The Marci Rating System

Was talking to some people at the office this week about our cats (NOT as good as working from home WITH my cat, but an acceptable topic of conversation), and we chanced up on the 'my cat likes to wake me up at night' thing.

And I absolutely got to be the ridiculously proud cat parent who was like 'my cat wakes me up at night because she wants to be patted.' I am thrilled by this fact. I had a silly smile on my face as I typed those words. SHE LIKES ME. I am continuously surprised by how much this cat wants to headbutt my pillow and flick her tail in my face at night just to get me to wake up and provide chin scritches.

(More cat chat because I love cats, and will happily share the same stories again and again, and because every cat shows their love and care in different ways. This cat is the only cat I've had who wants to be on top of me while I'm sleeping. She will NOT sit in my lap while I'm sitting up, but will sit next to me, and has a bed on the desk next to my computer where she spends much of the day. My last cat LOVED being in my lap while I was awake, but as soon as I made the slightest move towards reclining or closing my eyes, she would leave. NO sleeping! My first cat loved being brushed, my second cat hated it. My amazing current cat absolutely loves tummy rubs, which has unfortunately trained me right out of remembering that for most cats, the tummy is a trap. Cats are just SO GREAT and I love them.)

"Describe your perfect date."

"That's a tough one. I'd have to say April 25th. Because it's not too hot and not too cold. All you need is a light jacket."

-Miss Congeniality, circa 2000*


(*lol this led me down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out if I was using the word 'circa' correctly, which is to say, if it worked as a funny joke about my recent realization of how long ago the year 2000 was. research was inconclusive, but it made me laugh, so I'll take that as a win)

I love being subscribed to AO3 fics and authors. Every day I wake up and my email inbox has updates in it. Do I remember all of these fics? Nope. Does that impede my enjoyment of them in any way? Absolutely not.

It's especially fun with a very active fandom like the hockey boys right now, because I'll have six new chapters in my inbox, absolutely zero recollection of the context for any of them, and I'll just read them all in a row. No plot, just vibes.

(There are multiple authors I subscribed to when they were writing a lot in a fandom I was also in, and then they start writing in a different fandom. I still love seeing their updates! I don't always read them, but I'm thrilled that they are creating and sharing those creations. Sometimes we circle around to match fandoms again and it's like 'fancy meeting you here, what a delightful surprise!')

[*in the most millennial way possible, in that I'm saying it as a joke but also I'm 100% serious]

OKAY so one of the multiple email lists I can't remember how I signed up for but haven't bothered to unsubscribe from sends me free e-book lists. (It's a BookBub mailing list, sometimes there's fun stuff in them!) "Friday's free e-books for you" included this absolute BANGER of a summary, which sounds like an unhinged madlib in the best possible way:

The passionate affair between dolphin shifter Vince and Scottish hawk shifter Lachlan ended in betrayal. When they’re forced together to find King Arthur’s sword, can they trust each other enough to survive the danger ahead?

My first thought, of course, was, 'I must share this gem of a blurb on my journal.' And then I thought 'if I'm going to do that, I should at least get the free e-book.' (I did! I have not read it yet.)

And honestly, this book doesn't really sound like my jam. I'm intimidated by the ocean, I have a mild-to-moderate fear of heights, and essentially zero interest in Arthurian legends. I appreciate shape-shifting stories largely for the potential for increased cuddling, and neither dolphins nor hawks seem particularly snuggly to me.

HOWEVER! I was reminded of the wise words from tumblr user wtf-is-hockey:

God sometimes I'm writing smut and I'll like, delete a sentence because I'm like, no, I can't write that. It's too indulgent. And then it's like. Girl, what the fuck are you even going to the candy store for if you're just going to buy raisins. Get real.

And I thought 'you know what, YEAH! This author has gone to the candy store! They are not buying raisins! They are buying... whatever this book is!'

Anyway, the book is 'Stripping His Armor,' by Mia West. Gold star for making my day, and this post.

PS: THE MADLIB:
The [TYPE OF RELATIONSHIP] between [ANIMAL] shifter [NAME] and [ANIMAL] shifter [NAME] ended in [EMOTION]. When they're forced together to [QUEST OR MISSION], can they trust each other enough to survive the [OBSTACLE] ahead?

I've officially made Saturdays my 'do nothing' day for the time being, which means I'm doing exactly what I've done for the last few weeks, but trying to feel less guilty about it!

Took a morning vacation (aka pajamas and reading fanfic until noon), and now I'm back! (Back-ish. Definitely considered extending the vacation, but I want lunch and coffee, so I decided doing all the rest of the day's things was worth it.)

In audiobook news, I put 'The Long Game' (book 6 in Rachel Reid's Game Changers series, aka the hockey boys) on hold in Libby a while ago, but the wait time was 'several months.' IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when it was suddenly ready to borrow two days ago!

Now I'm a little nervous about listening to it -- I feel like I already know SO MUCH about what happens in the book, based on the absolute oceans of fanfic I've been reading. Anyway, starting audiobooks is always weird for me, it's like a brain thing about new experiences, I think.

Anyway, I liked book 5 the best so far, and I'm looking forward to listening to book 6!

(PS: After I previously posted that my experience of book 5 could be improved by more dogs and cats, LO AND BEHOLD I got to the part that had 1) more dogs, and 2) a cat. VINDICATION)

Be a Goldfish Week 5 is in progress! (my work for week 5 is... not in progress)

WEEK FIVE: On Thursdays We Try Tropes Get back to fannish basics: create a work inspired by a trope, or mix it up and do a trope inversion.

I love tropes, but still haven't made up my mind on what I want to create for this week. (perhaps not astonishingly, spending hours reading fanfic hasn't actually provided an answer)

In a work meeting on Thursday, I mentioned that my 'big weekend plans' were taking down the Christmas decorations. This was met with mostly silence (very expected in a morning teams call), and then one of the other people in the meeting said, "You still have Christmas decorations up?"

And my reactions were basically:

1) lol I do not think they intended that to be as hilariously judge-y as it sounded

2) it hasn't even been one (1) month since Christmas???

3) it's winter? in New Hampshire? this is the season of HIBERNATION, not TAKING DOWN DECORATIONS

Important considerations:

*they do not live in New Hampshire

*as a west coaster, it was CONSIDERABLY earlier where they were, so 'morning meeting' was more like 'they might have woken up just in time to show up halfway through the meeting'

IN CONCLUSION

1. I'm not putting away all the Christmas decorations, just some of them

2. Because it's still winter, so anything winter-y can definitely stay

3. But we also have a lot of fun Valentines Day and Lunar New Year decorations to enjoy

(I've used this subject line before, apparently, and I did not go check what I said then. Was it last week??? That would be funny.)

ANYWAY it is the final weekend before Christmas, and that means:

...Yeah, time to catch up on my craft advent calendar. I set it up to be 12 days, with the goal of one lil' project every other day, and now it is the 20th and I have five projects left to go, lol. So, more like one a day! I GOT THIS.

*IT SNOWING

*which means it's a SNOW DAY! (totally a snow day even though it's just a few tiny flurries)

*time for the VERY IMPORTANT snow day accessories!

*PAJAMAS

*COZY BLANKETS

*and the VERY IMPORTANT snow day snacks!

*COFFEE

*FRENCH TOAST STICKS

*and the VERY IMPORTANT snow day activities!

*CROCHET

*AUDIOBOOKS