The Marci Rating System

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.]

The more audiobooks I listen to, the more impressed I am by just how challenging it is to be a REALLY GOOD audiobook reader. Especially in books that alternate readers!

I just* finished a book where both of the readers were fun to listen to, but one of them varied their volume from 'about what I'd expect' to 'whisper shouting' to 'actual whispering.' Probably if I'd been using earbuds it would have been perfectly easy to hear everything, but listening with my phone, I kept adjusting the volume up and down. (Which was fine, it just made made realize I don't normally do that.)

[*hahahaha I wanted to finish it last night, and when I got to the epilogue there were less than 30 minutes left, so I decided I'd stop crocheting and 'just listen.' Then I woke up 30 minutes later with absolutely no idea of what had happened in the story. OF COURSE. WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED SUCH A THING. So I went back and listened to the epilogue again this morning.)

I'm headed back to the dentist today, and this time I'll be trying out listening to an audiobook while they work. Will it be more or less engaging than music? There will be LEARNINGS today!

(And as a prize for going, this afternoon's schedule includes just one plan: take an inaugural nap under the blanket I finished this weekend! Hooray!!!)

(Will it be too hot for napping under a blanket at that time of day? YES. Is that going to stop me? DEFINITELY NOT.)

Things that sound fun today:

*sleeping

*napping

*resting with my eyes closed

*dozing off

*post- and/or pre-lunch siesta

Surely I can fit at least ONE of those into my plans for the day???

The cat decided getting up at 6 am was a VITAL part of the day, which -- fair. She's put up with being alone overnight for the past two nights, so she should get to decide when she gets attention (and breakfast). But I could probably have used another few hours of sleep. However! The day has begun, and there's lots of things I want to do today!

*I have brand new coffee that arrived while we were away! I'm planning to try it with my lunch.

*AHAHAHA so much unpacking to do. So far it's going okay? I think?

*Definitely some extra stretching after all that walking with a backpack the last few days. My calves! My shoulders!

I was absolutely mostly sort of planning to put up a list of my battleship fics today, BUT then last night I had reason to test out my new Hearos Nano ear plugs, and they were SO GREAT I decided to interrupt today's post with a kudos.

(Most of the time I can sleep through a LOT, but sometimes I am ANXIOUS and have trouble falling asleep, and it's usually because 1) I have a headache; 2) I'm cold; 3) the noise:anxiety ratio is off-kilter.)

So I got up, took some painkillers, put an extra blanket on the bed, AND got out earplugs. Mostly I find earplugs to be Too Big and they hurt my ears after a while, but these new ones were A+ great.

*Gotta appreciate the pun name. Hearos! I love it.

*Genuinely smaller than others I've used!

*Can confirm I was able to sleep on my side with them in without any issues, AND they came out with no problem when I wanted them to. Blocked plenty of sound to convince my brain all was well. Sleep achieved!

Lots I still want to do today, but I'm soooooooo sleepy.

(Unfortunately I'm also OLD now, so if I take a nap now it will almost certainly throw off my sleep tonight. Probably my best bet is to power through, but we'll see if that actually happens, or if I just grumpily do NEITHER chores NOR sleeping for the next several hours.)

Big kudos to the cat today, who let me sleep in! I woke up a few times to hear her playing with her toys and then running down the stairs (for very important bird-watching), but she didn't meow at me until after 7. <3

Things I'm looking forward to today:

*does going back to sleep count?

*coffee sounds good

*also I have an avocado left from last week's shopping trip

*the sun is shining

*time to pat the cat! <3

*The boss canceled the "goals" meeting a few hours before it was supposed to happen. It has been rescheduled for early January. (To be fair, early January actually makes a lot more sense?)

*In an effort to get creative about sleeping more, I moved this morning's wake-up alarm half an hour later. Ha, take that, sleep debt!

*Very excited that my new bathroom shelves have arrived! (A somewhat humorous series of events mean that the cat and I are sharing the bathroom counter space, which was fine until it became clear she really needed TWO levels of step to get up there, and the best(?) option was to put them both in front of the counter, which mostly works, but which makes it a real stretch for me to reach the counter on that side now.)

*ANYWAY! I'm hoping the shelves will improve the situation for all.

*HOW is it still only Thursday??? Feels like it should be Saturday. Let's work on that.