Fri-Yay #17

Oh lord, this week has about killed me. The weather patterns are doing me in I think. Or the holidays. My body doesn't like family holidays. Not that I'm doing anything because of Covid-19. People can do what they want but I'm trying not to get sick thank you very much. 

I joined a pen-pal group but I've run into a bit of a block with writing back. My office is a mess and my stamps are buried under a pile of work. So I'm trying to get myself in order. I might work over the weekend. No holiday break for me!

Reading:

I've been having a weird, long migraine. I'm not having head pain (so my CGRP meds are working-yay!) but all the other stuff is hitting me hard. It's all so much better than it was but I need the weather to settle. So I haven't been reading at my normal level. I'm still reading Jo Nesbo's The Snowman. It's a nordic-noir mystery. There was a movie made from the book but I haven't seen it. Because I'm a wimp. 

I'm also still slow reading the annotated Emma. I am really slow with it but a chapter here and there throughout the year has gotten me about half way through. I think since I want to finish before the year is over, I need to hustle a bit. 
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I'm also giving myself a break every once in awhile and reading the second to last (last that has been published that is) Rhys Bowen book. It's from the Royal Spyness Mystery. I'm legit only in the second chapter so I can't say much more than that. 

I've also read The Atlantic's The Last Children of Down Syndrome. It's about how with the ability to screen for diseases, diagnoses, or abnormalities, many parents can make decisions about their future children that they couldn't before. It begins in Denmark and talks about Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome was the first syndrome that people could test for (which I didn't know). It touches on the moral philosophy on genetic testing (although not too deeply, as I'm sure that would be a while book). I found that interesting as it's strangely one of the things my friends and I discussed (and disagreed with one another about) in the dorms freshman year of college. I thought it was also interesting (in the article) that many of the decisions were based on "worst-case scenario" thinking when it came to genetic testing. I can understand that as I've undergone personal genetic testing (for cancer) and I assumed the worst the entire time. 

Listening:

I'm finishing up The High Low Podcast (well, I'm finishing up 2019, so nothing too amazing on my end). I've been mostly listening to Slow News in French to see how much I need to catch up on my French. 

Apparently a lot. Like...I'm way out of practice. They have different levels (or at least, intermediate). 

Buying:

I've been slowing buying Christmas gifts over the week. I've gotten some from Etsy and some from Macys. I tend to do themes for Birthdays and sometimes for Christmas. So for one of my friends, I created a Mary Berry + Great British Bake Off theme. Not that I'm totally against the new(er) cast, but she adores Mary Berry on her own. So I bought a mug, tea towel, personalised spoon, pot holder,  and card. 

The card cracks me up as it references James Acaster's turn on Bake Off where he presents on of his creations to the judges. Acaster cracks me up in general and I like when he pops up on a panel show and I'm thrilled Netflix has put his comedy special on. I just need them to add Aisling Bea to their lineup in great numbers. 

I'm excited about the new Bookshop that's this huge indie bookshop meetup. It's called bookshop, which makes it easy to remember. My local indie is sorta on it (with a few books listed). I needed them to do something as their website is really hard to deal with. So I've made an order through this to see how it works (my indie's personal website actually kicked me out last time). So I'm quite excited and hope it works well. 

Watching:

I just binged a ton of 48 hours/Dateline episodes that have been sitting on my DVR. The one I wanted to see was something about an indie movie being made (or something like that) but it was preempted by Trump getting Covid-19 and the news had an hour+ of coverage. My sympathy was pretty low and I quoted the Trump administration: "It is what it is"...and stop showing other stuff but my mysteries. It hasn't come on again so I think that's pretty rude. Of course, I can't even find it now on any service (the listing) so I assume it will pop up eventually. Annoying. 

I'm not sure about the Bridgerton series on Netflix. There are things I like and things I don't. What I like - the fact that (at least Netflix) is giving some romances, rom/coms, book adaptions a chance. The market has been superhero and dramas for awhile and I don't like either. Not sorry. The cast is diverse which I think is really nice. Some people have gotten twitchy about that but eh, I think it's nice to see something different (and for me, reaslistic to where I live). I'd like to think that they did "theatre" casting where it's the best person (in the hope of blind casting) for the role no matter what. The trailer looks pretty nice. My reservations are two-fold and are more personal. I'm twitchy about Shonda productions. Not because Shonda won't deliver (her and her staff WILL deliver) but because Shonda and co. are drama-genre type people and I am not. That's it. I feel like this will lean more drama heavy. The second is well...I've read the Bridgerton books. I liked some of them and really didn't like others. It's a strange series for me because some of the books were 4 stars and others were 1 stars. Not for the writing but for the plot. I have no idea how I got through the first book as there's lots of issues around sex, consent, and TSTL hero/heroine (that all involve sex). How attached the movie will be to the plot might make me turn off the TV. Like, does it follow it? If so, I might catch up when they hit the books I like. I can always let it run in the background but I'm absolutely going to give it a go. 

I will say this, the trailer makes it seem like the scandal sheet has more prominence that I remember from the earlier books and I'd be down for that. I'll probably re-read the books soon. 

Basically, this was a bitch-fest about how I don't like dramas. I'm going to watch this though.