I know there's drama in another sphere when it spills over into my fairly dull Twitter feed. I mean, I like my Twitter feed but it's pretty much news, politics, world news, world politics and science. So if literary or make-up or video game stuff gets big enough and spills onto my feed it's because it's gotten much larger. 

The latest "thing" is Shane Dawson and Jeffrey Star being...themselves? Which, having seen enough of them both, is a seemingly racist, misogynist, nasty personality set. I guess Dawson was pretty nasty about children, including Jada Pinkett Smith's child (who was very much a child at the time, not sure how old she is now). Jada is not happy about it (perfectly normal) and responded on Twitter. Star always seems to be involved in drama (sometimes seemingly inserting himself). I don't have the time to even follow along with this one, but I'm team anyone who isn't team-Star. 

On to the book! This book also has a movie, but I haven't seen it. I like Anna Kendrick (one of the main characters), Blake Lively is okay but not exactly my cup of tea, and Henry Golding is hella hot. Which uh...I mean, he's more than that of course. I do believe the movie has a different ending than the book. 

I thought the book was alright. It wasn't my absolute favorite mystery but some aspects really stood out to me as exceptional. I have this a solid good book. Decent writing and nicely plotted structure. I figured out parts of the "mystery" whilst reading, which is always a bit of a bummer. 

I took my shot a few days ago. I take a CGRP injector to help with my migraines. I think with the stress with Covid, weird weather and the stress of my house I'm just getting more pain days (like, two more). The CGRP meds seem to lesson after 25 days but my insurance will not let me have a new shot before 28 or 30 days. So I have a  few days where it's a bit rough, but it's nothing like before! The CGRP seems to be working well for me. The only side effect I have is dehydration (which does lead to dry skin). I've cut down on my drinks that aren't water and upped my water intake. Also, I added more serums to my skin care regime and a light oil. It's all okay. 

I totally bought the book above for the title. I didn't like it as much as I wished I had but the title was glorious. I think the book was more zany than I could handle. The rest of the books in the series have amusing titles as well, Since You're Leaving Anyways, Take Out The Trash and Our Red Heart Romance Is Making Me Blue. 

I've started two new series. I'm on the hunt for new things since most of the shows I was watching on cable got canceled or ended (or on a break). So I gave in and watched some Hallmark mysteries. I. am. shook. They're pretty cute. My old roommate loved Hallmark movies but the ones where it's straight romance or Christmas series. I don't actually like those as they're too saccharine for me. The mysteries for the most part are cozy and cute but well done. The leading man is always cut out of the same cloth (tall, dark, pretty handsome) and the leading lady is wholesome and cute (or elegant depending on her job). 

This was the last box before Macy's paused their boxes because of Covid-19. The next box (May) was supposed to be the Jo Malone box which was exciting as I've never given Jo Malone a go. 

Whilst the box is currently not open for subscription, I'd keep an eye on the page because they're going to eventually start up again. I've heard July as a month being tossed around. Supposedly the Jo Malone box is the one they're going to start up again. 

The subscription costs $15. There's always a $5 or $10 coupon included for use in the beauty department. 

I'm still sloooooowly cleaning my office up. There's just a lot of stuff packed in here at the moment. I think some of my problem is that I only go through the hoard when I'm feeling like tossing things. Otherwise I'll just convince myself to keep it. I think I'm a secret pack rat at heart. I've moved half my "to-be-read" books off my massive pile (group of piles) and into a tall bookshelf. 

I've also managed to read three books this weekend, but that's because my sleep schedule is still wacked from the migraine and there's not much else to do at 3 AM. I am technically 17 books ahead of schedule (according to Goodreads). I've set my goal for 230 and I've read 125 books. 

This is the first book in a companion series to the Ice Series. It begins with the creation of the American Committee- sister to the branch set in London-- but far more independent and not under the sway of the Committee's Board of Governors. Granted, under this Board the English Committee worked in a gray area most of the time so the thought is the American Committee would be free to be...better. It probably wouldn't work like that in real life, I mean, my last police chief couldn't keep in ding-a-ling out of the company ink so I doubt a rogue mercenary group would work out...but in fiction- It's gold!

I'm not sure how else to describe the financial backing the group gets. Maybe if the Bilderberg Meeting had a secret Illuminati sub-sect that hired and controlled a group of mercenaries and sent this to fix the world's ills. I'm sure a conspiracy theory wack job would claim that this would totally happen but come on. The paperwork for the finances on that would be insane. 

Once, when I was vacationing near where the Bilderberg meeting was taking place my cousin (who has not talked to me in years...like twenty would be generous) wrote me a long, rambling facebook message about how I needed to stay away from them but also infiltrate and protest them. He was in his basement. In Arkansas. He also was not happy when I told him that I would one hundred percent join the meeting if invited. I bet they have great food there. 

So don't be my cousin the moron. 

I'm always down to join a secret group. Are we going to have good food? Topple the government? Will there be deviled eggs? Let me in! 

I think this week has been a bit of a let down for me. The tropical storm really put me down. I haven't really been able to do much but oh well. I've watched some TV, but mostly re watches of shows where I don't have to think too hard. 

I've been trying to keep up with the protests (local and national) in the United States and even abroad. I thought some of the protests abroad were also about racism in those countries. I've seen some weird shit when I traveled a bunch. I guess I'm friendly enough that people opened up far more than they should have. Nowhere is perfect I guess. 

Watching brands jump on the BLM movement only to be called out by former employees is a bit of schadenfreude isn't it. Like, come on. Can you really say you support BLM or Pride or anything if you're not treating employees well? Apparently it seemed like a gimmie marketing gimmick. Performative ally-ship to be honest. I know Diet Prada has gathered information about this. It's not just clothing brands though, for instance, Beautylish claims to support BLM but sells Jeffrey Star makeup. Star has done so many racist things I can't even fathom how his brand hasn't self-exploded. I guess having outdated, tacky packaging is just sooooo important. Beautylish can answer some questions but they tend to ignore the ones about Star. I guess they don't want to try and rationalize his hate...granted, his fans will ignore anything bad he does and support him. I guess the only color Nils at Beautylish loves is green. I've been slowing going off them at a company because of the inclusion of Star. I don't support shit. I still have a $20 credit so once that's over they'll probably be dead for me. 

Well, that was a bit of a rant. I unfollowed Beautylish today. I was so over his ugly makeup being on my feed. Anyways. 

Well, I can only sigh. I was almost back to normal then this hurricane began. Hurricanes are odd. Sometimes it will be an outright monster level storm and I'll be just fine. No migraines. Other times it's a tropical storm--states away--and I'm down all weekend. I need to go grocery shopping and take care of myself but I'm not going out to Publix unless it's the morning as people don't seem to wear masks in the afternoons. What's up with that? 

The protests are still ongoing. They're very peaceful where I live and I'm all for them. I'd be out there but since I have people staying with me who are elderly (with compromised immune systems) plus my own busted immune system, I figured it would be better for donate money and write more letters to my congress critters (who are overall useless but still). If you're looking to donate money locally or nationally I'll place some links below. Also how to contact your local critters. Hopefully yours will be more useful than mine. To be honest, I sometimes check to see if mine are still alive. I know they're brain dead but honestly, I'm not sure one of them is going to make it through the year with the vapors he seems to have. He's still not sure if Covid-19 is a hoax. So...

This is important and hopefully a transition into a better world. That always involves change and dragging the rest with you. 

DIRECT LINKS: 

Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter Donate


How To Find Le Critters (good ones and bad):

Congressional Directory for National 
Links for all state officials

The unrealised segue here is absolutely awkward. Let's do it. I received this box in March but life has been a bit crazy with Covid and people moving in with me so I just loaded older pictures from my camera this week. The good news is that I can see the floor of my office. 

The bad news is I smell totally of menthol as I've rubbed it all over myself. I can't tell if Icy Hot works with migraines or if it's a sensory overload. I'm going to pretend it's chic. 

I'm thinking about getting a high frequency face device. Why? I'm vain. That's it. Plus I like skin gadgets. I might not get it. I'm on the fence. Leaning towards yes. 

My friend is trying to talk me into trying banana flavored rum (for pina coladas). I don't like the texture or taste of bananas. Is that odd? 


This is the last book in the Ice Series (but the series sorta continues with the Fire Series that is set in America). It might be one of my favorite books in the series. I really like all the characters, the settings, the adventure and the story. 

It's the weather--it's wrecking all my normal sleep patterns. Oh well, I'm semi-productive at night. The world is still insane and I'm just catching up when I wake up. Hopefully my schedule will even out this weekend so I can be awake during the day. Like a normal person. I saw someone else link this Google doc so I thought I'd share it as well. It's chock-full of anti-racism resources. 

Enya. I fucking love Enya. She's been on repeat (excessively) as I clean out my closet and declutter my house. She makes it all chill. There's a buzzfeed article about Enya (from 2015) that talks about how she handles the press and her image. It's pretty interesting because I don't think I know much about Enya at all...save from the meme about how we all want to grow up to be Enya. 

Yup, this one is not even close to being on time. This is my last un-posted subscription box which I've been sitting on. The migraine I had messed up my sleep schedule and I'm just really behind on life. Well, mostly a day after everyone. Because I'm waking up when everyone is going to sleep so I'm missing all the day's activities. This is okay when there isn't mass protests, a pandemic and general anger. It's not so great otherwise. 

So, while this is all really late, it was such a neat box that I'm going to share it regardless. It fits a "spooky" theme. Nothing is available anymore from Lavish (as they sold out of this awhile ago) but I can link the shops in case they have re-occurring items or similar designs. This was a great box. I've used every item (I mean, it's been awhile) and really enjoyed them. I'm normally behind on product usage vs. posting so this might be a first. 

I'll be frank, I'm not one for horror movies, so I probably missed quite a lot of the references of the items included BUT I still really enjoyed them. I got the Jason (from the movie franchise) and Edward Scissorhands but the rest passed me by. 

I picked this book up on a quest for finding books on grief. I started dealing with my grief (and all the stress it caused) about fifteen years since it began. Which is a long time. Society doesn't always give room for grief and sometimes when the situations are all wrong, it can be a rough solo go of it.

This was in the linkages from a grief book so I chucked it in the cart and bought it. As the title states, it's a collection of essays from various authors that covers broken relationships, hurt friendships and feeling stuck, mental disorders and career issues.