J. Martin

December 19, 2021

Look at These Beautiful Mountains!

If it weren’t for the surging pandemic on the horizon and the raging eso-fash brigade on the ground, whose parties have historically a lot more in common with each other than merely their affection for fatal quackery (source), life would almost feel normal again. To start with, I’ve discharged almost all of my lecture duties for this term. Then, I’ve gotten my booster jab! Finally, after distributing my advance reading copies the week before last, I went online now with my creative Voidpunk project, accompanied by an initial blog post on what the Voidpunk Universe is about and what I’m actually working on. Next stop: finalizing my synopsis and pitching an agent. With all the free time on my hands now, and the added extra of rapidly shrinking windows of opportunity to spend any of that time outside or on social activities, that should be doable in the course of this week.

As for photographs, I uploaded another album to Flickr with pictures from the Bell Tower in Xi’an (10 images) and two pictures to Glass: one I took from the Fort Siloso Skywalk on Sentosa Island, Singapore, and one of the Celestial Globe at the Ancient Observatory in Beijing, China.

What I hadn’t time for, alas, was playing. There’s a lot of sales going on right now, though, and you can get awesome games for ridiculous prices at GOG, especially. If I had to recommend any, I wouldn’t know where to begin. For indie games, though, provided you can afford it, pleeeaase buy those games you’re really interested in at full price when they’re fresh, and only those that interest you manifestly less at the seasonal price dumping buffet!

For the fun section this week, here’s one of the greatest Twitter threads ever, by Mary Robinette, on everything you always wanted to know about peeing in space. Then, there’s a hilarious difference between our favorite domesticated pets you don’t want to miss (give the clip some time!), and here’s a bunny who wants to file a complaint.

Now, the final end-of-the-year holiday block is approaching. So have a good time, enjoy fine company, and get some rest! And if you’re celebrating Xmas, happy Xmas!

J.