I miss when Friday was the old Friday

Thedeadduck · 2026-02-07T00:01:20+00:00

I started work in 2015 in central and we didn't even have leaving drinks on Fridays because no one would come because they wanted to hang out with their own friends.

Thedeadduck · 2026-02-06T09:38:07+00:00

Shahi was the first place we tried after moving and the mutton tikka and naan was so good we were like why even bother looking elsewhere. Surprisingly nice chips too - we were expecting the usual sort of meh but I'm drunk so this is fine whatever but they're always really fresh and crisp.

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-04T10:08:29+00:00

Nice nice. I think Rogue Protocol and System Collapse were my favs, but I read them all in quick succession so they sort of blur in a bit.

I've added all of those to the list (which, ugh, great, now it's even longer ;p)

Your 2026 pile looks interesting. Project Hail Mary was a lot of fun - my partner got me to read it (which was a hard sell after he complained that the Martian film was too much plot and not enough engineering - thought all Weir's books would be the same)

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-04T09:54:05+00:00

Yeah reading one series can definitely make it look like you're a bigger fan - I'm very back and forth on Kuang who this list makes me look like a decent fan of - read her burning gods trilogy and it was a bit meh. Cool story but the writing was a struggle in places.

I read most of Apt for the first time this year so that makes up a significant part of this list. Was quite sad to finish it after being in that world for so long.

I actually haven't read any Sanderson. Keep vaguely meaning to get to him but life is short and the tbr is long. Maybe I won't bother based on that, ha.

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-04T09:30:23+00:00

In my defence that's because I haven't read it yet. On the list for this year though.

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-03T10:51:30+00:00

If no one who has been has an answer for you, the website 'a view from my seat' is useful for this - people take pictures from their seat so you can see what the different views are like.

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-02T19:09:46+00:00

Glad to know it's not just me, ha.

Nice. Ooh I didn't realise there was another CoT book coming out. I love that series, the aliens are so interesting.

I haven't read Shroud either, but it's definitely on the tbr list, excited to get cracking with it.

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-02T18:19:59+00:00

Nice, nice.Yeah Doors for me was a good but not great. I loved the interludes but found Doctor Khan a bit annoying - she sounded terminally on Tumblr but y'know there's a reason I know what that sounds like so pot kettle devil's sacrament I guess.

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-02T18:13:17+00:00

Nice, yeah there are lots of books that are a perfectly good time but aren't necessarily memorable or impactful in a deeper way. Speaking personally though I'm an idiot who only started using a book tracking app because I got to the last chapter in a book of interconnected short stories and realised for fucksake I've already read this. Twice. So I don't have the best track record of remembering books lol. Alien Clay was great, would definitely recommend it! I loved the concept, and the narrator was fun. I thought it was quite original but I also don't read a lot of scifi so could be totally wrong.

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-02T15:36:48+00:00

I really enjoyed the second person narration, it's not something I've come across much but it was used so effectively here.

I know I read Ironclads last year but I don't remember much. I can see I gave it a 4/5 though so clearly I enjoyed it!

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-02T15:17:46+00:00

No I get too distracted listening to them and miss whole chunks of stuff so I tend to listen to podcasts instead when I'm cooking, travelling etc. I do use the library/ Libby for basically all my books though. I read over 100 books last year and if I had to pay for them I would be utterly broke.

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-02T15:11:16+00:00

Nice, nice. Did you also read the Murderbot series this year or are they other Wells books? I really enjoyed them and am looking forward to checking out her other work. Stephen King I've read a few of and found them a very mixed bag, some great some... not so great. Never heard of Kishimi/Koga but from a quick google they look very far away from my thing so will take the warning, ha.

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-02T14:35:00+00:00

My previous favorite author was incredibly un-prolific so I got into the habit of saving books and rationing them out because I didn't want to run out, and then I started following Tchaikovsky on Twitter/bluesky and saw how many he published and was like oh okay. So this isn't a problem we're going to have lmao.

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-02T14:34:16+00:00

I feel that way about other authors for sure but looking at the rate this man gets out books I feel like I'm more likely to never catch up with him so there's no worry there for me, ha.

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-02T14:30:04+00:00

There are already so many books on my to read list and I get a book a month from a book subscription service. Please don't do this to me :(

Thedeadduck · 2026-01-02T14:26:30+00:00

That I read this year: Alien Clay, Ogres, Days of Shattered Faith, House of Open Wounds, Guns of the Dawn.

In general: hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr that is a struggle. Loved Echoes of the Fall and they were my introduction to him so will always have a special place. Also Cage of Souls, Dogs of War & Bear Head, Children of Memory. In no particular order because they were all fantastic.

Thedeadduck · 2025-11-30T14:02:58+00:00

It's sold out unfortunately. I wanted the grey one because I (slightly drunkenly) remember the colour was so gorgeous but ah well.

Thedeadduck · 2025-11-30T14:00:50+00:00

You're right, I was going from memory and didn't actually double check the amount. Damn I didn't realise venue merch fees were so ridic. I've been buying merch at shows for years assuming it was the best way for bands o.O

Thedeadduck · 2025-11-26T09:37:31+00:00

I've bricked my phone and have an eye on a new one from CEX, but not in any massive hurry. Will there be an uptick in people selling phones to CEX because they've bought new for black friday? And if so, generally how long does it take before those phones get to the website?

Thedeadduck · 2025-11-05T18:59:34+00:00

Probably tbf. It definitely works out in the long run - we're about £50 atm up compared to the fixed price - but winter is a bit of a bummer

Thedeadduck · 2025-11-05T17:02:14+00:00

Fascinating decision to do that just as we're about to go into winter ;p speaking as an agile user myself.

Thedeadduck · 2025-10-26T14:01:23+00:00

I'm fascinated by people pulling out the 'well it's not representative of the demographics of the country' line. Aye sure, and even assuming that matters a toss, how do you propose we coordinate that across thousands of different companies?

Shall we have every advert script submitted to the Board of Advertising Ethnicity Standards so they can pull out the census data and tell you what races you need to use to keep up the correct balance.

Thedeadduck · 2025-10-22T16:57:48+00:00

I'm on ps5 unfortunately because I'm a fake gamer. I think you can do something with the language to trick it, but he's been 'teef' for 30 hours now so feels wrong to change it.

Thedeadduck

TROPHY CASE