Morning Furnace
Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 18:15 on 26 October 2016
It is a well-known, documented human physiological phenomenon that a person's body temperature will lower during sleep and rise before waking. Whether the body temperature rise is considered a trigger to wake or the result of another process is unclear.
It is a significantly-less well-known that my normal daytime body temperature isn't the usual 98.6°, but rather, is the confusing 96.8° Every once in a while (say, like, once a month, you make the connection), my normal temperature rises to 97.1°, but it generally hovers below 97°. Anyone who has touched my hands or other extremities can attest to this generally always cold(er than normal) temperature.
Upon waking, however, tying both these facts together, is the newly documented fact that as I wake, my body temperature spikes. It usually goes over 100° and rarely goes to less than 99 and something degrees as I wake up. 99+° is pretty "pfft" in the grand scheme of body temperatures, until you recognize it is a 3+° bump. Not bad, not bad.
Normally, I am amused by the spike. I AM THE FURNACE in the morning. I've been like this all my life, so I consider it normal. The furnace turning on signals to me it is time to leave the bed in the morning.
I'm not actually likely to leave the bed, but I have the signal.
I want to say that the furnace triggering doesn't bother me, and it usually doesn't bother me.
It does, however, bug the crap out of me (no, not literally) when it triggers at 2:51 in the morning. No, jet-lagged body, it is NOT time to get up, it is NOT time to get out of bed, it is NOT time to start the day.
Which is all really amusing, except it really is the signal to wake up and get up. I have been struggling to fall back asleep these last four nights after waking at two something in the morning. At first, it was amusing, and I would read. Now it is becoming frustrating. When my bedtime is now 8:30pm so that I can go to sleep then wake at two something, read until five something, then sleep again until nine or ten in the morning, and this goes on for days, I fear it turning into a permanent sleep pattern. Sure, I'm reading a LOT these nights, which is great, but having only 12 hours of waking time to do life activities makes for a difficult set of days.
Legibility. Or not.
Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 13:58 on 25 October 2016If your site takes a while to load and this is how you style your page without javascript turned on, I recommend reconsidering your choices.
Even if your site doesn't take a while to load for you, it will for the person on 2G on the other side of the world.
Unless, of course, you don't care about your site being accessible or legible. I can understand that not-caring.
Related, no, I'm not going to turn on javascript to view your site. If you can't render on the server and render well, learn.
Children of Earth and Sky
Book Notes Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 06:40 on 24 October 2016
Recommended.
I'm tempted to leave the entire book review as that single word. Recommended. Clearly I didn't, because I'm still typing, but I'm definitely tempted.
I had "started" this book a few months ago, and by "started," I mean, "read the first page." The timing wasn't good, so I didn't keep going, because Kay's books aren't put-downable. Yes, a real word that, "put-downable." This book wasn't. And what better day to read the book than jet-lagged and sick, and in need of comfort? Said jet-lag may have enabled me to stay up until 6:30 am to read this book. Or maybe not. It's like a migraine that way, maybe the caffeine causes it, maybe the caffeine didn't.
So, this book. It's "historical fiction with a twist of fantasy," as Kay describes others describing his works. I would say that description was true of his earlier books, but not really this one. While there is an itty bitty part that requires suspension of disbelief, the rest of it is pretty much a fictionalized story of the fall of the Ottoman Empire from a merchant's, an artist's, and soldier's points of view. But, ssssssssh, it's not really called the Ottoman Empire.
Kay moves back to his earlier style of writing in this book, in that in his earlier books, he wasn't explicit about the thoughts behind the characters actions, leaving the reader to piece things together and fill in the gaps. Subsequent books, he drifted to explaining everything, which lost some of the magic of his writing style. He has it coming back here, which makes me like this book so much more.
If you like his style, this book is recommended. If you haven't read Kay's books before, read A Song for Arbonne or The Lions of Al-Rassan first instead.
I am so tired
Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 17:45 on 22 October 2016Having slept all of maybe two hours on the flight back to the SF Bay Area, I am so tired.
Here's hoping the pumpkin cheesecake from Aqui will keep me awake!
Fool Moon
Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 12:18 on 22 October 2016, kitt created this:
Okay, continuing in the "re-read the Dresden books because, well, why not (okay, really, because I want a brain rest)" trend, I started in immediate on Fool Moon after Storm Front. And again, I'm surprised at the animosity between Murphy and Dresden, along with the total suspicion from Murphy on everything. Have something you can't explain away, blame the crazy person even though you've seen him do crazy stuff.
That said, this book seems to be the turning point in the relationship, with Murphy deciding to trust Dresden, even as Dresden becomes more and more paranoid and suspicious of everyone around him, trying to figure out the clue of the wolf attacks.
I recalled who the ultimate bad guys were in this book, from previous readings. I didn't recall the details, though. I'm amused that some parts that are BIG in my memory of the book are actually small in the actual book.
I also wonder if this is the last book of Harry Dresden as vulnerable. Dresden keeps becoming more and more powerful as the series goes on, to the point that even after he dies, he is still more powerful than most but a handful of wizards around him. I will, of course, have to read them all to figure this out.
So, right, this book.
Werewolves. In the Dresden universe, the multitude of (mythologically existing) types of werewolves are all present. We have the loup garrou, the hexenwolves, the lycanthropes, the theriomorphs (er, shapeshifters), and your standard werewolves. They're all different flavours of the same thing: a human in wolf form who do a lot of damage. People die. Harry exhausts himself and survive by thinking. Totally great.
The thing that gets me in this book is how much guilt and responsibility Dresden places upon himself for the actions of others. "It's my fault this happened," blah blah blah, when, no, it wasn't his fault that someone else chose to do a horrible thing. One thing about self-realization is the acceptance that, no, you are not responsible for others' choices. It's a hard one.
Anyway, of course I recommend the Dresden series. Unsurprising there. I don't recommend reading the first two books more than once, though. Just enough to get your feet into the world.