(no subject)

1. Cold is getting better. Sneezing now instead of coughing and have runny eyes and nose. But hey, progress. And I can breath, without feeling like six or seven bricks are sitting on my chest. Was very afraid it would become bronchitis. It hasn't. Yay.

Also, oddly, brandy, cough drop, hot tea (in a cup together) helps. Even more so? lemon, hot tea, and honey.

2. Finished Are You Sleeping by Katherine Barber, which is a mystery thriller about how social media can be disruptive to one's life.

Didn't like it. Besides the previously cited factual errors, the writer has an odd love of the word "spit". Which she uses periodically throughout the second half of the book. It wouldn't have been so noticeable if:

* It wasn't the only word in the present tense. But alas...

Example?

"I can't believe that you just did that," Josie said.
"Did what?" Lanie spit.

[Lanie spits a lot.]

* It's only used in regards to Lanie. And always instead of the word "said". Apparently Lanie spits a lot. Seems highly unsanitary. Considering she's in her 30s, with a husband, and a kid, I find it bid odd. Also why would you want to be anywhere near her? Every time she talks, you'd be covered by spittle. Somewhat disturbing.

I have no idea why the editors didn't pick up on it. And substitute the word said for "spit". Standard writing advice is not to substitute other words for said, unless absolutely necessary. And not to use anything, unless you have to. It's annoying to the reader.

The writer also rambles. It's very repetitious. And the plot meanders. And...the style is basically third grade reading level in that you won't have to look up any words nor will it further your vocabulary. Inarticulate traditionally published writers who write in this sloppy style, annoy me. Because I know this book had a legion of editors (the writer lists them in the acknowledgements) but I can't imagine what they were doing exactly. It wasn't line or copy-editing. Possibly marketing? Ugh. This is a recent and highly annoying publishing trend. Books traditionally published prior to 2000 didn't appear to have these problems.

I was disappointed. But a lot of people loved it. Did get some good advice from a random Amazon reviewer, provided in that off-hand sort of way..."Note to self, stop buying books based on the reviews. Instead read a sample chapter first. Also, stop buying books based on Oprah recommendations, this is the third book I've read that she recommended and I hated." (I have no idea what Oprah recommends, I don't follow Oprah. But, it also applies to other people asz well.)


Currently reading Hellion by Beatrice Small which is a lot better written and edited. (Spat is in the correct tense for example. And the writer seems to have a firm grasp of vocabulary and her historical facts.) It's a historical romance not a mystery novel like the above, proving that the mystery genre is highly overrated and the historical romance genre is highly underrated.

3. Off to get my hair done at 1PM. Been procrastinating, because expensive and I don't really like strangers touching my head and figuring out what to say to them for an hour or two. But, alas, necessary -- my hair looks horrid. And I do like the colorist, also liked the hair stylist -- but she moved back to California on me.


4. Television? Daytime Soap - General Hospital has a rather brilliant and somewhat horrifying story about a pair of identical twins, where a mystery organization paid a psychiatrist to map one twin's memories and implant them on the other one. Basically he took the memories of one man and put them inside his brother's head, replacing his memories completely. The psychiatrist did it with computer mapping technology, and his rational was to find a way of treating dementia and altzhiemers along with memory loss.

One of the identical twins is Jason Morgan -- a long-standing character. He's a hit man who is also the partner of a local mobster, along with the mobster's best friend and enforcer. Five years ago he got shot and thrown into the harbor by the villain. His body wasn't found and he was presumed dead.

The other is Andrew Cain, a well-decorated navy seal and hero, who went AWOL and missing a year prior to Jason's shooting.

They implanted the hitman's memories onto the navy seal, so that Andrew now believes he is Jason Morgan and has been living Jason Morgan's life for the last five years. While Jason has been heavily sedated in a hospital in Russia.

It's more complicated and far crazier than that of course (hello, soap opera), but I find the story idea fascinating. Sometimes fascinating story ideas pop up in the weirdest places.

"You made a Bear!!! Undo it! Undo it!" - response to tax plan passage

1. What is in the Senate's Massive Tax Bill -- aka the Tax Bill From Hell that a nonpartisan joint committee on taxation projected would add $1tn to the federal deficit over the next 10 years – even after factoring in the economic growth the bill is projected to generate. On Friday, the independent Tax Policy Center released similar findings, predicting that the Senate bill would add $1.2tn to the federal deficit over the next decade after accounting for increased economic growth.

The driving force of the Senate GOP tax bill, dubbed the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” is to cut taxes on businesses. Lawmakers on the right and left agree that the United States' 35 percent top tax rate on corporations is too high and not competitive with the rest of the world. The Senate bill would lower that rate to 20 percent, the biggest reduction ever for corporations. The big business cut would be permanent, while the rate reductions for real people are set to expire after 2025.

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act is more than a tax bill. It makes sweeping changes to health care that are expected to lead to 13 million Americans dropping insurance, and it opens up more land to oil drilling in Alaska. It also alters the treatment of state and local taxes, which could affect local government budgets for schools and roads.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was able to get 51 votes in favor of the bill. The final version was distributed to senators around 7pm on Friday (you can read all 479 pages here), leaving little time for analysis and debate before the vote just before 2am Saturday. No Democrats voted for the bill.

If you are struggling to figure out what the heck this means for you -- go to the LINK .

On the surface? If you don't have a million dollars, aren't making over $240,000 a year, don't own an expensive home with lots of property taxes, don't live in a state that doesn't have income taxes, don't own a business or a corporation...you are sort of screwed. Which is basically 99% of the US population. Alrighty then.

So, according to what I've read to date, the government threw the middle class and the environment under the bus to help the whiny millionaires and big business. This does not bode well. If people were pissed off before...just wait.

Everyone on my social media sites is pissed off. And terrified. One person is advocating not paying taxes next year as a form of resistance. (Which doesn't quite work if they are automatically taken out of your paycheck. Also it is a federal crime punishable by imprisonment and hard to expunge from one's record.)

I'm trying not to rant. It's not healthy for me.

But right now, Sweden is looking rather appealing. New Zealand is too close to North Korea to be comfortable.

Also why is it that all through 2017, I keep finding myself quoting Spike from Buffy's Pangs? "You made a BEAR?!!? Undo it! Undo it!"

My new nickname for the GOP is Greedy Old Pricks. I think it fits. Unless they find a way of redeeming themselves and proving they aren't greedy pricks. Don't see that happening any time in my lifetime. If anything they've gotten greedier. In fact, I'm thinking of adding Greedy Old Souless Pricks...but that that just doesn't have the same ring to it.

2. Disney is going overboard in promoting Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Every time I turn around there's another trailer. Stop it, Disney. I don't want to see too much of the movie spoilt in trailers.

Interviewer to Mark Hamill: When you started these films did you ever think they'd be this popular?
Hamill: Did I think they might become popular? Yes. So popular that they'd end up following me into middle age? No.

LOL. I have a feeling Shatner and Nimoy felt pretty much the same way about Star Trek.

3. Got my hair done. It's darker now. Went with a dark burgundy brown, as opposed to the lighter reddish brown. Mainly because my natural color is darker and when the roots came it, it was a bit glaringly obvious.

The colorist was good, but a bit rushed, and rough on my scalp. So I didn't give her as big a tip. Instead I gave the tip to the hair stylist who was sweet and very helpful. Usually it's the opposite.

4. Eh, off to watch television. Should work on my book. But don't want to. Did see This is Us which...was good. The show can get rather maudlin in places, but overall is rather enjoyable and a nice comfort show.