Reloading My Magazine

 I bought a magazine last Thursday, but I have yet to read it.  Sure, I have glanced through it, but I haven't read it.  I've had the time, just not the interest.  Used to, I would never wait so long to read something.  Now, I just don't feel like it too much.  For decades now,  I would follow the same routine whenever I got something new to read, whether it was a magazine, comic, or book.  I would give it a once-over as soon as I could.  Then I would read it fully later.  The only exception would be fiction, particularly if it was a book I really was waiting for.   I would never skim it for fear of ruining the ending.  Nowadays, that last rule is just about the only one I still follow.  First, there is the decontamination phase.  Then, I do the usual skimming.  While I still try to read comics as soon as I can, but everything else no longer keeps my interest so much.  The previous two issues of this magazine had some features that didn't interest me at all.  I barely scanned them.  I used to read every article in every magazine I bought, no matter how much it interested me or not.  Now, I just skim the parts that no longer pertain to me.  I still feel a little guilty for not checking out about half a magazine, but at least I save time by doing that.  On the other hand, whenever a magazine starts to change its format too much, I fear that it will not be published much longer.  Just earlier this year, another one of my magazines switched to online only.  The entire line went digital.  I didn't even realize it for two months.  I thought I had missed an issue.  Magazine distribution around here can get strange.  New issues can be up to a week late.  For weekly magazines, this is a major problem.  This hurts even more when many of my favorites aren't readily available locally.  Since I'm not traveling much, this means I have missed out on a few issues.  Sure, some content is online, but I like having the physical copy.  Reading online causes eye strain when I do so for long periods of time.  This prevents me from enjoying my game supplement PDFs as much as I used to.  I would read them again and again, trying to irk out some new information or catch a cool rule.  I used to do the same with my comic books.  I would read my favorites two or three times before I would put them into longer term storage.  Now, I barely read them once before putting them away.  So many are being cancelled lately.  I will barely have half my former monthly totals by January.  Back to magazines.  I still get a few magazines on their regular basis.  I keep most of them about a year, before looking through them one last time before I get rid of them.  I keep the parts I think will be useful, going through them again and again to thin out my stash.  Even that chore is getting to me.  I just don't feel like it is so important any more, and I let the older issues start to pile up.  For my current puzzle magazine, I have an entire section of forty puzzles that I have yet to go through.  I like the type, but not necessarily how company does them.  I usually only do one puzzle of a type per day, but if I want to finish this issue before the next one comes out, I will have to do at least four a day.  I already have two other in waiting, although I already started one accidentally.  I mixed up the order.  I try to do them in the order they came out.  I just have so may other things to do, and not as much interest to do so.

Things That Bump You off in the Night

 I got a new idea for a book a few months ago.  It has been percolating ever since.  It is about a group of former college roommates who get back together and start a paranormal investigation team.  They meet once or twice a month to investigate something unusual, but they wind up involved in actual, real-life murder mysteries.  I'm thinking about calling the series "A Monster Hunter Mystery."  I might change it to "A Ghost Hunter Mystery," but I think I prefer the alliteration of "monster" better.  It seems to poke the bit of levity that many such armchair amateur detective series need.  Unlike my previous work, I will not be posting anything about it on my online blog, just yet.  I am currently in the middle of writing the prelude story as part of my latest writing sample to be sent out, so I would prefer not having it be seen in such a widespread format.  However, I will give out some of the basics of the characters and plotting here, just to drum up some feedback or further suggestions.  The team is formed around these four roommates/friends from college.  They are all in their upper twenties, but the four of them have distinctively different lives.  The main character is Micheal.  He is married to Lily, an attorney for the county courthouse, with a young son, Timmy, who is getting ready to start school.  Michael owns a book store (nothing to add here, so just keep reading), but is dissatisfied.  He has a degree in journalism, but he became disheartened with the trend the field was heading, so he wound up taking over a store, while struggling with starting a writing career (again, nothing to add).  They barely can afford to keep the store going, but with Lily going back to work full time, they should be able to get ahead.  Micheal is the researcher for the group.  Although a fan of horror fiction and folklore, he is mostly skeptical.  He only reluctantly went along with the idea for the group.  In my prelude piece, Lily all but forces him to go on the first case.  Christopher, who prefers to go by his shortened last name of Beck, is the leader of the group.  He is about halfway through getting his doctorate in sociology, with a focus on folklore and the belief in the supernatural.  He is the only one not native to Kentucky, and his problems with his family is the major reason why he doesn't go back.  This team is a sideline to his research, but he is really getting deep into the subculture.  He is at risk of losing his academic and professional clout by doing this, but he really is beginning to not care anymore.  He is also single.  Jesse is the legal advisor for the group.  He was recently made a junior partner is his uncle's firm.  Jesse is also the reason why Micheal and Lily met, as well as how Lily got here job in Jesse's hometown.  He is on the verge of proposing to his longtime girlfriend.  He also has a big secret, beyond trying to keep Micheal's store afloat by buying extra books there.  Jesse has been seeing ghosts his whole life, but he has kept it a secret from his friends, although Beck has suspected something since the time they met.  It is one of the reasons why Beck wanted Jesse brought into the group.  Jesse has also represented another paranormal investigation team, and it is one of the reasons he became a full partner so quickly after passing the bar. The final member of the team is Ed, a consummate outdoorsman.  Ed and Micheal actually went to high school together, but they hung out in different circles.  Neither knew they were going to the same college until they sat next to each other on the first day of classes.  Ed is the only former classmate that Micheal talks to or sees on a regular basis, even with Ed living in Lexington.  He is a chemical engineer for a mining company.  Most of their properties are out west, forcing Ed to travel constantly.  However, a recent promotion will allow Ed to stay at home more often and finally start a family with his wife, Mary (placeholder name, it might change).  On one of his trips, Ed may have had a close encounter with "something," and has kept it secret from everyone.  For their first case, I have the team at a site, only to be interrupted by another team.  Ed's younger brother, Rick, who is more of an outdoorsman and hunter, almost gets into a fight with the other team's leader.  A day or so later, the team leader is found dead, and Rick is the prime suspect.  Ed has been keeping secrets about Rick's brief military stay, as well as the reasons behind his two previous marriages.  It is up to Micheal, and the rest of the team, to find a way to clear Rick, as well as what happened at the site originally that led it to become haunted.  I'm still working on the prelude though.  I want to get the feel of the series before writing anything else, as mysteries have a certain style I would need to get right before going on, but it is getting there that is the fun part.  By the way, the title of this post would also be the title for the first book in the series.  Themed mystery series are known for the wordplay and puns in their titles, and this is something I am great at.  See previous blogcast posts.

Kiss My Facebook

 Just recently, Facebook fully switched over to its newest format.  I wasn't around for the last big switch, but I remember hearing on the news how so many people disliked the change.  This time around, I haven't heard much negativity.  Until now, and with me.  I knew there could be problems as soon as the first trials began when I logged in through Firefox.  I usually only log in that way once a day, and then only to get a daily Candy Crush Saga bonus.  I have mentioned the glitch on my regular web browser before.  Basically, Facebook removed the blue banner for the menu options and increased the size of the newsfeed posts.  The aesthetic design left too much open space for my liking.  Other changes were not so immediately noticeable.  Many of the secondary menu options for the left sidebar got included with the major ones.  This creates a very long list, especially since I would never use most of them.  Groups were now a featured option.  The way one searches for ones, as well as viewing them, was made a little easier one way, but it was now harder to go back and forth from one page to another.  Other changes would come later, after all web browsers were updated and the full change implemented. This occurred a little later with my usual Safari app.  I tell you, Apple and Safari users get the short end of the stick.  Many options are still not available to us.  Rooms is a great example.  This function wasn't available the last time I checked, unless I switched browsers.  Pages were changed as well. Most of the menus for pages were moved to the left sidebar.  This makes it harder to help design them.  At least Facebook currently has the option to switch back for forty-eight hours if you need the help in editing a page.  This is particularly useful, as the method for uploading media to posts has changed.  I learned this the hard way when I tried to post the latest "Making the Logo" video.  I had to go to a new subpage to do so.  Uploading pictures are also harder.  While I admit that I might not have done it correctly, some of the editing features to my pics were missing.  For instance, I could no longer put funny captions on them, in contrasting colors.  That was a signature style for the page.  This new format definitely doesn't work in this instance.  Pages for games are correctly still in the previous style, for the most part.  Instant games are in the new style, but others may join them.  Since the update, I have had two separate instance of games not loading properly.  The second time seemed to not be confined to Facebook, but the first one effected many games, at least one will be leaving the platform due to the ongoing Flash phase out.  However, none of the compares to my biggest gripes.  At multiple times, Facebook would stop loading posts, claiming there was a technical issue.  It was suggested that I should reload the page.  I admit, this usually happens when I have bad wifi, so it might not be Facebook's fault.  However,  Facebook has begun to do something very displeasing.  It will randomly delete all of the posts on my newsfeed, and suggest that I get new friends so that more posts will appear.  I have to check on all posts as soon as I log on, for fear that they will disappear without notice.  Just last night, Facebook did this to me three times.  Once, it deleted everything.  Not a single post remained.  Sometimes, it leaves a dozen or so, all new at least.  Sometimes, only one or two, possibly including a suggestion or ad.  I have no idea why this is happening.  It could be Facebook's new format.  It could be my ISP messing up, as this usually occurs at home and not at work.  I don't know.  It is very inconvenient.  Facebook already tries to limit how many people's posts I receive, at least according to the posts of people claiming to have their algorithms changed by copying and clicking on the post.  I don't trust them, so I never do.  I fear that I will mess something up.  Besides, if I really wanted to, I could change my own preferences to try and alter the algorithm myself.  

Twenty Years at Booknotes

It was twenty years ago today, a Saturday, that my store, Booknotes, opened.  Of course, that makes today the store's anniversary.  This is the china anniversary.  We had actually started cleaning out and remodeling of the unit back in July of 2020.  It just took a few months for everything to be fixed.  The fixtures and books starting coming in September.  I had to sit down and open dozens of books and make sure that the inventory was correct.  At least one book was missing, but it has been so long I can't really be sure of anything else.  That first day, we only had a few people come in.  Our first customer was an associate of my mother's, either someone who worked for her dentist or hairstylist.  One of the books she bought was a food lover's companion.  That maybe the actual title, but I can't be sure, so I won't put it in italics.  She wound up paying for the books with a check.  That means we never had a first dollar as a good luck charm.  That might be one of the reasons why we were never a huge success.  In these twenty years, Booknotes has had many ups and downs.  We have had well over a dozen events.  Some were great, but a few had hardly anyone.  The store got flooded from pipes twice.  It almost got flooded from a mudslide.  There were multiple closures due to snow storms, not to mention the reason two month forced lockdown due to a pandemic.  Almost every other business that was at our shopping center has moved, closed, or both.  Some are still here, but are under new management.  I haven't even looked at some of the newest businesses yet.  There is even a church across the parking lot.  This lot is actually one of the main reasons why we chose this location.  There is usually plenty of parking, although we only needed all of the space just once.  To be honest, there aren't many things I still like about being in business.  I have always loved knowing about what books will be coming out, months or more in advance, even if there is only one distributor that we can still deal with.  I love to finally get the chance to read some books that I had been waiting for.  It is only because of the store that I read The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series.  I have read so many books, and kept some of them entirely for me.  I love coming up with ways to decorate the store, making logos and filming them, coming up with the themed puzzles behind displays, drawing up the "Upcoming Releases" board each month, and even designing the store's website and social media pages.  Still don't have those last two exactly as they should be.  Lately, that is all I do.  Hardly anyone is coming in any more.  Most of our business has been on special orders.  We have never truly figured out which books we should always have in stock.  Sometimes we work it out, but we never seem to have enough money to get all of the special orders and new books to reorder much, especially now with direct withdrawal.  We have been through four cash registers, three microwave ovens,  five calculators, but barely three-fourths of the thousands of staples in the box we got at opening.  We still have dozens of the books from those original shipments, too.  Some are out-of-date, and dated, but many are still perfectly enjoyable and useful.  I don't know how much longer I will be here at the store.  Its time is definitely numbered.  I had expected to be in school and out of the area by this fall, but I'm not.  If I could just have some way to keep doing this, while making money, then the picture wouldn't be so dim.  Here's hoping for at least a few more weeks.