October 2025 Accountability Buddy

Wednesday, October 1

30-minute cardio standing abs

Thursday, October 2

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

Friday, October 3

Day off

Saturday, October 4

I'm counting the many many stairs I climbed at the water park and the many hours we spent messing about there.

Sunday, October 5

Day off

Monday, October 6

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

Tuesday, October 7

30-minute fast walking workout with intervals - I am so unmotivated these days. I did this sort of begrudgingly. 

Wednesday, October 8

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime*

30-minute total body tabata (bodyweight) - So little motivation. At some point, I'm going to have to lift a weight. 

Thursday, October 9

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

Friday, October 10

Day off

Saturday, October 11

30-minute morning flow yoga video - I was visiting friends and had some visitors help me get into my Zen state. 

Sunday, October 12

37-minute total body strength - I lifted actual weights!

Monday, October 13 - Tuesday, October 14

Days off

Wednesday, October 15

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minute backchain with weights

Thursday, October 16

30-minute full body flexibility yoga

Friday, October 17

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

35-minute tabata cardio - super sweaty!

Saturday, October 18

35-minute stretch and relax yoga

Sunday, October 19

30-minute sports cardio 

15-minute daily yoga stretch - What an interesting video. The instructor says nothing and transitions between poses are indicated by a bell. I kind of liked it. 

Monday, October 20

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime - The person who runs this wasn't there and no one else was, either, but the room was reserved, so I just did it by myself. 

If you can't predict what song will play if you click this link, you should reevaluate your pop culture consumption. 

Tuesday, October 21

Day off

Wednesday, October 22

30-minute total body workout

10-minute bedtime yoga

Thursday, October 23

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime - No one else was there again. I have a vague recollection about maybe the organizer being on vacation in Costa Rica now that I think about it. Oh, well. I did it. 

Friday, October 24 - Sunday, October 26

Off. I was vaccinated on Friday for so many things and I didn't have it in me. My stats this year are in the tank. *sigh*

Monday, October 27

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime. - Just me and one other person. It is confirmed that the yoga lady is on vacation. 

Tuesday, October 28

45-minute body blast at the community center after work - I've been on hiatus dealing with my leg, but my leg is never going to get better, so I'm back at it. 

If your friends agree to do a foot selfie, take them up on it. 

Wednesday, October 29

Day off

Thursday, October 30

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

Friday, October 31

I spent most of the afternoon hauling my mother's stuff out of a barn and organizing it. Lots of moving around, bending, and wanting to murder my already dead parent. I'm counting this.

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Total: 23/31 (74.2%) of days

Cardio/strength: 11 days
Yoga: 10 days

Short stretch classes at lunchtime: 2 days

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That's too much yoga, but I'm going to take it. My stats for this year are decimated. Oh, well. I'll keep on keeping on, even though the perfectionist in me wants to say fuck it and stop working out this year because I'll never meet my goals.

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Were your workouts successful in October? What exercise is your favorite? 

October 2025 Books

10/6: Sweep in Peace (Innkeeper Chronicles #2) by Ilona Andrews (library ebook, 2015) - This series is joy. Now, in addition to the dog, there's a cat! This one dragged a little in the middle - it turns out I don't much care about intergalactic politics - but I did like it a lot. 4/5 stars

10/12: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (library, 2021) - I didn't love it, but it was a great book club discussion. 3/5 

10/13: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (library audiobook, 1999) - I read this in 2010 and liked it a lot then. I like it less now, but that's because I want to shake every adult in the story and make them pay attention. I think Just Listen handles these themes better, but both books have their place in YA books about rape. 3.5/5 stars

10/21: The Hallmarked Man (Cormoran Strike #8) by Robert Galbraith (library, 2025) - This book was really boring. 2.5/5 stars

10/25: Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke (library, 2025) - Good, fast-paced thriller. I enjoyed this one a lot. 4.5/5 stars

10/26: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami translated by Phillip Gabriel (library audiobook narrated by Ray Porter, 2007) - Memoir about running and writing. Fine, I guess, but there's a lot of talk about body image and running. What did I expect? This one might be on me. 3/5 stars

10/31: Assistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain #1) by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (library audiobook narrated by Em Eldridge, 2023) - Girl stumbles into a new job, only to find out that The Villain is maybe not the bad guy. Fine, fine. Not earthshattering, but absolutely fine. 3/5 stars

Total: 7 books
Average star rating: 3.36/5 stars

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DNF

Silver Bay by Jojo Moyes - We'll never know if this book was actually boring or if I kept falling asleep because I was exhausted. The library took it back before I made it to the halfway point. DNF at 41%. 

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What's the best book you read in October?

CBWC October 2025 - Week Five

It's Cool Blogger Walking Club (CBWC) time. Hosted by Elisabeth, we're trying for ten minutes of intentional movement every day. Let's see how the last week of the month played out.
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Tuesday, October 28
Couple walks with my best canine friend. Here we are practicing not dragging your human up and down the stairs.

Wednesday, October 29

We were test driving cars AGAIN tonight, so I had to run home at lunch to take Hannah out. Can you tell from her face here that she was THRILLED to have to leave her cozy bed in the middle of the day? I mostly wanted a photo of that glorious maple behind her. The maples are some of the last trees to change, which means we always miss leaf pickup, but I don't even care. Look how pretty it is. Ignore the bratty dog. (I just want you to know that in two days that tree went from this to orange to all the leaves on our driveway.)

This doesn't really give you the full creepiness. 

Thursday, October 39

I took a walk with Hannah today in the morning. But nothing was as delightful as how absolutely creepy walking around a foggy campus was this morning. 

Friday, October 31

I am in Michigan dealing with some stuff with my mom's estate. I took an hour and stopped a lovely county park and went for a walk. 

Lessons learned from CBWC this year

One of the goals I made for my October CBWC was to unplug during my walks - either listen to music or nothing during my walks. I ended up just leaving my earbuds at home for a few walks and here's what I learned.

1) I still don't know what Hannah's reacting to. It must be something only she can see, hear, or smell, because when she jumps in the air and looks back at me for reassurance, I can confidently say "it's okay," because whatever it is that has her attention is not bothering me in the least.

2) Our neighborhood is LOUD. There are squirrels, birds, kids playing outside, motors revving, leaf blowers blowing, card doors slamming, dogs barking, and on one memorable occasion, roofs getting professionally vacuumed. 

3) Real talk: I learned that I am not doing well. If left alone to my own thoughts, I am pretty much assured to start crying. I think...I might need to do something about this. 

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How is the time changing impacting your life? Are you as sad as I am about the dark, dark evenings?

CBBC Week Four: The Joy Luck Club, Part IV

Past discussions:
Week One: Part I
Week Two: Part II
Week Three: Part III

Welcome to Week Four of Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) for The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. This week we'll be discussion Part IV. 

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What happened in these chapters?

We begin with a nonsense parable.

Then it's back to An-mei (her mother cut off part of her arm!) and she tells a story about how her mother was the fourth wife of a rich man after being widowed. The second wife gave An-mei a pearl necklace, but it was fake. The second wife was unable to have a child, so when An-mei's mother did give birth, the second wife took the child and raised it as her own. And Rose gets ignored for the rest of the book.

We next switch to Ying-Ying and hear her side of the story about breaking the vase. She does a flashback in which we learn about her past with an arranged marriage to a man who abused and cheated on her. Many years later she married an American and it wasn't until many years later that she told him about her life in China. (Poor Ying-Ying.)

Waverly Tells Lindo that she will blend in so well with the Chinese on her honeymoon that she won’t be allowed to return to America. When Lindo replies that the Chinese will know Waverly is American before she even opens her mouth, Waverly is disappointed. Lindo remembers her early days in the United States, working in a fortune cookie company and meeting Waverly's father and having two sons - Winston (wins ton) and Vincent (win cent). There's a thing about how both Lindo and Waverly have crooked noses and Lindo urges Waverly to get it fixed, but Waverly likes how it makes them look devious.

We finish with June going to China with her father. He reunites with family. She learns about how her mother stuffed her half-sisters shirts with jewelry and money and wrote their names on the back of photos with a message asking their rescuer to care for the babies and bring them to her address when safe again. Unfortunately, their rescuers were never able to find her mother. She meets her half-sisters and they greet her joyfully.

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Hat mentions (why hats?):

small brown felt hat ("Magpies")

tucked into this hat ("Magpies")

foreign men in hats ("Magpies")

I see cat. I see rat. I see hat. ("Double Face")

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Lines of note:

Wearing those clothes, I felt as if I had grown new hands and feet and I would now have to learn to walk in a new way. ("Magpies")

"She makes clouds with one hand, rain with the other." ("Magpies")

I was far more pretty than my daughter, who has country feet and a large nose like her father's. ("Waiting Between the Trees")

When my daughter looks at me, she sees a small old lady. That is because she sees only with her outside eyes. She has no chuming, no inside knowing of things. If she had chuming, she would see a tiger lady. And she would have careful fear. ("Waiting Between the Trees")

She learned these things, but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character. How to obey parents and listen to your mother's mind. How not to show your own thoughts, to put your feelings behind your face so you can take advantage of hidden opportunities. Why easy things are not worth pursuing. How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best. ("Double Face")

I walked up this hill and then I saw a tall building. This was Old St. Mary's. Under the church sing, in  handwritten Chinese characters, someone had added: "A Chinese Ceremony to Save Ghosts from Spiritual Unrest 7 A.M. and 8:30 A.M." I memorized this information in case the authorities asked me where I worshipped my religion. And then I saw another sign across the street. It was painted on the outside of a short building. And I thought to myself, This is where American people worship. ("Double Face")

...I think about all the different ways we leave people in this world. Cheerily waving good-bye to some at airports, knowing we'll never see each other again. Leaving others on the side of the road, hoping that we will.  ("A Pair of Tickets")

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Things I looked up:

famous Shantung sing-song girl ("Magpies") - Sing-song girls, also known as flower girls, is an English-language term for the high class prostitutes in China during the 19th century

The whole watermelon scene in "Waiting Between the Trees." - Turns out kai gwa is a euphemism for taking her virginity. Once I figured this out, it made more sense and the whole scene was even worse to read. 

soups served out of a carved winter melon ("A Pair of Tickets") - Is this a thing?

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Questions to ponder:

1) Please explain the parable to me.

2) The novel begins with the mothers, includes two parts on the daughters, and returns to the mothers in the last part. Why do you think it's structured this way? Why do you think the book has Suyuan die so that her part of the story is told from June's perspective?

3) There are so many heartbreaking birth/childhood stories in this book - Ying-Ying's dead baby, Bing's death, Suyuan's abandoned daughters, An-mei's stolen child - what purpose does this serve in the theme of the mother and daughter relationships? 

4) How much of the communication breakdowns between the women and their daughters was because of culture? How much was generational?

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Last week's homework:

What was your theme last week? Did you pick it up when you were reading?

My theme was color and I think the biggest example of it was white, particularly in "Magpies."

And when I opened that box, all my shame, my fears, they fell away. Inside was a new starch-white dress. It had ruffles at the collar and along the sleeves and six tiers of ruffles for a skirt. The box also contained white stocking, white leather shoes, and an enormous white hair bow, already shaped and ready to be fastened on with two loose ties. 

Later on in the chapter: I looked down at my own white dress covered with grass stains and I felt ashamed.

The white stands for the symbolism of the child An-mei here. She has no idea what she's stepping into by going to her mother's home. Her mother as the fourth wife, bringing shame on to her family. And then the grass stain is her mother's shame. 

There are also the white pearls that the second wife gives An-mei, which we soon learn are fake glass. 

It was interesting to see the parallels here between An-mei and her mother as the story progressed. 

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Upcoming CBBC schedule:

November 10: Wrap up!

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

One of the prompts for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge this year is to read a book about a running club. There is no way I'm going to finish that challenge this year, but I'm still plodding around, thinking maybe I can do most of it. I decided I'd read Haruki Murakami's memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running for this, although if I'm being 100% accurate, it's not really about a running club. Close enough for me. 

I know that this is a beloved memoir and everything I am about to say is going to be blasphemy to a lot of you. 

I didn't like this.

It talks a lot about body image and body shaming. It talks a lot about running.

What, you ask me, did you expect? 

I guess I expected this to be about writing with a little bit about running. Instead it was about running with a little bit about writing. If that's your jam, go ahead and read it. It was not my jam, although I listened to the audiobook and the narrator made it all go down easy. 

3/5 stars

Lines of note:

In every interview I'm asked what's the most important quality a novelist has to have? It's pretty obvious - talent. No matter how much enthusiasm and effort you put into writing, if you totally lack literary talent, you can forget about being a novelist. This is more of a prerequisite than a necessary quality. If you don't have any fuel, even the best car won't run. (timestamp 1:53:18)

What a pep talk. *eyeroll*

Most of what I know about writing I've learned through running every day. These are practical, physical lessons. How much can I push myself? How much rest is appropriate and how much is too much? How far can I take something and still keep it decent and consistent? When does it become narrowminded and inflexible? How much should I be aware of the world outside and how much should I focus on my inner world? To what extent should I be confident in my abilities and when should I start doubting myself? (timestamp 2:01:49)

This was an interesting passage and I wish he'd talked a lot more about these parallels. Unfortunately, this was the meat of it. 

Once when I had a chance to talk with a sales rep from Mizuno he admitted, "our shoes are kind of plain and don't stand out. We stand by our quality but they aren't that attractive." I know what he's trying to say - they have no gimmicks, no sense of style, no catchy slogan, so to the average consumer they have little appeal - the Subaru of the shoe world, in other words. (timestamp 2:16:51)

I have to admit having laughed pretty hard at this. One of the cars that is on our list of potential cars is a Subaru. No one over here is IN LOVE with it, though. It's fine. 

Still the most significant fallout from running the ultramarathon wasn't physical, but mental. What I ended up with was a sense of lethargy and before I knew it, I felt covered by a thin film, something I've since dubbed runner's blues, although the actual feeling of it was closer to a milky white. (timestamp 2:53:18)

WTF does this mean? Milky white? 

Hat mentions (why hats?): 

..take off my hat, which I had on to keep the sun off me. I'd worn the hat to keep my head warm... (timestamp 2:38:41)

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Anyone else read this? Think less of Murakami now that they've read it? I've obliquely mentioned our car search a couple of times in this space - would anyone be interested in a full-length post on our endless search? 

The Hallmarked Man (Cormoran Strike #8) by Robert Galbraith

The Cormoran Strike series

The Cuckoo's Calling
The Silkworm
Career of Evil
Lethal White
Troubled Blood

The Ink Black Heart

The Running Grave

This is the eighth installment of the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith, JK Rowling's pseudonym. In The Hallmarked Man, Robin and Strike attempt to identify a body that was found murdered and dismembered in a silver shop's vault. 

Look, I said this about The Running Grave and I'm going to say this about this one, too. This was a slog. It took me weeks and weeks to read it because it was brutally boring, particularly the middle part. There's no reason for this to be over nine hundred pages unless you like to hear about Strike drinking, vaping, and Robin not dealing with her PTSD.

I thought the Ink Black Heart was brilliant, but it feels like these are just being phoned in now. I don't know if I'll be returning to this series unless someone tells me that something changes in subsequent books. 2.5/5 stars

Lines of note:

...thinking about Robin's defunct Land Rover, now destined for the scrapyard. While not as attached to the car as Robin was, it seemed to somehow mark the end of an era...(page 222)

Have I talked about how we are test driving cars and have been for months now? Part of is that while we both know that our Hyundai is past its prime, but we're unwilling to acknowledge it in the tangible way of trading it in. Our Hyundai was the first major purchase we made together and the thought of sending it to the scrap heap makes me sad.

It was hard to tell whether they disliked each other or were bosom friends; they belonged to the category of Englishman whose love and hated bore almost identical faces. (page 406)

This is what I imagine it's like when I'm with Bestest Friend. Do they love or hate each other?

"I'd imagine it's occurred to you that we've got an unusual number of sex offenders congregating around this crime?" Strike asked Robin...

"You probably won't like my answer to that," said Robin.

"Which is?"
"That men perennially underestimate how many of their fellow men are perverts and predators. You know what they say: 'all women know a rape victim, no man knows a rapist.'" (page 536)

Even the men who think they understand will never know the constant vigilance that is a woman walking around the world. 

Things I looked up:

MOT (page 87 and then again and again) - Acronym for Ministry of Transport, an annual test of vehicle safety, roadworthiness aspects, and exhaust emissions required in the United Kingdom for most vehicles over three years old

shufti (page 104) - a look or reconnoiter, especially a quick one

Dettol (page 104) - a British brand line of products used for disinfection and as an antiseptic

Songye (page 200) -  a Bantu ethnic group from the central Democratic Republic of the Congo. They speak the Songe language

Luba (page 200) - a Bantu ethno-linguistic group indigenous to the south-central region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

joss sticks (page 470 and then more often) - a thin stick consisting of a substance that burns slowly and with a fragrant smell, used as incense 

Gravensteen (page 690) - a medieval castle in the city of Ghent, East Flanders in Belgium. The current castle dates from 1180 and was the residence of the Counts of Flanders until 1353. It was subsequently re-purposed as a court, prison, mint, and even as a cotton factory

Rodolphe Lemoine (page 701) - alías Baron de Koening, Rodolphe Lemoine, Fritz Kolmann, Alberto Colman, Federico Stagni or Von Rosdbel, codename REX, was a spy, con man and hitman in service indistinctly to France and Germany who starred in the time of gunfighting in Barcelona in the period immediately after World War I and played a key role in the decipherment of Enigma

Sidney Reilly (page 701) - a Russian-born secret agent employed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and later by the Foreign Section of the British Secret Service Bureau

Laurel Rose Willson (page 701) - an American con artist and author. She authored books as Lauren Stratford alleging Satanic ritual abuse, and later assumed the guise of a Holocaust survivor as Laura Grabowski. 

ashlar (page 787) - masonry made of large square-cut stones, typically used as a facing on walls of brick or stone

Hat mentions (why hats?):

his ancient fishing hat (page 4)

white chef's coat and hat (page 32)

Ted's two old hats (page 38)

"Wiv 'is beard an' 'is glasses. . . if 'e'd 'ad an 'at, hahaha..." (page 135)

drop-of-the-hat trip to Marrakesh (page 283)

beanie hat (page 402, 591) - I would say hat or beanie, but never both. Here it is used TWICE in that way. 

pale pink hat (page 541)

"He was wearing a hat." (page 553)

top hat (page 685, 686)

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Have you read any of JK Rowling's non-Harry Potter books? Did you know what Gravensteen is?

Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke

Sarah from the podcast Sarah's Bookshelves talked about Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke in her "Summer Circle Back" episode and I was sold. I am not always on the same page as Sarah about all books, but thought I'd give this one a try. 

Katherine Cole was found fleeing the scene of an exclusive private club after four powerful men were poisoned. She's on trial for their murders. But did she do it?

We follow five men in Katherine's life - her childhood friend, her lover, her father, a journalist, and her lawyer - as we investigate what really happened that evening. And what we learn is that no one knows the true Katherine.

I think this is a clever twist on how women are silenced in this world. This story could have been told from her perspective or her mother's perspective, but Cloke made the decision to use men as the device for framing Katherine's life. And it's an interesting way to do it, to be honest. They all have their own biases and frames about what happened and how she would act. 

It's super fast-paced and each of the POVs was distinct, so it was easy to switch from one voice to the next. 

I'd love to discuss the ending with people, too!

4.5/5 stars - A good, interesting mystery if you're into the more psychological side of things than the detective looking for clues.

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Line of note:

It was a superpower you had, choosing what to worry about. It felt like most of the time, you chose nothing. Worries came for me instead, dug themselves into my brain. (page 195)

Things I looked up:

"Great 8" animals of the Great Barrier Reef (page 12) - Giant clam, manta ray, Maori wrasse, clownfish, sharks, whales, turtles, potato cod

cockscomb plant whose flowers looked like brains (page 12) - Cockscomb cultivars have coral or brain-looking blooms that are often large and heavy so they must often be staked. They grow between 12 and 36 inches tall.

Celosia King Coral. Photo credit: Burpee

Hat mentions (why hats?):

tinfoil hat brigade

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Have you ever read a book by Nicci Cloke or her pseudonym Phoebe Locke? Do you like a good psychological thriller?