A Quick Note on Where I’ve Gone

Technically, nowhere, but I wanted to show you all what I’m working on that’s sucking up all my time right now: Crone! My boyfriend and a few of our friends are working together to create a card-based RPG about wizened witches.

We’re now in open beta, meaning the skeleton of the game is available for downloading and playing – for free! We just ask that you let us know what you think if you give it a try. And don’t worry if you’ve never played table top games before. Crone is meant to be fun for new players and old pros alike.

Also, I’ll have a post up on the Crone blog sometime this week, so if you’re interested, please check it out!

Due to the upcoming Google Reader shutdown…

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

…I signed up for Bloglovin’ and added this blog to the list! If you’re unsure of what to do with the shutdown impending, give it a try. You can import everything from Google Reader, add blogs that you can’t find and claim your own! Check it out.

Go Ask Valis

Since moving to the Bay Area, I’ve noticed a certain tagger was quite ubiquitous in my nook of the East Bay. That tagger is Valis. The name caught my attention immediately, as I like to read science fiction, and though I’m not his biggest fan, I’m aware of Philip K. Dick’s VALIS series. I haven’t read it yet, but the name always stood out to me. I’m not sure why, exactly – perhaps because of it’s similarity to the name “Alice”, one of my favorite names and fictional characters. But no matter the reason, this tagger caught my attention, and I’ve been doing my best to document their tags as I find them. Here are a few.

Near my favorite Subway.

Dumpster 1

Chained to a rock.

Outside the old Chamber of Commerce. (Possibly a copycat?)

Dumpster 2

I’ll share more as I find them.

This Post Contains a Lot of Spoilers

2013 is my year for reading Young Adult literature, and so far, so good. I may have cheated a little and read a few in late 2012, but I was eager to get started. Here’s what I’ve read so far:

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
I figured if I was going to start anywhere, I might as well see what the big fuss was about with John Green. I’m a fan of him and his brother, Hank, and their various YouTube channels (though, if I’m being honest, I have to say I like John’s videos better), so I figured why not give his books a try? I pretty much automatically went with “The Fault in Out Stars,” since it’s his latest and most famous work. The book was good, and Green writes teenage girls pretty well. I like that he treated her as a person rather than just a “girl character”. Considering I’ve heard all of his protagonists have thus far been male, and all of their love interests manic pixie dream girl types, I was delighted to find how much I liked Hazel.

Overall, I found it a sweet, sad and enjoyable book, though I noticed a lot of John Green’s characters sound just like John Green. A lot of the time, I read their dialogue in his voice. Thank God Hazel never really said “And then I took off my bra.” I also didn’t cry, but it might have more to do with the fact that I’m a heartless bastard then anything.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
I’d been wanting to read this since I heard about it, as I first saw it at Books Inc. being recommend with the phrase “Blade Runner meets Sailor Moon”. And if you know me at all, I love anything and everything that has to do with Sailor Moon.

The book itself was an EXTREMELY fun read. I love the characters, the fast pace, the funny dialogue and the world Meyer built in New Beijing. Cinder herself was smart and resourceful, and I love that in a YA heroine. I also love the trope subversion of “the girl does not think she’s beautiful until someone else (usually a guy) points it out”. Cinder is (SPOILERS) Lunar, so she is able to use a glamour to make herself look differently, which is something she didn’t know until a scientist told her. Anyway, it amuses me.

I was really impressed by this book, and also downloaded the shorts stories “Glitches” and “The Queens Army” from iBooks. I had no idea it was such a trend to write short stories to tie series books together, but apparently it’s then norm in YA books these days. The second book in the series, “Scarlet” is out now, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Rating: ★★★★☆

Enclave by Ann Aguire
I found this book a little duller than the other two on this list so far, but I really liked the world in which it was set. In fact, the two short stories that accompany this book “Foundation” and “Endurance,” the first being about the how the underground enclaves came to be, and the second about the main character’s best friends and their escape from their enclave, were a lot more interesting to me. Post-apocalyptic stories are some of my favorites, and I always love to read about different versions of how people will think the world may “end”. I was just sad to find the characters that live within the world kind of boring. My favorite parts were definitely before they left the enclave, and everything after that seemed kind of slow and meh. Also, the character of Stalker especially bothers me, since he and the main character, Deuce, have a dubious relationship. Considering his original plan for her was (trigger warning: rape – highlight to read) most likely a gang rape, I am not happy that he joined the “hero’s party,” as I tend to call it.

I will give the second book a try,  but I am not in love with the main cast. It’s a little disappointing since I liked the short stories so much. I hope the characters receive more development in the later books and become more interesting and likable.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

What the Dog Said by Randi Reisfeld
I was surprised to see Randi Reisfeld’s name on the cover of this book, as I recognized it from the novelizations of the television show “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” I used to read when I was a kid. It’s interesting to see she’s doing original writing and now, and was also responsible for the book series T*Witches (along with H.B. Gilmour, to whom “What the Dog Said” is dedicated), which I remember being turned into a Disney Channel movie starring Tia and Tamara Mowry from “Sister, Sister”. I’m having flashbacks to the 90s, guys.

“What the Dog Said” is a cute book about a girl who starts hearing her sister’s dog talk. I thought the summary sounded a little like a Disney Channel movie, as it seemed like it would appeal to a younger audience than YA readers, but what do I know about them? Though I thought the narrative dragged in place, I liked Grace, enjoyed her story and even related to her. She’s depressed due to her father’s death, and when she gets stuck with training the service dog her sister brings home, it was encouraging to watch her pull herself out of her muck and learn to feel better again. And I may also have a soft spot for goofy dogs.

Overall, a cute book, and though it might be a little on the young side for me, it was a good story with a good message. I hope it encourages a couple of kids who read it to think about training a service dog, or to at least adopt one from a shelter if they can.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
I’ve already written a short review for this on GoodReads, so I think I’ll just copy and paste it. ;)

I was very surprised by Ruby Red. First, whoever wrote the jacket description should be fired. It does not reflect the good, solid writing contained within, nor does it do it justice. The book is well-written, funny and charming, which is exactly how I like my YA novels. If you have to spend an entire book (or three) in someone’s head, they had better be entertaining. The other thing that surprised me about the novel was that I actually cared about the main couple, which is not something I tend to do with YA books. Often the romance seems forced or unimportant to the overall plot, but Gwen and Gideon’s relationship seemed very natural, and the author didn’t leave you wondering about it. She tells you within the first half of the first novel they’re a thing, and, unusually for me, I wanted to find out how it happened! Time travel is tricksy that way. Not to mention, the time travel aspect thus far well done, too. It’s not easy keeping track of complicated timey-wimey rules, but Gier manages it. I’m just hoping the next installments shed some light on the mysteries and don’t leave too much unsolved, but suffice to say I will definitely be reading them.

Rating: ★★★★☆

And that’s all so far! I’ve got a few more on my current list, including the second books in the “Cinder” and “Ruby Red” series. I’m currently reading “This Dark Endeavor” by Kenneth Oppel, about the twin brothers Frankenstein, and I also have “The Eleventh Place” by Jeff Hirsh and “Invisible World” by Suzanne Weyn waiting - courtesy of my mother-in-law who teaches seventh grade English and knows about all the good YA books. (I actually read everything on this list except “Cinder” and “The Fault in Our Stars” on her recommendation!)

Does anyone else see a trend here, by the way? Every YA book I’ve read so far has been narrated by teenage girls. And it’s kind of great. A lot of YA books I read in the past and disliked (“The Perks of being a Wallflower” by Stephan Chobsky, “Hairstyles of the Damned” by Joe Meno, “Playing with Matches” by Brian Katcher, “Miss Peregine’s Homes for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs, etc.) all had male narrators. I’m not saying men/male narrators automatically make for bad YA books (I didn’t like the way “The Hunger Games” was written, and Cory Doctorow’s “Little Brother” is one of my favorite YA books), but I think I was just reading the wrong stuff. How sad that it put me off the genre so long!

How about you guys? Read any good YA lately? Have anything to recommend? I’m all ears!

…And a quick note.

I didn’t feel like tacking this onto my last post, so here’s a new one!

I’ve started a public Twitter I plan on using in conjunction with this blog. You can follow me here, at RobotXing. Adorable header of my dog provided at no extra cost to you.

Putting my Faith in Meetups and Why I Almost Didn’t

When I moved to the East Bay, I joined a couple meetup sites. I had never used them before. Usually school and work provided enough social fodder for me, and sometimes even more than I could handle. That was, until I moved to the other side of the country, didn’t have a job and the only people I socialized with on a regular basis were my boyfriend’s family and their dogs.

So I joined a couple sites and then utterly failed to use them to my advantage.

Meetup.com, in particular, is a huge meetup site, and yet when I joined a year and half-ish ago, I only found two groups to join. One was for girls who were into geekery, and the other was a fandom meetup for a those interested in certain petite equines. Neither panned out. The geek girl group was always having meetups at in opportune times, like 7PM on Wednesday nights, and the tiny horse fan group members were nothing less than rude. I won’t go into details about them, but let’s just say I now know better about socializing with those too hardcore about minuscule mares.

So I deleted my account and went on with my life. I met new people through jobs I eventually got, my family’s friends, their friends, et cetera. But knowing people doesn’t always equate with having people to go out and do things with, especially in place like the Bay Area, where you can technically live in the same location as someone else, and yet still be pretty far away.

And so a year and a half later, I rejoined. And though there were still very few groups that caught my attention, I didn’t mind – I don’t have the time (or the bandwidth) to attend 10 meetups a week. One or two over a month is really more my speed. Instead, I opted to join a few and see how they played out. This time I found another lady geek meetup, a general geek meetup and a general lady meetup.

By today, I have dropped all but the lady geek meetup. Why? Well, I actually went to one, and it was amazing.

But let’s back up: First, the general lady meetup ended up with too many people. Almost 200 women joined within the first week it opened, and then the first meetup had a ridiculous cap, something like 15 or less people. Not quite what I was expecting. The general geek meetup ended up being too generic, and it looked like they couldn’t decide on what they wanted to be. A book club? Board game nights? Like I don’t do most of that myself anyway, and in more decisive company. Um, usually.

The new lady geek meetup, though, was different. It was much smaller than the first one I joined, and they had meetups every month! And they appeared to be on weekends! Also, there was none of this “it’s easier for everyone to meet in San Francisco” bunk that I see in most meetup groups. No, actually, it’s not. (Especially when you’re more than an hour outside and your only reliable transport is BART, and, I don’t know, you want to meet on Haight Street? Yeah, okay.) They also didn’t have an age cap like many other groups do. No one was “too old” or “too young” for this group, which is refreshing after seeing so many “20-somethings” or “20s and 30s only!!!” groups.

The meetup itself was pretty awesome. Women of all ages, ethnicities and bakgrounds simply getting together and talking about our geek sides. Have you always been a fangirl? What was your first fandom? When did you come in to it, and how? Pre or post internet? Media fandom? Star Trek? Vidding? Fanfiction.net? Anime? Comics? Television? Movies? Science fiction? Sure, why not?

I learned a lot, too, about pre-internet fandom and how things were before the convenience of sites like Meetup and YouTube. I heard about small, fan-run, no-guest cons, and how people made fanvids before the internet – or even computers! And the people there were all very nice and very accepting. We were all in the same metaphorical subculture boat. No one was going to make fun of anyone or shame them for liking something. Well, except maybe Teen Wolf. ;)

Overall, I was really surprised. I never knew going to a meetup would be so fulfilling! And though I think I might have found a good niche, I’m going to do my best to branch out, as well. I was nervous about going to this one, and it was very small and private. I think maybe next I’ll try a bigger group. I know it’s not exactly my thing (as I’ve mentioned), but perhaps I am too worried about what I think will happen, instead of actually letting it happen. Goodness knows it went pretty well this time despite my worries.

And, no – I won’t mention the exact meetup I went to. I think I’ll keep that to myself. But rest assured I’m having a good time.

Why Being a Quitter is Sometimes Good For You (An Overview of the Last Six Months, Part 2 of ?)

I’m out of here. I’ve got better things to do. Like save the world.

I got a job in April of 2012. It was an office job. It wasn’t much different from any other sort of office job: There was filing, answering phone calls, data to process, uncomfortable desk/chair combinations and short lunch breaks. I always tended to like my coworkers, and I hung out with many of them outside of work. In fact, I still do.

In December 2012, I quit this job.

I don’t want to spend a lot of time musing on the economy. I don’t care that much, and I am lucky enough that I could leave without financial problems too terrible. I’m lucky, I’m aware of that. No, I want to talk about how good quitting made me feel. This job had a turnover rate of one person per month. Now, this wasn’t a service or retail job – I understand why those have high turnover. This was an office job, and I probably could have gotten somewhere the more the company grew and the longer I stayed – or, anyway, that’s what my bosses would tell me.

There’s a trend in the current job market, that because there are so few jobs and so many people trying to get them, that employers are seeing potential and current employees as “disposable.” Why hire one or two people to do a job at a good starting rate when you can hire four interns, pay them diddlysquat and then fire them in a few months? I don’t know, saving money or something. I don’t know if that actually works, especially in the long run, but it’s what people do nowadays. And it’s what kept happening in my office.

Losing one person per month was jarring. Not only did I lose a person who I enjoyed the company of (pun not intended), but also all of their work was either dished out to those of us left, or put on-hold indefinitely until someone new could be hired and trained to take it over. Not to mention, it put the bosses in a sour mood, so not only was there more work, but it had to be done under the watch of an upset supervisor. And we all know those are the best kind.

There was just something about losing people so often that made me cagey. Sure, I tended to get along with everyone we hired, but what happened in a few months when they inevitably moved on and I was still sitting at my ergonomically-challenged desk?

I’ll tell you what: Bad morale. And it affected a lot of things: my health, my work and my desire to continue with that work. My health suffered the worst, probably; I’m prone to sickness, and feeling frustrated and abandoned didn’t help. My worked suffered in that I was missing more and more days due to my mounting sicknesses, and I felt more and more like blowing work off than anything. My coworker’s felt similarly too – diseases spread around the small office quickly, and I would find many of them starring at their phones instead of their spreadsheets.

So I quit. Two weeks before I left, I had gotten sick in the middle of the office. A week before that, I had a headache so bad I went home and slept through to the next morning. The day after I quit, a stomach bug manifested and ruined my viewing of “Rise of the Guardians.” (And – not to get too graphic, but – probably the viewings of a few children, too.)

But now? A month later, I feel a lot better. I haven’t gotten sick since the movie theater fiasco (touch wood), I’m sleeping more and I’m stress-eating less – which, yes, was also a problem, considering I was working in an area full of fast food places and other suspect eating establishments, not to mention the less-than-healthy snacks we always had lying around the office. And would you believe it, I actually feel like exercising? (Doing it, of course, is something else entirely.)

There’s no moral to this post other than “Thank God that’s over,” but I would like to say this: Does your job suck? I’m sorry. I hope you can quit soon.