September ’18 Roundup & Ramblings

~ Bookstooge

09September-0892D0

Raw Data:

15 Books

4677 Pages

3.27 Average Rating

The Bad:

Ghostly Echoes – ½ Star (Blatant Social Justice lies denying Biological Fact)

The Deaths of Tao – 2 Stars (Didn’t like Main Characters)

Empire – Unrated (definitely all me. Just didn’t care about the Warhammer Universe any more)

The Good:

The Pickwick Papers – 6 Stars (Perfect in Every Way)

Revelation Space – 4 Stars (Great Space Opera)

Hilldiggers – 4 Stars (Polity just keeps getting better and better)

Graphic Novels and Manga:

Started in on the Shaman King manga and read the first 2 volumes. I REALLY enjoyed them and am having to consider how much I want to read next month. Do I stick with 2 volumes and kind of ration my enjoyment or do I just dive on in and read a volume every week? I enjoyed it enough that a volume a week would not be a problem. It feels good to feel good about reading manga again 🙂

Miscellaneous And Personal:

This month FELT wicked busy even though every single blog number says otherwise. My book numbers were the same as last month, my page numbers were actually down almost 150 pages, my post numbers were about the same, the comments section was down and a couple of the more active people I follow were either MIA or on a much reduced schedule.

The reason it felt so busy is because of work and real life. During the first week of this month my coworker gave his notice on Monday and was gone by Friday. This has left me as the sole full time Field Tech. It means I’m working by myself a LOT more and that means a lot more walking and not being nearly as efficient as a two man crew. I come home exhausted. I’ve also noticed some white in my goatee this month. I suspect the old salt-n-pepper look is only a year or so away.

The scheduling thing continues just fine but one unlooked for side effect is that it has effectively killed my desire for spontaneous writing. I used to write my reviews when I needed a post and if I needed a post or had verbal diarrhea, out came a non-review post. Now that I type on command for the book reviews, I just don’t feel like writing for fun. Kind of like jogging for a hobby versus training for a marathon. I’m going to give it to the end of the year and if it makes me continue feeling like blogging is work, then I’m going to ditch the scheduling and go back to the hodge podge of whenever I feel the heck like it. While scheduling is great, I prefer to fill my writing needs so it feels fun. I’ll just have to wait and see.

Ok, onto some of the posts. PSA: DNF was a decent one and I’m glad I got it out there. It also had the decency to generate a bunch of comments and I found out more about you all than I was expecting. It also was the top viewed post of the month (no surprise there!).

My 100 Book List post helped me continue my work on this blog and to be a good counterpart to my About Me section. I’ve stickied it to the side of my homepage so new people can easily find it when deciding to follow me or not. Preferably “not” so I don’t have to argue with them and show them how they are pretty much wrong about everything. It’s really tough being Mr Right.

And speaking of Mr Right, I’ve been Mr Right for 10 years this month. Mrs B and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary and we think we’ve got this whole marriage thing licked. Hahahahaa. Now that I’ve said that, watch, the next 10 years will be unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before.

Not much else really. Didn’t have the urge to write beyond what I had to. Really hoping I can be more engaging in October, here and on others blogs.

Cover Love

None of this months crop really appealed to me. I think from a purely visual standpoint, A Shaman in Tokyo was the most striking, just like a manga should be.

ashamanintokyo

bookstooge (Custom)

45 thoughts on “September ’18 Roundup & Ramblings”

  1. Congratulations on your wedding anniversary! Hope you both had a great day. Ugh sounds like a bit of a stressful time at work which I hope gets resolved soon for you. I’ve noticed a couple of people I follow have gone AWOL this month too so I’m wondering what’s up with that. I’m nosey that way!

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    1. Thank you.

      The work situation doesn’t appear to be any closer to getting solved so I have a feeling this will be the new “normal” 😦

      Thankfully, most of the people who have been inactive had let us all know ahead of time, so it wasn’t a total surprise. But general activity seems to be down for the month and I’m really hoping October picks things back up.

      I usually interact with 300 comments a month and this month was around 220. Made me realize how much I like comments 😀

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  2. Agree, scheduling posts is ok but it can make thinks less spontaneous in terms of writing sometimes. Other commitments have made it difficult for me to have time to blog as much recently, so I’ve taken a much more relaxed approach to blogging of late. Blogging should be fun so taking the pressure off by just posting when you want can be a refreshing change.

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    1. The whole reason I started scheduling posts was because I schedule my reading and it has worked wonders for me. I have my list of 25 series I cycle through and I don’t deviate. No mood reading, etc. And I haven’t had a reading slump since I started doing that over 2 years ago.

      So I figured, “why not do that for my writing, I’m sure it will be the same”. Hahahahaa. I DO like the fact that the pressure is off of me as everything is at least 2-3 weeks out and I like having my book reviews on a regular schedule of days of the week (mon, wed, fri as of now) but I simply don’t “enjoy” writing my non-review posts anymore. I want that back.

      But with everything going on at work, I don’t want to assume that the scheduling is the only part that is making me feel this way, hence the waiting period until the end of the year.

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      1. I had a similar process for doing reviews of films, tv, comics, ect, being 2-3 weeks ahead all the time. Earlier this year I had to take a break because of ill health, I’m back now, but still taking things easy. Needless to say, I had to step back a bit, I found it good for me to have some time out to do other projects as well. Now I still have a schedule, but I make sure its more flexible and fits around me rather than me having to jump to its tune. You’ll soon find the balance that works best for you.

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    1. It has definitely been a quieter month. I only follow 50 people so I don’t see quite as much, but overall it has seemed that way.

      We’ll see if things pick up in October or if we’re about to see the burnout of a lot of bloggers :-/

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  4. Congrats are in order for you and Mrs. B.

    In this day and age, it’s no mean feat. When I got married an older relative told me something someone had told him when he got married – never fall out of love at the same time. Those times when one is struggling, the other has to reach inside of themselves to remind them what brought them together in the first place. Time changes you and people grow. The trick is to grow together and never apart. Marriage is that but can be so much more. As with many things, it’s what you make of it.

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    1. Thank you. We definitely don’t take it for granted. And you’re so right with the whole grow together thing. It’s very easy now to grow apart, so making time for us as a “couple” is even more important. Its one of the reasons why the whole church thing was so important back in February and March. We had to make that decision together and then act on it together.

      In all fairness, it does help a lot that we’re both introverts who hate drama of any sort. And we did a good bit of deep digging when we were friends so we knew a lot about the other.

      The pastor who counseled us told us that marriage was a 100% thing from each party. We each had to give it our all or it would fail. It was not a 50/50 thing.

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  5. Wow, congratulations, ten years, great!! And don’t worry about the grey hairs, on men it’s supposed to look good, or so I’ve been assured 😉

    Your post reminded me how inactive I’ve been this September, both on Re-E and in the commenting sections of my favourite blogs, I’ll try to do better in October, but no promises, offline life demands its share of attention 😉

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    1. Thank you 🙂
      I’m not so much worried about grey/white as more surprised. When did I get old enough to have white hair? I’m not ready to be this old!

      No worries. My only guideline, for myself, in following others is that they have to post at least once a month. Everyone gets one “pass” because obviously life happens, but if it happens multiple times, snick, I don’t follow them. There are enough active people, I just need to find them 😀

      Anything on your plate book wise that might be coming up?

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      1. Well, I have friends who got this salt-n-pepper look in their mid twenties…
        Recently I’ve read some books already reviewed by Ola and my opinion does not differ enough to warrant separate posts… but Mythago Wood was wonderful and I’m definitely going to review it some time in October. And we have a big post about Witcher planned for this year’s Witch Week 🙂

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  6. Ah I feel you.. It’s hard to find a perfect balance between scheduled posts and spontaneous ones. I still have to figure out what works best for me. That’s why my blog has been a bit all over the place this year.

    Nothing wrong with the good old salt-n-pepper look 😀 Mr. DZ is starting to show some grey in his beard and he’s a bit younger than you^^ (and it suits him haha)

    And on the manga? If you love it, go for it 🙂 Why keep something you enjoy away from you?

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    1. This whole month really felt like a chore and I’m just not sure if it is the scheduling thing or life in general. I guess I’ll find out over the next couple of months.

      Salt/pepper just means I’m aging faster than I was expecting. I still think I’m 25 🙂

      Thanks. I’m going to plunge in and do a manga monday post every week in October. I definitely feel the need for some nice light fun reading…

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  7. A bit unfortunate to be a couple men short at work, especially for things that require physical activity. At least you now officially become indispensable! 😀 As for your scheduling strategies, you should definitely act on that as soon as possible just to avoid straining the brain for no reason. Hopefully October will be much more rewarding in every way possible for you, sir.

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    1. Yep, I AM indispensable 😀 cold comfort that is though, hahahhaa.

      I guess I’m hoping that scheduling my reviews will become normal so my desire to write will catch up and then I’ll just start pouring out the non-review posts again. I was looking over previous months this year and one month I had 31 posts. One every bloody day. That IS a bit excessive but still, it shows me I can do it if I want to 😀

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      1. Wow… 31 in a month. I can’t do it even if I wanted to since I’m co-blogging hahahah Even if I had a whole month, I don’t think I’d want to do it. I think people would get tired of what I had to say pretty quickly too, and I’d probably end up in a situation where I’d find myself not being able to find the right words for what I want to say hahahah

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    1. Figuring out my blogging style is definitely something I am really interested in now. The biggest issue with writing a review whenever is that half the time I don’t want to write at that time. Scheduling does allow me to write up 2-4 posts at once when I “feel” like it. Blahhh, it’ll come together somehow 🙂

      Marriage seminars. That’s not a bad idea. So here’s a freebie for ya: be an introverted thinker who hates drama and avoid the people in your life who cause drama. Simple, right? 😀

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      1. Then I can offer an alternative consideration, oh Wise One – a quote from one of my favorite movies, “Operation Petticoat”: Cary Grant says, about the grey in his hair “Then I can worry without showing it”, or something along these lines… 😀

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  10. Would like to apologize if i was a bit quiet. I cant even remember if i comented on most of your posts. As sad as I am to see you leave the likes of warhammer, it needed to happen, no point forcing something that does not resonate with you on a personal level. I do believe i congratulated you on the 10 years. I have salt and pepper already and i am only 32… although i started greying at around 18…

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  11. Congrats! And the dignified look might serve you well! 😀
    I feel like you’re talking about me, man 😉 Life got really busy lately, but I promise we’ll come back on the right track of at least one post a week and a more active comment life 😉
    A few reviews are still on my to be written list, and one pic is coming as well, so the future’s looking bright 🙂

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    2. I was also less active than usual. Was overseas a while (fortunately on vacation this time) and now I’m spending most of my free time looking for a new job (fortunately still employed, but I think it’s time for me to leave before my high blood pressure causes an explosion).

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      2. I can’t remember if it is you or Tuesday or the Bushi’s who are on twitter, but if you are, you should get off it. That one step alone might lower your blood pressure to only really high instead of astronomically high 🙂

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    1. Isn’t it odd how things can look the same on the surface but seem totally different to the person experiencing them? Some times I completely understand those who think reality is subjective (I don’t think that, just to be clear though).

      Thank you 🙂

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