manga: Gintama Vol 7-8

Maybe it stood out because this is my first time reading two volumes together, but there seemed to be an even stronger emphasis on family in these volumes. Admittedly, the idea of family-real or surrogate-is always a pretty heavy focus of Gintama, and it’s an ofdd but endearing interpretation of family, but these volumes were even more direct about it than usual.

( spoilers )

Also, am I the only one to read both series who think Hijikata looked concerningly like Samurai Deeper Kyo’s Kyo in the amusement park story?

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

This is billed as a mystery, but is really a book about Botswana that features a lead who happens to run a detective agency. Precious Ramotswe is a Botswanan woman who uses her inheritance from her father’s death to buy a house and open a detective agency. She does not, for the most part, handle dangerous cases, but rather cases such as missing husbands and impostors and secret boyfriends.

The cases are, for the most part, excuses for Smith to write about the Botswanan people and culture, with several of Mma. Ramotswe’s cases almost playing out like folk tales. The book is non-linear in its narration, covering both Mma. Ramotswe’s entire life (or at least large chunks of it), and her father’s background, as well as several cases early in her career. Thankfully, the non-linear-ness (if that isn’t a word, keep it to yourself) isn’t jarring, but works well to create a cohesive whole that has a lot of charm.

The book and characters are clearly written with a lot of love, and the prose is reminiscent of oral traditions. It’s a slim little thing, but carries a lot of punch. Smith grew up in Botswana, and I think it shows, as many events and characters seemed to be pulled straight from memory. That said, I’d be curious to see what some native Botswanans have to say about it, good or bad.

blathering about my day

So, today I FINALLY had that doctor's appointment to get something for the ADD.  I have a month's supply of Strattera and she wants to see me again to see how it works.  Except I've calculated it out and i'll run out of Stattera about a week before I go back.  (Ritalin or anything like it was out unless this doesn't work because coming off of Ritalin every day as a kid resulted in about an hour of hysteria, and that was before I had any anxiety problems from the ADD.) 

It is apparently odd (but not in a bad way) to have the exact same blood pressure four years apart, but I do.  I also supposedly have an athlete's heart rate, despite not being athletic at all.  They also wanted to go ahead and do lab work, and give me a flu shot, just in case.  I had not girded my loins for needles.  The lab tech was worried about me because I had my eyes squinched shut and head turned away while she was filling her three vials with blood.  I just have a phobia about needles.  I blame my father always trying to traumatize me as a kid with tales of big needles. 

Mind you, while I was in the waiting room, I was reading Marjorie M. Liu's vampire book, and I had just gotten to the werewolf heroine going off to get the vampire hero some blood when I was called in.

Meanwhile, I got both the other 3 discs of Season 3 of Supernatural in today and the ARC of essays about Supernatural.  You know the ARC has been sent by a true friend when you open it and there's a Claymore card and a sticker with Claire's symbol.  Then you spend a long time pondering what to attach said sticker to.

It really was what it looked like...

I tracked down the end of the Kim Possible finale on youtube. The true betrayal isn't so much the actual events (I don't mind Ron saving the world, though i would like to point out that it's the finale of a show called Kim possible, not Ron Stoppable), but the look on Kim's face about four minutes in. Though the puppy eyes and Bonnie and Junior are adorable. And the Tweebs.

It doesn't diminish my overall love for the series, or decrease my love for the characters, or affect my longing for DVDs, but it was something I could have done without.

And unrelated to that, but did anyone else find the reality TV episode of Supernatural really boring?

The most entertaining things about Season 3 of Supernatural...

( spoiler for season finale )