Day 21: life still sucks

I have a cough that won't go away and a massive sleep deficit.

I wanted to attend one of the protest marches, but my sons had a recital and I opted to do that instead. (Plus, you know, the cough...)

I haven't read a single new novel in the past two weeks.

I have over an inch of grading to do this weekend.

I haven't seen a new movie in the past three weeks, but I hope to rectify that tomorrow.

Day 17: well that week was weird

Last week was WEIRD. Good-weird, bad-weird, and everything in between.

Anyone reading this will note that I have, once again, massively fallen off in my blogging ritual after the first four days of singular virtue. Much of that has been due to business with the Swimming and Diving team. Much of the rest has been due to the stress of being around seniors who are not yet committed to a college.

So, due to the constraints of my job, I can't say much about the week. However, I will note that

1) Being in a fight with one of your closest friends SUCKS
2) Acquiring a new advisee mid-year eats up hours and hours of time. (The kid is delightful. The older advisees get along great with him. He seems to like them, too. But the meetings! oh the meetings! to make it all transition smoothly...)
3) Looking at resumes is both stressful and depressing. We're advertising for an AP Statistics teacher. We're getting everything except that, thus far.
4) My advisees will stretch a 2-hour outing to a 4-hour outing if given the opportunity.
5) Lots of my friends and colleagues seem very sad and grouchy about the upcoming presidential inauguration. I'm not going to a protest march because my sons have a concert that day. But I know where they're coming from...

So there we are. I'll just file this one under "Whining" and try to take pictures of my knitting to make better blog fodder for tomorrow.

Day 7: bits about diving

I've been trying to up my game prior to our team's big diving meet at the end of the month.

To remember the order of numbering, it's F-BRIT:
Front (100s)
Back (200s)
Reverse (300s)
Inward (400s)
Twist (500s)

The positions go
Straight (A)
Pike (B)
Tuck (C)
Free (D) but I haven't found a useful mnemonic for this yet.

(It's kind of like remembering the order in a medley relay: Back Breast Fly Free but at least that one's alphabetical)

Day 4: Reading wish list

I have a lot of books to read before Hugo nominations open. If you read my entry from the 1st, you've seen a pretty good estimate of what I've liked thus far. The things I haven't read yet include the following:

Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
Borderline by Mishell Baker
Dark Run by Mike Brookes
Remnants by Trust by Elizabeth Bonesteel
United States of Japan by Peter Tiervas
Super Extra Grande by Yoss, David Frye translator
Central Station by Lavie Tidhar
Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja
The Vagrant by Peter Newman
Escapology by Ren Warom
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer
After Atlas by Emma Newman

Day 3: Wrapping up 2016, TV

We are finally almost finished with Person of Interest, which is available on Netflix. It's seriously one of the best shows I've ever seen. Go watch it if you haven't already!

I've also been watching Bull, Conviction (already cancelled, alas), Pitch, Timeless, and Designated Survivor.

I've also continued watching Elementary and NCIS: New Orleans.

I spent a lovely 17 days glued to Olympics coverage.

Day 2: wrapping up 2016, MOVIES

I saw 50 movies last year, which was far above my original goal of 26, but just under my stretch-goal of 52. I enjoyed quite a lot of them, so this post may run a little long...

My favorite movie, hands down, was Arrival.

After that, in no particular order... (out of the new arrivals in 2016 or very late 2015)
Rogue One
Moana
Zootopia
Finding Dory
Captain America: Civil War
Kubo and the Two Strings
Florence Foster Jenkins
Money Monster
Hail, Caesar!
Whisky Tango Foxtrot
Star Trek: Beyond
Ghost Busters
Snowden

Watching things from previous years, I also really enjoyed
Ex Machina
Zoolander
Magic in the Moonlight
Spy

Day 1: wrapping up 2016, BOOKS

I had a screaming headache all yesterday, so I mostly wrote stuff, moped around on the couch, and went to bed before midnight.

I read 144 books and novellas last year. 67 of them were by new-to-me authors. 14 were rereads, so 130 of them were new-to-me works.

Here's the best of the new-to-me stuff that I read last year...

SF or FANTASY or SLIPSTREAM:
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Radiance by Catherine Valence
City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Fifth Season by N K Jemisin
The Obelisk Gate by N K Jemisin
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold
Penric's Mission by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Nightmare Stacks by Charles Stross
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
The Dream Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson
Summerlong by Peter S Beagle
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Roses and Rot by Kat Howard
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
Kingfisher by Patricia Mckillop
The End of All Things by John Scalzi
Feedback by Mira Grant

TEEN or YA:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Greenglass House by Kate Milford

Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon
If I Stay by Gail Forman 

MYSTERY:
Harbour Street by Ann Cleeves

ROMANCE:
Only Enchanting by Mary Balogh
Artistic License by Elle Pierson
In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish

OTHER:
Snobs by Julian Fellowes