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  • Kelsey Asbille

    Pune, India

    Ann Sheridan, 1940s.

    Bus

    Delicious

    2024 Blackout

    We had a heck of a storm pop up out of nowhere and it generated a tornado that really kicked in my city’s teeth. At last count, the city says there’s been at over 400 power poles take down and about 80,000 people lost power, myself included. This was the first time that this had happened since we bought a generator with the money that Trump sent out during the covid lockdown. It’s a “dual fuel” generator and can take either gasoline (without ethanol!) or propane. The ethanol free stuff is getting harder and harder to find and I had three tanks of propane ready for the job, and what a job it did! I was very happy with how easy the setup was and how quickly it all came together, thought I opted to just carry it out instead of installing the wheel kit we had somewhere in the garage. I ran it for most of the day Friday, let it rest over night (because only bad neighbors run their generators at night), then ran it for another 6 or 7 hours Saturday. All and all I think I used about 2/3 of a single tank, which bodes well for future situations where I need to power a deep freezer, fridge, a single LED room light, and a whole charging setup for my phone as a hotspot, my laptop, and my kindle.

    I got lucky this time because the tornado didn’t hit my house directly and the wind we did get didn’t bring down any of the pine trees that I’ve been worried about and plan on taking down once I have another day job. It was also in the 60’s after the sun went down, so I didn’t have to sleep through a stifling situation like the last time we went through a prolonged power outage.

    I did some deck destruction and pressure washing

     

    No pictures of the final products because I’m lazy, but here’s what I was up to over the last couple weeks.  I did the demo on the deck and washed the entire exterior of the house.  I’ll put down the new boards for the deck when I have a job again or hit the lottery!


  • Ann-Margret 1978

    nEVer

    Kuwait City, Kuwait

    Ankara, Turkey

    “CAPES: RISING TIDES” Review

    Rising Tides is the story of a new hero, Killjoy. The triggering event that makes him a breakthrough happens during the Chicago Attack that opened Repercussions and the reader gets a street-level view of the attack and its aftermath. Killjoy is not your typical superhero; his breakthrough power is teleportation, jumping, and Kingston James Parks, has zero interest in becoming a cape. He’s on the short and slight side, not a physically brave person, and his primary goal, initially, is to find a decent-paying job (not using his power) and . . . that’s really about it. Especially since his best friend since college and current housemate is a Firster. That’s right, his bestie is a member of Humanity First, the anti-superhuman group. She’s also a photojournalist who makes a career of photographing the aftermath of superhuman battles (events keep her busy).

    This is the first in a new series set in the same universe as the “Wearing The Cape” series that I blew through all ten of in about a month. Luckily for my wallet, they’re all on Kindle Unlimited, so there’s an amazingly cheap barrier to entry to this story. There’s no real need to read the other books in the series to enjoy this one, but they’re so good I’d still recommend reading them either before or after this one. The author Marion Harmon has mentioned that his goal was to write a story that didn’t have the usual tropes of superheroes with dead parents or girlfriends being the sole motivators and for the most part he’s accomplished that goal, there’s a fair bit of damsel in distress parts in the final chapter or two, but they work out well enough that it’s less of a crutch and more of a story element that works out.

    The main character here, eyerollingly named Killjoy, has the same basic power set as the jumpers from the Jumper movie and book series and Harmon explores the different types of Jumpers in this universe and how Killjoy’s specific implementation of the power set is augmented by some in-universe familiar character types that all make sense.

    If you’re a fan of superhero stories, this is good one to read, and if you want to read something from the best writers in the genre, this is where you should start. Or with “Wearing The Cape”, both are fantastic first entries.

    Buy On Amazon!

    Marge in charge

    Tia Carrere

    meirl

    Krysten Ritter

    Markie Post

    Charcuterie Board

    Britt Ekland 1974

    Toprak Yalciner

    Kyoto at night