Tag Archives: Welcome To Night Vale

Currently Obsessed With: April 2020

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Hi everyone!

So, I can’t believe it’s May already!  Time is so weird, and I can’t believe I’m recapping April already.  2020 has been the longest year ever, and even though April didn’t feel as long as March, April still felt pretty long.  April was full of familiar things, and I’ve found that I’ve wanted to revisit things I haven’t listened to or read in a while.

I barely took any pictures last month, and with being at work or at home, there hasn’t been a lot of picture-taking.  But I did get a picture of some of the tea I plan on drinking.  I got it from the Literary Tea Company, and everything I have tried has been really good, so I know they will be too!

Let’s get to the highlights from April!

Inspired By:

  • The Smoothie Project.  I’ve been drinking a lot of smoothies lately, and it’s been a really easy way for me to get some extra fruit and vegetables in.  I’ve only made the Bright Green smoothie so far, and it’s really good!  Everything looks really good, and I’m pretty excited to try some new smoothies.
  • YallStayHome.  I was really sad when YallWest got cancelled, because I was really looking forward to it.  I had a great time last year, but I watched a few of the panels that they did virtually, and it was really cool/inspiring to hear a lot of authors talk about writing and life.

Watching:

  • How To Get Away With Murder.  This was more of a rewatch of the first 5 seasons, but I was in the mood for a lot of drama…and murder.
  • October Faction.  I started watching this at the end of April so I’m not that far into it.  But I really like the couple of episodes I’ve seen, so I’m sure I’ll have more to talk about once I’ve seen more.

Reading:

  • Shatter Me.  After finishing Imagine Me, I decided I needed to read the whole series again.  It’s nice to read something familiar but also awesome.
  • Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.  I’ve been meaning to read this for ages, and I’m taking my time with this one.  But I love the tips I’ve seen so far, and it seems like it is a great resource.
  • Jubilee.  I love the history in it!  I’ve only made the chicken and dumplings (which were amazing) but it’s equal parts cookbook and cooking history, which is cool and different.

Thinking About:

  • Joining a CSA.  Most of my grocery shopping lately has been for produce but it would be cool to support a local farm.  I’ve actually thought about it off and on for quite a while, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot more lately.

Listening To:

  • The Black Tapes.  I don’t know why but I just really wanted to listen to this podcast again.  I really like story and how it went in a completely different direction than I thought it would.
  • Welcome To Night Vale.  After listening to The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home, I immediately starting listening to Night Vale from the beginning.  I forgot how many of the really early episodes are really cool (and quote worthy).

Dreamlife:

  • The San Diego Zoo!  I’ve dreaming about going to the Zoo a lot lately, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m following a few aquariums and zoos on Twitter, or if I just really need to get out of the house.  Once things settle, and the Zoo opens up, I’m definitely going!

Researching:

  • Label Makers.  I have some things I need to label, and I just want it to look pretty and organized.
  • Body Pillows.  I’ve been sleeping good but in really weird positions, and I just need something to help out with that.
  • Weighted blankets.  I’ve had a hard time falling asleep, and I’ve heard weighted blankets can help with that.  I feel overwhelmed by the options, and I don’t know if I should go with both a body pillow and a weight blanket, or one of them.  Does anyone have a recommendation of one they really like?

Eating And Drinking:

  • Smoothies.  I’ve talked about being on a smoothie kick already, and though I love this Basic Blueberry Smoothie, it’s also time to try something different.
  • Chili.  Mostly because I’m using up stuff from my pantry that I wanted to get rid of, but chili is always good.
  • Chocolate.  I’ve been on a chocolate kick this month.  Normally, I’m not big on sweets, which is weird, because I love to bake.  But if I want chocolate, I’m going to eat it!
  • Breakfast.  I’m not usually hungry in the morning, but lately, I’ve been pretty hungry by the time I get to work.  I started keeping stuff in the freezer that I can heat up.
  • Tea!  I have quite a bit of tea, and I’m excited about some of the tea I shared above.

Grateful For:

  • Having a job.  I still feel lucky that I have a job to go to, and I’m glad I can keep a routine going.
  • Virtual YALLWEST.  Even though the in-person YALLWEST was cancelled, I’m glad a virtual one was put together.
  • Just being okay.  Oddly enough, I’ve been a lot happier than I have been in a while, and I’m glad I’m doing okay.

Good Things:

  • Getting the stimulus check.  It actually came at the perfect time, because I had to get a new car.  The reason for the new car was not great- there were a few days where it was raining pretty bad, and I hydroplaned, spun around, and proceeded to total my car.  It was terrifying, because I was driving, and the next thing I knew, I was spinning around.  I’m okay, though, and as long as I’m okay, that’s all that matters.
  • I had some time off which was great- I had a four-day weekend followed by a three-day weekend.  I had originally requested the time off for the LA Times Festival Of Books (postponed) and YALLWEST, which was cancelled, but done virtually.  It worked out really well, though, because I ended up using some of the time off to go car shopping and do other car-related stuff.
  • I’ve been cooking up a storm, and I can’t remember the last time I cooked so much!  Months, for sure.  I’ve cooked, of course, but I’ve cooked stuff to keep in the freezer.  And I’m enjoying being in the kitchen again.  For a while, I wasn’t super into cooking, and it’s nice to be interested in it again.  A lot of it has gone into the freezer to use later, but it’s nice knowing that I can pull something out of the freezer if I don’t want to make anything.

And that wraps up April!

Stay safe out there,

Book Review: It Devours! by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor, Narrated by Cecil Baldwin

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Book: It Devours! by Joseph Fink And Jeffrey Cranor, Narrated by Cecil Baldwin

Published October 2017 by Harper Audio|9 hours and 38 minutes

Where I Got It: I own the audio book

Series: Welcome To Night Vale #2

Genre: Adult Fiction

From the authors of the New York Times bestselling novel Welcome to Night Vale and the creators of the #1 international podcast of the same name, comes a mystery exploring the intersections of faith and science, the growing relationship between two young people who want desperately to trust each other, and the terrifying, toothy power of the Smiling God.

Nilanjana Sikdar is an outsider to the town of Night Vale. Working for Carlos, the town’s top scientist, she relies on fact and logic as her guiding principles. But all of that is put into question when Carlos gives her a special assignment investigating a mysterious rumbling in the desert wasteland outside of town. This investigation leads her to the Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God, and to Darryl, one of its most committed members. Caught between her beliefs in the ultimate power of science and her growing attraction to Darryl, she begins to suspect the Congregation is planning a ritual that could threaten the lives of everyone in town. Nilanjana and Darryl must search for common ground between their very different world views as they are faced with the Congregation’s darkest and most terrible secret.

Night Vale is such a delightful place.  Weird, but delightful.  And I am glad that I got to revisit Night Vale in It Devours!

The nice thing about It Devours (and the Welcome To Night Vale novel) is that you don’t need to listen to the podcast in order to read this book.  It’s completely separate (but does reference the podcast), and while I loved the first book, I think I loved this book even more.  It’s very different than what I expected, but I really liked the story.  Carlos and his time in the Otherworld is very different in this book, and it’s a big change from the podcast.  He was more excited about the possibilities in the podcast, and more tortured in the book.

Cranor and Fink don’t like to keep things neat and tidy, that’s for sure.  But maybe it affected Carlos more than we thought.  It’s a very different Carlos that we see in this book, but maybe…I mean, it’s not like we see a lot of Carlos in the podcast.  I mean, we do, but not like this, and it’s a very different side of him.

As for the main story, I liked Nilanjana and Darryl’s story.  It’s more focused than the first book, and while it meanders, it’s not meandering the way the first book is.  We see the Joyous Congregation, which has been mentioned on the podcast, but this is a much closer look at the Joyous Congregation and the Smiling God.  And science!  And how they can be good or bad, depending on how you use it.  Darryl and Nilanjana work together to save Night Vale, and they each have their own unique perspective.

It definitely adds to the world, and it really shows how big Night Vale is.  There are a lot of stories to tell, and while I love Cecil, it’s also nice to see some of the other characters and people of Night Vale.  I also feel like they’ve gotten the hang of the novel format, and I’m sure any future Night Vale books will continue to get better.

With the first Night Vale book, I both listened to the audio book and read the book in print format.  Having been an avid listener of the podcast for years, I knew I would love it as an audio book.  It turned out that I didn’t love it in print, which is why I only listened to It Devours.  I love Cecil, and I can’t imagine experiencing Night Vale in any other format.  I’ve listened to Night Vale for years, and Night Vale in print is a very strange concept for me.

I would definitely recommend It Devours as an audio book, though it could be interesting in print as well.  It didn’t translate well the first time around, but maybe this time it well.

It Devours is a lot more philosophical as well.  It really examines science and religion, but they do it well.  There’s a very Night Vale take on both science and religion in this book, and it’s not science vs religion.  Which is nice.  It’s very kind towards both.  Weird, but kind.  We are talking about Night Vale here.

By the way…It Devours!  Yeah, I’ve totally read that book.  In case you didn’t pick up on that.

5 stars.  I loved It Devours! and it was a great book to listen to while I cleaned the heck out of my room.  I found myself paying more attention to the book than the cleaning, and it’s a big improvement on the first book (which I also loved).

Currently Obsessed With: September 2016

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Currently Obsessed With is a once-a-month (but sometimes more) feature where I talk about my favorite things from the last month.

Currently Obsessed With

Crochet:

Not a lot of crocheting has been going on, except for my blanket.  It’s still hot but it’s cool enough that I feel like I can sit under a blanket.  Once I finished the blue, I knew I had some decisions to make about how much bigger I wanted it to be.  I had 4 skeins I wanted to use, and with each color getting smaller and smaller, I decided it was time to finish the blanket.  The neon green/yellow/pink/orange was the last main color, and then I started the border, which was the really pretty pink and blue and the green and blue.  I like the color changes, and everything goes well together, but I kind of wish I had alternated between variegated and solid colors, just because I think the contrast would have been a lot nicer.

I had a fun time picking out a border, and this book of crochet borders is actually really helpful.  I had to pick a border once I made the decisions to finish the blanket so I would know how many more rows I needed to do, and I really liked the one I picked.  I’ve found with granny square blankets that a single crochet base row doesn’t work too well, just because the corners don’t lay completely flat, even with other rows.  Half double crochet works pretty well, so that’s what I ended up going with for the 1st row of the border.  The 2nd row was a puff stitch, and it wasn’t until I finished that row that I realized I did 2 puff stitches in the corner instead of 3, but it looks fine and I’m the only one who’s going to know. Considering it’s for me, it doesn’t really matter, and it’s too big to completely undo that entire round.

Since I used Red Heart Super Saver for the whole blanket, it’s super scratchy and itchy, and it definitely needs to be softened, so I still need to do that, especially if I’m not going to be using on my bed.

As for my next project, I’m not sure.  I am dressing up as Sadness for Halloween, so I’m going to make a hat and a scarf or cowl as part of my costume.  That will definitely be my main project for the month, but I don’t think it will take too long.  I also started ANOTHER blanket.  I have a lot of yarn I’m not sure what to do with, and I’ve done enough blankets this year that I’m kind of hooked on them now.

Books:

This was not a big book buying month.  I got the two new Nightvale books, which are just the scripts from the 1st two years, but there are forwards from different people and artwork throughout the book.  I haven’t read them, but I have flipped through them and they really cool.  I might read them while listening to the podcast, and might be a fun way to revisit the old episodes, which I haven’t listened to in a while.

I also got Veil Of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald from Audible.  I still have a couple of audio books from the library I need to get through, but once I do, I really need to start listening to the books I have from Audible.

T.V./Movies:

I haven’t made it to the movies, but I’ve watched Season 3 of Blacklist now that it’s up on Netflix.  And fall T.V. is back, so I’m watching my usual stuff, plus a few new shows!  I really like Designated Survivor so far, and there are a few other shows that look good/interesting but I haven’t had a chance to watch them yet.  I’ll probably talk more about it if/when I do.

Around The Internet:

Romance novels as feminist texts.  I really like to see positive stuff about romance.

I’ve seen a lot about the Bullet Journal but I never thought about using it for blogging/reading.  I’ve never considered using it, but now I might have to check it out.

Diversity and mythology– I haven’t looked at any of the links, but it seems like a pretty good list.  I feel like I’ve been saying this for a while, but I like when non-European mythology is in a book.  There are so many different myths and stories, and yet Greek seems to be really common in stories.

These photos taken by a pilot are amazing.

As are these photos of the Northern Lights in Norway.

I really like these tips from a butcher…even though I don’t go to one, and just get what I need at the grocery store.

September Stuff:

  • The Welcome To Night Vale book tour.  They stopped at Mysterious Galaxy for a Q&A and signing, so of course I went.  It was fun, and I loved hearing them talk about Night Vale.  Like, I had no idea that they take turns writing and editing each episode- I assumed they wrote the episodes together.  And they don’t give Cecil a lot of direction.  Instead, they just let him do his thing.  Sometimes, he does a different voice than what they expected or imagined, but it seems like they just go with it.  There’s a lot I could talk about, but those really stuck out. (I do like this blog post, which is written by the person who moderated the event).
  • My grandma went into the hospital last month, and she was there for a few days, but she is having trouble swallowing, so most of her food has to be blended/pureed and everything she drinks has to be thickened.  And she has pneumonia right now, but she’s okay otherwise.  I just haven’t had a lot of mental energy, so even though I read like crazy at the beginning of the month, it soon evolved in re-reading because I just couldn’t handle new books.  For the most part, anyway, but I think I’ll be back to my usual reading life soon.

Stuff To Look Forward To In October:

  • Getting ready for NaNoWriMo!  I have around 6 or 7 ideas, and I’m not sure which one I want to.  There’s the one I’ve been working on the last couple of Novembers, but have done no other work on, an original idea that has a 30 day outline, plus another original idea that has two chapters outline.  Plus 4 ideas for Harry Potter fanfics- one is outlined enough to get me through November, should I decide to write it.  One has about 10 chapters outline, one has a couple of chapters outlined, and one just sort of came to me recently, so I still need to outline it.  I’ll definitely be talking about it more sometime this month, and knowing me, I’ll probably pick closer to November.
  • Getting back into blogging.  I took an unplanned break, and most of what I’ve posted was already scheduled (which I’m glad I did, looking back).  But I have a bunch of reviews I still want/need to write, and I really miss blogging regularly!

Music: 

I’ll leave you with a couple of songs that I’ve been listening to a lot.

  • SOS by Joseph.  I love Joseph, but this is the only song I have from their new album..for now, but that should change soon.



  • Closer by The Chainsmokers and Halsey.  I don’t know why I can’t stop listening to this song but I’m just going to go with it.



Have a good October!