Ketchup

[selki]

My goodness, it's been a while.  I've had several posts in my head I haven't gotten around to.  None of them are this.

Books:

• I think I've talked here about Jo Graham's Order of the Air series, but I don't see it in my book-tagged entries.  Pilots, WWI vets, magic, saving the world, loss, love, life, starts in the 20's with an archeological dig that uncovers something bad.  The fourth book, Windraker, is set in 1935 Hawaii, and I burbled here to the author about why I liked it so much.  Reviews on Amazon will be a little more coherent, though.
• I meant to write something about Nicola Upson's The Death of Lucy Kyte awhile back.  It's one of those what-if-this-author-were-a-detective books that seem to be the thing lately, this one about Josephine Tey.  Fortunately Tey is just her pen name, so I was able to ignore the Tey part (which isn't too obtrusive), and read this thing about a writer who inherits a cottage from her godmother, a famous stage actress, with her personal papers (what to publish?) and a couple of mysteries attached to them and the cottage, and also who the other heir (Lucy Kyte) could be.  Not an upper, but I found it absorbing.

Dance: Enjoyed the Midwinter Ball in Baltimore as a sort of warm-up, then had a great time at the Flurry Festival in Saratoga Springs, NY in February.  Contra, blues, swing, even a little Cajun.  Trying to Cajun waltz with someone who can't suspend their disbelief that yes, really, it's just back-me-up-in-waltz-time, no turns/spins, is challenging.  Still fun.  :)

Health:  stabby pain in my TY band? (right front thigh from hip to inner knee) keeps waking me up.  Shoveling snow for 2 hours actually helped, but it's back again.  2-mile walk on terrain (not treadmill) also helps (for a night).  PT (tail bone manipulation) / massage (back, lower back, back of thigh, calves, front of thigh) --> only temporary relief.  Lack of sleep interfering sometimes with other stuff.  An occasional full night's uninterrupted sleep is a real blessing.
Media:

• We enjoyed Zhong Kui, Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal last weekend in a movie theater (it may be gone by now).  Journeys between the worlds of gods, mortals, and demons, with intrigue, spine-swords, and star-crossed love.  Mostly coherent, silly in parts, and gorgeous imagery.  3D not too gimmicky.
• I came across a series of LJ entries with interesting thoughts about Captain America.

Work:  small layoff that didn't affect me directly, but affected a friend at work.  Not exactly related, my boss has moved to another part of the company.  His deputy is now my boss; given his now 25 direct reports, it looks like I'll get some more responsibility.  He seems decent; we'll see if / how much he changes on his own (I think he's more direct, fwiw).

Followups on a couple of older entries:

1. Book Cluster: Reluctant Communist Cops:  a) I've read a couple more of the Siri Paibourn mysteries, still enjoying them.  b) There's an environmental documentary in China that's gotten a huge amount of discussion, which reminded me of the changing times there in the Inspector Chen books.
2. Macbeth:  a) Leiacat's write-up of Sleep No More b) Another teacher's exercise, this one in Miss Moorthy Investigates by Ovidia Yu, results in one student putting the plot down to Lady Macbeth having been bored out of her mind.  Set in 1970's Singapore.  Interesting and fun (her arty parents despair at the phase she's going through, of being a teacher) in parts even though I fingered the killer very early on, but I prefer her later books (Aunty Lee's Delights, Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials: social awareness and food geeking mixed into mystery).