Spontaneous Musings

The knee injection went better than expected? I'm icing it now - as ordered. It required an ultra-sound, then an injection. For a bit it felt great, then after an hour of standing and walking - mildly painful (or per usual). I have the next injection on Juneteenth, in the morning. Since I have the day off - this means I don't have to take time off for it. And the one after that - sigh, is a 2:20pm appointment - so I may have to take the day off work for what amounts to a 20 minute doctor visit. Oh, well, maybe I'll visit the book store afterwards (Barnes and Noble is conveniently located three blocks from the doctor, and on the way to and from the doctor) or a coffee shop and read. B&N is selling records and CDs again. Along with journals, art supplies, cards, chocolate, fancy pens, and lovely books. It has a whole section reserved for fantasy. The doctor's office is about a moderately brisk fifteen-twenty five minute walk from the subway. Barnes and Nobel is closer, although it's about a ten-fifteen minute walk to the subway.

So after the knee doctor, I went to B&N (probably shouldn't have - since wandering around a book store for thirty minutes isn't the best for knees).
And bought four large paperbacks, a specialty chocolate bar, and a kind energy bar. Got five dollars off - using my Premium Card. But, that was probably just for the treats.

My hoard includes (honestly, Book Instagram is not good for me - it makes me want to hoard books, and I obviously do not need assistance in that department):

* The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab - this is highly rec'd by Book Instagram.

*The controversial Want by Gillian Anderson.
(Nancy Friday's collections of erotica were controversial as well.)

* The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon - which I think I may have on Kindle, but I've been eyeing the very pretty paperback for some time now - and I think I want to read it in large paperback? It's a doorstop book.

* Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson- he's extremely popular (kind of Fantasy's take on Stephen King or John Scalzi) and it's been optioned for a television series. But it caught my eye because it's about a caper - with the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the determination of an unlikely heroine: a street urchin who must learn to master the power of a Mistborn.

They are all large paperbacks, with slightly larger print - not the teeny tiny print that only someone who doesn't require reading glasses can read.

I love books. I can fall into a book and forget everything. Also I can't eat while I read. Or do much but read. Unlike television - where my hands get twitchy and I want to snack or eat or do things.

I joined Story Graph a while back - mainly because Good Reads was annoying me? Not that I'm good at keeping either up to date.

***

Oh, per Instagram, my union announced that its members had ratified the most recent negotiated contract by an extraordinary margin. (Basically it passed and I'll get my raise sometime this year. Yay. I'll probably retire before the next one gets passed.

***

Apparently it was New York Flag Day? So, of course to commemorate the occasion, they had a mini parade through the Financial Historic District. (Basically in front of my building to roughly Francis Tavern. ) Complete with bagpipes, a marching band (a small one) and lots of big flags. And they were thrusting flags on folks who passed by. I got one. Not feeling all that patriotic at the moment, but I got one and put it in a drawer - in reserve.

It's not a great photo? But below is a picture of the bagpipers at the end of the parade, standing around chatting in the shade. It doesn't look hot? But it was. It was 92 degrees with humidity - high humidity - so had a heat index of well over 100 (I think that's 35 C?). It wasn't that bad where I worked - we had a breeze and we're near the water. But it was hot on the way to the doctor's appointment, even though that's about ten blocks uphill from the water. (I live and work on a group of islands in New York Harbor with over 8 million other people, most of which appear to be under the age of 30 and didn't exist when I first moved here in the 1990s. People had an insane amount of children between now and then and dumped them all in NYC for some reason.)

My Aunt (mother's younger sister) advised Mother that Mackinack Island was rather touristy and crowded with tourists, reiterating what I'd learned from my attempt to get recommendations via dreamwidth. So, she's decided that maybe I should just come down to visit her in Hilton Head after all.
The logistics of traveling together seems to be an issue - well that and we can't find a place that makes sense to travel to. Before you suggest she just visit me in NYC? Been there done that multiple times over the years, and it won't work now - I don't have a fold out couch.

Work. Sigh. It's slow and kind of boring again (my work depends on other people and they aren't as efficient as I am.) But, the nice thing about advances in technology - is I have toys to keep me occupied at work now unlike the dark ages - aka the 1980s and 1990s, where I had nada. People don't realize how good they have it right now. In early 1990s, I bought magazines and read them at work to keep myself occupied. Now? I can play with my smartphone. Also the internet. And write my book, and/or play with my book on the computer. Also brought a little sketch book and colored pens. I'm all set. Usually I just drift off to sleep while meditating or reading about horror films on MicroSoft Edge (workplace browser).

I did accomplish a few things this week. Surprisingly enough. I wish I'd done the jury duty - it's been a slow week. But I couldn't risk it interfering with the knee injections, which start next week. And I'd have been anxious and irritated the whole time - worrying over it. With any luck they'll call me in August. But, I have no control over these things. I don't know why they need to put me in their pool at all. I live in a city with over 8 million people in it. It's not like they have a shortage of people. In Kansas - they never called me - because I went to law school and was automatically disqualified. Here? They don't have that rule. Which seems odd - considering NYC has more people than the whole state of Kansas does. So why could Kansas afford to be picky but not New York? (Yeah, I know Kansas has less court cases, but honestly, NY can't possibly have enough to include over 5 million qualified people.)

**

Making my way through the X-Men Animated Series (currently streaming on Disney +) - which I haven't seen since it aired on Fox (before Rupert Murdoch bought Fox and made a travesty of it, until Disney bought it from Murdoch somewhere around 2020) in the mid-1990s. And I only watched it intermittently back then. It aired between 1994-1996, right after law school and right before I moved to NYC. Hence the reason the sequel is entitled X-men '97 (it takes place one year after the original concluded).
Is it any good? Eh. It depends on what you like or what floats your boat? X-men is a superhero soap opera with insanely convoluted plots that appear to be written by folks on an acid trip. No one reads or watches the X-men comics for the plotting. They do it for the characters - it's a superhero relationship drama with a heavy thematic emphasis on human rights, and being an outsider or ostracized for being different. Mainstream comics, it's not - that's Batman and Superman and the Justice League, X-men is kind of counter-culture comics. They'd been around about thirty years before they took off briefly in the 1990s. Then disappeared again from the public eye, to resurface in a slew of movies and animated series, then went underground again.

So, is it any good? It's uneven. ( spoilers )
So a mixed bag, but that's true of the comics too. I kind of look at the X-men comics like published fanfic? With art? It varies by writer and artist, some are really good, some...make me wonder how they ever got hired and if the person who hired them was stoned at the time? But I feel like that in my own work place.

It is a good comfort watch though. Also, it dates well. Most things that aired in the mid-to-late 1990s do, though? The cultural vibe started to change around that time, and became a little kinder and more diverse. (Thank you NAACP and the LGBTA and Women's Rights movements - it didn't do it in a vacuum, it had help.) Also to be fair? The X-men and Marvel were always a bit on the liberal progressive side of the house. (DC not quite as much?) Stan Lee was very liberal. And the X-men had a pro-outsider or ostracized minority vibe. It's why I loved them, it's also why they were very counter-culture and kind of underground or cult.

So...two groups are fighting at the moment in the media.

My insane Union vs. Crazy Org and well the Feds in the middle of it. The Feds took the unions side, which is interesting although doesn't mean all that much, since the Feds on the Board of Review were pre-existing the current administration (of which we shall not name - spits).

That's just anxiety inducing.
( Read more... )

The other group is far more entertaining and much less anxiety inducing, mainly because I don't have a stake in any of it, and am mostly ambivalent.

Buffy vs. Hulu, (with well, a Zen Like Chloe Zhao somewhere in the middle?)

SMG (Buffy) announces Hulu axed the Buffy reboot with no warning, and it was because of one exec who hates Buffy and never liked the original show.

(So of course the journalists do some digging to find out who the executive in question is, because really, who in their right mind hates Buffy? - Some random executive isn't exactly helpful?)

Deadline outted the Executive...because of course... (honestly the journalists in our media have way too much time on their hands? There's either too many of them or...they just can't figure out what to do with the abundance of news already out there? Granted this is less anxiety inducing than the rest of it.)

Here's Deadline Article. [ Which is a must read for anyone interested in why it is so hard to get a television show produced and aired. And why this is a difficult business. Writing is easy - television is hard.]

"Here is how Buffy: New Sunnydale went from a dream reboot two decades in the making, with Gellar starring and Oscar winner Chloé Zhao directing, to a discarded pilot. There were issues — as Deadline reported on Saturday, the original pilot was “not perfect”; some called it “not great.” Yet, after a well-received rewrite with a lot more Buffy Summers in it, no one expected the pass. Written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, whose previous credits include Poker Face and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the pilot would have turned the attention to a new young slayer, commonly referred to as Nova. She was played by Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and The Lowdown star Ryan Kiera Armstrong. It's said that the premise, initially seen as promising, gradually fell apart.
( Rest of the article )

And Here's Hollywood Reporter's Article on it via People Magazine -

( article below the cut regarding Gellar's take in an interview with People and Hollywood Reporter )

"A statement obtained by People noted that because Disney owns the Buffy IP, the project cannot be shopped elsewhere."

***

What did Craig Erwich green light - or what programs did he champion?

Erwich Interview with Hollywood Reporter on Future shows

Erwich shows

"Craig Erwich will now oversee 20th Television and 20th Television Animation, with Karey Burke and Marci Proietto reporting to him. Craig will continue to lead ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals."

https://deadline.com/2026/03/debra-oconnell-disney-craig-erwich-20th-television-1236757197/

In retribution? Someone leaked the alleged draft of the filmed pilot (I removed the link because I decided I agree with SMG not whomever leaked it.) (ETA: SMG has since requested folks not read it or share it, since it's just a draft and very rough, and pilots aren't the television show - pointing to the original pilot episode of the original Buffy series as evidence of this. In that - there was a different Willow, and Gellar had dark hair.)

Note - the leaked script was written in 2024, and has since been rewritten and tweaked. Also, I know Marsters (per interviews) was contacted in late 2025 - they'd shown interest in his return. And rumor has it that - they made the new script more adult, it was a 90 minute pilot, and more like a streaming show with a bigger budget, and everyone had liked it per the above.

So? We don't know what they would have come up with. Only the people involved know for certain.

***

I've not read the leaked script. There's no evidence it's actual? And we all know by now how much scripts change from paper to screen while shooting, often to the point in which very little on the draft makes it to screen.

I can't say I'm surprised it got axed. ( Read more... )

The online fandom, being contentious and fractious as ever - is fighting over it on various social media platforms - FB, Reddit, and X. I've seen the Reddit and FB fights, also one on X. There's several factions?
( Buffy fans are fighting over the Hulu/Buffy war )
This all rather entertaining, but not all that surprising? Fandom. Sigh. Fandom.

It is a nice distraction though from other...less entertaining and more worrisome problems, of which we shall not speak.

The leaked script sparks fanfiction ideas in my head. I'm tempted to write fanfic based on that synopsis. It's interesting. I can see all sorts of interesting things they could have done with the show and the general concept.

Stupid network/studio/streaming service executives with no imagination.

This is why I'm glad I'm not a television writer or television actor or working in television. As nutty and frustrating as my work in transportation and construction is? It's relatively sane and stable in comparison. The frustration alone would kill me - if I worked in television. Damn, that's a hard business.

So, just in case someone out there wants to get a book, novel, idea, what have you - produced and developed as a television series? Read the Buffy vs. Hulu fight, and find another career to invest yourself in. Trust me, the pain and suffering isn't worth it.

For every show, Whedon got produced - he had twenty others that never made it, and then he got cancelled - by the actors from his first successful (and possibly only really successful) television series.

Well, I've accomplished a few things at least. Got up early enough to do my knee exercises, eat breakfast, and get distilled water for the humidifier/Nosh Steam Oven, and veggies/fruit, paper towels, and other mildly essential groceries. When I was putting said groceries away, the kitchen light decided to burn out. I notified the super - that it needs to be replaced (I have light bulbs). And transferred the small lamp that I have in the living room to the kitchen. It fits. So it will work for the interim. (Oh to have a ladder and a handy person to fix it - because I can't do it without killing myself. Tempting. But no. Mother would miss me. And knowing me - I wouldn't die, I'd just critically injure myself.)

Finished my taxes (although it cost me more to do them this year than my actual refund, also I have to pay NY State, damn it). ( tax hell )

It was nice weather today - in the upper thirties and forties, high about 45 degrees F (which is practically balmy considering the temps we've been having in NYC this winter). And the grocery store - was surprisingly sparse, not as many customers as expected, considering a big storm is moving in. (People are procrastinators - so they all probably came late in the day or tomorrow.)

I'm trying not to fret too much about the upcoming hellish winter storm. Breaking Bad warned me, but it didn't register and I didn't get it - I was overwhelmed with work this week - being blind sighted by C leaving. (C tracks everything for us and is my liaison with the project team, also one of the few people I can talk to.) Her last day was Friday. So, I was kind of discombobulated, and recovering from a head cold, so didn't pick up on the fact that a huge winter storm was coming on Sunday night. Figured it out when I got home - and saw the weather report. We're supposed to have blizzard conditions between 1 am and 10 am on Monday. I don't know if I can get to work in that? I walk and take the subways, which are above and below ground?
( Read more... )

I really wish the storm hit Friday night into Saturday instead, like last time. When I actually did take Monday off.

Dinner was "shrimp, brussel sprouts, and aspergus in the air fryer" - seasoned with red pepper, teriaki, fauk garlic salt (this is amazing on shrimp and veggies), and Mrs. Dash. (Which I need to get more of at some point.)

Also watched both Destiny and Harm's Way of Angel S5 rewatch. Picked up on the following:

( Read more... )

***

Question a Day - February Meme:

18. What is your favourite shellfish dish (if you have one)?

Lobster, preferably with melted butter, and lemon.

19. Have you ever worn false eyelashes or had eyelash extensions?

No. Or not that I recall? I might have - I have a vague memory of trying to do that - and it not working, and being a mess. Makeup and me are kind of unmixy things - particularly eye-makeup. I can do foundation but that's it.

20. Are you a fan of mayonnaise in a sandwich (either egg-based or vegan)?

No.

( Read more... )

21. When was the last time you heard music played live (at a concert, in a musical)?

The Broadway musical SMASH this past summer.

I'm not really a live concert person, I'm a live theater person. I like sitting in a seat and watching folks dance, sing, act, and tell a story on stage.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate.

I took today off, and did next to nothing with it - outside of baking chocolate chip cookies I didn't need to bake, and resting my knee. I think I just wanted to watch television, play Royal Match and veg?

Decided to do laundry either tomorrow or Friday. Knee needed a respite. Struggling with my diet still - chocolate chip cookies tends to spike blood sugar, so does fries. I had fixed lamb, asparagus, and fries for dinner. It was a good dinner, but not the best for my blood sugar. The holidays are hard for restricted diets.

Zigging back and forth between Angel and Buffy, has made me aware of a few things? ( Read more... )

It's time for bed. The year is slowly winding down again, isn't it? And once again we've sunk into winter. Although it was sunny today. I have the lights on my little christmas tree on. And I watched my UUA Church's service on my big screen television set via Youtube. It's easier that way. Plus I can see more - such as the musicians. I couldn't see a thing when I attended it in person last year. (I won't do that again. Too crowded.) I don't get the little chocolate Christmas bells they handed out - but I didn't want or need them either. I think they gave chocolate coins, a little thing of perfume, and something else last year - to symbolize the gifts of the three kings (for the past several years the Magi had been the general theme), this year immigrants and angles were the general theme.

And it was topped off by a rendering of this song Huddled Masses. Listen to it, and I dare you not to cry. It's very moving, and particularly now.

At work yesterday, my cubicle mate did her busy holiday dance. This is when someone feels the need to tell me how busy they are, and all the things they are doing and have to do - like a little spinning top that can't stop spinning. I told her to just focus on one task at a time, stop thinking of all the things she needs to do, and break it down bit by bit.

The Department Wide Holiday Party that was held on Monday apparently ran out of food about fifteen minutes into the Party. People had to go out and get food on their own. They also ran out of bowls, and utensils. And all they had food wise was pizza (it was good pizza apparently from Adrienne's), salad (a small side salad), and a bowl of pasta. When cubicle mate left - they were hunting for bowls to serve the pasta. Cubicle mate was able to score one of the remaining two slices of pizza, which were small slices. In short, I missed nothing. The party on my own floor was better catered.

On that note - off to bed.

I'm procrastinating dinner, mainly because I don't know what to eat? (I have to throw out the chicken and chicken soup that I made last weekend - and haven't touched, after getting incredibly ill. I didn't get ill because of it? But the idea of reminds me of it - so just no.)

Both Crazy Workplace and Apartment Complex are having holiday parties the second week of December, and since I will be around - I should probably go to them. ( Read more... )

There's a new list of top 100 books - that is kind of interesting? - it's the Australian Radio List or what I want to call the Top 100 Books that have been, will be or are soon to be adapted into movies or television series. I've either read, tried to read, seen or tried to watch over half of them - some I have on my to see/to read list, and actually own. I could literally go down a good portion of that list and give recommendations. I'm tempted.

Decided on the left over baked salmon, celery, carrots and some quinoa.
Then watched Buffy S4 Primeval, after watching Yoko Factor the night before.

Buffy S4 Rewatch - Yoko Factor and Primeval

After watching Yoko Factor again, I get why the fandom split over the character of Spike to the degree it did? I'd forgotten how cool Spike was as an anti-hero character, and how good an antagonist. ( Read more... )

What's interesting about Angel and Buffy's cross-overs to each other's series - is that Buffy only crosses over to Angel in S1. ( Read more... )

At any rate, Yoko Factor reminds me of why I love this series. Snappy banter, which is just a joy to behold (a lot of television writers ironically can't write dialogue - how they become television writers without being able to write good dialogue is beyond me?). Also, Adam is actually palpable in the episode - due to Spike. I was actually rooting for him to get his chip out and disappointed he didn't. Although, they'd have to kill him off. So that wasn't happening.

There's a hilarious scene where Xander gives Spike a gun, and Spike gleefully points it at him - only to get a migraine. ( Read more... )

Primeval - eh, this feels like watching a bad comic book brought to life. I remember liking it better in the early 00s. It doesn't age well, and is kind of on the campy side? Forrest is ...annoyingly misogynistic - so much so, that it doesn't surprise me that Whedon went there again with Warren and Caleb. I prefer the villains who aren't misogynistic. I really did not like the villians in S4 at all. This episode just reminds me of why.

( Read more... )

Note while this is the last arc episode? It's not the last episode of the season. Which is interesting, and different from S1-3, in which it would have been the last episode. Showing that S4 was meant to be a bridge episode between S3 and S5.

Some say this is the best episode of S4, IMBD did, which makes me wonder about some of their reviewers? I mean obviously HUSH is the best episode, with several others coming close. HUSH is among the best of the series. Each season has one or two standout episodes. S4 is hands down - HUSH.

***

Crazy Workplace

Breaking Bad: I swear this place could be a Paddy Chafesky play. It is a Paddy Chafesky play. It might even be better if it was.
Me: Paddy Chafesky wrote Network right?
Breaking Bad: Yup, excellent writer.
ME: Agreed. I read all his plays in high school. (Don't remember them, but I did read them.)

I even put a Paddy Chafesky quote from NETWORK in my high school yearbook. "I'm Mad as Hell and I'm not going to take any longer." I kind of regret doing that. But I found it amusing at the time.

***

Now that the Vertigo is blessedly gone, I've a ENT on Monday about it. (Taking the day off.) I'd rather have had the ENT appointment on Tuesday when it was still there, bugging me. On the other hand - I wouldn't have been able to get to the ENT appointment or provided coherent information, so maybe not.

1. Woo-hoo! Democrats won across the board. (In NYC - they won everything but Staten Island Borough President, because you know...Staten Island? And Texas. But it is Staten Island and Texas...)

New York City hits 2 million votes for first time since 1969. Biggest turnout for a Mayoral election ever.

( Read more... )

Miki Sherrel won the Governor's Race in New Jersey - becoming the first female Democrat Governor of the State.

Oh, and NBC has an interactive map showing how each neighborhood in NYC voted for the Mayoral race. It's kind of fun, and shows that elections are complicated.

2. Work wore me out. That and lack of sleep - I couldn't get comfortable, and I kept waking up. Didn't fall asleep until Midnight, and woke up at 3 am and 5:26 am. Something beeped outside and woke me up at 3. Took a while to get back to sleep. Then something woke me at 5:26, and I never got back to sleep.

Very busy. Kind of inundated? They decided to get together and unload all their work on myself and Breaking Bad at the same time. Don't procrastinate folks? It just makes more work for everybody. But my good deed was installing two printers on my computer and Breaking Bad's. Just in time for the new folks to move in - in two weeks. Maybe they'll bring a printer that is in closer proximity. Albeit not too close proximity.

Commute wasn't easy either - but went smoother than expected. I miss hopping on the G taking it to 4/9th Streets, and running down the steps.
Now? Going down steps hurts, so I take the F, run up, then down steps, and wait on a tiny platform with a ton of folks for the R. Oh well, it's 35 minutes either way.

But overall? Happy to be back at work. I enjoy what I do for the most part - it's a lot of analysis, editing, problem solving, and figuring things out.

3. Cooler - in the 40s-low 60s. Typical Autumn weather in NY. A-typical is 60s-80s, typical is 40s,50s, and low 60s.

Time change is still messing with me though - by the time my body gets accustomed to it - they'll change it again, right around my birthday.
Whose bright idea was it to do the Time Warp?

4. Buffy/Angel re-watch.

I'm enjoying Angel more now than I did the first go-around. Buffy, I always enjoy. It occurred to me today that the writers fell in love with a specific plot twist - which they employed in S2. Which is the good guy turns bad or switches sides. They also did the bad guy switches sides to help the heroine - but they enjoy the good guy turns bad a lot more.
( Read more... )

[I'm mainly just writing about this at this point to please myself at this point. Hopefully it entertains others too. But alas, as in most things, there's really no way of knowing for sure. I'm thinking I probably wrote it to please myself back in the day as well. Although a bit better, and more targeted.]

Had a bit of a nightmarish commute home. It usually just takes me about thirty minutes. Today - it took an hour and a half.

Storms blew in around 3 pm and lasted until roughly 5 pm, with temperatures topping off at around 87 degrees with humidity at 80%. And of course that played havoc with the subway system. Outside of the trains, there's no A/C or much air circulation in underground portion of the subway system. And it can get to over 100 degrees in the winter months in the communications rooms.
( the headache inducing commute )

If you read that - you got awarded by a picture.

***

Still keeping abreast of the Buffy Reboot News. They've done more casting.
Seriously as if they don't have enough male characters, they've added one more.

The casting news is not thrilling me. It's very teen supernatural boilerplate casting. (Yes, I've seen one too many teen supernatural soap operas in my lifetime, sorry to say. Only a handful are any good. The most innovative of them was actually Shadow and Bone based on the books.)

The latest?

Buffy Reboot ads another casting member and names the new slayer

( excerpt )

And...

"Deadline reports that Kingston Vernes will play a character named Carson in the show. He will serve as a love interest for the new Slayer, Ryan Kiera Armstrong's Nova. The outlet says that Carson is "a Junior Olympian and popular student at New Sunnydale Academy who is the object of Nova’s (Armstrong) crush and starts noticing her after a life-changing event." "

https://www.cbr.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-reboot-kingston-vernes-carson/
( for the rest )

I don't know about anyone else? But I'm taking a wait and see approach.

***

I'm cranky partly due to the weather, and work frustrations. Taking tomorrow off - because we're finally getting a nice weekend. I'll do laundry tomorrow as opposed to tonight - when I'm cranky. I don't like doing it late - since there are folks living in the basement apartment and I like to be considerate of them, even if others aren't.

The temperature dropped outside. It's now in the 70s. As Breaking Bad put it - night and day outside today.

At work, I ran into a neighbor in the lobby of my building (it's all Crazy Org).

He saw me, first. Told me this was his last day - he was retiring. (I honestly thought he was retired. He is definitely older than me.) We pass all the time in the laundry room and elevator - he lives across the hall from me with his family. He has a dog, and a neurodivergent son, who I think has either Touretts or Ausbergers?

Apparently he was a legal investigator for one of the agencies in Crazy Org since roughly 1993. I was somewhat envious - it sounded more interesting than editing legal documents and financial analysis and negotiations. I'm admittedly bored and frustrated at the moment. It's making me cranky? Well that and struggling with sleep, lingering chest congestion, and brain fog.

Below is a photo of Crazy Org today, standing tall against a gray sky.



It was bound to happen - that I'd run into a neighbor as they are retiring, considering Crazy Org employs over 75,000 New Yorkers.

I took a walk at lunch - it was mild, pleasant even, and overcast - also the last day of school in New York, apparently, so not that many tourists wandering about mucking up the works. Or many bikes for that matter.

And I saw a wild turkey in Battery City Park. Breaking Bad and I decided that the turkey probably escaped from Staten Island via the Ferry. [ETA: Where the turkey came from was/is a joke. We've no clue. We were just joking that it escaped a farm in Staten Island and came by ferry. (Which didn't happen). And since the photo is horrible - no I did not approach the wild turkey.]

( bad photo of a turkey )

Other than that the day was slow. So slow, I worked on my novel, played with spreadsheets, and played on my phone. Art History Major is off to see her family in Ohio.

***

Some good news?

The Senate Parliamentarian managed to take a hatchet to the Big Shitty Bill. Apparently you can't just add everything you like to a reconciliation bill which is meant to balance the government's budget. It's basically an accounting bill - that gets quickly passed because it's needed to balance a budget. They tried to add a bunch of stuff that had zip to do with that to the bill, which is in violation of the Senate's rules.

Parliamentarian removes medicaid cuts from Reconciliation Big Beautiful Bill

Violations Continue to Mount on Big Beautiful Bill

As one commentator aptly put it - adding the things the Republicans did to the Bill would be akin to balancing your household budget and adding a fancy new car for yourself.

For those who have raised valid concern following the Parliamentarian rulings knocking out some of the worst aspects of the GOP’s budget bill, Thune has reiterated no overruling.

***

R.I.P Bill Moyers

"Legendary journalist Bill Moyers has died at age 91. Moyers was the former White House press secretary under President Lyndon B. Johnson, and leaves behind a distinguished legacy in American journalism. Over five decades, he became known for his in-depth interviews and thoughtful documentaries on programs such as Bill Moyers Journal and Now with Bill Moyers. A champion of public broadcasting, Moyers received more than 30 Emmy Awards, nine Peabody Awards, and the National Humanities Medal for his contributions to civic discourse. Rest in peace, Bill."

All achey breaky today - I took an aleve before leaving work, and a shower, and did a little yoga - and sigh, my legs are bugging me, and it's most likely digestive related. (It usually is.) At least the commute was okay for the most part. No one tried to dig into my backpack and I got a seat.
(Technically speaking - the attempt to open my backpack, only happened once, and by a wet between the years white, blond haired, and blue eyed teenage boy from a wealthy neighborhood, who should have known better.)

Found this oration on boycotting by John Scalzi, entitled The Billionaire Boycott Conudrum

He makes some valid points about the difficulty of boycotting Amazon. I realized today how impossible it is. For one thing? My health care aka NYU Langone is using Amazon One as their new check in tech starting this summer. Boycotting NYU Langone is out of the question. Also, as an independently published writer? My novel is on Amazon and was published via Amazon - if it weren't for Amazon, I couldn't have afforded to get it published. I'm techie enough to do it myself. And a lot of other indie publishers survive because of Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.

And as Scalzi validly points out - it's not like the other publishers are much better. The Trades are basically nazis. I've been boycotting Simon and Schuster and Random House for decades.

( Excerpt on the Publishing Trade )

Another example? "Even then you may find yourself contributing to the bottom line of a company you intended to boycott. If you ditch The Washington Post (not owned by Amazon, but owned by Jeff Bezos) and subscribe to The Guardian instead, you are still putting money in Bezos’ pocket, because The Guardian uses Amazon Web Services to stay online. Ditching Amazon’s streaming services for Netflix? Same problem. And so on. Note well that Amazon Web Services is actually the biggest division of the company and the largest contributor to its operating revenue… and is not public-facing in any meaningful sense. It’s merely the backbone of a third of the commercial internet."

[I did not know that. Did you know that?]

I was discussing this with mother, and we both agree that Bezos isn't the same as Musk.( Read more... )

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Crazy Workplace

I solved the work problem that I was kind of whinging about yesterday - or rather Lawyer solved it. I putted it in her direction and Breaking Bad's, and Breaking Bad had no clue, so Lawyer stepped in.

Lawyer: Do you want to reach out to them for more information, or should I?
ME: Unfortunately, you probably should, since I attempted it and just went around in a circle.

Also today...

Me: (reviewing Modification 7) okay where's Mod 5?
Document: Mod 5 is currently in progress and this will be involved in Mod 5.
Me: Wait a minute? Did you frigging project managers jump over mod 5 and issue the mods out of order, after I told you not to??

Anyone else feel like they are just banging their head against a wall of jello? Or as my father used to put it - throwing jello at a wall.

**

Also bought a black sweatshirt with the subway map printed on it, and New York in big letters. I got it from the NYC Transit Museum Store. Also bought a card with New Yorker cover on it for niece. I'm going to start writing niece.

***

Books

I'm reading The New Yorker on the subway now instead of my Kindle. Mainly because I got lost in Station Eternity - too many characters, too many points of view, and I kept losing the plot. I just don't have the attention span for it? Also it's hard to read on the subway. While short magazine articles don't require quite as much work and it's nice not to be reading off a screen for a bit.

Finished Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Mass on Audible - it's not bad. ( Read more... )

Now, listening to Leigh Bardouch's Six of Crows - which is hard to follow, so we'll see. It has multiple points of view, and more than one narrator involved. However, I saw the television series - so it may work.
The best part of Shadow and Bone was "Six of Crows".