Sean’s Comments (group member since Sep 03, 2018)

Sean’s comments from the Readers Unbound group.

I'm glad the funeral went as well as possible. A friend of ours in our D&D group just lost his mom suddenly this past week. She had strokes previously with possible brain clots. She had also just gotten told her cancer was back and in the femur balls and spreading. She apparently probably had a brain bleed. He posted to us she was in the hospital, and then by the end of the day was gone. She passed within 5 minutes of being taken off the ventilator. Fortunately they could all get there to be with her. The worst part is another guy in our D&D group just lost his mom 2-3 months ago. Just not a fun time for our little group there.

Things have been stressful here. Shocker right? Trying to fight to get the deductible down for my surgery or I might not even be having it. The house issues we had this year have fucked us so royally. Crista is on pins and needles with her job and the gov shit going on. Her brother just lost his job a month ago. And Sherlock is losing more weight and just had another seizure last night. He's down to 9.25lb. I don't think it'll be much longer. I've been out of work due to the kidney stones as well. I just couldn't function so I am on long term health leave (or whatever they call it) until after the surgery (if it happens). If I don't have the surgery it's several more weeks of dealing with things until it (the one big one blocking things) finally gets into the bladder. If the surgery is happening it's this Thursday.

Had my checkup yesterday...found out ER didn't tell me things correctly at all. I don't have a kidney stone. I have several. And one is stuck between the ureter and kidney half blocking shit and some fluid is building up. Huzzah!!!! Got urology apt in 2 days. Figure out what to do. In a near constant drug induced haze to manage things. Prob gonna need surgery.

Not much for me as I've either been in extreme pain or extremely medicated. I did read a Better Homes and Garden issue at the hospital like 5 times the other night.

It's nice your boss is understanding at least. I hope it goes as well as something like that can given the circumstances.


I've had 2 ER visits this week thanks to a kidney stone on the right side. Each episode has been hours of excruciating pain as it moves around. Only thing that's helped is IV medications during them. I've had exposed tooth nerve pain, a herniated L1-L5 due to a car accident, and this ranks right up there in pain.

I actually just bought &28 bucks worth of horror books on Amazon (digital). I find more and more horror, and lesser known sappy holiday books/authors, authors are just doing digital. I figure they simply don't make enough to warrant big physical product runs. So the past 2 years or so I have bought like $30 worth, give or take, of horror novels to get my fix and try out new authors, or favs. Managed to get 8 books for that $30. Sales are great. I got 3 full length (250+ pages) books, 2 shorter books (150-250 pages), and 3 novellas (150- pages). Not bad.

I have to say that is the one genre I really don't read much of. I should change that. Well, beyond cookbooks anyways.

If you liked Rolling in the Deep Brittany definitely check out the full length sequel. I thought they were both really well done and unique takes on mermaids.

Brittany wrote: "Putting someone in jail does nothing. It doesn't change what happened. Just means the public pays for their existence through taxes. Yes there are reasons for jails and all that, there's just such ..."

When I say test I mean actual driving test. Sure, there should also be a quick electronic multiple choice written simply covering right of way questions. The big part is having to actual do a real driving part though. Cars are tools. You need to be competent at using said tool safely. I also agree people much younger screw that up on the daily. Which is why I think the test should also be every 5 years. Should be a federal mandate in the US too. I'm not one to just let the feds govern everything but this is something that should have a more universal standard here. State requirements for renewing licenses vary drastically.

It also should not be a simple driving test at the DMV course. Have the person drive on the actual road for a few minutes. Oh but people will just drive proper you might say. True. Or they'll try at least. Problem is when we develop habits we often display them even when trying not to. So that habit of cutting people off and no turn signal? Running yellows? Not stopping fully at stop signs? I bet many people would still do it even if trying not to.

And don't get me started on the big truck small penis douches who don't haul anything other than their ignorant asses to the liquor store for more Bud Light. I grew up with those sort of fucktards.

How fast was the old person going? That to me is even worse. I mean if it was some drunk a-hole or person on phone etc who was younger you'd immediately want them in jail for involuntary vehicular manslaughter. But someone in their 70's? I mean sure you obviously take away their license forever now, but how do you jail someone like that? It's a situation where either you basically jail an elderly person til they're dead or you get no justice.

This is why I constantly say people should have to keep taking the driver's test when they renew their license. Not just pass some eye and/or hearing test and pay for a new photo. I might eat these words when I'm that age but this is also why I feel so many elderly should not drive. I know it sucks losing that personal freedom but god damn do people take for granted how much death cars create every year.

I'm so sorry Brittany, for you and his family. I mean to get such news when he simply went for a bike ride. I can only imagine the shock and pain his family must be feeling. I hope they at least caught the person.

The last few I got through however are , , & . Bit of an eclectic mix. All 3 were enjoyable though.

Starting off continuing the fantasy series with & .

For the first time in a while I have a more definitive reading plan. Actually have a plan for the next 3 months. I always use Oct/Nov as my big horror/thriller book binge period. So I have my swath of books to choose from this year planned out. Barring any extras. Nice mix of full length and quicker novellas as usual. For the rest of this month, and in-between horror books next month, I want to continue on with some high fantasy series I've started. Also got a few challenge books for this month. I don't plan to get to all of these, but I have variety to choose from. There will also be the smattering of graphic novels and manga of course.


Challenges and High Fantasy for Sept/Oct



Horror/Thriller for Oct/Nov

I mean it'll keep and just age so no rush on getting it here heh. Can do a "mead exchange" and trade it for a bottle of one of mine. Speaking of, I need to figure out what I am doing for this year's holiday mead and get it started.

They're doing ok. Crista only met him a few times I think. I forget the order of age between her SIL and the 2 brothers. They're all early to mid 40's though I think, so he was younger. I think Devon (BIL who passed) was the youngest. It's one of those you're not surprised situations, but it still really sucks. I won't go into family details to be respectful, but that side of the brother/SIL family has some issues. A lot with the SIL's mother. Long story. Devon was always nice and never rude, just had the addiction issues. Tried recovery a few times but it didn't last. Which can be even worse. A lot of times addicts OD when they relapse as the body gets hit harder after it's been clean for a while. Crista just got back tonight so I'll get more details tomorrow on how the wake and funeral went. Gonna be a more emotional and hard Christmas visit this year I think. Last Christmas was the first, and only, time I met him and the first time I met her SIL's other brother and mother/father. Talked to the brother Devon about his Supra (car) and other cars.

Sherlock is ok. Knock on wood no seizures for like 6-7 weeks which is good. He seems hungry but only grazes on food. He sleeps a shit ton but not more then you'd expect for an almost 16yr old cat. Still walks and moves around well, mostly. Alert, attentive. Wants attention. He just keeps losing the weight. At this point we're pretty much sure he has lymphoma and the meds are just managing it and the severe IBD. And it seems the meds are losing the battle slowly but surely. I've had crusty old skinny cats before when they got old, but with him it's not the same. It's not just age related. As long as he seems comfortable and happy we'll keep on keeping on. Within reason. We're just not gonna put him through a lot at this point. So at this point it's a week to week basis and seeing he's doing.

Feel free to buy a bottle of the Norsesmen Haskap Mead and save it for whenever you might wind up down this way again. ;)

Haven't been on much. Work has been busy and stressful (not like that's new) and we've been having to make some hard decisions. Sherlock is continuing to lose weight. It's slow but it's not stopping. He's just under 10lb now. We're going to run some basic lab work just to check organ function so his vet will keep prescribing his meds. We've decided to not do any further more advanced tests though. We're at the point where we're trying to keep him as comfortable and happy as possible but we think the end might not be too far away if this keeps up. We're not going to just keep him going if he just is continuously losing weight week after week. So yea....not very happy about that. He is almost 16, which I have to keep reminding myself is the upper end for expected life expectancy for a house cat. The few we've had go 18 or 20+ are not the norm. Or at least not the average. The fact he's almost 16 with 2 major health issues, and probably a third with the lymphoma we suspect is there, it is a testament he's made it this long. Especially with how long he's had the major IBD and diabetes. I mean he had the splenectomy like 6 years ago give or take. The diabetes came on soon after that. Still doesn't make it suck less.

And in more sucky news Crista's brother in law passed away. She's flying to visit the family Friday and comes back later on the weekend. He was the youngest brother (there were 2, now just the 1) of her brother's wife. He wound up OD'ing. He was a nice guy and not mean or the stereotypical drug addict. He just had his demons and never could get fully clean. At least not for long. The worst part is it happened while the entire family was out of country on vacation. Her brother/wife and kids in one location, and the other brother with their mom in another. It's never easy, but man that is just horrible timing. Not saying that in terms of ruining a vacation, but nobody there to handle the body and such. Not even in the country. I met him just once. Last Christmas actually. We talked for a bit and he was perfectly pleasant and polite and friendly.

Go anywhere for vacation Gord? Or was it a staycation?

We're hoping to get the car looked at during August. We just needed a bit of a break to get finances more in order after everything lately. We did at least manage to cut some expenses.

Cut down the Hulu plan, canceled some Patreon D&D memberships, and we downgraded our cell phone plan. Don't need the extra data when she works from home and my mom doesn't use her phone now like she used to. We managed to get me a new Galaxy S25, Crista took my Pixel 7, and we traded in her old Galaxy phone. An s9 lol. Just took a while at the store to transfer my data to the new Galaxy, then wipe my Pixel, then transfer her data to the Pixel. But we both have newer phones (I prefer the Galaxy model over the Pixel so I wanted to switch back) and still are paying $50 less a month for the bill even with the $20 a month charge for my phone on the bill.

Decided to do some rearranging as well. Moved bookcases around downstairs and books/manga/comic/board games. We also did a cull for all of the above and some of my old anime/regular movie dvds. Only kept movies/anime/books we love and/or plan to watch/read again. Cull the rest and donated to the library. Well, not the board games. We'll hold onto the few we plan to cull until we add a few more and then trade them in. I figure this way we have room to continue book series and manga we do love and own, and I have space now to buy physical copies of the book series I have read and love and would re-read in the future. I have a lot digitally on my Kindle, but I do want physical copies of those favorites. We made room for the board games we had sitting around as well. We cleared out one bookshelf we are gonna use for books and we have space for 1 more shelf to use for board games. Once they're full it's 1 in and 1 out policy so we're gonna be more choosey.

Ya know, the dessert style of tea is the one style I never got that much into. I checked that tea out and it does sound interesting. Might try it out. To to order some more loose tea soon anyways.

I just picked up 10 manga volumes myself from the library today heh. So I got my own pile now to get through as well.