It’s coming up to that time of year again…

‘Tis the season … for 2021 Halloween Bingo.  The game begins on 1 September but August is the time to request and receive one’s bingo card, and mine arrived this week, and MT brought home the printed card yesterday:

This is Pickachu’s first Halloween Bingo and she was wildly enthusiastic (she tried to steal my card!).  I, however, am still struggling to find my bookish joie de vivre, so this year, I’m aiming for a lower key approach.  No planning, no fancy graphics, no markers; as much as I wish I could tackle these things with the excitement of bingos past, I don’t want to set myself up for failure.  So this year it’ll just be me and my bingo card.  Maybe a modest html table to track my reads.  Maybe.  Reviews will be done here, as I can’t stand being on Goodreads, even though I miss my friends.

 

18 thoughts on “It’s coming up to that time of year again…”

    1. Oh, she really is. And with a sweet little kitten meow that she uses to wrap all of us around that puffy little tail of hers. 🙂

    1. I almost bowed out this year because it feels wrong not to want to do all the fancy planning and stuff, and I feel bad about not jumping into the GR feeds with gusto (all those individual threads just defeat me). But I really enjoy the game and the camaraderie, so I thought maybe if I went back to the beginning, and tried to play as I did that first time, matching whatever I’m already reading with the squares on the card, maybe I’d find it as fun as I used to.

      There are more than a few squares on my card I have no hope of getting without flipping or wilding, or whatever, but if I don’t fill it, I don’t fill it. I have to keep reminding myself: no goals, no goals, no goals. 😀

  1. We miss you, too. But I totally understand your dislike of GR. I’ve not been great at keeping up with my own blog – whatever energy and I time I have had went into updating on GR because it was just easy, but I will make an effort to get back to regular blogging at some point.

    I’m reallylooking forwards to HW bingo but I am going to take a low-key approach, too. As much as I love the game, I know I will also struggle with the restrictions on themes and this year I am not going to force myself to stick to them. If that means fewer squares read, then so be it.

    I love that Pikachu is excited about the card and seems to want to play.
    This is an awesome picture of her.

    1. I admit I was a bit dis-spirited upon finding out one of my books doesn’t fit a square because it’s supernatural (the plagues/diseases one) – it’s not like I have any others that are going to fit it. Then I figured, f*ck it, I’ll read what I want to read and fill the squares I want to fill. It’s not a competition, and it’s not a year with prizes being awarded, so I can play to please myself. And the spell pack will help too (an ingenious solution, really, to the issue of unwanted squares – Moonlight Reader does enough without having to cater to each players likes and dislikes).

      Pickachu was hilarious when MT brought the card home – she kept jumping up and trying to grab it out of my hands. I don’t know if it was the smell of the inks, or just that she thinks everything is a toy, but her enthusiasm was adorable. 🙂

  2. I know you and a few others didn’t like GRs and it makes me angry at BookLikes all over again. Someone said it was working better for them, loading and such, but I still can’t see myself every going back after getting burned so hard and so often by them.
    I’m happy with whatever you put forth! Love Pikachu 🙂

    1. BookLikes has been working really well for me the last few months. I use by bookshelves there almost daily. I’m not posting reviews there simply because I don’t have the energy to post more than one place, so I’m trying to focus on the blog (even though I hate WP). I miss our happy place, though. Those were some golden days. 😀

      Just so you know – I read your blog whenever I see a post. I just can’t comment without logging in with credentials I don’t have, so consider me a frustrated, silent, reader who likes everything you post!

      1. Hearing BLs is working again makes me almost angry, lol. Why couldn’t they get it together?! I finally made a WP account just so I could comment on blogs a couple months ago and then told myself I’d set-up a feed to follow everyone but yeah, time and real life.
        Thanks! It makes me happy to hear that there might be some BLs friends still out there enjoying my food posts 🙂

        1. @Whiskeyinthe Jar – Not just your food posts! I just don’t often have anything to contribute to your book discussion, but I like reading your updates.

  3. I really miss those BL golden days. I get easily overwhelmed by the whole GR individual thread thing too and BL still doesn’t work for me. Sometimes I can see my blog and a few posts on the dash, but I haven’t been able to add to my shelves or create new posts. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

    My reading mojo is still MIA, so my bingo goal this year is to read at least one damn book before it ends. (Provided, of course, that I can finish the book I’m reading for a buddy read that everyone else finished weeks ago. lolsob)

    Yay for Pikachu pictures! I love how she’s so appropriately Halloween colored that she coordinates with the card. I would totally pet her regardless of anaphylactic consequences, so I guess it’s a good thing you and I don’t live in the same neighborhood. XD

  4. Oh geez, yes. One anaphylactic in the house/neighborhood is exciting (in an ‘omg WHERE is the damn ambulance!’ kind of way); two would be …. anxiety inducing. At least MT’s anaphylacis is to bees though; if he were allergic to cats I don’t know which of us would freak out the worst. He spoils these critters rotten. And I didn’t think about it until now, but you’re right, Pickachu’s colors are Halloween appropriate! We just keep dreading this spring when we let her out for the first time in the (enclosed) back garden. She’s coming in at least 1 hour before sundown or else we’ll NEVER find her in the shadows.

    Have you tried accessing your shelves directly via the URL? That’s the way I always got there when the rest of the site was crippled. That would at least give you access to your books. I want BL back so bad, I can’t even describe it. Not only do I miss my people, but I struggle to find books to read now, and the local bookstores just don’t carry my drugs of choice as a general rule. Dymocks in the city isn’t bad, but that requires me leaving the house and going into the CITY. And of course we can’t do that even if I wanted to, because lockdown. For another week.

    My bingo card has 6 squares there’s no way I’ll read anything for, and I spent some time today deciding how to use the spell cards to get around them. But in my current mood, the build-up of suspense that’s usually so fun is not helping me at all. I keep picking up books I’m willing to read and then thinking “oh! that might work for a bingo square, so I can’t start that yet’, and it’s making me a cranky pants. So I’m beginning to think I’ll be lucky to read a single bingo line in 2 months.

    1. I feel ya. I’m inclined to do zero planning. My card has several squares I’d have to scramble to fill, and I just don’t have the energy. And I’m not in a mindset where prescribed reading would motivate me anyway. I’ll be picking books that interest me, and if all else fails I’ll at least fill my “Free” square.

      Re: BL, I’ve tried all the tricks and back doors other people have suggested. I can sometimes get to my shelves via the URL (which is how I get to my blog), but it falls over when I try to add books. I’m starting to wonder if they’ve phased out Windows 7 compatibility (my PC is 10+ years old). 🙁

      1. I won’t say it’s impossible. You can MT could start a Windows-7-forever club. 😀 Although I’d be surprised, as that would imply someone is updating BL enough to make any browser not work.

        1. HAH! Good point. It is a rather far-fetched theory.

          I’m actually in the Windows-7-until-my-old-computer-gives-up club. I’m looking forward to an upgrade, but I’m continually balking at the cost. (A new PC is HOW MUCH?!?! Do you know how many books I could buy for that???)

          1. I’m the same with my work Mac; it’s a late 2013 model, but it still runs the lastest OS, and I love it. The screen is delaminating, and every once in awhile the display flashes digital snow at me, but I look at the prices of new ones of equal build, and just think “hold on baby… just a little while longer!”

Leave a Reply to MurderByDeathCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.