Still on Cruise Control
August 25 2026
I feel like time is just flying by. Next week will be September and I'm not sure I'm ready for all of that.
I got a $50 Amazon gift card from one of my banks. I was going to save it for something responsible. But after the deep depression I fell into a few weeks ago? I said "Fuck it" and got a fun toy!
It's a tiny e-reader! I figured that having something like this could get me to read more while I'm out and about. Instead of scrolling endlessly on Discord or Blacksky waiting for someone to talk to me, I just turn on my little e-reader and read a few pages. It's been really nice honestly.
This week's book has been "This Poison Heart" by Kalynn Bayron. The main character, Briseis, has the power of making plants grow and has to hide it from all the people she interacts with. Everywhere she goes, the plants grow towards her. Trees start bending towards her desk at school, dead cacti wake up and rise when she walks in the door, all the fun stuff. She moves up to Rhinebeck,NY (coincedentally, the same town where I bought the book from) with her two moms after being inherented a house by her birth mother. She must now uncover the secrets of her powers, her birth family, and the "weird" town.
It's.....alright. It takes place here in the Hudson Valley which has been very weird to say the least. I'm all for representation. Shoutouts to having a Black femme lead who's adopted with gay moms. But there's so much "telling" and not a lot of showing. The book doesn't respect the reader enough to infer from the subtext. You don't have to tell me "Rhinebeck has defunded the police because they were causing problems." I picked up on that when the mother called the local police station and a social worker showed up instead. You don't have to tell me she's adopted. I can infer that based off of her "not looking like her parents". AND THIS ISN'T RHINEBECK. I don't know when the last time (if ever) the author was in Rhinebeck but lord is it nothing like as described in the book. BIKE LANES?! Why would you need bike lanes in the country? Eh, maybe I'll like it more as I continue.
I ended up going to Best Buy for the 60th anniversary sale. They were selling a $100 gift card for $60 with a limited supply. Decided I had nothing else going on, so I sat and waited on line. Turns out, they were also selling Pokemon cards! The line got incredibly long by the time they opened. I was about 35th in line, and it must have been at least 120 people by 10am open. The Pokemon product was apparently not great! Everyone was upset, except me who was there just to kill time and get $40 off my next purchase. The mom waiting in line in front of me told me to just buy the packs anyway and get the promo card they're giving away, so I did! The sales outside of that sucked! But this is what I ended up with.
We also got our keycaps that we ordered from S-Craft Studio in the mail! They're GROGEOUS.
I also finished up PLUR1BUS and Return of Obra Dinn! Both very good! I'm really happy I dove into those. I don't have much to add about PLUR1BUS that I didn't already say in my last blog. But Return of Obra Dinn is a masterclass in puzzle making. I felt like a genius being able to name ALL 60 crew members from incredibly innocuous things. "Oh you have one white socks? You must be Jimmy John. I have it in my notes here that you were the best friend of Doodlebob, sister of Sandy Cheeks." Incredible video game. Thanks again Spero and Tessie for gifting it to me. That really helped get me out of my funk a bit.
No big plans this week. Started up the Among Us TV show and loving that so far. And I started playing Fields of Mistria, my first farming sim in a long time. Excited to talk about those more as my thoughts digest and I get further in both. Till next time!
Currently playing:
Fields of Mistria, 007: First Light
Currently watching:
Among Us (2026)
