The Clusterfuck We Affectionally Call 2018

This is the 10th Year Review I'm putting together. That deserves a star.

   We mourn the loss of Johannes Brost, Dolores O'Riordan, Ursula K. LeGuin, David Ogden Stiers, Stephen Hawking, Rick 'Zombie Boy' Genest, Aretha Franklin, Margit Sandemo, Burt Reynolds, Emma Chambers, Al Matthews, STAN LEE (!!!) and William Goldman. 

• I cut my hair shorter again. Stayed green though.
• BOOKS. And COMICS.
• I finally got off my ass and started looking for a new job. Got one! but the search goes on.
• My best friend and I went to New Zealand. Dreamy.
• I got to see Stephen Lynch again.
• I had another great Midsummer's Eve.
• I FINALLY got myself some of that good HBO streaming. So much win.
• My furry ginger roomie Sengir turned 6 years old.
• I cut some more of my hair off. An then some more.
• I reached 70 000 page views.
• I had some epic vacation time with some very close friends.
• Went to the world's biggest separatist music festival for women, non-binary and trans*people.
• I turned 30. And I was lovingly surprised by my friends with dinner! ❤
• I ran out of chlorophyll so my hair turned from green to orange.
• I got a new tattoo.
• I celebrated New Years Eve on my own in my bath tub with delicious champagne.

   I had the unspoken goal to read more books by female authors and I'd like to think I made an effort.

   I also made promises to myself to treat myself to other people, as in: I need to see that I might not be as much of a nuisance as my anxiety-ridden brain would like me to think and wedge myself into other people's lives or rather myself into theirs. In short; I wanted to socialise more. Whether it'd be having coffee, having a PJ party, going out for a drink or whatever... I need to be with people. And I was. To a certain degree.

   I went to the cinema a shitload more than I used to which means I'm keeping up last year's Year Review promise to myself: MOAR FILM PLZ.

Top picks of 2018

 Movies: Black Panther - holy shit! The Shape of Water - wow! Avengers: Infinity War - WHAT IN THE GOD DAMN?! Deadpool 2 was laugh-out-loud funny. Tom Hardy made Venom hilarious.

 TV shows: I finally watched Limitless and liked it, Everything Sucks! was pleasantly nostalgic, Altered Carbon was kinda awesome. I binged the amazing 2nd season of Dear White People in two days, they gave me a new season of Elementary (oh YEAH...!) of which I could only watch half before I got cut off and, whadda ya know, CBS is only available in the US and Canada so fuck me, right?! The new season of Handmaid's Tale was great (AWFUL, but great). Killing Eve ❤ !!! Despite not being a big fan of horror I absolutely loved The Haunting of  Hill House.

 Books: I've read a shitload of books (68!) in 2018 and obviously found a few nuggets of gold in that heap... FEED by Mira Grant felt new and awesome, Queers Dig Time Lords edited by Sigrid Ellis was thoroughly heartwarming, The Road by Cormac McCarthy took me completely by surprise. I fell entirely in love with Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower and the follow-up Parable of the Talents, and Richard K.Morgan's Altered Carbon was even more fascinating than the tv show they made of it. The long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers was SO FRIGGIN' AWESOME I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START. Sea of Rust (!!!) by C. Robert Cargill made my brain happy.
 Comics: I need all of you to read Paper Girls and Saga, aight?

 Events: Oscar nominations I could get behind: Get Out, The Shape of Water, Logan... turning into Oscars for Jordan Peele and Guillermo del Toro. And for Coco!❤ The super endangered Black Rhino is moving in to areas they haven't lived in for many years, which is awesome. IRELAND VOTED TO END ITS ABORTION BAN. Sweden approved stricter consent laws, making it illegal to have sex with someone without their explicit consent (ABOUT TIME). Sweden also decided to ban micro-plastics in cosmetics. Researchers have found methods to help reverse damage caused by Alzheimer's decease in the human brain. Scientists have also managed to reanimate pig brains up to 36 hours after initial death, leaving further possibilities to save human lives in the future. Humans now have the power to grow food in space (well... so far it's "just" onions on a space station but... still cool).

   For 2019 I want more books and comics. I want good cinema experiences. I want more stories by women and people of colour in my life. I want more hugs and good food. Honestly, I want more sex. I don't make promises. I can only hope and strive.

What I'm trying to say is this:

Dear 2018, get fucked.

Lets make 2019 something brilliant.

The little victories

It's early in the day and I've eaten breakfast, and then second breakfast. Not only that, but I've bested the laundry mountain, folded it and tucked it away. I've showered and dressed (!). I've hoovered my flat and, most importantly, the innards of my computer - the poor thing was filled with ginger fur...
Now on to the Christmas shopping!

NEW TATTOO

HEY GUYS. I'VE GOT A NEW TATTOO GUYS. LOOK AT IT GUYS.

JUST LOOK AT IT.

Work by @filthyswede, Liza Nordqvist

Next time: colours.

Feeling the fall

I be orange now. It feels... good actually. Cool.

To be or not to be... an adult

   Now we're just... looking for the adultier adult to ask for life advice. But like... can I just... not be an adult? and maybe... not have to work so much? Because fuck, I'm exhausted. I'm working full time for the first time in... well, for the first time EVER, and I'm feeling the hours. I'm disappointed at myself for not spending enough time with my cat and I LIVE WITH HIM, which means that the amount of time I spend with the people I hold dear is minimal. The pressure to squeeze in as much fun at possible into the weekends is absurd. I feel more stressed about that than work. And work stress me the fuck out. Ugh.

The Hutt Recommends: Sea of Rust

Sea of Rust by Robert C. Cargill

Humanity is dead. Done and dusted. Have been for a long time.
What did they expect when they created A.I. who could process such complicated thought processes as "why am I"?

With human kind lost forever after the A.I. vs humanity war thirty years ago, the robot Brittle is trying to navigate the wasteland left behind. Being created solely for the purpose of being a caregiver for a human forces Brittle to search for a new meaning to existence in a post-human world. In the midst of haunting memories from the last war against humanity, Brittle watches warily while robots turn against robots and open conflict is soon unavoidable. But which side will Brittle find himself on?

I loved it. A lot.

Happy Hobbit Day!

Today is Hobbit Day!
So make sure to sit down to eat all your nine meals properly, read a book and/or enjoy your ale in the lovely company of friends. Celebrate the little things, the hobbit way.

This lil' asshole ❤️

The Hutt Recommends: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
#1 in the Wayfarers series

HOLY FUCK BECKY.
I was blessed with this recommendation as a counterweight to all the male authors flooding my list of scifi I want to read and I had no expectations coming into this.
So again: HOLY FUCK BECKY.

   Rosemary Harper is running away from a troubled past and therefore doesn't expect much when she joins the crew of the Wayfarer as their clerk. She expects a bed, food, a way to see the universe, colleagues she'll keep a safe distance with and if she's lucky she'll find some mind-numbing work.
   But life aboard the Wayfarer is much more exciting than expected. A diverse crew of different species and cultures makes her realise that the importance of chosen family is much greater than that of blood.

It's all of the things I've ever wanted with scifi;
Pro's

• it's feel-good scifi, easy on the brain
• it also feels a bit like Firefly, but you know... well written...
• it's entirely character-driven
• speaking of characters: interesting characters is my jam
• not everyone is straight and that's never a bit deal
• it fucks with the gender binary system, because aliens, and that brings me life
• any one culture seen as strange from an outsider's perspective, even humans'

Con's

• it's entirely character-driven and that's not for everyone
• the general plot is kinda... thin
• there isn't much tension or conflict to speak of which some readers find dull

   I like a good plot as much as anyone but to me it's not a true necessity if there are interesting characters in its stead. The fact that it was built like a tv show with episodes moving towards a general purpose was thoroughly enjoyable. I cried loads of happy tears, and even more loads of sad tears.
   I'll give it a good 10/10, would cross the universe to read again.

Superman vs Witcher

YOU SAID WHAT ABOUT MY BOY GERALT??!

Well. Honestly. I don't hate it. Please Netflix, don't fuck this up.

A green hobbit

There. Back to green. Feels like coming home.

VACAY BABY

   Vacation mood. Before me lay four weeks of vacation time. Time off. Time for me. Time to breathe. Do whatever I feel like doing.
   It's been a day and a half and I'm already feeling restless. I really needed this though.

OFF WITH THAT HEAD... of hair

   I got my hair cut off. It's shorter than it's been in six years and I'm enjoying myself. I'll admit it's a bit hard to get used to since it's a lot shorter than I expected it to be, but the feeling was like getting rid of a warm beanie. Or a thick wig. Not at all unpleasant.
    Besides, playing with different expressions of femininity is so much more fun with short hair. Also, I'm lazy bastard and long hair is a friggin' nuisance.

70 000

I'm up to, and beyond 70 000 page views. It's not overly impressive, but still kinda cool.

So... Thank You. Thank you for staying with me or just finding your way here. Thank you for stumbling on to my page. Stay Awesome.

A red fur hat

   Sengir's favourite position is being the fur hat of my computer. As if my computer didn't overheat without him constantly shedding hair into the cooling fans.