Nerdy Thoughts

Another weekend, another snowstorm but I've got my fingers crossed that this weekend will be our last snowstorm of the year. It started Friday late afternoon, just as I got home from work thankfully and ended Saturday afternoon so we didn't do much this weekend except clean up and relax. I cleaned our long ass driveway with the snowblower on Saturday which took two hours and then spent an hour making it wider this afternoon. I think I've said this before but I am so, so happy we own a snow blower. Also very grateful I am way more comfortable using now compared to 2020. So much faster and easier than shovelling by hand.

Aside from that, I've been relaxing this weekend. Stormy weather can kind of spike my anxiety so to counteract that spike I make a point of only doing easy chores and letting myself game/read/watch as much as I want to. So this weekend I spent my time reading Paris Daillencourt is about to crumble by Alexis Hall, the second book in the Winner Bakes All series, playing a lot of Mortal Kombat 11, and watching Dead Meat's Scream series Kill Counts. I assume most horror fans are familiar with Dead Meat but if you're not, I'd highly recommend their YouTube channel


Storygraph review here if you're curious but the coles notes version is that the main plot is more about Paris Daillencourt's anxiety and mental health journey. The romance is there and it's an important part of the book but I think self-discovery is the larger plot. I liked it, it made me laugh out loud, and I gave it 3 stars.

As for Mortal Kombat 11, it reminds me why I stick to relaxing simulation-style games most of the time. I actually am enjoying it, I've been a big fan of Mortal Kombat since I was pre-teen but it's been a while since I've played a fighting game and I am very rusty. Thankfully it has tutorials, very different from the old SNES games I used to play growing up where you either discovered moves by accident or repeatedly read the manual. It's been fun getting back into an old fandom and catching up on all the new lore and characters.

It’s been another busy two weeks, specifically this past weekend so dividing things up into sections.

DeGrassi Last Friday I attended DeGrassi on Da Rock at the LSPU hall for a screening of DeGrassi School’s Out and Q&A with Stacie Mistysyn & Pat Mastroianni aka Caitlyn & Joey from the original series AKA the one I watched growing up. During the latter end of 2020 and throughout 2021 I got into a podcast called Narbos & Broomheads that recaps & discusses DeGrassi, starting with the original series.

That naturally led me to re-watching the older show on YouTube and feeling very nostalgic. When Mastroianni & Mistysyn announced they were coming here I jumped on the impulse to attend. For the most part it was fun though I got stuck sitting next to someone who talked throughout the entire show. Normally I would just ask them to be quiet but my read on the situation was that the man next to me might have been neurodivergent and was just really excited to be at the show so I kept quiet. In retrospect I wish I had moved to the empty seat a few rows back since I’m highly sensitive to noise but these solutions always seem to occur in hindsight.


In-Laws We had some of John’s family visiting the island, specifically his sister in law, his oldest niece, the niece’s boyfriend. They came to visit the house after going out on a local boat tour on Saturday and we took them to our favourite local restaurant, Fork. It was delicious as usual and we were entertained by the chickens that the restaurant owners keep that wander around outside.

On Sunday, John’s family had their flower service and I went along with John, partially because I was curious and partially because he attended my family’s cemetery mass so I figured it was only fair. It was interesting and very different for the services I’ve attended since they don’t have a mass. John’s family is Chinese so they go to the cemetery with flowers & food and it’s a routine of placing the items & bowing. Much faster than a full catholic mass lol. ( More in-law stuff, cut for space )

Gaming I’ve taken a break from Sims and started playing two new games. Well, one is new, one is new to me: Stray aka the cat simulator and Monster Prom. I’ve been enjoying both but I find I can only play Stray for short intervals as I am not used to games that allow you to move the camera so much and I tend to get motion sick. So, not so far with that. Monster Prom is a dating sim/visual novel and I’m currently obsessed with how cute/hilarious it is.

Reading Currently reading Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab which has been useful & informative so far though I have been taking my time with it. I also have way too many graphic novels borrowed from the library but have been too busy to sit down & read.

I'm reading this book called, I'd rather be Reading: The delights and dilemmas of the reading life by Anne Bogel and it's so enjoyable. It's a love letter to the act of reading, the role it plays in the author's life and I relate to something on almost every page even though the author's reading tastes are more in the classical vein than mine are. It reads like having a conversation with a booklover with all the heartfelt joy and passion without being judged for what one likes to read.

In the current chapter that I'm reading the author talks about the weight of the question 'What's your favourite book?' I think everyone who ever had a Livejournal or dreamwidth journal has probably filled out of those long questionnaires that have questions like 'Favourite drink, favourite colour, etc.' and favourite book is often listed along with those questions. Being a booklover, it can be a hard question because there are so many. On my Goodreads account for example I have a favourite shelf and it currently has 68 books on it. If I was being frank with myself, I could trim it down to a dozen but it would be hard to go lower. Better to ask me my favourite books by decades of my life or genre.

The author also discusses her belief that the question and answer can be very personal as it reveals a lot about the reader. Do you think that's true? I can see some truth in it but I also know my favourite book shifts so I always assume other people's also change depending on what they're currently reading/re-reading.

Speaking of re-reading, that was another interesting topic. The author mentioned how she knew of many readers who refuse to re-read books because they felt it was a waste of time. I was surprised by this mindset at first because I LOVE to re-read books but then I remembered my Dad, who generally didn't like re-watch movies he'd already seen. Again, something I couldn't understand as I LOVE to re-watch movies too but it certainly made me realize it wasn't that strange to me. How do you folks feel about re-reading? Are you fans or would you rather move on to the next book?

Sidebar: I can't believe I don't have a reading-themed icon. I will need to rectify this later.