u/EducationalTeam2498

We’ve been getting so much rain in my area, my seed started to sprout and grow in the feeder. I just recently refilled this one.

Lunch packed from my wife. Looks a little like dog food.

The entire plot hinges on a collaborator seeing Una and going:

>“Oh hey, Nevette, welcome back.”

And everyone makes the same mistake. Even the photo is not just the same person, but the same makeup.
The Klingons in the episode have:

• have biometric scanners
• have mind‑reading tech
• have ID systems
• have surveillance everywhere

But this flys?

What are the odds Una looks so much like this woman that no one can tell the difference?
Slim, but possible.

Also - the aesthetic doesn’t tie into the plot in any meaningful way. Boring and slow moving episode.

Someone is doing a great job with sets and costumes, but the writing is terrible.

I just finished So Much for Love, written and illustrated by Sophie Lambda. The book is a graphic memoir about entering a toxic relationship and finding a way out. Lambda combines an appealing art style with honest reflection to illustrate how manipulation can reshape a person.

The author truly lays bare her story of a manipulative partner. You feel the weight of her journey, from falling in love to recognizing the red flags, leading to the eventual resolution. It made me realize how this could happen to anyone without them even knowing they’re being manipulated. It also prompted me to think about relationships I've had in the past with family members and friends.

I can’t say enough about the strengths of the art style and humor in this book. The teddy bear characters that narrate along the way should be something I generally dislike, but it actually works here. The humor lands well, both in narrative timing and the illustrations. I was also struck by the willingness and support that ex-girlfriends offered. That sense of community was truly endearing.

My only challenge was that the book started to feel a bit instructional and long during the last 50 pages. Also, there’s a blank page in the middle of the book (page 268) which seems out of place based on the numbering. It’s not a huge issue, but it’s something I don’t normally encounter.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys autobiographical works where the author allows the reader to see behind the curtain and into all the rooms in the back.

Previous Non-fiction / Reality Based Reviews:

• Year of the Rabbit – Tian Veasna
• Past Tense – Jason Lutes
• The Willie Nelson Graphic History – T.J. Kirsch
• Bury Me Already, It’s Nice Down Here

I was confused by this scene. Spock gets affected by the planet’s atmosphere and starts hallucinating. He come across "photosynthetic tech" (basically a plant computer).
So he has a mind-meld with it? Was he just looking at a computer? Was he melding with anything? What are your thoughts on this scene?

I have several camera enabled feeders and enjoy the hobby. However, sometimes I feel conflicted when I see the feeder is crowded and the birds are aggressively fighting for time. I, after all, created this situation. Do you ever feel conflicted that feeding is doing more harm than good? Picture is from my feeder this morning.

Had fun this afternoon printing pine cones and laminated, enlarged score sheets for Cascadia: Alpine Lakes. Cascadia: Alpine Lakes is a standalone follow-up to the fun spatial puzzle game Cascadia.

This was a tough read for me on many levels. The first being that we may not have spent much time in history class covering the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia in 1975, and the holes in my knowledge were large. That is why this book (and graphic novels at large) was a somber introduction to these events. Second, the book’s conveyance of the rapid decline as a communist regime sets out to remake society into an agrarian hellscape was difficult to process. Third, I had difficulty tracking the storylines of each character and family. This likely warrants a re‑read on my part.

With all of these personal problems aside, this graphic novel is well worth your time if you want to physically feel the emotional and physical peril of regime change in a country. The book is a cautionary tale on the implementation of faulty ideals like the Khmer Rouge’s extremist interpretation of communist ideology. The mass displacement, labor camps, starvation, and the systematic destruction of families were difficult to read, but seem intrinsic to the Khmer Rouge’s system.

Note: This is a personal reaction and a summary of the book’s themes from my viewpoint. I welcome feedback to help frame the book better on re-read.

We’ve really been enjoying Cascadia: Alpine Lakes, but one thing keeps tripping us up. The box insert was clearly designed to hold the tiles… except the tiles don’t actually fit the track that’s supposed to hold them. The result is stacks that slide around, sit unevenly, or end up spilling into other compartments. It’s a small issue, but a surprisingly annoying one for a game that otherwise nails its production quality.

I am starting a project to visit every Little Free Library in Lincoln and feature a book of interest found at each one. My first stop was 2440 NW 46th. This is a gorgeous little library, well maintained and with a great selection in the Air Park area.

The book I found was entitled Ain't Burned All the Bright. This book is a powerful, genre-bending young adult book written by Jason Reynolds and illustrated with mixed-media art by Jason Griffin.

Set during the early months of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread social justice protests, the story is narrated in the first person by a young Black teenager. Stuck inside his family's home, he sits on the couch watching an endless loop of heavy news coverage on television while his father battles a severe respiratory illness in an isolated bedroom.

The book captures the fear, turmoil, and challenges of this time period, while being steeped in wonderfully expressive language and imagery.

Overall, a great find!

Check out all listed free little libraries at: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1CmtKSmw0HHaScM_613jpkxXnB4R2HPjA&ll=40.817603900918%2C-96.66445330664953&z=13

The birds are quite active this morning.

just finished Past Tense, a deeply personal graphic memoir that explores past trauma, family dynamics, and the process of therapy as a path toward healing. I naturally gravitate toward autobiographical graphic novels, and this one was intriguing on many levels. Mardou invites readers into her difficult past, leaving nothing secret. That level of vulnerability is fascinating, admirable, and honestly unfathomable to me personally.

I’m not very versed in the mechanics of therapy, but this book gave me a clear, accessible perspective: from introductions, to techniques, to progress and setbacks. There’s real compassion and humanity in the way she depicts her sessions. By the end, I felt like the book raised my awareness of how to think through interactions with parents, difficult situations, and anxieties.

I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates true, raw, and difficult stories. However, if you have experienced trauma in your own life, you may find the memoir triggering as it deals with sexual assault, the emotional aftermath of abuse, and the challenging process of confronting those memories in therapy.

I was hoping to get a Dave Filoni Cowboy Hat. Darn.

Seem to be new

In this episode, the fight for birdseed intensifies. Male and female Northern Cardinals, House Finches, Baltimore Orioles, and Brown-headed Cowbirds compete for space at the feeder, snatching seed while guarding their spot against other birds.