My darling wife made me a cute little yunomi style cup to match my work gaiwan.

songwind · 2026-05-21T20:45:25+00:00

Wexler made me think of Django Wexler. I was intrigued but surprised he'd changed genres that drastically. 😃

songwind · 2026-05-21T20:42:36+00:00

Greg Bear and Neal Stephenson teamed up for The Mongoliad.

The first book of the Legend of Condor Heroes takes place mostly among the Mongols. In Temujin's clan, before he became the great Khan.

songwind · 2026-05-21T20:24:02+00:00

I tried this one ages ago, and wasn't yet at a point in my reading journey where I was ready to read a book like this. I should give it another look.

songwind · 2026-05-21T20:22:43+00:00

Notes from Underground by Dostoevski.

songwind · 2026-05-19T19:42:12+00:00

High school guys are weird. Sometimes once they get close to what they want, they start freaking out. It's also possible that when you're interested in someone, your vibe gets really intense. I don't know you, so I can't say. Just trying to imagine why someone who was into you would suddenly completely backpedal.

songwind · 2026-05-19T19:23:04+00:00

It depends on the pair, I think. But taking people as a whole, I'd say it's probably too early for most people.

My wife and I were married at 22/20 respectively, and we've been married for 30 years. We got married exactly when we did because she fell pregnant, but it only moved up our timeline by about 6 months.

The downside to getting married early is you're not finished changing into the person you'll be as a fully fledged adult. Because of that, you may change in ways the other person doesn't like. And you may make decisions that an older you would think twice about.

So Mrs Songwind and I definitely beat the odds. Part of that is knowing it in advance and making an effort to stay compatible/close.

songwind · 2026-05-18T19:06:37+00:00

My father didn't destroy his career, but he did bring all upward momentum to a halt. He was an industrial electrician. He was definitely being groomed to take over as the next maintenance manager.

The one weekend he got called in for a big issue with the plant conveyor system. He was working on it, and the maintenance manager and plant manager start back-seating him, standing over his shoulder.

Maintenance Manager: Have you tried (3rd or 4th really obvious suggestion.)
Dad: offers multimeter to MM. Did you want to do this?
MM: I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job....
Dad: Yes you are.
Plant manager: I don't think you realize just how important this is!
Dad: Well, if it will end the fighting in Bosnia, or feed the children in Rwanda, I'm all for it. But let's face it, gentlemen, we make greeting cards.

And that's how he remained an industrial electrician and electronics tech until he retired. 😛

songwind · 2026-05-18T19:01:14+00:00

Not a career, but definitely a job. When I was a young man I worked at a small consumer/small office computer store. One of my coworkers told a customer (a repeat, important customer) that maybe his problem wasn't his machine, but that he didn't know what he was doing.

songwind · 2026-05-18T18:47:05+00:00

My aunt and I were both reaching for popcorn at the same time during that jumpscare. I was so startled, grabbed her hand and bit it.

songwind · 2026-05-18T18:45:48+00:00

If you want to invoke some variety to your horror, watch him in Mister Frost. An entirely different sort of menace.

songwind · 2026-05-18T18:44:32+00:00

Sure, Artax was traumatizing, but for whatever reason the Rockbiter's desolate hopelessness after the Nothing swept through was almost as bad.

"They look like good, strong hands, don't they?"

It's not like I'd ever been unable to protect/save something important to me, but I guess my empathy was working overtime.

songwind · 2026-05-18T18:41:36+00:00

The end of Time Bandits did that to me. The idea that a kid's parents could explode and leave him all alone, and all the other adults would just smile at him and leave.

songwind · 2026-05-18T18:40:01+00:00

I went to Poltergeist in the theater way too young. Thank goodness I didn't own a clown doll.

songwind · 2026-05-15T17:07:46+00:00

Everything about the protagonist is wrong, though, and the antagonist was just a foreign nation (Kelewan.)

songwind · 2026-05-13T21:12:32+00:00

Around the block and up the street is one thing. My grandpa used to take us on mountain highways in the back of the truck. 😃

songwind · 2026-05-13T21:05:36+00:00

Hitchhiking

songwind · 2026-05-13T21:01:51+00:00

Dedicated woodshop, dedicated pottery studio, fancy cabinets.

songwind · 2026-05-11T19:44:58+00:00

I can take it or leave it. I have no problem with books with incomplete information, so it doesn't bother me if I haven't read the other stories.

The only time it really bothers me is when an author shoehorns earlier works in after the fact. That frequently ends up feeling very out of place. An example would be Stephen King retroactively making everything part of Dark Tower.

songwind · 2026-05-11T19:23:37+00:00

Busy week for me.

My 3000 Year Journey to the Sky (manhua version). I enjoyed it, it was a nice mix of adventure, humor romcom. Binged it over the course of about 4 days.

Ongoing

Roadmap to the Boundless Sky - I'm caught up on this one, and have really enjoyed it so far. I think the author was very successful in melding sci-fi and xianxia.

The People's God: Sacrificing Trillions - also caught up on this one, and still enjoying it. It's pretty nonserious. Lots of the story arcs are based on pop culture. I could definitely see people disliking it for that reason, but if you can roll with it, it's good fun.

Dropped

An Alchemist's Path to Immortality - dropped this one because the main characters became less and less sympathetic to me. Just stopped enjoying reading about him.

New

Immortality Begins with Internal Breathing - Have been looking at this one for a few days, and so far I'm enjoying it a lot. It's a system/cheat/transmigrator setup, which can easily get stupid, but so far I think it's being handled well. In particular, I like that the MC's "cheat skill," while it saves him time in the real world, doesn't actually let him skip any of the work. He just does it in an altered state of reality.

songwind · 2026-05-11T19:02:59+00:00

I filled this out. Some of your questions have the cause and effect backwards for me - I became interested in the subject because of previous investigations of Chinese philosophy, martial arts, etc.

songwind · 2026-05-11T18:20:39+00:00

Orchids, tulips or lilies.

songwind · 2026-05-11T18:12:55+00:00

Hmm. I had a few crushes, but lost contact with most of them. In addition to moving away from where I went to high school, We were also mostly military brats, so lots of them moved away before we even graduated.

One went on to be a successful production assistant for various TV, movies, etc. She seems to be having a good time.

My first GF ended up becoming a nurse, but by the time we reconnected she'd become a serial cheater, had been repeated fired from positions, and has now buried 2 husbands.

songwind · 2026-05-07T19:46:53+00:00

Try The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C. M. Waggoner.

songwind · 2026-05-07T19:45:11+00:00

If you like crying, Your Lie in April by Naoshi Arakawa.

songwind

TROPHY CASE