The Marci Rating System

More Guardian re-watch ramblings!

*I think I appreciated the camping trip arc more the second time, possibly because I didn’t have to pay attention to the plot and could focus on other things.

(*Such as the knowledge that the ONE and ONLY time Shen Wei would wear jeans and a parka was truly deserving of appreciation!)

*Also I love Guo’s incredibly weak “we were over there” explanation after the ghosts show up.

*But not as much as I love the fact that the show didn’t explain the ghosts at all. They were trapped? Except Zhu Jiu freed some of them? And then they were never mentioned again. LA LA LA EVERYTHING IS FINE NOW NO GHOSTS HERE! And honestly, that’s the kind of deliberate ignoring of potentially tricky plot issues that I can really enjoy.

*The real question should probably be: what in the world did the SID bring in their backpacks? Not a change of clothes, obviously. (Okay, I think Zhu Hong did change once. Possibly on the drive?) And not any actual camping/hiking gear that they used at any point. Snacks, maybe?

*Lastly: what is Zhu Jiu’s actual power? Because I’ve been all ‘oh, it’s teleportation,’ but it’s clearly not just teleportation. The best I’ve been able to come up with is that he is able to use dark energy to move things, including himself. (PS: Is he wearing a bulletproof vest? Is that why he was fine when he got shot in the cave? Is that why Zhao Yunlan shoots him in the arm later? Inquiring minds want to know!)

Any time I go back to work after a long weekend, my brain has mixed feelings about it.

1/3 of brain: ‘Yeah, I can do this — I will exchange my time and effort for money! Back on that work week schedule, aww yeah!’

1/3 of brain: ‘Remember, work has free coffee.’

1/3 of brain: ‘AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!’

*Best thing about caramelizing onions in the crock pot overnight — even though I slept in and am still in my pajamas, I have *already* been productive today, because onions! ACHIEVEMENT ACTIVATED.

*But I’m still hoping to do other things too, because it’s domestic chores day! Time for cooking, laundry, and art!

*Totally random other goal for the day: I keep meaning to change my fitbit app picture from a winter pic to a summer pic, but haven’t done it yet. Is today the day?

Ahahahahaha you know that feeling when you haven’t written anything for a year and it seems like you’re going to be stuck reading re-hashes of the MCU until the end of time, and then suddenly you’ve watched 40 episodes of a Chinese web series and thought to yourself ‘yay, but wait, then what happened?’

And then somehow you have 10,000 words and you’re thinking ‘what have I done?’ and ‘they haven’t even gone camping yet’? Yeah. That feeling.

I’ve mentioned before that my workplace has internet filters that block AO3 access (why???). Personally, I don’t see why I’m allowed to access tumblr but not AO3, but it’s not like they asked me about it.

ANYWAY! It was mentioned to me (thanks, starandrea!) that perhaps an incognito tab would resolve this issue. AND IT DOES! I feel a whole new world has opened up. What other problems can the incognito tab solve for me?

Re-watched the web novelist episode last night. Things that confuse me:

*None of them have cases on their phones?!

*So, the web novelist — Zhu Jiu appears to have been manipulating the situation for some time, but for what purpose? Not that the deaths of some random people we never hear about again aren’t of course Very Bad, but it seems like a lot of work for minimal return in the ‘sow chaos’ master plan. Maybe he liked the story?

*Although! It looks like the same office in the writer’s flashback, so maybe the timeline is much shorter than I was imagining, and he actually inherited that ginormous house. Which would explain why he doesn’t have a job, maybe.

*BEARS. This scene was A+ family skype session, but also Shen Wei JUST said he was happy to help anytime, but then was all ‘oh, IDK, maybe it’s a bear.’ ??? Shouldn’t he at least have been moderately concerned as the Envoy that people were being frozen to death?

*Is Lin Jing every kind of scientist? He invents technological breakthroughs! He does forensic investigation! He does medical scans! He does soil composition studies! He makes popcorn! Like, I get that he takes a lot of naps at work, but I feel like “does all the science-related things” is actually pretty impressive.

*Seriously, though — no phone cases? How do they even tell their phones apart???????

Last week I got free-lunch Friday for the meet-and-greet interview, which sure was a thing. The interviewee was in their FOURTH HOUR of interviews by that point, and my main impression of them was that they were very tired of it all. But! Also hanging on to patience and tact with impressive determination.

The BEST MOMENT was when they were asked about why they were looking to leave their current job. Which is of course a test about how well you can use the special interview language to make things sound just the right blend of bland and sincere. And this candidate was very good at it! But when they answered this question, there was a looooong pause, and they finally said, “Sometimes, the higher up you get in a company, the more you see things.”

Based on the exceptionally bland answers to every other question, I can only guess this was the equivalent of saying, ‘I have SEEN SOME SHIT, YOU GUYS, NOT EVEN KIDDING. If YOU KNEW what I KNEW, you would NOT NEED to ask that question.’ Not gonna lie, I kind of hope they get hired just so we can hear that story in more depth someday.

Spending time on the balcony after work is always an adventure.  From last night:

*A bunch of kids yelling for Daniel. I don’t know who Daniel is.  Sibling? Cat?  New meme** I’ve never heard of?

(**Duolingo offered me this gem recently: “I like that tall boy.”  I’d like to place my vote now to see this become a future meme.  So much potential!)

*A minivan with all the windows down, blasting that”splish splash I was taking a bath” song.

*Very impressive and instantly recognizable partial singalong to ‘I am Moana.’  I wish she’d kept going!

*One of the upstairs neighbors arrived with groceries, then left again, and came back with kitty litter. Can’t forget the essentials!

I am old person in tech years, and skipped almost the entire initial texting wave. (Having to tap the key multiple times for different letters… AGGHH.) I was really hoping tech would just improve enough that I’d never have to get good at that, which is a strategy that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, but in this case seems to have gone fine.

Because it’s much easier on the screen keyboard! But I’m still very slow, because I don’t actually text that much. I joke that this is because I have no texting friends, which is sort of true, but mostly my job means I’m at a computer almost all day, and typing is easier anyway (and looks more like I’m working), so email and slack pretty much meet all my daily written communication needs.

BUT! I’ve been using the tinycards app for language practice, and it turns out it’s surprisingly helpful for getting better at phone-screen typing. (Much more forgiving than duolingo when you spell things wrong, too!)