March 2022 Recap

I know I keep saying this at the end of each month, but I am going to keep on doing so. Where has the month gone??? March has been one of the busiest months so far with quite a lot of goings ons in our personal lives. On the 16th Milou and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. We also made the 16th Oi’s birthday as no one knows his actual birth date seeing that he was picked up of the streets when he was around a year old. I got notified by the Dutch authorities that my application for becoming a Dutch citizen was successful and that I can expect an invitation for the ceremony any time now in the next twelve weeks (we are about two and a half weeks into this period now). I got the letter two days before Milou and I celebrated our anniversary so we had quite a few things to celebrate during the eve we went out for dinner. March also meant that its been two years since I last saw South Africa. I haven’t been there since the first lock down hit us. Even though I do miss my family and friends a lot, I am more than happy to say that being adopted by the Dutch community does give me a warm feeling. Soon I shall travel to my motherland as a tourist. Quite a weird thing to feel. But I am happy. 

Rare picture of a happy family.

Blog wise things were also not that busy as work and life took priority over blogging. I have so many book reviews that I still need to get too and I am unsure if I will be able too get to them all as well as having, or knowing what to say about them. I read two aweful books this month as well as a few good ones. I am still struggling to get through Fear to Tread, but I am getting close to the end at least…

Season has started and the amount of online orders we process has more than doubled which means that certain products came back and needs checking a lot more than usual as transport companies we work with make errors, or clients do not like what they bought, or a wooden house that has been standing neglected in the backyard during winter time comes back as the owner does not “feel” like giving it a sanding and re-coating of weather proof paint. Some of our products have a 5-10 year guarantee which means now is the time that I am getting a lot of customer complaints to deal with as people can start going outside again. Needles to say, I am pretty knackered when I get home in the evening… On a positive note, March also saw my first year anniversary of working where I work, so like I said, busy month for me…

Lets look at the posts you might’ve seen or missed during this past month:

Books:

Judge Dredd: Blaze of Glory

This was a weird but fun book in the Judge Dredd universe. Each quirky story had a comedic punchline uttered by Dredd that we would not normally see coming from him. I liked this quite a lot.

The Land Time Forgot – Edgar Rice Burroughs

This pissed me of more than it should’ve. Insta love in WW2 with a promise of Dinosaurs and not delivering in this dated novel, just ground my gears.

Dinocalypse Now – Chuck Wendig

Based of off a boardgame I never heard of and will probably never play as the characters in this were so one dimensional it irritated me into the sixth dimension…

Way of the Houshusband – Kousuke Oono

After all the bad dino books this was a breath of fresh air. I laughed and I loved going through Vol.1. Will be looking out for more of these at some point.

The Rising – Ian Tregillis

Book two in the Alchemy Wars series, it continued the journey of wayward automaton Jaxx on his journey to discover what it means to be free. Alternate History with a great twist and lost of colourful swearing. I am hoping I can finish the third and last book in the series this year.

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

Dorian is quite a profound read. Lots of philosophical questions and utterances in this one, added onto that Wilde’s amazing writing skills that was so far above my pay grade that I was confused and entertained at the same time while the whole while not knowing why. Did Wilde invent Philosophical, psychological horror? 

Metal Monday:

As the world seems to have made peace with the fact that there is a war going on and the best everyone can do is say ‘oh that is bad’, the war is still going on. I do not know if it is going to stop any time soon, but I tried doing my small part by highlighting some Ukrainian bands. I missed last monday as Milou and I were away and I did not schedule posts before that. I will be continuing to share more Metal from the country. Keep strong Ukraine!

1914 – …and a Cross now Marks His Place
IGNEA – Alga
Jinjer – Pisces

New Books:

Got another ten books for my 40K Legends collection. Happy with them so far. I will be continuing my hunt for them till I have all of the first 80. I can try worry about the last twenty later. I lso picked up two more Judge Dredd comics from NetGalley. 

Six more for the Collection…
Six on Sunday
A Dredd-full haul…

Salty’s Corner:

Salty did say he was going to be more active in February,  but with me not being home so much he struggled getting in, his height and the length from the floor to the doorknob being quite a challenge for him. He did, however, try lighten the mood with another of his burning questions posts. 

Salty’s Burning Questions #2

And that was my month all done. I will be working on some reading plans for the rest of the day as well as seeing if I can finish up Fear to Tread. Hope you all have a great day.