotherapist). I did give up my "popular" WordPress blog ~ I've given up many blogs. But here I am blogging! I have been going at it pretty steadily here on Blogger since August of 2024.

Ever since the April 2026 A-Z though, I've been more active in responding to comments and visiting other blogs, which naturally has had the effect of massively increasing my views and comments here. For example, a year ago I received on average maybe one comment per post. Some received two or three, but others had zero. Now my average is about eight comments per post (not counting my own). That's rewarding, but it also takes time to respond to each one, so I haven't been. Sometimes I don't say anything; other times I will post a "thank you" to the group of commenters. I do appreciate the visits! I just don't want to start spending oodles of time blogging the way I used to because for me that's a path to burnout. This is also why I don't always comment on posts I read.

Prior to April of this year, the bots and scrapers didn't know I existed here on Blogger. My page views matched the comments: some days I had zero views, while other days I might have had three. Now of course my page views are insane like everyone else's with hundreds, sometimes thousands, per day no matter the number of comments received. I also get a whole bunch of spam to my listed email with all kinds of "offers" to pay people to promote my books! While actual possible purchasers may not know I have books for sale, these marketers do. By some mysterious magic, they have access to purchasers (yeah right). You know they haven't a clue about what I write when the title of the email is "your book" and they have no specifics. 

A weird thing happened today though. I received an email regarding my last post ~ the AI Makeover ~ and this email was intensely specific, mentioning all the things I said in my post. It's just another AI site, most likely one that will eventually charge a fee, telling me they could do better with the images I would like in the future. I don't know why I find this interesting, but I am not going to reply, don't worry!

Congratulations if you have read to the end of this pointless meandering. You do not get a prize, sorry.

AI Makeover

Image generated by Nano Banana (free on Google)
using the below text and then tweaked by me

My name is Paula Light, and I live in Orange County, California, with Inky, my adorable black cat. I’m 65, and I work full time in a law office. I’m a mom, a grandma, a poet, a fiction writer, and a voracious reader. My books, such as Ghosted, Sidewalk Noodles, Going Dark, and more, are available on Amazon for Kindle.

My favorite types of books are Regency romances and thrillers, plus anything with or about animals. I’m also a movie fan and love good dramas and comedies, along with musicals, such as Mamma Mia. Game nights with friends are always fun, especially if we play Ticket to Ride! 

Some of my other pastimes include aerobics, puzzles, and blogging. The best way for me to spend an evening is curled up with a good book, a hot cup of tea, and my kitty. 

~*~

This post is in response to Reena’s Xploration Challenge 451, in which she asks us to write 6-10 sentences about ourselves and then use an AI program to generate an image from the text. I used the free Meta AI image generator and Google’s free Nano Banana to compare results. Meta included a puzzle and a game, which was nice, but Google got Inky exactly right, so I had to go with theirs. Besides, Meta made me look super old, while Google apparently thinks 65=45. Not gonna argue with that. I tweaked the image to use the actual names of my books on the table, delete the wedding band (had to ask twice), remove excess teacups, and add some cookies. Gotta have cookies!