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I was googling a thing the other day
Jun. 23rd, 2020 08:40 amCW: animal harm? people harm? Not detailed.
Specifically, I was googling to find out how many days it's been since March 13th, and I didn't get further than "How many days since..." and Google autocompleted the phrase.
So, I think a lot of people are *done* with being in quarantine.
It's been 102 days since March 13th, by the way.
I fell off the Dreamwidth radar, mostly due to a case of The Sads (nonclinical, dog related).
We ended up having to send the dog back to the rescue league. She'd come in to them without a history, so they gave us the information they could about her behavior issues, but it turns out that she's actually not just food- and animal-aggressive; she's pretty aggressive across the board.
She bit me; it wasn't provoked by anything, and it came after an overall slow increase in aggressive behavior as she got more comfortable living with us. No stitches, but it broke skin and it could have been much worse if luck hadn't happened. I couldn't come off high-alert around her after that. We were not equipped for that level of aggression. So, back she went to the shelter, and I no longer have a dog. This was all covered in an f-locked post, but since I am REAL stringent about my access levels, most folks probably didn't see it. I was real fucking sad, friends. I hated having to make that call, even if it was the right one.
Quarantine life without a dog to give it some structure is really annoying, it turns out - I screwed up my sleep schedule and I'm working on getting back to normal there (reasonably good results) - I'm definitely exercising less. But, also, my anxiety levels are waaaay down, so maybe she was NOT a good fit for us.
I have some recs! I did read some excellent things!
Pro-fic:
Title: The Murderbot Diaries (series - Starts with the novellas All Systems Red (2018), then Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, and Exit Strategy (all 2018), then Network Effect (2020), with another novel planned for 2021. I do recommend reading them in order, but the novellas do a reasonably good job of starting
Freebie short story (prequel, does not give away main plot): https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-work-compulsory-martha-wells/
Link: http://www.marthawells.com/murderbot.htm
Author: Martha Wells
Summary: (All Systems Red) "On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied 'droid -- a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as "Murderbot." Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is."
Why I love it: I deeply, deeply love Murderbot, as a protagonist, as a character, as the viewpoint on this larger world. Wells did an amazing job of putting us in the mindset of this person in this world, jaded and scared and trying to figure out what it WANTS, other than to be *left alone* by the weird humans who are treating it like a Real Person. Murderbot is profoundly competent and proficient within a certain field (protecting humans, dealing with semi-sentient technology, managing security systems that might be hunting it) and has a scathingly critical eye of people who are trying to do dumb things that compromise the safety of a client. Murderbot does *not* went to be a human being, thankyouverymuch, it just wants to not have to deal with all these damn FEELINGS that Other People have. Only other people. No one else.
Not to spoil too, too much - Murderbot's story is about recovery from trauma. (I'd say of the moral injury variety, but also a lot of dehumanization, because it is literally not human.) Murderbot is classified as equipment, despite the fact that it's sentient and has organic human components in its composition - and this story is about figuring out what 'being a person' would mean in a world where literally every other thing like it is literally equipment. So, content note for that; but since we see this world from Murderbot's viewpoint only, it never feels like that dehumanizing viewpoint is ever given any narrative weight - it's so clearly wrong that, as a reader, I was mostly furious on Murderbot's behalf.
If I had any notes about this series, it's that there's a pacing change between the novellas and the novel. That's not a flaw! The novel involves a larger cast, more complicated plot, and opens the point of view up a bit to several other characters. It's called Network Effect for a reason - Murderbot isn't running a solo mission a this point, and we actually get to see how the character grew internally and expanded their network of "their people." It's wonderful - Murderbot gets people who love it, as its flawed, devoted, twitchy, misanthropic self. I adore this series, and the novel is excellent - its pacing is different and that wasn't quite the ultraviolence popcorn that my brain wanted just then, so it was a bit slower.
I liked this series so much that I went and found Martha Wells's other series, Tales of Raksura, and I've finished the first book of that series and I'm into the second.
Specifically, I was googling to find out how many days it's been since March 13th, and I didn't get further than "How many days since..." and Google autocompleted the phrase.
So, I think a lot of people are *done* with being in quarantine.
It's been 102 days since March 13th, by the way.
I fell off the Dreamwidth radar, mostly due to a case of The Sads (nonclinical, dog related).
We ended up having to send the dog back to the rescue league. She'd come in to them without a history, so they gave us the information they could about her behavior issues, but it turns out that she's actually not just food- and animal-aggressive; she's pretty aggressive across the board.
She bit me; it wasn't provoked by anything, and it came after an overall slow increase in aggressive behavior as she got more comfortable living with us. No stitches, but it broke skin and it could have been much worse if luck hadn't happened. I couldn't come off high-alert around her after that. We were not equipped for that level of aggression. So, back she went to the shelter, and I no longer have a dog. This was all covered in an f-locked post, but since I am REAL stringent about my access levels, most folks probably didn't see it. I was real fucking sad, friends. I hated having to make that call, even if it was the right one.
Quarantine life without a dog to give it some structure is really annoying, it turns out - I screwed up my sleep schedule and I'm working on getting back to normal there (reasonably good results) - I'm definitely exercising less. But, also, my anxiety levels are waaaay down, so maybe she was NOT a good fit for us.
I have some recs! I did read some excellent things!
Pro-fic:
Title: The Murderbot Diaries (series - Starts with the novellas All Systems Red (2018), then Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, and Exit Strategy (all 2018), then Network Effect (2020), with another novel planned for 2021. I do recommend reading them in order, but the novellas do a reasonably good job of starting
Freebie short story (prequel, does not give away main plot): https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-work-compulsory-martha-wells/
Link: http://www.marthawells.com/murderbot.htm
Author: Martha Wells
Summary: (All Systems Red) "On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied 'droid -- a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as "Murderbot." Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is."
Why I love it: I deeply, deeply love Murderbot, as a protagonist, as a character, as the viewpoint on this larger world. Wells did an amazing job of putting us in the mindset of this person in this world, jaded and scared and trying to figure out what it WANTS, other than to be *left alone* by the weird humans who are treating it like a Real Person. Murderbot is profoundly competent and proficient within a certain field (protecting humans, dealing with semi-sentient technology, managing security systems that might be hunting it) and has a scathingly critical eye of people who are trying to do dumb things that compromise the safety of a client. Murderbot does *not* went to be a human being, thankyouverymuch, it just wants to not have to deal with all these damn FEELINGS that Other People have. Only other people. No one else.
Not to spoil too, too much - Murderbot's story is about recovery from trauma. (I'd say of the moral injury variety, but also a lot of dehumanization, because it is literally not human.) Murderbot is classified as equipment, despite the fact that it's sentient and has organic human components in its composition - and this story is about figuring out what 'being a person' would mean in a world where literally every other thing like it is literally equipment. So, content note for that; but since we see this world from Murderbot's viewpoint only, it never feels like that dehumanizing viewpoint is ever given any narrative weight - it's so clearly wrong that, as a reader, I was mostly furious on Murderbot's behalf.
If I had any notes about this series, it's that there's a pacing change between the novellas and the novel. That's not a flaw! The novel involves a larger cast, more complicated plot, and opens the point of view up a bit to several other characters. It's called Network Effect for a reason - Murderbot isn't running a solo mission a this point, and we actually get to see how the character grew internally and expanded their network of "their people." It's wonderful - Murderbot gets people who love it, as its flawed, devoted, twitchy, misanthropic self. I adore this series, and the novel is excellent - its pacing is different and that wasn't quite the ultraviolence popcorn that my brain wanted just then, so it was a bit slower.
I liked this series so much that I went and found Martha Wells's other series, Tales of Raksura, and I've finished the first book of that series and I'm into the second.
