Leviathan - MTG 4E

 

The first rule of Magic Club is that you don't question if the picture makes sense, you just decide if it looks cool. This picture is quite definitely cool! Even if a wizard's tower is somehow surviving with the lights on, underwater!

In the early days of Magic, big powerful cards had serious drawbacks to keep you from abusing them. You want a big ol' 10/10 creature that can crush everything in its path? Fine, but you're going to pay for it, big time! Given that you have to sacrifice so many Islands, this is the kind of card you'd play right near the end of the game to finish things off and leave your opponent stunned. Good times :-D

Daylight Saving: The Vanishing Hour

 

I am not awake now. I do not wish to be awake at 4am, even though the clocks say it is 5am. I hate the Time Change in the spring :-(

Mrs Pollifax and the Second Thief (Mrs Pollifax #10) 4Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Mrs Pollifax and the Second Thief
Series: Mrs Pollifax #10
Author: Dorothy Gilman
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 147
Words: 52K
Publish: 1993

Ahhhh, another wonderful Mrs Pollifax adventure. There’s just enough danger and thrills to keep it from being cozy. I don’t want cozy. Plus, the assassin Aristotle (who Mrs Pollifax foiled in Mrs Pollifax on Safari) makes a startling return but as is the case every single time with Mrs Pollifax, things are not as they seem, nor do things happen as anyone could possibly predict.

I think that is one of the things I thoroughly enjoy about this series, the pure unexpectedness of how the story unfolds. I never find it unbelievable either. It is “realistic” from this readers’ unlearned viewpoint and since I am so humble, we all know I really mean that.

I like that Gilman makes these standalone stories BUT with call backs to previous books so it makes it a richer experience for those who have been faithfully reading along yet deliberately not alienating those who are just jumping in. Writing for both takes deliberate effort and I think Gilman does a great job at it.

★★★★☆

From the Publisher

The assignment is a snap: Mrs. Pollifax just has to shoot some pictures at a quiet funeral outside Washington and take them to Sicily, where her old friend Farrell — a former CIA agent turned art dealer — anxiously awaits them.

But like all Mrs. P's assignments, so ostensibly suitable for the CIA's favorite garden club member, this one quickly turns lethal. Her welcoming committee in Palermo includes a most unlikely CIA agent and several unseen enemies. Unfriendly eyes also observe Mrs. P's rendezvous with Farrell in a secluded mountain village and weapons are soon displayed. With mysterious forces hot after them, she and Farrell scurry for safety to a fortified country villa, where the bizarre chatelaine, once a star on Madison Avenue, is almost as unnerving as the dangers she's protecting them from.

• All of my “Mrs Pollifax” Reviews

Grunge (Monster Hunter Memoirs #1) 2Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Grunge
Series: Monster Hunter Memoirs #1
Author: John Ringo
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 299
Words: 113K
Publish: 2016

This was a carbon copy read of my 2017 read. I enjoyed the story tremendously but hated the main character’s philandering, his Gary Stu’ness and his terribly horribly no-good theology.

If I hadn’t read this trilogy before, I’d read the rest of the trilogy by Ringo (Correia’s name is on the cover but that’s because he edited these books to keep them inline with official MHI history). But having read this again, I’ve decided that since I know how the trilogy ends, I’m good with hopping off the bus now. I’m not a fan of Ringo so I don’t feel the need to persevere on a re-read.

I did want to talk about the cover to end this review. It is actually a very accurate portrayal of one of the monster hunts in the book. There is a “new” computer company called Microtell that uses magic to make their software work. The problem is that sometimes that magic goes off and monsters climb out of the computer screens and eat the techs, at which point MHI is called in to kill the monsters and clean the situation up. I just love it when a book cover is actually semi-accurate about the book :-)

★★☆☆☆

From the Publisher

When Marine Private Oliver Chadwick Gardenier is killed in the Marine barrack bombing in Beirut, somebody who might be Saint Peter gives him a choice: Go to Heaven, which while nice might be a little boring, or return to Earth. The Boss has a mission for him and he's to look for a sign. He's a Marine: He'll choose the mission.

Unfortunately, the sign he's to look for is "57." Which, given the food services contract in Bethesda Hospital, creates some difficulty. Eventually, it appears that God's will is for Chad to join a group called "Monster Hunters International" and protect people from things that go bump in the night. From there, things trend downhill.

Monster Hunter Memoirs is the (mostly) true story of the life and times of one of MHI's most effective—and flamboyant—hunters. Pro-tips for up and coming hunters range from how to dress appropriately for jogging (low-profile body armor and multiple weapons) to how to develop contacts among the Japanese yakuza, to why it's not a good idea to make billy goat jokes to trolls.

Grunge harkens back to the Golden Days of Monster Hunting when Reagan was in office, Ray and Susan Shackleford were top hunters and Seattle sushi was authentic.

• Grunge (2017 Review)

• All of My “MHI” Reviews

When I am Afraid (Non-Fiction) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: When I am Afraid
Series: Non-Fiction
Author: Edward Welch
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Christian Counseling
Pages: 58
Words: 19K
Publish: 2008

I heard about this book from Michael W on a post he did about Mental Health and Christianity. In the comments he recommended this little book. So I added it to my tbr and while it took a bit longer to get around to than I was expecting, I still got to it before 2027, which is a win for ANY recently added book to my tbr :-)

I didn’t realize when I started this, but it is stated right on the first page, that this is a companion volume to Welch’s book Running Scared, a full book about anxiety, worry and fear. The proper thing for me to have done would be to have put this little companion booklet down, read the first book and then come back to this one. Well, nobody tells ME what order to read books, so I ignored that and plunged right into this.

First, this really is a companion booklet, with tons of questions for the reader to ponder. I should have read Running Scared first after all. However, what this booklet did for me showed me that I don’t suffer from anxiety, worry or fear. Now, everybody has to deal with those, but it isn’t debilitating like I know it is for others. My goal in reading this, and the next book, was to help me better understand people who DO suffer from anxiety and what they experience. This was not the booklet for that. This was directly addressing those who do suffer and what they can do and how they can change their thinking.

Second, this is explicitly Christian. It will be of no help at all to anyone who doesn’t believe in God and Jesus. The whole thrust of Welch’s thinking is that God is there to take care of us (as He sees fit, not becoming a vending machine god in the process). If you don’t believe in God, well, good luck believing He will take care of you.

I do have a feeling that Running Scared is going to be a book that is talking to the Anxious and not going to be about the symptoms of Anxiety or what to do to help support those who do. That’s not a bad thing at all, just means I’ll be adjusting my expectations going into it.

★★★✬☆

Land Tax - MTG 4E

 

Man, is that guy ugly or what!? Yeah, he's just plug ugly and no question about it. That's one strike against it and one reason why I never used it. Of course, the REAL reason I never played this back in the day was it's price, around $15. Minimum wage at the time was $4.25. I worked summers painting but had to pay for my diabetic supplies for the year, so whatever was left after saving up for that was spent on things like entertainment. Given that you needed at least 3 of these in a deck, that's almost $50 just for this card alone. I was strictly in the twobuck chuck wagon when it came to Magic cards. I played for fun and my cards were what I could afford easily. This card did not fit into that category :-D

Sun Lamp Review

 

Last winter was really bad for me in turns of experiencing SAD (seasonal affective disorder). I was even giving serious thought to moving down south to where the sunshine is. Of course, there is also heat down south and I'm not sure I could handle that, but when you're in the throes of SAD, reason doesn't play much of a part in decision making. Thankfully, talking with various people, I decided to try a sun lamp, one that mimics the wave length of sunlight.

I bought it in February of '25 and by March had noticed absolutely zero difference. I was still grumpy and depressed and just plain unhappy. But Spring had sprung and I did begin feeling better but chalked it up to the change in season. I continued to use the sun lamp as a regular floor lamp all year. By the time Winter had arrived this year, I was just used to the sun lamp being my regular light source and didn't give it much thought. Winter brought more snow and clouds than usual and by the end of January I suddenly realized that I wasn't feeling like killing other people or desiring to stay in bed and ignore life. That was a remarkable change from last year.

My lamp has several settings of brightness and I keep it at its brightest all the time. There is also a setting to go from white to yellow light and I always keep it at the yellowest setting. While it might just be in my head, it feels more like sunlight that way. So I've been using this for a solid year now and there is a noticeable difference. If you suffer from SAD, even if just a mild case, I'd highly recommend getting a floor sun lamp like this. My recommendation would be to get one in the spring or summer and begin using it then. It probably won't help a lot if you buy it in December ;-)

I like feeling normal during the winter again. While the model I bought on Amazon last year is no longer being sold, the closest similar one is here:
Amazon Floor Sun Lamp

That at least gives you an idea of what it looks like. Assembly was very easy, getting the settings to brightest/yellowest was also easy and once set, things just stayed the same and I only had to deal with turning it on and off.

Once again, if you suffer from SAD, I highly recommend a floor model sun lamp. I can't guarantee that you'll experience the same results as me, but if it helps you even a little bit, that will be good.