And what was she, the fairy Melusine?

I stayed up way too late to watch the launch, and then stayed watching the live coverage for some time afterwards (some of this time with Tony and Charles animatedly chatting about space exploration until I threw them out so I could try to sleep).

There are PEOPLE on their way to the MOON for the first time in my lifetime. (Last crewed mission was Apollo 17 in December 1972.) And I can watch the live stream of the mission whenever I want, which is pretty amazing.

As I go through the next ten days (work, gym, movie date, hockey, maybe watch the boat races, hockey, work, gym, etc) a little bit of me is going to be thinking there are people going around the Moon, and probably running that live stream whenever I reasonably can.

(There has already been way more discussion of the toilet than one might expect; I am remembering the iconic loo-fixing scene in Mary Robinette Kowal's The Fated Sky, and maybe rereading those books is a good shout at this point in time.)

Books on pre-order:

1. Platform Decay (Murderbot 8) by Martha Wells (5 May)
2. Radiant Star (Imperial Radch) by Ann Leckie (12 May)
3. Unrivaled (Game Changers 7) by Rachel Reid (1 Jun 2027)

Books acquired in March:

• and read:
  1. My Kind of Guy by Sarina Bowen
  2. Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian
• and previously read:
  1. The Martian by Andy Weir
  2. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Books acquired previously and read in March:

1. Apt to be Suspicious (Liminal Mysteries 2) by Celia Lake [Dec 2025]

Borrowed books read in March:

1. The Chalice of the Gods (Percy Jackson and the Olympians 6) by Rick Riordan [3]
2. The Sun and the Star (Nico Di Angelo Adventures 1) by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro
3. Wrath of the Triple Goddess (Percy Jackson and the Olympians 7) by Rick Riordan [3]
4. The Court of the Dead (Nico Di Angelo Adventures 2) by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro [2][DNF]

Rereads in March:

1. You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

I gave up on The Court of the Dead because I wasn't getting on with the library audiobook; at some future point I hope the library will get an ebook or paperback copy (but the paperback doesn't come out until June), and I will try again. But aside from that, I've now read all the Percy Jackson-verse books published to date, having started this ride back in November. (And now I plan a slow re-read with The Newest Olympian podcast.) I did manage a few books outside Percy Jackson this month, and enjoyed them all, but I'm feeling completionist about working through Rick Riordan's other books now.

Oh and picking up Fourth Wing for cheap has reminded me that I never finished the third book, Onyx Storm, before my library loan expired, and it seems there are now no e-audio copies available through the library, and the paperback literally only just came out. I will maybe wait a little and see if they get some paperbacks in (they have a healthy stack of hardback copies but my hands won't let me read those easily).

[2] Audiobook
[3] Physical book

I don't think I'll be coming back to this, 22 years after opening this. I haven't deleted anything, but all entries are now private, save this one. I want to leave a message for one person, should she ever come back and read this.

Mom, I'm not angry anymore. I'm sorry it took so long to get here, but I want you to know that I now understand you did the best that you knew how with the precious few tools you had at the time.

I forgive you.

You're forgiven.

(some of these have had their own posts; some probably should; do ask me to expand in comments if you want more details!)

( four busy weeks )

April has two uni Nationals weekends in Sheffield (one each with Womens Blues and Huskies), a hockey camp in Hull, three other hockey games, hopefully some more theatre trips, and a movie date next week with Tony.