List of Random Stuff

 I don't really have anything exciting going on today. Or this week, really. Just same old boring everyday yuck. So, a quick list of random, semi-related thoughts might have to tide us over for now.

 1. I am completely exhausted. Like, I'm always exhausted after a shift at my horrible job, but this last couple of weeks has just been so much worse.

 2. My feet and legs have decided they hurt too much to do anything else tonight. My chair is my best friend right now. I will not hobble from it until bedtime.

 3. I am in the middle of reading about five different books, and am therefore making nearly no progress on any of them.

 4. I should probably learn to focus on one book at a time. But I probably won't.

 5. Murderbot is still the best. Ever.

 6. I need more stories about it. Preferably right now. I do not want to wait until April.

 7. I should be knitting, but my wrist hurts.

 8. I hate it when my wrist refuses to let me do anything fun.

 9. I need a new job. (Anybody hiring?)

10. My daughter is campaigning for a work-from-home job, which I can't seem to find and which she would not leave me alone to actually do even if I did.

11. I got a summons for jury duty.

12. I am not especially happy about it.

13. It isn't that I'm opposed to doing my civic duty, because I don't mind that part. It's the part that comes before. The part where they take away all my coping mechanisms and sit me in a big room with absolutely nothing to do.

14. I really do not wait well. That's why I have so many hobbies to distract me while I wait.

15. None of those hobbies are allowed in courtrooms.

16. The people who made those particular rules are obviously not crafters. And are apparently fine with mind-numbing boredom.

17. I am not. (See above.)

18. I am in danger of falling asleep right now.

19. Getting up at 4am stinks.

20. I will never understand morning people. Not ever.

21. This list is much longer and more ramble-y than I expected. It is definitely time to stop.

22. Goodnight. I'll try for something a little more interesting next time.

 

My Reading Log- June and July 2021

 Continuing my efforts to get caught up, we're doing another double feature today.

June 2021

Fiction:

The Oathbound

Oathbreakers

Oathblood

Beyond  (new Valdemar book!!!)

The Wizard of London

Home From the Sea  all by Mercedes Lackey   I was in a rereading sort of mood this month, I guess

Blood Banked

Blood Shot   both by Tanya Huff  

Graphic Novel/Comic:

Toph Beifong's Metalbending Academy        another Avatar: the Last Airbender comic

Nonfiction:

Animal Vegetable Junk by Mark Bittman

July 2021

Fiction:

A Study in Sable

A Scandal in Battersea

The Bartered Brides

The Spellbound Child  all by Mercedes Lackey, continuing my reread. I originally started by looking for something my daughter might like. And I did give her The Wizard of London, but I don't think she's quite ready for the rest of these yet...

Comic/Graphic Novel:

AtLA: Suki Alone      this is the newest of the comics that we have (well, except that we just finished Korra, so there's two more next month. Technically...)

Humor:

Fun With Kirk and Spock by Robb Pearlman       this is a parody of the Dick and Jane books that used to be popular with new readers. My friend and I stumbled across it in the bookstore and it somehow came home with me...

And that gets me caught up. Now I just have to make some progress on all the books I'm working on so I have something (besides Korra) to log for August...

My Reading Log- April and May 2021

 Since life has gotten the better of me lately and I'm so very far behind, I'm going to knock out two lists today. Bear with me...

April 2021

Fiction:

Shuri            and

Shuri: The Vanished by Nic Stone    My daughter got the first one for Christmas. She loved it. I've been on the lookout for the sequel ever since. This was my first chance to grab it. I made her loan me hers before I let her read the new one. (I know, that's mean. But if I didn't hold new books hostage occasionally, she'd never let me read her stuff...) 

Life's Too Short by Abby Jimenez      Been waiting impatiently for this one, too. Ever since I first saw her announce it. Devoured it all in one go (again!) and now I'm stuck (again!!) waiting super impatiently for her next book. Which won't be out until April. *sigh*

Comic/Graphic Novel:

I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf  by Grant Snider

Nonfiction:

Broken by Jenny Lawson     Another eagerly awaited book that I devoured far too quickly

Didn't See That Coming by Rachel Hollis

That finishes up April. Now, on to May!

May 2021

Fiction:

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Mockingjay          all by Suzanne Collins          Reread these because my daughter wanted to start them.

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells             Murderbot!!! I so badly need some more Murderbot. Also, I should stop reading so fast when I get a new book. They just don't last long enough...

Nonfiction:

Salt  by Mark Kurlansky

Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft

James Monroe by Gary Hart

Comic/Graphic Novel:

Here follows a long list of Avatar: The Last Airbender titles... [It's our new(est) obsession.]

AtLA:Katara and the Pirate's Silver

AtLA:The Promise

AtLA:The Search

AtLA:The Rift

AtLA:Smoke and Shadow

AtLA:North and South

AtLA:Imbalance

AtLA:The Lost Adventures

The American Presidents: George Washington

Welcome to the first installment of the American Presidents series (which I've decided I will probably abbreviate as tAPs from now on. Why? Because I like it. It's cute, right? No other reason needed.) We're starting at the very beginning. I hear it's a very good place to start. (Cue all the groans from Rodgers and Hammerstein fans)

(Thank you to Amazon for having a great cover picture of the book when my camera refused to cooperate. You can click over and grab your own copy if you need one.)

As you can see, the book is George Washington by James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn. Part of the American Presidents series edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. This particular volume is copyright 2004, if that sort of thing is important to you.

So, as for the basics that everyone has already been told, Georgie-boy was born 22 February 1732 and he died on 14 December 1799 at the age of 67. He was our first president, serving from 1789-1797.  

A fact that is less thrown around: He was, and remains, the only president to ever be elected unanimously. (Four times, in fact: unanimously voted commander-in-chief of the Second Continental Congress, president of the Constitutional Convention, and then unanimously elected to two terms of the presidency.)

The book talks about Washington as a young man, the events that lead up to the Revolutionary War, and the events after, but it mostly skips the entire war itself.  Which I suppose makes sense, given the sheer number of books about just the war.

It does, however, mention that George pretty much started the entire French-Indian war singlehandedly in 1754. It's a story I've heard before, (most entertainingly in You Did What?, edited by Bill Fawcett and Brian Thomsen. It's an essay officially titled "You Sent Whom, Governor?" but more entertainingly sub-titled as "Never Send a Boy To Do a Man's Job"). 

Other fun facts: In the fall of 1794, George became the only sitting president to ever lead troops into battle during the Whiskey Rebellion. He took 12,000 troops and Alexander Hamilton (then acting Secretary of War) into western Pennsylvania to scare a bunch of loud protesters into shutting up and ending their whining about taxes. There was no actual battle or bloodshed involved. Just a lot of government threats and arrests. This also gave us the first use of the Presidential Pardon for two of the protesters who were convicted of treason.

George accidentally established the two-term limit tradition when he stepped down in 1797, turning the presidency over to John Adams. This was a tradition that everyone followed right up until 1940, when FDR said "heck, no" and stayed in office. Thankfully, it's now a firm law, signed into effect as the 22nd Amendment. (Because the last thing we need is some of these yahoos now trying to stay longer than two terms. One term for most of them is bad enough...)

George gave his Farewell Address in September 1796 and stepped down to retire to Mount Vernon. John Adams would serve as the second president, taking office 4 March 1797.

That's a very quick summary, considering the time it took me to get this posted, but I just really don't know what else to say about him.