Nikiverse > Recent Status Updates

“The path from contented rube to status goblin is short. One day you're an oblivious normie thinking your nor-mie stuff and normie life are great, then someone comes along and calls your couch plastic and … you feel withered, less than. You feel ashamed. Consumption, then, becomes solely about avoiding this shame, about appearances, about what some unimaginative jerks believe you should do, be, own.”

“Love is not an accomplishment, yet to lack it still somehow feels like failure.”

“Grrr, friend-zoned again!” he says, shaking his fists toward the ceiling, and they laugh together, and hug, and he walks back to his dorm at sunrise.

The more things change, the more they stay the sane.

(And even though I only have 10% left …. still 5 hours remaining on the audiobook.)

“Years later, when I mention these stories to my mom, she swats at me like you would a fly, tells me to get over it.
"None of it was actually THAT bad."
How much do we need to endure early in order to justify feeling messed up later?
If the situation wasn't THAT bad, was it something wrong with me?
Am I too much to manage, inherently awful?
It's the wrong question to ask. It's the question I never stop asking.”

"Six minutes to decide how to respond to a blip on a radar scope and decide whether to release Armageddon! How could anyone apply reason at a time like that?"

Ronald Reagan

“I open my novel manuscript and stare at it. The situation seems hopeless. Some of it is good and some of it is bad and nothing I do, short of starting from scratch, will make the bad parts better. I open a new version and try editing out the bad parts and am left with nothing but fragments. I close the document, open a browser and spend the next twenty minutes combing through lists of productivity hacks on Reddit.

“… as the self exists, it is recursive, constantly forming and reforming according to what we tell ourselves about the past.”

The box says it has three times the electrolytes and half the sugar of regular drinks, which legally makes it health food. I perform some chemistry—stir the powder in cold water until it mostly dissolves—and drink the whole thing, including the unincorporated silt at the bottom of the glass, while checking my text messages to see if anyone texted me at midnight since it’s officially my birthday. No one has.

There’s no motive. It’s not like he got angry with the taxi drivers then killed them. He was no murderer [reflects, then laughs]. “He was no murderer . . .” Yes, of course, he was a murderer: he killed four people. But what I mean is, he had no temper. He wasn’t the kind of person who loses his cool and kills a man, or who gets angry with his wife and sets fire to her.

“There’s no motive. It’s not like he got angry with the taxi drivers then killed them. He was no murderer [reflects, then laughs]. “He was no murderer . . .” Yes, of course, he was a murderer: he killed four people. But what I mean is, he had no temper. He wasn’t the kind of person who loses his cool and kills a man, or who gets angry with his wife and sets fire to her.“

“There’s no motive. It’s not like he got angry with the taxi drivers then killed them. He was no murderer [reflects, then laughs]. “He was no murderer . . .” Yes, of course, he was a murderer: he killed four people. But what I mean is, he had no temper. He wasn’t the kind of person who loses his cool and kills a man, or who gets angry with his wife and sets fire to her.“

I'm so confused! The school headmaster is disemboweling some slightly mad dude they borrowed from a hospital and the protagonist is keeping an eye on the ghosts and making sure the headmaster is following proper disemboweling procedures? And they're trying to get stock information from this ritual (that they're doing in Dutch bc Latin is soooooo overused) so they can further fund the school? Did I get that right?

“I thought smoking weed would tranquilize my senses and distort my connection to reality. But capitalism tranquilizes your senses in a way that weed can’t.”

lmao what 😂

SO EYE ROLLING. The SEAL man bowls past 3 COPS. His house is RIDDLED WITH BULLET HOLES and his HOT WIFE has died covering their BEAUTIFUL CHILD but DEFINITELY FOUGHT BACK MORE THAN LIKELY POSSIBLY INJURING THE INTRUDERS. And also the main guy didnt know this but the beautiful wife was going to surprise him because she was PREGNANT WITH HIS 2ND CHILD. Detective later notes how HUMBLE the Seal guy is. Vomit emoji

The plot is reminding me of Themis Files (Sleeping Giants ... )

I’m sure everyone is very tired of me spouting off new stuff I’ve learned from this book - like last melatonin is the only hormone you can buy in the US that isn’t regulated.

I'm such a fan of this book so far! Don't read this after watching a Star is Born bc you'll just be singing Shallows while they're talking about Honeycomb.

I hate that I really like the main character.

Currently listening. I think it's about 9cds. I'm on the 3rd cd. The first cd was a bit off-putting. I dont particularly enjoy reading about kids hurting other kids. I really like progress and character growth with my books ... and kid against kid violence just doesnt lend itself to good character growth stories for me. But the kids are grown up now. And the stories are starting to intertwine. We'll see.

Stopped an audiobook I was listening to to switch to this one. So far I’m at the part where coworkers go on a retreat, the guys come back fine. The girls come back looking a little rough with one of the missing.

Is this a sequel? No wonder I have no effing clue what's going on!

Goal to read more Lean Manufacturing/work stuff this year!