You can make a break, you can win or lose/That's the chance you take. . .

Early to the knee doctor, which took much longer than I had expected. Good job that I'd decided not to mess around with sick leave and swapped out Thursday for Tuesday at the day-job this week.

Verdict, after x-ray and discussion: Some arthritis, not much; some cartilage wear, minor. Possible tear in the cartilage, and thus there is an MRI in my very near future. If cartilage is torn, then laparoscopic surgery to mend it. If not a tear, then it's the arthritis and we'll talk.

Hit Dairy Queen, where we snabbled milkshakes to tide us over while we grabbed Hexapuma, who was still having catbox issues this morning before we left, and raced him back down to Waterville. He received a muscle relaxant shot (for bladder spasms) and a pill. Hexapuma, lest ye be unaware, hatesHatesHATES to be pilled. The doctor called in reinforcements -- a slender young lady armed with a large, floofy towel -- in order to get the first pill in place, and then not easily. He then handed us the bottle with instructions to, "Do that again tomorrow."

We are now home. Steve is a Hero of the Revolution, having accompanied me to the knee consultation and sat through the exam, and! driving like a pro in order to deliver the PumaCat to the doctor before the office closed for lunch.

I am now Officially Exhausted, and am contemplating a nap in lieu of lunch.

Oh, and it's raining.

On Thin Lines and Reader Engagement

I just gave up on the book I was reading less than a hundred pages from the end. This is not necessarily the book's fault; it could well be that this week I'm too worn out to tolerate a lot of horror in my fantasy, and the set-up for the Thrilling Conclusion is looking to include two -- possibly four -- Terrible Deaths that I just don't want to see.

Hmm...She can probably get away with the two deaths; I'm thinking the kids may live, with "only" a Tragic Loss to sober them. But it doesn't really matter; those two other characters are certainly going to die, and badly, and -- no. Just. No.

These deaths probably wouldn't be so much of a problem for me as a reader if I'd managed to bond with the Leads -- which I haven't done. I like them better than I did at first, but I'm not. . .compelled by their lives. This lack of bonding where I ought directly led me to inappropriately bond with Doomed Characters, and now I'm paying the price. And, since I'm certain that Our Heroes are Perfectly Capable of dispatching the broken godling eventually, once they achieve the correct brainstorm and/or Clue, I don't even feel compelled to keep reading to learn How it All Comes Out.

Sigh, sigh.

I've read another book by this author, which I liked perfectly well, but then, I bonded with the Leads, as I was supposed to have done. Still, in that book, and moreso in this one, I find that she has a tendency to telegraph her moves 'way, 'way out. The first book, I thought it was just the Writer Brain, but this one convinces me that, no; she plots so strongly that the bones show through. That's kind of too bad, because she has some nifty ideas and a good sense of what makes a good twist, but she needs to learn a little more about hiding the evidence.

. . .which she may have done by the third book, but. . .I'm not at the moment inclined to pick up the third book. Readers are so fickle, no wonder writers go gray so young. . .