cloudtrader

I'm currently working as a book appraiser at an internet retailer, which is a fancy way of saying I do data entry. I went to a seminar this July in Colorado all about the rare book trade and am setting up a website to sell antiquarian books on at the moment. So far, the oldest book I've worked with was published in 1560, and I regularly price books from the 17th-19th centuries. Basically, I do a lot of reading up on history to do my job and a general rule of thumb is that if the author of the book I'm researching has a Wikipedia page, then it's important and I have to break out the heavier research materials and bibliographies. For example, I spent an hour the other day reading about a woman who published books in Paris during the French Revolution. That kind of stuff.

I've gotten into posting on Instagram, mostly pictures of books, dogs, and eggs (more about that later). It's a nice way to share hobbies and get an instant hit of yay! from the likes you get. I also read Twitter and Tumblr every few days, but I almost never post on those platforms. And I read DW, too, but I think this is my first real post here in awhile. I've lost contact with most of my LJ/fandom friends, which makes me sad.

I was kicked out of my Kinship in LOTRO after 10 years for not playing enough, but I guess that's OK, because I'm not playing it very much at all anymore, even with the new Mordor expansion. I'm playing ESO fairly regularly. My favorite thing is decorating my house in ESO, it's super awesome! I've also taken to playing Pokemon Go on the regular (I'm team Instinct, sigh), along with another free mobile game called Love Nikki Dress Up Queen, which is just as ridiculous as it sounds.

I've decided on a self-improvement campaign to learn French, so I got a bunch of books and have been doing DuoLingo for it. I wish I could find some Quebecois CDs so I can understand some of the Canadian movies I tried watching on YouTube.

My main hobby lately has been writing pysanky, which are traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs, although most of my designs are not very traditional. Just Google the word pysanky and you'll see what I mean.

A friend of mine has wanted to write a book for awhile now and we've been attempting to struggle though together, which is kinda funny when you consider that we are both friends with several people who are actual writers and/or published authors while neither of us are. I fear she is discouraged and that I'm more into it than she is, though.

Speaking of writing, I was thinking about signing up for Yuletide again this year. I mean, one fanfic a year, that almost makes me a writer, right? Right.

I've been having a few medical issues lately, including one where I'm not getting enough of a nutrient in my diet because it primarily comes from a food that I am allergic to. I mean, wtf is that, sheesh. My doctor also said I was pre-diabetic, which is scary. :( My dad was diabetic and had heart disease and he was thin and ate healthy, which I am not and do not, so yeah...

My co-worker I could geek out about hockey with was fired, so I don't really have anyone to get nerdy with anymore. But hockey starts again in a month, so yay! I might try to get tickets to a Ducks game and drag someone with me this year because the Kings/Sharks game my ex-co-worker and I went to last season was so much fun (but driving into L.A. and dealing with the Staples Center was NOT FUN). I have a bunch of hockey t-shirts/clothing which I wear quite often so that people can identify me as part of the hockey tribe and strike up conversations with me... or something. I dunno, it's kinda funny when some dudebro tries to mansplain me and I know more about hockey shit than he does.

I've almost completely stopped reading published fiction. Instead, I'm into creative non-fiction, books about hockey history, and fanfic. OK, mostly fanfic.

I have exactly 1,892 books. I have not read them all. They are all easily accessible to me and all in decent condition. And yet, I feel that I have nothing to read.

I have read down to the dregs in all of the fandoms I adore, and read outside of my preferred fandoms due to excellent authors. I need something new to read.

I can't help but feel that I am doing something wrong.

Resist the peer pressure!

I think maybe I'll transfer my fic rec LiveJournal Spacedoc here? Or maybe not.

This journal is mainly so I can leave feedback comments on DreamWidth. I'm still active on LiveJournal.