The Marci Rating System

*placed an order online

*received an order, but it was not mine -- box was addressed correctly, had the correct pick ticket in it, but none of the items were correct

*attempted to explain situation to an online "live agent" (Yael, if you were not a chatbot, I apologize, but you definitely seemed like a chatbot)

*they want the order back, said I would receive a return label via email, and would ship out my original order (tracking number provided)

*I have not received a return label via email

*the 'reship' confirmation email says I need to return the order within the time specified or be charged full price for all items in the reship

*no time has been specified

*OPTION 1: a return label was not sent, possibly no return is required

*OPTION 2: a return label was issued and has disappeared into the ether

*OPTION 3: neither A nor B, but some secret 3rd option

Fauna One, by Avonya

On an otherwise tedious survey, Murderbot meets a cat.

aka the pre-canon one where SecUnit sends cat pictures to another SecUnit

Then, after a pause, the other SecUnit followed that up with, Additional information requested for potential further identification to establish a thorough threat report.

I knew what it was really asking. So I wiped a couple more pictures I’d taken and sent them along.

So, technically I finished listening on Friday, but I definitely fell asleep during the last bit and had no idea what happened. So on Saturday I went back and actually awake-finished!

In conclusion: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

(Great book!)

So, this is basically The Murderbot Diaries series so far:

BOOK 1: Murderbot makes some friends

BOOK 2: Murderbot makes some friends

BOOK 3: Murderbot makes some friends

BOOK 4: Murderbot rescues its friends from BOOK 1

BOOK 6 (the internet was definitely right about reading this one after 4): Murderbot thinks its BOOK 1 friends may need more rescuing, so it hangs around (and makes some friends)

BOOK 5: Murderbot rescues one of its BOOK 2 friends, and makes some friends, and gets rescued itself (it's the longest book; a lot happens!)

BOOK 7: ???????

(Note: I LOVE THIS. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT TO READ ABOUT. YES, PLEASE.)

GET Request, by ariex09

If they didn't want a transport able to autonomously decide where the most important place to be was, they shouldn't have built me, Peri says coolly.

Happy Birthday starandrea!!!

For various reasons, I've wound up on multiple mailing lists that email me near-daily with information about books and audiobooks -- sometimes I think about unsubscribing, but sometimes I see something interesting that I want to look for on the library apps. And of course, there's the reviews!

(Also, the absolutely random spread of 'number of five-star reviews on goodreads' that get shared. Some books are like 'received over 250 five-star reviews!' and others are like 'received over 5000000000000000 five-star reviews!' and I don't really believe either of them.)

Anyway, the one-line reviews are often VERY funny, because they could be interpreted in almost any direction. My favorite ones are things like (I just made these up, because I couldn't be bothered to actually go back and look for any):

'Reading this is like waiting for a wave to break.'

'The book version of a bouncy house!'

'If I was reading in a field in Toulouse, France, I would pick this book.'

Because I can't tell ANYTHING from those. Please make all reviews as absolutely incomprehensible as possible, for me, personally. Because it's funny.

My thoughts:

*I was Very Curious how they were going to adapt the whole DeltFall habitat fight for the tv show, and I love how the team got to be involved

*hahahahahaha watching this unfold in 20-minute story blocks sure is wild

*"BUT WHERE'S THE CONSENSUS?"

*(which is to say, I thought this ep did a great job showing something that MB considered multiple times during the book -- that the Preservation team is a group of scientists. if there's a need for info about fungi, they've got it! if there's a need to strategize a fight, that's not their thing!)

*(but they're gonna try anyway, and they're absolutely determined and creative!)

*also I super hope my favorite line ('there's no way it's spending that many hours watching media; we'd notice') makes it into the show next week

Someone on tumblr linked this article, which is a Very Fun Read, and my apologies that I don't have the tumblr username to acknowledge.

The article is way better without ads, so I highly recommend doing the reader view thing:

It’s One of the Weirdest Mistakes in Movie History. I Spent Months Investigating How It All Went Wrong., by Forrest Wickman

To summarize: The bird in this scene does not live where it’s supposed to, look like it’s supposed to, or sound like it’s supposed to. To put this in terms of mammals, it’s as if a two-toed sloth climbed up to Bill Murray’s window, howled like some unknown species of canine, and Cameron Diaz identified the howl as a sea otter, saying that sea otters live in only one place on Earth: Carmel, California.

Sort of wanted to do a bunch of stuff today, but also wanted to sit quietly on the floor and not interact or be perceived in any way, so I did that. And also read some Murderbot fanfic!

Convergent Frequency, by Joyfulldreams

This entire plan was my idea. These three were only meant to be a means to an end. But despite all my sound arguments and gentle nudging, the only reason SecUnit decided to go along with it was because it met these humans and immediately cared about what might happen to them.

[aka 'Artificial Condition' entirely from ART's point of view]

I'm trying to space out the Murderbot Diaries audiobooks to give me time to enjoy the anticipation, so I've been sprinkling in other books in between. And the library very conveniently delivered 'A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet' (by Becky Chambers) from my hold list at the perfect time!

Things that are GREAT about this book:

*I fell asleep almost instantly. Woke up about an hour later, fell back asleep. VERY RESTFUL. (Full disclosure: I was already planning on napping)

So, yeah, the narrator has a very calming voice, I guess? (I just checked the book; it's narrated by Rachel Dulude. Thanks Rachel! That was the nicest nap I've had in a long while.)

Things that make it unlikely that I'll finish this book:

*The loan is for 7 days, and the book is 14 hours long, and I'm not actually planning on napping for 14 hours in the next week. I mean, that might be good for me? But also maybe not.

I've only listened to one Becky Chambers book before (Psalm for the Wild Built), and found it similarly calming, although I'm pretty sure I managed to stay awake for that one. (Different narrator!)

[NOTE: I'm so intrigued by how much the narrator impacts the audiobook experience! In my limited experience of listening, it seems like there are narrators who read the book, and there are narrators who tell the story, and those are way more different than I would have guessed.]