#also I find it funny that since I'm doing the audiobook I've now listened to two audiobooks narrated by members of the same family

[an-aura-about-you]

WWZ is one of my favorite movies, I absolutely loved the book, and the zombie genre as a whole with pandemic movies as a wider genre are my favorite types of movies. It's a very different viewing experience post-2020 though. Very different.

Yeah it's definitely been interesting and I like it so far, but oof, so real. Not even with that but the politics of that.

[infiniteseriesofhalfways]

Thank you @jonsaremembers for the tag! I don't know who to tag that might want to do this, so if you want to and you haven't been tagged, consider this me tagging you!

Gonna preface and say that I'm an audiobook person through and through, so most of these I probably listened to in the last couple of years.

Last book I read: I listened to the audiobook for Funny Story by Emily Henry, and like most of her books I had a great time and also cried a couple times.

A book I recommend: Lot by Bryan Washington. It's heavy in a lot of ways, but I'm a big fan of his writing style and the way he skips around between different perspectives and pieces of a community narrative. Aja's storyline in particular has lived in my head since the moment I read it.

Book I couldn't put down: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. I loved this book so so much. It was fun, and sweet, and (to me) a perfect example of magical realism. I am not a fantasy/magic person really, (although I've been trying to branch out in the last year or so) but this was Magic for people who don't read Magic. It was so wonderful and now that I'm thinking about it again, it's probably going to be my next reread.

Book I've read twice: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I'm kind of cheating because this is also very much a recommendation, but I've read it twice so it goes here. Again, I'm not big into sci-fi books, but the Wayfarers series? I'm so in love. Even if you're not a sci-fi person, I would give it a shot because I think she explains everything in such a way that it's easy to get into.

A book on my TBR: The Canopy Keepers by Veronica G Henry. I got it when I was determined to make myself like fantasy and I thought it sounded fascinating, and now whenever I open my kindle library I see it and tell myself I'm going to start it. And then I find another romance and say next time. Maybe this will actually get me to sit down and Read It.

A book I have put down: Less by Andrew Sean Greer. I'm sorry. I've tried so many times. I get a hundred pages in and I just do not care. The premise is so up my alley and on paper I should love it, but I don't. I still have it so maybe one day the stars will align and I'll actually get through it, but man. Not any time soon.

A book on my wish list: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. I listened to the audiobook about a year ago, and ever since I've wanted to get a physical copy to reread. The way she wrote about grief has stuck with me for so long, partly for what I was going through at the time.

A favorite book from childhood: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I know I was in elementary school, and I remember checking it out of the library multiple times, in multiple grades, and from the public library over summer. I was always searching for the feeling it gave me, but nothing measured up except the book itself.

A book I would give a friend: Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister. I actually gave a copy to my sister last Christmas. It's such an interesting concept for a story, and I got soooo invested I knew she would too.

A book poetry or lyrics I own: Lazarus Rises (amongst Other Things) by Berklie Novak-Stolz ( @icaruspendragon here on tumblr) I truly do no have adequate words to describe my experience reading their poetry. I've never read anything that so accurately describes my own grief.

A non-fiction book I own: Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch. I am fascinated by linguistics and also the internet in general. I've started this a few times but I have to be in the right mindset for non fiction, but I really think once I Sit Down And Read It I will love it.

Currently reading: I'm almost done with the audiobook for How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang. I don't know what I expected going in, but I've really enjoyed it thus far.

Planning on reading next: I just went through my TBR to find what speaks to me most, and I think I'm gonna listen to Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby. I've read two other books of his (Razorblade Tears & My Darkest Prayer) both of which I really enjoyed, so I should be into this as well.

[paradoxcase]

@longroadstonowhere:

‘A little girl on girl’ but saying gall as in gallbladder or gallstones instead (that was my interpretation of the joke at least)

@racefortheironthrone:

@longroadstonowhere It works a bit better in the audiobook, because Moira Quirk can use accents to make "gall" and "girl" sound a bit more alike than they look on the page.

@andresindoril:

@racefortheironthrone I always just imagined it being read as gal on gal which is still synonymous with girl on girl.

@wellhappybirthdaytomeiguess:

Quirk does an amazing job with Ianthe in this chapter.

Ok, now I definitely have to listen to the audiobook, because I'm dying to know how this is read - for me the vowel in gall is /ɑ/ and gal is /æ/ and girl is /ɚ/ and they're all completely different sounds and that pun just doesn't work at all. But I have no idea what dialect it would work in, because Wiktionary says that gall is /ɔː/ for people without the caught-cot merger, and I'd imagine that girl is something along the lines of /ɜː/ with a non-rhotic dialect and those seem even more dissimilar, and also very different from /æ/

@korla-the-kenku:

I absolutely loved Ianthe and Gideon's reactions. I wish we had gotten more of them.

I'm just remembering back to the beginning of Gideon the Ninth when Ianthe was first introduced and I was like "I bet she's going to have fun making fun of Gideon" and finally like 1.5 books later I get to see that actually happen

@eye-lantern:

For the eyes, Gideon's have been compared to a cat's, and may be slightly reflective. I got the feel that they are not what you could consider "normal human eyes" with an irl equivalent, like Jod's

Ok, that makes more sense. I looked back and only found Cytherea comparing them to gold coins. You know, it's kind of funny that no one ever commented on this back on the Ninth, but I guess since Ianthe and Corona have purple eyes no one finds strange eye colors that odd, usually?

Also, unrelated to what I'm currently reading, but I've reached that point of fandom engagement where I'm naming sims after the characters, I now have a baby named Anastasia and a baby named Judith, and Camilla and Isaac and Jean Mary are on my list for the future. Unfortunately I already have a sim named Abigail who does not deserve to be named after Abigail Pent and I do try to follow the One Steve Rule mostly. And since I've realized after looking at my notes that that toddler that decided to look like Gideon in their portrait is eventually going to transition and become a boy, I might as well rename him Gideon when that happens. Amusingly enough, his dad is already named John, but that was a complete accident. I might add Magnus later, I'm still trying to decide if his name fits the aesthetic of my neighborhood

[itsbowbi]

tagged by @penglue

Are you named after anyone?

A saint I think. Or my parents just liked the name and came up with that reason after.

When was the last time you cried?

I cry a lot I think I cried watching the new Godzilla movie because I'm easy and a sucker. Like CRIED cried? I think my birthday but it was actually a pretty great night.

Do you have kids?

Hell no.

What sports do you play?

None. Too busy and tired. Been thinking about finding a baseball league or something to play in because I miss it. I was a terrible hitter tho. I'm in better shape now and I learned about my fucked up eyeballs so maybe I'd be better.

Do you use sarcasm?

I don't think so. I have a very cynical sense of humor but sarcasm to me just comes off as being mean. Pretty sure I avoid it almost always.

What’s the first thing you notice about someone?

Looks? I mean literally first thing I notice is what they look like. And yeah I usually decide if I think they're hot right then but that doesn't change much about how I treat them. Otherwise just general vibes I guess. Sense of humor, manners, etc. Ooh I guess I really notice if someone is being at all superior or condescending. I fucking hate that immediately.

Eye colour?

Baby blues.

Scary movies or happy endings?

I like both, but I definitely watch horror movies more often. I think it's funny when movies get the super happy ending like Wayne's World, which seems to be happening more and more often in the movies I watch. I do think I've been avoiding dramas because they can be draining to watch and I don't feel like putting myself through that sitting here alone in my room. And bad horror movies are easily the best thing to watch with friends.

Any talents?

I'm very good at guessing people's middle name. Also I have insane memory when it comes to movies. You can name like one small detail about a movie you can't quite remember and I can probably name it. Good at trivia too.

Where were you born?

Bay Area. Zero memory of California since we left when I was a baby.

Hobbies?

Uuggghhh this is where I really start to feel like a nolife degen. Video games mostly. I'm decent at overwatch. Have a quitar but haven't had the energy or motivation to practice in a while. I really want to pick it up again. Just got an iPad with the stylus so that's been fun getting back into art. People say I can draw good so that's cool. Also I technically got my first commission since my buddy gave me $10 to recreate a doodle I made for him at work in a full piece because he loves it so much. Gotta get around to that soon.

Any pets?

My leopard gecko Heybaby! I love her. Also my mom has 2 cats that I still consider mine and I love visiting them. Yoyo and Mimi.

Height?

6'

Favourite school subject?

I guess history. I think history has better stories in it than any fiction so I love reading about it and listening to audiobooks and podcasts. Chose that as my major in college since I didn't know what to do with my life and it was the one subject I was able to tolerate. That was a very bad decision and I honestly should've never gone to college or just gone to a community college while I figured out what to actually do. Still waiting on that last part.

Dream job?

I really don't have a realistic one. I have hated every job I've ever had and any work that was assigned to me in school or therapy or whatever instantly made me hate it. I have crazy fantasies about what I could still do with my life but most of them involve doing little to no actual work. Like being a streamer. But I guess I'll go with what I would've said 20 years ago and say baseball player or rock star.

GET TAGGED @conkedcrete @spylarman (or don't sorry to bother u)

[bma-2021]

anyways great people u should follow and love and adore and send nice things to??? @banschivs and @jokethur ur welcome

[rigelmejo]

More dumb progress notes?

Listening to glossika japanese (and duoreader japanese audio) it's cool to hear some words and realize I recognize how they took a rough chinese pronunciation. Then other words in glossika, I know the kanji they use and I can tell they're using a non cognate pronunciation.

Japanese cruel 残酷 zankoku (like canku in chinese), or 両親 ryoushin parents (shin like xin in chinese)

Versus like 子供 Kodomo kids in Japanese (whereas I'd read this in chinese as zigong). I think it's onyomi and kunyoni pronunciation differences of Kanji. And the more I do listening based stuff, the more I recognize when a pronunciation is more similar to hanzi I know.

---

Reading along to zhenhun with the audio without stopping is going better than I thought it would. I really just want to get myself to read More somehow. I hope I get to 300 pages;-;. I can tell I'm a better reader than I was when I started extensively reading French. I can comprehend the main idea and some sentences and then I figure out some words as I hear them a few times in a few contexts. It helps I know some of the story, I can usually picture everything going on. Its kind of funny cause even in a paragraph I don't 100% get or a word I don't get I know in my mind what the scene looks like that's going on.

Just like every time I read, the parts I understand most clearly are action portions and dialogue. I clearly know more vocab for those kinds of sentences. Its a good thing to recognize since most of the plot is conveyed by these kinds of sentences. But then there's descriptive parts where I know they're discussing fengshui being bad and the place being moist and dim and then there's something about bugs but I can't tell fast enough if it means "there's bugs here" or "there's not even bugs here" before it moves on. Or when it described how shen wei is like a scholars painting of a beauty with a demonic aura. I can follow clearly shen wei is like.... painting.... beauty.... with demonic aura. But it's unclear to me exactly what the rest of the sentence details were. I could tell zhao yunlan was discussing his old teacher saying he'd grow up to be a thug, then he turned out to be a cop, the biggest thug of all. But I couldn't catch fast enough what kind of teacher or how it connected to his allergic to math joke (though I remember reading the scene before and Know he was kind of telling a joke).

I also find I sometimes catch words in listening but not reading, or reading but not listening. My interpretation of hanzi is generally easier for me to rely on though when I'm trying to figure out new words.

My Chinese very gradually gets better each time I read and its funny but frustrating. I wonder if I could call myself intermediate now. ;-; it's like? I can read what I want but it'll be difficult. I can watch what I want. I can listen to stuff without a visual but honestly need probably a few hundred hours more listening improvement before I can just Listen to audiobooks alone and follow them enough to be decently happy sjsjjd

On the upside. I can read manhua really easily now. I bought myself poyun manhua saye manhua and tgcf manhua so when they come in the mail I can treat myself and read stuff I know is easy and fun and that I've wanted to read ToT

I remember WAY back when starting japanese and just dreaming of like... reading manga. Ahahahha. Ahhhhh how naive I was. I imagine if when I started chinese, if manhua had been like my Dream Long-term goal. And how I'd already be happy and done by now if that had been. But on the other hand? I think striving for novels made me challenge myself faster in chinese, and that's part of why I improved jn less years compared to japanese. So maybe chinese just wouldve progressed slower if I hadn't tried to read novels so much.

Also like. While manga arent easy for me yet in japanese? They are finally doable for the main idea. And its funny because now my goal is reading harder stuff. It's funny in retrospect I ever thought Manga was the ultimate goal. I also knew video games was the ultimate goal ToT. But it's just funny to me I didn't think I'd need a solid reading level. Now the kind of stuff I want to do in Japanese? A lot of it is still video game oriented, but like. Now it includes stuff like supplemental novellas. So reading actual novels is still a skill I need ajsjsje. In fact in a way it's harder than chinese because most of the novels I want to read I can only find print copies of. So I'm going to need to read them without any click dictionary aid.

Eventually I probably should buckle down and read my 2 textbooks literally designed to teach reading skills for novels.

But knowing me... it is entirely possible I eventually just buy a print novel and. Try to brute force it. Just yesterday I found japanese version of Nier Automata Long Story Short novel since its just a novelization of Nier Automata the game, and I am familiar with the game so I figured it'd be easier to read. The same way like... watching a lets play of a game ive played is easier for me to follow in Japanese.

How many years have I been studying japanese? ToT it was 2.5 years then I gave it up. Then I picked it up again. Has it been like... 4.5 years now?

How long have I been studying chinese...? Has it been 3 years....?

[haphazardlyparked]

Hey I hope you’re doing well :D also I think? I might have sent in a question that you already answered? If I did I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean to, just that my brain came up with the same question at separate times? I don’t know if I did but I might’ve asked the same thing and anyway again I’m really sorry if I did. Also I really hope you’re having a good time out wherever you are :D

hello friend!!! i am doing well, it's just hot as bALls where i live and i totally break down as a human being. and also some moving decisions and all that jazz have been happening, and i need to sort myself out energy/creativity wise. i've got some stuff half-written that i desperately want to finish but mostly i've been listening to Hugh Fraser put on a terrible french accent as Poirot in endless Agatha Christie audiobooks, interspersed with reading some science fiction and Guy Gavriel Kay...

<3 thank you for checking in! I wanted to reply earlier but i can't find the private option anymore, and then it took me a while because i just have anti-social media periods. I think you had asked that question before about a favorite thing I've written, but tbh it changes as the years go by (I genuinely still cannot get over that 2 years have passed since 2020, I'm mentally trapped in 2020 and it's both funny but also a little worrying). I think right now I might have a soft spot for sad dragon Char because I'm feeling nostalgic and she's a very old character I like trotting out at v inappropriate times and timelines.

i hope you are doing well wherever you are best anon, and that you have crushed exams if you have them or are enjoying work if you are working! and the summer! please be enjoying your summer too!