atthequillsmercy

Finally Watched It: Happiness (2021)

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It’s been a while since I did a Finally Watched It. I decided to talk about shows or movies that whenever I mention them, nobody really knows what I’m talking about. Plenty of people talk about All of Us Are Dead. I have watched that, which means the almighty algorithm feeds more stuff like it. That’s how I found this show. Here’s the blurb:

“Happiness takes place in the near future, where the release of a failed treatment drug “Next” has caused a worldwide pandemic known as the Lytta Virus, a.k.a. “mad person disease”. Those infected by Lytta experience short bouts of insanity and bloodlust, before completely regressing into a zombie-like state. The South Korean Military and Police forces try to contain the spread of Lytta and Next through extensive investigation and authoritative quarantine measures, while civil rights groups protest against them, believing the infected are still capable of normal human interaction.”

The best parts of this are Yoon Sae-bom and Jung Yi-hyun, our two main leads, before their apartment complex goes into lockdown, and their neighbors join the cast. They are very capable, clever, and have great chemistry together. It’s cool that the zombies are not zombies all the time, and while all the normal tropes for the genre are there, it was fun to watch! Except for the ending. I finished episode 11 and thought, “How the heck are they gonna wrap all this up in one episode?” Then they kinda tossed all out in there as rapidly as possible since there was only one episode left. Things were so evenly paced before that this felt like whiplash. I bet if they had one more episode or maybe made the last episode longer, they could have made it more satisfying. I didn’t feel like I wasted my time, more like there was some wasted potential. Worth checking out if you want some zombie in your K-Drama.

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WIP Wednesday: I don’t do April Fools

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I’ve been editing the completed manuscripts over the last week, but I’ve also resumed working on First Brood 4: Emma. Shelley (my Freewrite Traveler) has three spots. I’m using one for Emma, one for short smut, and the last for Dewey. Sure, I’ll crank out the short erotica to make some extra cash (I need it, I have no Patrons, and there won’t be any OT in the summer), but I need to work on things that make me happy for a while. 

  • Emma: 17,515
  • Smut: 161
  • Dewey: 15,778

I went back and forth between editing and writing today. That’s why the numbers aren’t that impressive. I’d like to finish both those big novels this year since I have book 5 in the First Brood series cooking in the back of my head already. Not that this series is super popular, but I love working on it. I started that back when I was a teenager, and somehow, it’s been a constant in my brain ever since. I did post the chapters of Emma I have so far on Patreon if anyone would like to see what it’s all about.

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Today’s Workout: I am such a nerd

We’re switching things up today and starting with what I ate:

Yes, I fell for the K-Pop Demon Hunters meals. I left for work early for the Saja Boys breakfast and stopped on the way home for the Huntrix ‘dinner’ meal. I… Okay, I don’t eat fast food very often. Contrary to my waistline, I eat McD’s once or twice a YEAR. Wendy’s can be quarterly, I haven’t been to Taco Bell in like… 5 years, I think? So, on the rare occasions when I do eat it, my system feels like this:

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Most of my meals are my own cooked food, leftovers of that food, or takeout from local places that I eat for three days. I am NOT used to 600 calorie breakfasts and 800 calorie dinners. I average 900 a DAY because of the Saxenda. It may seem boring to you, but I don’t even drink soda. I have water, seltzer water, or unsweetened teas (if not a cocktail or beer). Yeah, the meals were kinda cool, I satisfied my FOMO, and now I can go back to never eating this stuff because I feel SO SICK. I can see how this stuff makes you fat even if you workout, because I feel so sluggish and bloated. It was kinda worth it because I don’t have to do it again. I doubt they’ll do another promotion with a property that I made my entire personality for a few months.

I’m supposed to take a running day off, but when I was putting my food into MyFitnessPal, I knew I was gonna at least take a long walk. I propped up my iPad and ignored the timer until I hit 40 minutes. It helped the guilt of eating so much fast food in one day, but I still feel like crap. I’m gonna eat so light tomorrow… Why the fuck did I do this…

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Today’s Workout: Getting back to normal

I really hope I’m not jinxing myself when I say I’m getting back into running very slowly. Believe it or not, you’re not supposed to do strenuous workouts the first week after a tooth extraction because the increased blood flow could knock out the blood clot from the wound. The human body is such a disgusting miracle… I was taking it very easy. I don’t want to mess up and have to stop again. I do feel pretty good, even after moving a couch out of the house and to the curb. The thing was disgusting. So glad it’s finally gone.

Since I can eat normal food again (as long as I chew on the opposite side of the wound), I am sticking with thin-sliced or ground meat, steaming the vegetables a little longer than I’d like, and chopping the lettuce thin for salads. The infection is completely gone, and I’m almost done with my antibiotics. I am sincerely hoping this means my luck is turning around. I just need a couple months of normalcy, for fucks sakes…

I also got to try those viral Chloe’s Giant Cookies. They’re really good! Each one is six servings at 130-140 calories per serving. I tried the Lemon, Lava Cake, and Red Velvet and while it will probably take me forever to finish these, I wouldn’t mind getting more! I have other flavors on the way (Chocolate Chip and Cookies and Cream) and I’ll let you know if they’re any good.

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WIP Wednesday: I cannot EVEN

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Since nothing in my life can just happen without a meandering, dramatic plot full of twists and turns that nobody fucking asked for, the infection that my cracked tooth had seemed to have migrated to the bottom tooth. I called the dentist and told him that I had an abscess and he said to just rinse with salt water and if it’s still there, call him tomorrow. Even though I said it’d been there since Monday… That it went back and forth between hard and soft and was leaking puss at various times.

Not the best flavor, I can tell you.

I was so fucking annoyed that I immediately looked up the nearest urgent care and the doctor there? She was so nice. She did warn me that my blood pressure was high (I am stressed the fuck out) but gave me the antibiotics to kill whatever the fuck is going on in my mouth. She took a look at the bump and said “Yeah, that’s infected.”

Ya know… What the dentist probably should have done? Even if he thinks I’m being paranoid, what if I’m not and there’s a real problem?

At least the doctor said that the actual extraction site is healing well. Just in time for there to be a recall on my car!

I’m gonna need life to stop life-ing for like… Six months. Give me six months of some fucking peace.

Whatever. Here’s the counts:

  • Long Smut: 19,579 (completed, may add more in the editing process)
  • Short Smut: 4,135 (completed, may add more in the editing process)
  • Dewey: 15,779 (still untouched) 

I’ll be editing while I wait for the car to eat my tax return (if I even get it in time to pay for that) and from now on, I won’t be working on more than one smutty project at a time. Yes. I am aware those are my money makers but I still would like to continue my dark fantasy/dystopian projects.

Since I’m a week out from the actual extraction, I can get back to any sort of activity like biking or walking. I’m working my way back up to running but hey, I can write with lower intensity workouts! I’ll get more words in that way. And it being so late in the day for me, just one dose of antibiotics helped that disgusting postule go down. Almost like the dentist should have listened to me…

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WIP Wednesday: Owwwwwwwww

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The cracked tooth has been removed from my mouth. The poor dentist really had to pry the thing out. I felt like I was a car with a particularly rusty stuck lug nut… Wrenching and pulling… The tearing sound way too loud in my ear… Even now, later in the day, that entire side of my face is so, SO fucking sore. And I’m hungry. At least I’ll lose weight on a liquid diet? Nah, liquid diets suck… I like real food.

But that’s not why we’re here. Here are the word counts:

  • Long Smut: 17,016
  • Short Smut: 3.277
  • Dewey: 15,778

It’s easy to see which one I’ve been working on the most. The first two are almost finished, actually. I bet I can get these done pretty fast if my face stops hurting. The pain is pretty distracting. I don’t want to take too many painkillers because of what happened last time. I’ll just have to muddle through.

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Workout Roundup: My mouth hurts…

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I have been getting more steps in and walking more, but this fuckery I’ve been through about my tooth is… Fucking typical for me at this point. I had been complaining about pain, I was told the tooth was in an odd place to do anything about it, then I needed a root canal, then the endodontist told me the tooth is cracked in half, and he can’t do a root canal. It has to be extracted. I’m very lucky my job was willing to accommodate me and that I had sick time left to get that done tomorrow.

Getting back on the treadmill feels nostalgic at this point. It feels great to be moving and my knee is almost back to normal. I’d still like to keep walking for the time being. Even the weather has been good enough to walk outside if I wear a good enough hoodie. I didn’t track those… I probably should have.

I managed to snag an avocado before my kid got to it and made open BLTs with homemade fries. Yes, I made some for him, too. Very good choices. My Itaki meals have made their regular appearances, of course. Overall, the scale has been moving in the right direction again. I don’t think the food had much to do with it, it’s all about the fact that I’m moving more and burning more calories. It’d be great if I can have a run of good luck to counteract the fact the first quarter of this year has been a shitshow. I’ll take any win I can get.

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Late WIP “Wednesday” and Other Assorted Nonsense

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Althought things have been less cursed, I still need to catch up from all the absolute fuckery I’ve had to deal with. I forgot to update yesterday, so you’re getting it today.

I am very, VERY slowly easing back into working out. The desk peddler has been doing well enough that I got on the treadmill today for a brisk 30 minute walk. Nothing too intense and my knee felt fine. At least I can be active again.

Ive been doing the most random shit with my food. It’s basically “What’s in the house and will it taste good together?” I’m spending less on food when I can. I love how I mangled the egg in one picture and nailed it in the other… Eh, it tasted good either way.

Anyways, on to writing news:

  • Long Smut: 15,597 words
  • Short Smut: 2,695 words (6 prompts published)
  • Dewey: 15,778 words

I’m not hitting my daily goals but I am making progress on publishing those short stories. I am making some sales with the Read an E-Book Week event going on. While of course it’s mostly the free ones that are selling, I am SO glad to see something other than the smutty stories actually selling. Yes, I wrote those to make money faster, but it’s nice to see my regular work getting some love. If you have picked up any of my work, I can’t tell you how grateful I am!! The sale lasts till the Saturday the 7th. There’s still time to snatch some up if you want!

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Smashwords Read and Ebook Week!

It’s Smashwords Read and Ebook week and my books are on sale! Please click the link and check them out. Some are even free! Sale Dates: March 1 – March 7, 2026

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Workout Catch-Up: Still Healing

 

I’m still sticking to the desk peddler because my knee isn’t 100%. Some days are better than others, but I realized it’s worse if I spend too long sitting. Tell ya the truth, I’m annoyed that my knee still hurts. I’d like to get back to my normal levels of activity or heck, run even more than I was before I took a break. I mean, peddling is better for my joints anyway… I still miss it.

With the Saxenda, I am eating less. My weight hasn’t gone down. I’m not giving up, though. I’ve done this before, and I’ll do it again. As for the food, that beef pho is way too salty to use with the soy sauce I used to marinate the meat. And for ME to say something is too salty is dangerous. That salad seems a bit random, but as I am on a No Spend Month, I haven’t been ordering food. I make do with whatever’s in the house, and if I’m ever tempted to order food, I check my budgeting app and my cumulative debt erases the temptation. It’s just as well. I like to cook and I like to think I make good food.

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