Rikki > Recent Status Updates

"When they feel the need to raise a family[, humans] choose a mate and a territory based on many factors, carefully select the location for a nest, build a nest that matches the local conditions, and so on." -from the Preface

Sibley actually wrote "birds," but perhaps you get my point.

This apparently came out in 2020 and has already taught me a lot, like debunking the whole "birb feet when pressure beneath and above make for lock onto branch so do not fall off when sleep"—that isn't true: they just balance. Also, people believe birds don't have a sense of smell, which is also a myth? And Steller jays eat paint chips for calcium! An melanin strengths feathers and eggs! Wow! I love birds!!

I started this the 25th, but I'd skipped around, read A Letter to a Young Poet, which got me reading about a lot of French and women's history I'd not known about and sympathizing greatly with Madame de Brinvilliers, then Leonard's note, then The Death of the Moth, and now Evening Over Sussex and Three Pictures. There are only 91 characters left to describe my progress, and that's either not enough or I can't.

My great-aunt picked this up for me from the library to read during my visit, and it's been a while since I've read Steinem. She is indeed quotable, as Emma Watson praised in the beginning of the book. I'm curious as to whether this will read more deeply than that. It's been nice, at least, to be reminded of Steinem's punchy and effective way with writing. Hopefully the "effect" is more substantial than neoliberal.

Picked this up from a fun bookstore and have been thinking of Abi Andrews as I've read this. I hope Kagge improves his take on things as the book continues, but it's so far reading a bit too much like a work Erin would've rightly criticized.

Recommended by my great-uncle who, like me, loves sci-fi. He also recommended I finally read I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, which I attempted yesterday and stopped because of the appalling misogyny. I am getting the feeling already that Tchaikovsky might be writing Dr. Kern in a similarly misogynous vein, albeit modified for the 21st century—so, not so different. Seems very inspired by Horizon:ZD & Plague, Inc.

THIS IS ME! OH MAN! I've never read or seen anywhere anyone talk about the feeling of being "sorta like...I'm out of place?[" "]sometimes, when I hear and read stories from real people I come away with that same feeling [and end up feeling 'blue']." Sub "blue" for "devastated and/or possessed by the story for a much longer time after credits roll than has been normal to others" haha ;-;

bawling

😭 the cook at the restaurant fixed his shit, excellent

😭 they're super falling for each other, excellent

Really nice to see such a well-worded trigger warning, also excellent

AHHH I LOVE THIS SM SO FAR
pg11, "whoa" is "whoa" and not "woah" fantastic, also immediately seeing neighbour as 1:1mil gal off of her presumed food-intake alone, FANTASTIC
pg14-15, feeling SO SEEN RN by "getting in my face, much?" and absolutely love the NO EYES + TEETH-LINE EMPHASES TO UNDERSCORE CREEP FACTOR OF MALE COWORKER

∘˚˳°｡*✧♡♡♡༼;´༎ຶ ۝ ༎ຶ༽♡♡♡✧*∘˚˳°｡

How did A Court of Bullshit and Banality end up on any list (much less Sometimes I Lie To Myself and Everyone Else About My Writing Abilities) and not this????

very good

2014, night, returning from the movie with my abusive ex. Our 2-yr anniversary. My sobbing, worried that I'm just like Amy. His snapping a pic of us, though I hadn't yet stopped crying, and showing me my teary, bewildered smile and his teeth.

Later, I get the book from a Sam's Club.
Try. Stop.
It shelfsits.

2023, another night, (did I ever really escape?)—
Pride and a changed sorrow in being "just like Amy."

Woke today with the strong feeling that I needed to grab my copy off the shelf and reread it. It's been a simultaneous visit to a friend and my dear great-grandm'r, who gifted it to me 2001; I can see even more clearly why she'd said I was just like Fern (I'd thought she'd meant her hair and eyes) and appreciate this more today than I did even in childhood. This was definitely one of the seeds for my future veganism.

I am shooting through spacetime and have somehow entered that of 30.Thought I'd never see 25—now 30!? Hmm.

This is one of two birthday books I received, w/a lot of love and encouragement, after I gave an irate invective on insidious sexism's role in keeping astrophysics and space—of all kinds—from women and girls.

Here's hoping Rovelli addresses sexism and I channel Salander throughout 30. {cont.}

I'm so fortunate to still have my copies of both vol 1 and 2; I love these so much. I pull them down from time to time but I've been reading this more closely (albeit nonlinearly) as of this week, so I figured I'd mark it as reading again.

I finally watched the 2005 movie last night and was brought to frustrated tears and hollering several times (categorically fuck you Joe Wright and everyone involved in the butchering) so have I started P&P for a third time this year?? Yes. Yes, I have.

I could write a very long essay about why that movie is a scourge upon this earth. It's up there with the HP films. And Eragon. And people LOVE IT. [cue bansheeing]

I am LOVING these!! A few remind me so much of Petri's lighthearted-satire->stab-you-with-reality trick. Bender does this beautiful thing where she starts with absurdity and makes it really real and painful. She gives a lot of depth to experience quickly, makes those compelling mundane connections that breathe familiarity and the more charming aspects of humanity into her chars. Prose reminiscent of Atwood & Olds.

Can't remember when it was I started reading this, but it was several months ago at least. I just pick this up occasionally when I'm in the mood for bizarre asf antiquated telephone-gamed Nordic fairytales. Don't read these at night if you're sensitive to nightmare fuel along the lines of spontaneous gore and animal cruelty. But some are just silly enough to be like "what the fuck" and make you forget life for a bit.

Grief is a bucket of fuck, so I've [re]started several books over the last few months but haven't really made much progress or hopped around too much to actually log them here, but figured I'd make a note [more or less to myself] for the future of some of them:
- Choke (again)
- Diary (again)
- The Body Keeps the Score (not sure if I'm ready :c)
- Millenium tril (again <3)
- Sigvart Sörenson's "Norway"
- others, idk

Started reading this on a whim a while ago (sometime this month [sept] but not sure what day) and holy shit, why has it taken so long for me to read from Oscar Wilde? Amazing.

DNF. I just couldn't get myself into this, and the book itself certainly wasn't pulling its weight. Sorry, Jane—love you anyway.

Started this last night with Tom after trying to start Sense & Sensibility the night before. S&S couldn't snag our interest as much as we were wanting, so we hopped into Emma instead. I watched the BBC special years ago and remembered liking it a lot, so hopefully the read is an even better experience! I do so wish she'd included a chart for all the names and relationships though, yeesh 😵‍💫

I'm not ready for this to be over, what the hell will I do with myself if I can't live vicariously through Elizabeth Bennet

I love this so much 😭😭😭

Okay so far. Pseudohistorical. Author claims to make no claim to presenting an historical analysis, but she goes on to offer a lot of historical claims with no sourcing and historiographical proofs with poor logic. It reads like "I'm not a historian so don't quote me but definitely do."

Love learning about cool women throughout history though, pirates and women's historians alike.

Fucking fantastic.

Time to revisit, and it turns out it's the perfect time. Heavily needed.

Turns out this book wasn't actually assigned in its entirety, only the one chapter. But it was a good one and highly inspirational, and I'm sure I would enjoy returning to it someday!

I'm a few chapters in over the course of the last week, + lectures, and had to turn to a free trial of a C# coding app to help me conceptualize a lot of what Chan has laid out. Turns out the components are actually really simple and easy to understand; Chan's explanation style just doesn't really reach me well. Hopefully this becomes clearer as time goes on and more experience is gained.