(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Managed to do laundry this morning, along with making the bed up clean. Almost ruined my clothes - because one of the laundry machines got accidentally set on "hot" - and when I tried to change it to cold, it wouldn't move. Then when I pushed it to do so - it said error, wait five minutes for access to wifi. I couldn't unlock it. Finally it reset, and I tried to set it for cold and paid again, but instead it gave me another error message and unlocked for me to remove clothes.

I gave up and used the other machine. So I basically spent $10 for that load of clothing.

I really do not like the new washers, at all. The old ones were much better. Cheaper. Easier to use. With more possibilities. Ugh. These eat money. I think the cash machine ate money too. I was struggling getting money added to my card.

I miss the old machine, where you just inserted the card, and inserted your credit card and got cash. Then for the washers, inserted the card, and switched it to the right setting and pushed on, and if the setting was wrong, had the ability to instantly change it.

***

Took a shower today. Soon, will put dinner and lunch together for tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be raining when I commute to and from work. But who knows really? It was supposed to rain today, but it waited until evening.

I took yesterday and today off - will be back to work tomorrow. So short work week at least.

***

I finished the live action adaptation of One Piece. Apparently this is the most popular Magna comic in Japan, and the animated series is the most popular and longest running. It's won all sorts of awards over there.

I'd never heard of it until now. But I'm also not the demographic for it. I'm in my fifties and this is obviously targeted to 14-35 year old boys.
(Most comics usually are - which is the problem with the industry.)

Anyhow, it was better than expected. Has decent world building and character development. Each of the characters has an interesting back story, and the message is about following one's dream no matter what - which has a high universal appeal.

Luffy, the main character, is appealing, and the actor is charismatic and fairly good at making him appealing. (He could just as easily be annoying.)

My only quibble is the female characters could be stronger and more present in the series than they are - but again, the demographic is teenage boys.

I found it fun. But I'm not sure I'd recommend it to folks - unless they fit that demographic.

On the book front - I'm about to give up on Paladin's Grace - it's a romance novel, and I think I've burned out on the genre finally. Too much navel gazing. "Does he like me? I don't know. Maybe. Oh probably not...well it's hard to know. No, why would he, I'm so ugly..blah blah blah.." Damn, woman, stop it. Yes, he does. Because he's doing the same damn thing.

I'm writing a romance novel and I find myself deleting all of this from it, because I'm annoyed by it, now.

Comments

[conuly]

Yes, he does. Because he's doing the same damn thing.

Yeah, well T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon clearly has a thing for self-loathing romantic leads. The best thing to do is to skip past the romance parts to the plot parts, which can be easier said than done.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, I'm thinking of going back to her horror novels. I like them better. Still have the self-loathing - but it's more self-deprecating, and witty.

However, skipping past the romantic self-loathing bits might work. I do that a lot in romance novels - I skip past pining, and the repetitive sex scenes.

But, I honestly think T Kingfisher may be better at horror.

[trepkos]

Has it got to the point where you would be better off using a laundry service? Do those still exist?

[shadowkat]

Not yet. Yes, they exist. But - scheduling is an issue (they want to pick up in the daytime, I work in the daytime). Also, the ones that do pick up at other hours, are pricier, and don't necessarily have as many options.

It's still cheaper to do it myself. And easier. But I may try it again at some point.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, that's one thing I don't like about romances is the constant internal dialogue about uncertainty, it's tiresome and repetitive. It isn't the only genre that does it, I've seen some mysteries that have repetitive summing up of facts, for example. But I've got zero patience for pining so it's particularly irritating.

[shadowkat]

Yep, I'd have to agree. The difficulty is there's no real plot outside of the romance or internal issue, so lots of pining. It works better if there is an external issue or plot. Or problem. Something that's keeping them apart, besides - I don't know if she/he/them likes me or not.

I don't mind pining as long as it doesn't cross-over into whining. Which unfortunately it often does.
I need banter, preferably witty banter, and not a whole lot of navel-gazing thinking. I'd rather not know what they are thinking - particularly when it can be done with dialogue.

You're right about some mysteries - they can get repetitive too. It's the internal dialogue that is the culprit. And a lot of writers suck at dialogue and rely on it instead of dialogue. I'd prefer the dialogue.