Hey y'all out there, it is about 12 o'clock, just about to begin the last day of August and i am about to head to bed in a little bit but first i am chillin online and watching my turtle Squirt attempt to devour the fish i tossed into his tank tonight. Apparently like most guys he really enjoys the chase...
Anywho i was kicking around earlier watching some TV and some videos on Youtube and i decided that simply i wanted to share a link to a guy's work that i have been watching a lot on Youtube recently, which is the Phillip DeFranco show (i think that is how you spell his name).
What the guy does is search around the internet, find some interesting news, and then shares and talks about it for a little while. He does this in a really funny way, he does a great job of editing his videos together and i just really recommend it, so if it sounds like something you might like to watch, check him out at http://www.youtube.com/user/sxephil
And of course i intended this to be a short little post but that seems to have failed because Youtube recommended a video featuring a Jason Mraz song which really puts me in the mood to reminisce about this past summer and talk a bit about the up coming year. Basically i am saying if you want to avoid the sappy emotional crap i am about to talk about then stop reading here.
OK so if you know me at all you know that while i technically considered moving into residence at university moving out and didn't experience the whole wanting to go home thing that most people did, this summer was technically when i got my own space where i was allowed to do things like *gasp!* poke holes in the walls! So as such this summer has been a time when i have grown up a lot.
That notion right there freaks me the fuck out, i have always been someone who people think of as mature, hell i think of myself as mature, but this summer i grew up a lot and it terrifies me to think about all the other growing left for me to do. I like being a kid but at the same time i will be twenty one in less than a month! I am going into my second year of university!
While a lot of me is really excited about this, excited about the fact that i get to have my own space, i have my own turtle now, i am making decisions about the route my life will take a bunch of me is gibbering in the corner of my mind at the notion that anyone in their right mind is letting ME make these choices... I mean i hardly know how to cook!
But at the same time this summer i have learned a lot about the importance of keeping a space clean, how quickly food goes, the effort it takes to keep a place looking nice, and how nice it must be to go home to a house that doesn't have cats in it.
As well i worked at a new job this summer, i got to be a server and for a couple minutes i even got to be a bartender! I've met a few new people this summer and keep having these wonderful moments in conversations with people where i learn something new about myself. That of course was something i thought about myself in addition to being mature i thought i knew myself but i guess not as well as i thought... i think i should type thought one more time...
And this leads to the final thing that happened this summer that i want to talk about, and that thing is a person. That thing is my girlfriend. She is this amazing strong beautiful person who is so very different from everyone else i have ever met. And of course it just happens that she also lives a good nine hours away so i have hardly spent any time with her physically even though i have spent hours on the phone with her.
We both noticed the same thing... we both realized that we missed each other before we had even spent time together because we simply... well on my half at least she had become one of the people who knows me at least as well as i know myself. To be honest those people number on one hand.
She is a very important part of my life, very special to me, i like her a lot, and yet more than half of the time since we started dating has been spent 9 hours apart. I'm not someone who tends to like people this way often. I tend to be picky. And so i spend a lot of time talking to her on the phone, why? Because i haven't had near enough time with her.
Its the last day of August and in my mind it can't go fast enough because i want her here right now. Your task for this day is to find someone special to you and let them know all of how you feel, be as open as you can. Let them in and hope they don't hurt you.
30.8.10
29.8.10
To Tea or not To Tea?
Ok kids, news on MWBN is that i have massively failed in getting chapters one to five written by today, as such i am giving myself 4 weeks to write it. Hopefully this will be enough time but i dunno if it shall.
Anywho this means that i need something to write about on here because that is simply depressing.
So, while i started writing this post several days ago i failed to come up with any sort of topic that i wanted to write about, until now. And what is this brilliant idea which has been on simmer for a couple days until several moments ago finally reached a wonderful boil? Tea.
Yep, i am about to write out a blog post about tea. Why? Well lately i have been feeling continually fried and creatively drained. Why is this? Well at first i blamed it on a lack of time living and more of a time observing but it wasn't until two of my roommates moved in that i realized i also had stopped drinking as much tea as i used to.
This honestly makes me think about a conversation i had with a good friend a long time ago. I had just got interested in Buddhism and the notion of enlightenment. Frankly it seemed like such a cool idea that i announced to the world that enlightenment would be my quest. I would seek it out and distance myself from material possessions and caring of such physical things. Needless to say that failed (though for the most part my clothes remained unchanged except for the free stuff i was given, to those who like the changes now occurring in my wardrobe a thank you is owed to the new girlfriend).
Anywho off the random tangent and back onto the notion about this lovely liquid which is prepared with boiling water. What did my friend respond with? Some wise crack about the possibility of ME being enlightened? Something in support? No. He asked if i would be drinking a lot of tea.
It took till now for me to realize how good an idea that would have been back then. Tea... well let me quote a book by Rob Thurman here... oh fuck i can't, that book is still out on loan, person who has my copy of Nightlife can you please look up the quote Cal says about Niko and tea after he is hypnotized? If you could past it into the comments it would be greatly appreciated.
Anywho tea is a wonderful way to get some caffeine (but not too much!), a few anti-oxidants, and some great flavor. Plus in the case of green tea it slightly raises your body temp which burns some extra calories. If you do some research into types of tea you can in general find something which gives you something missing from your diet and skip out on all the juices instead.
Basically my tip to you is take some time, go to a tea store and smell them all. Maybe not all of them, but if you have a flavor like say lemon that you like you can go and smell the lemon ones. Pick a couple, buy them, and spend some time trying them. Some you will love, some not so much. But in doing so you will bring a little change into your life, and face it, we could all use a little.
Anywho this means that i need something to write about on here because that is simply depressing.
So, while i started writing this post several days ago i failed to come up with any sort of topic that i wanted to write about, until now. And what is this brilliant idea which has been on simmer for a couple days until several moments ago finally reached a wonderful boil? Tea.
Yep, i am about to write out a blog post about tea. Why? Well lately i have been feeling continually fried and creatively drained. Why is this? Well at first i blamed it on a lack of time living and more of a time observing but it wasn't until two of my roommates moved in that i realized i also had stopped drinking as much tea as i used to.
This honestly makes me think about a conversation i had with a good friend a long time ago. I had just got interested in Buddhism and the notion of enlightenment. Frankly it seemed like such a cool idea that i announced to the world that enlightenment would be my quest. I would seek it out and distance myself from material possessions and caring of such physical things. Needless to say that failed (though for the most part my clothes remained unchanged except for the free stuff i was given, to those who like the changes now occurring in my wardrobe a thank you is owed to the new girlfriend).
Anywho off the random tangent and back onto the notion about this lovely liquid which is prepared with boiling water. What did my friend respond with? Some wise crack about the possibility of ME being enlightened? Something in support? No. He asked if i would be drinking a lot of tea.
It took till now for me to realize how good an idea that would have been back then. Tea... well let me quote a book by Rob Thurman here... oh fuck i can't, that book is still out on loan, person who has my copy of Nightlife can you please look up the quote Cal says about Niko and tea after he is hypnotized? If you could past it into the comments it would be greatly appreciated.
Anywho tea is a wonderful way to get some caffeine (but not too much!), a few anti-oxidants, and some great flavor. Plus in the case of green tea it slightly raises your body temp which burns some extra calories. If you do some research into types of tea you can in general find something which gives you something missing from your diet and skip out on all the juices instead.
Basically my tip to you is take some time, go to a tea store and smell them all. Maybe not all of them, but if you have a flavor like say lemon that you like you can go and smell the lemon ones. Pick a couple, buy them, and spend some time trying them. Some you will love, some not so much. But in doing so you will bring a little change into your life, and face it, we could all use a little.
26.8.10
A Look at a Dream
Hey kids, how goes it all out there? I am going to write about a movie that for the love of god i hope you all have watched already. If you haven't go see it, NOW! The movie i am talking about is Inception, just in case you hadn't guessed.
Now if you happen to be one of the six people in this country who hasn't seen Inception yet then stop reading right now and go see it. By doing this you make life easier on me and harder on yourself.
Yes you will, why? Cause this movie is gonna fuck with your head. Why? I honestly have no clue, did it fuck with mine the first and only time i saw it? No. I found the movie uncomplicated and kinda simple. I know. Inception. Uncomplicated. WTF right?
It was the first movie i have seen in a long time where i called damn near everything. To be fair that's because normally i expect these movies to be a little more complicated than they actually are so Inception being predicted by me just means that it is more complex than the average movie.
Now why do i think Inception fucks with people's heads more than the average movie? Mainly because of the subject matter. See like the awesome movies of the past it deals with what is real and what is fiction? It begs the question that started oh so long ago with one of my least favorite philosophers Descartes which is how do we know it all isn't a dream?
When it comes down to it there have been many movies that express this idea, one of the first ones i heard of was The Matrix. Another one would be the lesser known but equally awesome movie Waking Life. A truly great example that in a way quite nicely paralleled Inception would be The Nines which stars Ryan Reynolds.
What makes Inception such a great example of this type of movie is that while the overall plot of the movie is great there is no giant jumps in the plot that completely shake things up. Instead each step is logically spelled out while the movie follows the same sort of settings as Jason Bourne movies or the number of different movies which have followed in its "globe trotting, exploding action fest" of different locations.
Inception takes this way of jumping from location to location and gives it a somewhat quasi logic to why it goes from place to place, and presents reasons for why things happen the way they do. At the same time Inception offers complete and total control of an area (the dream) where whatever idea you want to implement is possible. It also opens up the notion of becoming addicted to it (note the people who couldn't dream anymore). Now there are probably more things that it links into, common themes that most people can relate to which is why the movie draws people in so well. The final one of these that comes to my mind is the cliche of the distant father figure and the hope to be reunited.
As well look into where the entire fracking movie takes place. In a dream. Dreams continue to be one of the many mysteries which modern psychology cannot explain in a reasonable enough fashion and so it is like sailing into the Bermuda triangle or traveling to another planet. Anything becomes possible there.
Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing against the rules with using a number of different tools to manipulate the way that people act and think. There is nothing wrong with a movie manipulating your emotions. That's what they are there to do. But at the same time when you sit down and think about Inception, maybe read a little basic psych, you should be able to see most if not all of the twists and turns coming.
Now if you happen to be one of the six people in this country who hasn't seen Inception yet then stop reading right now and go see it. By doing this you make life easier on me and harder on yourself.
Yes you will, why? Cause this movie is gonna fuck with your head. Why? I honestly have no clue, did it fuck with mine the first and only time i saw it? No. I found the movie uncomplicated and kinda simple. I know. Inception. Uncomplicated. WTF right?
It was the first movie i have seen in a long time where i called damn near everything. To be fair that's because normally i expect these movies to be a little more complicated than they actually are so Inception being predicted by me just means that it is more complex than the average movie.
Now why do i think Inception fucks with people's heads more than the average movie? Mainly because of the subject matter. See like the awesome movies of the past it deals with what is real and what is fiction? It begs the question that started oh so long ago with one of my least favorite philosophers Descartes which is how do we know it all isn't a dream?
When it comes down to it there have been many movies that express this idea, one of the first ones i heard of was The Matrix. Another one would be the lesser known but equally awesome movie Waking Life. A truly great example that in a way quite nicely paralleled Inception would be The Nines which stars Ryan Reynolds.
What makes Inception such a great example of this type of movie is that while the overall plot of the movie is great there is no giant jumps in the plot that completely shake things up. Instead each step is logically spelled out while the movie follows the same sort of settings as Jason Bourne movies or the number of different movies which have followed in its "globe trotting, exploding action fest" of different locations.
Inception takes this way of jumping from location to location and gives it a somewhat quasi logic to why it goes from place to place, and presents reasons for why things happen the way they do. At the same time Inception offers complete and total control of an area (the dream) where whatever idea you want to implement is possible. It also opens up the notion of becoming addicted to it (note the people who couldn't dream anymore). Now there are probably more things that it links into, common themes that most people can relate to which is why the movie draws people in so well. The final one of these that comes to my mind is the cliche of the distant father figure and the hope to be reunited.
As well look into where the entire fracking movie takes place. In a dream. Dreams continue to be one of the many mysteries which modern psychology cannot explain in a reasonable enough fashion and so it is like sailing into the Bermuda triangle or traveling to another planet. Anything becomes possible there.
Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing against the rules with using a number of different tools to manipulate the way that people act and think. There is nothing wrong with a movie manipulating your emotions. That's what they are there to do. But at the same time when you sit down and think about Inception, maybe read a little basic psych, you should be able to see most if not all of the twists and turns coming.
21.8.10
Back Yet Again
Hey y'all, long time to blog eh? The last one was published on the 7th of August and here i am starting the next one on the 21st, time flies eh?
But how to get back on the proverbial blogging horse... Well how about i talk about the time i took off from writing in every way shape and form and see where that takes me? Yes you whiners, another post about writing, deal with it!
See i was writing quite a large amount, well a large amount to go from zero to whatever it was. Because of this i was feel a bit of burn out and needed a break. I tried to force myself to keep writing but it wouldn't work and then i had a guest for a week and i didn't have time to write anything so instead i was a person who was living there life.
I get the feeling that most people wont understand what i mean by that so let me explain. I have a friend who is also a writer and a Christan told me an idea she had, an image of me she saw in a dream. What she saw was me suffering intensely from a form of writer's block because i had placed myself in the moment, i had lived my life to experience each moment rather than for God and because of this i didn't have enough of myself inside myself to keep writing.
Was this why i couldn't write for a while? Why i need a break of several weeks where i quit blogging and quit writing in my journal?
No, rather i quit doing these things because i hadn't experienced enough life, i had lacked things which stirred my passions and made me feel the urge to write things down. The notion that in order to write people need to shut themselves away, that they need to control their passions and focus themselves.
It reminds me of a book about authors that i read recently which talked about one writer who started drinking because he thought that writers drank to aid the creative process. The creator of the book said instead writers drink to deal with the loneliness of their work.
That i think was the problem, i was focusing too much on the work and the process and not enough on the life that creates the passion for the work. That's what i needed and that is why i didn't write anything for a while.
So that is my message for now, don't think that being creative comes without going and living in the world. Creativity isn't something that comes in an ivory tower surrounded by beauty, rather it is from those moments when the beauty and profanity of the world are side by side and you can see something to truly needed to be written about.
But how to get back on the proverbial blogging horse... Well how about i talk about the time i took off from writing in every way shape and form and see where that takes me? Yes you whiners, another post about writing, deal with it!
See i was writing quite a large amount, well a large amount to go from zero to whatever it was. Because of this i was feel a bit of burn out and needed a break. I tried to force myself to keep writing but it wouldn't work and then i had a guest for a week and i didn't have time to write anything so instead i was a person who was living there life.
I get the feeling that most people wont understand what i mean by that so let me explain. I have a friend who is also a writer and a Christan told me an idea she had, an image of me she saw in a dream. What she saw was me suffering intensely from a form of writer's block because i had placed myself in the moment, i had lived my life to experience each moment rather than for God and because of this i didn't have enough of myself inside myself to keep writing.
Was this why i couldn't write for a while? Why i need a break of several weeks where i quit blogging and quit writing in my journal?
No, rather i quit doing these things because i hadn't experienced enough life, i had lacked things which stirred my passions and made me feel the urge to write things down. The notion that in order to write people need to shut themselves away, that they need to control their passions and focus themselves.
It reminds me of a book about authors that i read recently which talked about one writer who started drinking because he thought that writers drank to aid the creative process. The creator of the book said instead writers drink to deal with the loneliness of their work.
That i think was the problem, i was focusing too much on the work and the process and not enough on the life that creates the passion for the work. That's what i needed and that is why i didn't write anything for a while.
So that is my message for now, don't think that being creative comes without going and living in the world. Creativity isn't something that comes in an ivory tower surrounded by beauty, rather it is from those moments when the beauty and profanity of the world are side by side and you can see something to truly needed to be written about.
7.8.10
Writing
So i am going to write out this post tonight listening to the Barenaked Ladies on my ipod, if it makes no sense i blame them.
What am i going to rant about tonight? What topic shall i use my self-righteousness on? Well considering my ongoing dream to actually be a writer, i think i will write about what writing means to me. Writing about writing, i know, like masturbating to masturbation but oh well, my blog my rules!
See for me writing is nothing grand or divine, nothing spiritual, nothing special, it is nothing more than the person who wrote it. This of course means that to me writing is nothing but divine, spiritual, and special. Confused? Probably not, more just irritated at me for writing that, well no worries i am too.
Why would i write it then? Because it is true. Writing is in and of itself no more important or special than white paint thrown on a white canvas and called art. Well... ok, maybe it is more. After all, most people write in black ink on white paper. But woot woot, we use one more shade! That doesn't make writing special, and that's why it isn't, just like art for art's sake is utter bull.
But if that art is for your sake, for something inside you that demands to be expressed then it really doesn't matter what anyone other than you thinks of it. That right there is half of the challenge, that art that exists only for its own sake doesn't often go out into the world and seek to be recognized.
I know, that in and of itself makes all of my writing here pointless and worthless. Yes, i send it out into the world, but i also don't censor it, i don't edit again and again. Each of these posts is a free fall writing exercise. I don't plan it, and other than using Firefox's spell-check i don't edit.
To me writing can be one of two things, it can exist to simply be a creation for its own sake, which is what i do in two books i bought at Chapters that i write in, and in them i write my own far more personal thoughts and ideas. The things i write there i let no one else read. That is my art for art's sake.
Sadly that doesn't pay the bills (though neither does this blog), so i write other things in the hopes of one day becoming someone published who can be lucky enough to support themselves and perhaps even a family from simply writing books.
I think writing is something very personal, something which each person decides to do or to not do for their own reasons. I think it is something where no matter how many different people look at it, the only one who can really see all the depths is the original writer. And i think those who actually got enough balls to put something out there can most likely take the criticism we throw at them, but like the quotes say we also need to recognize that their work is worth more than all of the criticism in the world put together.
What am i going to rant about tonight? What topic shall i use my self-righteousness on? Well considering my ongoing dream to actually be a writer, i think i will write about what writing means to me. Writing about writing, i know, like masturbating to masturbation but oh well, my blog my rules!
See for me writing is nothing grand or divine, nothing spiritual, nothing special, it is nothing more than the person who wrote it. This of course means that to me writing is nothing but divine, spiritual, and special. Confused? Probably not, more just irritated at me for writing that, well no worries i am too.
Why would i write it then? Because it is true. Writing is in and of itself no more important or special than white paint thrown on a white canvas and called art. Well... ok, maybe it is more. After all, most people write in black ink on white paper. But woot woot, we use one more shade! That doesn't make writing special, and that's why it isn't, just like art for art's sake is utter bull.
But if that art is for your sake, for something inside you that demands to be expressed then it really doesn't matter what anyone other than you thinks of it. That right there is half of the challenge, that art that exists only for its own sake doesn't often go out into the world and seek to be recognized.
I know, that in and of itself makes all of my writing here pointless and worthless. Yes, i send it out into the world, but i also don't censor it, i don't edit again and again. Each of these posts is a free fall writing exercise. I don't plan it, and other than using Firefox's spell-check i don't edit.
To me writing can be one of two things, it can exist to simply be a creation for its own sake, which is what i do in two books i bought at Chapters that i write in, and in them i write my own far more personal thoughts and ideas. The things i write there i let no one else read. That is my art for art's sake.
Sadly that doesn't pay the bills (though neither does this blog), so i write other things in the hopes of one day becoming someone published who can be lucky enough to support themselves and perhaps even a family from simply writing books.
I think writing is something very personal, something which each person decides to do or to not do for their own reasons. I think it is something where no matter how many different people look at it, the only one who can really see all the depths is the original writer. And i think those who actually got enough balls to put something out there can most likely take the criticism we throw at them, but like the quotes say we also need to recognize that their work is worth more than all of the criticism in the world put together.
6.8.10
People and Booze
So i was having a conversation with a girl i have gotten to know quite well recently and she said something, of which now escapes me, but the substance of it has been beating around the inside of my head kinda demanding for me to write it into a blog post, so for those of you who have missed these rants, enjoy!
See what she said was something about knowing people. Or it was about how people have layers. Or it was about how people are always changing. No! It was about how you can never truly know someone.
Don't you dare start protesting what i am saying! You need to let me finish first then you can comment if your little heart so desires.
Anywho now for me to get all into bartender mode (that's right, i have a bartender mode, its where i become all snobby about drinks).
The only thing that really has held my interest consistently other than writing would be the notion of myself as a bartender. Why? I don't know but i know that at least part of it goes to my conservative side (yes i have one of those two) which loves the putting things in order and each piece belonging to a greater whole. It also appeals to my creative side (yes i know you all know i have one of those) in that i get to mix whatever i have at my disposal and create something new and (hopefully) wonderful. A game i like to play with myself is to sit at a bar with a beer or something equally simple and toy around with what i think would mix well with what other things the bartender has at their disposal. Yes, i am a booze nerd.
But back to writing about Bartender Mode! See one thing that bugs me is mixing a drink with the intention of creating a combination similar to something that you want to have, but then calling it by the same name. Like for example, if it is a layered shot and you mix it all together because that is easier, it doesn't get the same name. If you have to mix two things together to get the same flavor fine, but if it is only close to the same flavor and one of 5 different ingredients you have to do that with it doesn't get the same name. See the snob?
Anywho, despite this i am not a snob when it comes to classic drinks like whiskey (also known as whisky, or Scotch depending where it is made) or wine (i like the cheap stuff!). This is a total lack of appreciation to what most... well i want to say connoisseurs or good drinkers or good bartenders tend to enjoy.
Does that mean i am a bad bartender? Fuck no. It means i lack experience and my liver is still in relatively good shape. Am i on my way to getting there? Well i like beer, and before this summer that was a lie.
Anywho when it comes to all those fancy drinks you think about the interplay of flavors and the complexity of it. To me it just burns, but to me beer was just bland before this summer so who knows what is to come?
I know, i know, you all are sitting there going "but what does this have to do with the beginning?"
Simple, just like i didn't like beer because i hadn't drank enough also reflects the way people treat each other. Often we don't have the tolerance for others that we need to, simply because we haven't spent enough time around them. Or by focusing on one type and getting to know its complexities and no others you might miss out on the subtle differences that you only see by comparing.
In movies and TV shows there is often the bottle of some kind of booze which is saved for a special occasion. How often do we treat our friends like that? Cherishing them and sharing them?
See what she said was something about knowing people. Or it was about how people have layers. Or it was about how people are always changing. No! It was about how you can never truly know someone.
Don't you dare start protesting what i am saying! You need to let me finish first then you can comment if your little heart so desires.
Anywho now for me to get all into bartender mode (that's right, i have a bartender mode, its where i become all snobby about drinks).
The only thing that really has held my interest consistently other than writing would be the notion of myself as a bartender. Why? I don't know but i know that at least part of it goes to my conservative side (yes i have one of those two) which loves the putting things in order and each piece belonging to a greater whole. It also appeals to my creative side (yes i know you all know i have one of those) in that i get to mix whatever i have at my disposal and create something new and (hopefully) wonderful. A game i like to play with myself is to sit at a bar with a beer or something equally simple and toy around with what i think would mix well with what other things the bartender has at their disposal. Yes, i am a booze nerd.
But back to writing about Bartender Mode! See one thing that bugs me is mixing a drink with the intention of creating a combination similar to something that you want to have, but then calling it by the same name. Like for example, if it is a layered shot and you mix it all together because that is easier, it doesn't get the same name. If you have to mix two things together to get the same flavor fine, but if it is only close to the same flavor and one of 5 different ingredients you have to do that with it doesn't get the same name. See the snob?
Anywho, despite this i am not a snob when it comes to classic drinks like whiskey (also known as whisky, or Scotch depending where it is made) or wine (i like the cheap stuff!). This is a total lack of appreciation to what most... well i want to say connoisseurs or good drinkers or good bartenders tend to enjoy.
Does that mean i am a bad bartender? Fuck no. It means i lack experience and my liver is still in relatively good shape. Am i on my way to getting there? Well i like beer, and before this summer that was a lie.
Anywho when it comes to all those fancy drinks you think about the interplay of flavors and the complexity of it. To me it just burns, but to me beer was just bland before this summer so who knows what is to come?
I know, i know, you all are sitting there going "but what does this have to do with the beginning?"
Simple, just like i didn't like beer because i hadn't drank enough also reflects the way people treat each other. Often we don't have the tolerance for others that we need to, simply because we haven't spent enough time around them. Or by focusing on one type and getting to know its complexities and no others you might miss out on the subtle differences that you only see by comparing.
In movies and TV shows there is often the bottle of some kind of booze which is saved for a special occasion. How often do we treat our friends like that? Cherishing them and sharing them?
1.8.10
Update
What to write about what to write about? That is my current question. Anybody got an answer? I didn't really think so. That is kinda the frustrating part of being a writer, and now looking at it as a career it seems to get even worse.
See unlike with other jobs there is no way for someone to cover for me. I have to do my work here, true i could get someone to say, post a guest blog. But for that to work i kinda need a constant theme here instead of just "i am saying what i feel like saying".
It amuses as someone who considers himself always a full time student and also a full time slacker i am drawn to a job where the only person who can do the work is me and i cannot be a slacker or else. I would actually need to do my work, need to focus on it. And the question i keep asking is "can i really do that?", i keep trying to take my own measure but the fact is i don't know.
I mean look at MWBN, i want to have five chapters finished and ready to edit by the end of this month. I have yet to finish one, though without summer courses i defiantly have a lot more time. The question is how will i put it to use? There are a lot of things i need to take care of, and you all will get to hear about
See unlike with other jobs there is no way for someone to cover for me. I have to do my work here, true i could get someone to say, post a guest blog. But for that to work i kinda need a constant theme here instead of just "i am saying what i feel like saying".
It amuses as someone who considers himself always a full time student and also a full time slacker i am drawn to a job where the only person who can do the work is me and i cannot be a slacker or else. I would actually need to do my work, need to focus on it. And the question i keep asking is "can i really do that?", i keep trying to take my own measure but the fact is i don't know.
I mean look at MWBN, i want to have five chapters finished and ready to edit by the end of this month. I have yet to finish one, though without summer courses i defiantly have a lot more time. The question is how will i put it to use? There are a lot of things i need to take care of, and you all will get to hear about
Read em Once
Alright here it is, my second post today, all about the books which you love but only ever really read once instead of reading over and over and over until you can recite them word for word.
Something tells me this may be a painful post to write, i dunno why but it is simply a gut feeling so be warned, there may be real emotion in this thing somewhere.
Have you ever heard a song, looked at a painting, seen a movie, or read a book and it changed your life? Have you ever had one of those lovely moments where the entire universe in all its glory is explained to you? Or perhaps you have experienced the smaller version, where something in one of these pieces of art that offers a view of the world resonates within you and you find yourself suddenly understand yourself a little better.
An example of this i can offer is something that comes up often in the series entitled The Dresden Files which is authored by Jim Butcher. It follows a wizard named Harry Dresden (note the name!) as he has adventures in modern day society and, to quote the book, "Does what he can to hold a torch up to the darkness".
Interesting quote isn't it? This is the point where my ego screams that in a way this is what i am trying to do with this blog. Offer up my little nuggets of whatever wisdom i have had the chance to piece together in my relatively short life. It isn't anywhere near the most i could do, but it is what i am prepared to do now as i work towards being a better person.
Anywho away from that tangent. The thing with the Dresden Files is the one thing which gets pounded into the reader over and over is essentially that the choices you make shape the person you are. That is the main idea which spoke to me. So i read those books over and over, i tend to go through at least the first 3 books at some point during a year and remind myself of that.
But there are other books i have read, after all i always need to be reading something or i feel incomplete. I have read books from the library, read books from stores, borrowed books from friends. I have devoured them ever single chance i get. And in doing so i have learned from them.
But something else happens when i read (and i know it happens to at least most if not all of you too but this space is, as i said before, about me!), i get emotionally involved with what happens. I worry about the characters the same way i worry about people in my real life. I care about them the same way i do in real life.
Hell one of the things that bugged me the most about the Harry Potter books was that if Harry had been a real person after the 5th book i wouldn't have talked to him. Not cause of the stupid slander that rained down on his head but rather because of the fact that he was such a prick to the people who actually cared. It was the sudden shift that was the first thing that started fucking with my love of those books.
And yet again i find myself on a tangent! Back to the point dude! To use a better example just this past week i finished reading the book Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, and i gotta say it was brilliant. It works to display the way that freedoms can be removed in modern society because of the fear of terrorists, and shows of way to resit. It most importantly though showed that there really was no point in the defenses that were offered, instead there would need to be better thought out plans which were not being adopted.
Yes, i recommend this book to all of you to read, though there are a few people i know that i specifically have told that they should read it because i think it will appeal to them more than most others.
Despite how much i loved this book i will never buy it. Why? Because i buy books i will read again and again. This one i don't know if i will. It was brilliant and moving and appealed to so much of who i am. The problem was it also made me feel a kind of rage throughout most of it. An anger directed towards ignorance.
A different book which i also loved and bought is called Sacrament and was written by Clive Barker. A truly well written book that offers up a notion of a world that we think we understand but then realize all we currently see is the surface. It really was a wonderfully moving book that i own and maintains an important place on my bookshelf but i doubt i will ever read it more than perhaps 3 times in my lifetime.
Why? Simply that it was too moving, and though it taught me about myself it taught lessons that were painful enough i don't really want to relive them. It captured me the first time, i don't know if it could manage it the second time through and i don't want to try. I still recommend it to people but i find that i can't read it myself again.
This brings me to the point of this post. If you have ever talked to me or read anything that i have posted here before you know i hold both Harry Potter and Twilight in disdain because of the quaility of their writing, well this is me saying that i am going to try and maintain the "if you have nothing nice to say, then say nothing at all."
That is correct, i am going to try and stop insulting those books. You all have no idea how painful this will be for me. Still, they have become a source of negativity for me and so it is time to remove them and move on.
Besides, maybe someone else will read them and learn something that otherwise they wouldn't have, and who am i to stop that? I can't even drink in Vegas yet...
What are books that you have read and never will again? What lessons did they teach you?
Something tells me this may be a painful post to write, i dunno why but it is simply a gut feeling so be warned, there may be real emotion in this thing somewhere.
Have you ever heard a song, looked at a painting, seen a movie, or read a book and it changed your life? Have you ever had one of those lovely moments where the entire universe in all its glory is explained to you? Or perhaps you have experienced the smaller version, where something in one of these pieces of art that offers a view of the world resonates within you and you find yourself suddenly understand yourself a little better.
An example of this i can offer is something that comes up often in the series entitled The Dresden Files which is authored by Jim Butcher. It follows a wizard named Harry Dresden (note the name!) as he has adventures in modern day society and, to quote the book, "Does what he can to hold a torch up to the darkness".
Interesting quote isn't it? This is the point where my ego screams that in a way this is what i am trying to do with this blog. Offer up my little nuggets of whatever wisdom i have had the chance to piece together in my relatively short life. It isn't anywhere near the most i could do, but it is what i am prepared to do now as i work towards being a better person.
Anywho away from that tangent. The thing with the Dresden Files is the one thing which gets pounded into the reader over and over is essentially that the choices you make shape the person you are. That is the main idea which spoke to me. So i read those books over and over, i tend to go through at least the first 3 books at some point during a year and remind myself of that.
But there are other books i have read, after all i always need to be reading something or i feel incomplete. I have read books from the library, read books from stores, borrowed books from friends. I have devoured them ever single chance i get. And in doing so i have learned from them.
But something else happens when i read (and i know it happens to at least most if not all of you too but this space is, as i said before, about me!), i get emotionally involved with what happens. I worry about the characters the same way i worry about people in my real life. I care about them the same way i do in real life.
Hell one of the things that bugged me the most about the Harry Potter books was that if Harry had been a real person after the 5th book i wouldn't have talked to him. Not cause of the stupid slander that rained down on his head but rather because of the fact that he was such a prick to the people who actually cared. It was the sudden shift that was the first thing that started fucking with my love of those books.
And yet again i find myself on a tangent! Back to the point dude! To use a better example just this past week i finished reading the book Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, and i gotta say it was brilliant. It works to display the way that freedoms can be removed in modern society because of the fear of terrorists, and shows of way to resit. It most importantly though showed that there really was no point in the defenses that were offered, instead there would need to be better thought out plans which were not being adopted.
Yes, i recommend this book to all of you to read, though there are a few people i know that i specifically have told that they should read it because i think it will appeal to them more than most others.
Despite how much i loved this book i will never buy it. Why? Because i buy books i will read again and again. This one i don't know if i will. It was brilliant and moving and appealed to so much of who i am. The problem was it also made me feel a kind of rage throughout most of it. An anger directed towards ignorance.
A different book which i also loved and bought is called Sacrament and was written by Clive Barker. A truly well written book that offers up a notion of a world that we think we understand but then realize all we currently see is the surface. It really was a wonderfully moving book that i own and maintains an important place on my bookshelf but i doubt i will ever read it more than perhaps 3 times in my lifetime.
Why? Simply that it was too moving, and though it taught me about myself it taught lessons that were painful enough i don't really want to relive them. It captured me the first time, i don't know if it could manage it the second time through and i don't want to try. I still recommend it to people but i find that i can't read it myself again.
This brings me to the point of this post. If you have ever talked to me or read anything that i have posted here before you know i hold both Harry Potter and Twilight in disdain because of the quaility of their writing, well this is me saying that i am going to try and maintain the "if you have nothing nice to say, then say nothing at all."
That is correct, i am going to try and stop insulting those books. You all have no idea how painful this will be for me. Still, they have become a source of negativity for me and so it is time to remove them and move on.
Besides, maybe someone else will read them and learn something that otherwise they wouldn't have, and who am i to stop that? I can't even drink in Vegas yet...
What are books that you have read and never will again? What lessons did they teach you?
Product Placement, Calling All Wannabe Authors!
Time for a new blog post, after all it is August, and not only that but i have gone home for a couple days which naturally means that the urge to write is something that is nearly devouring my mind. Well the urge to write and a couple other urges... including the urge to bloody well finish a series of books that i started recently when i was killing time in a Chapters in Toronto.
The series of books is called the Night Angel Trilogy (and unlike the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy there are only 3 books). Now i know that sounds like some kind of incredibly cheesy product placement, well that's because it is.
Time for some honesty here without the sarcastic quips. I read quite a lot, but i used to read more. I used to read 2 or 3 books a week, just devour them. The problem being that in reading so many books i developed a taste for them. I decided which ones i would like to read and which i would not. Hardly sounds like a problem, everyone has what they like to read and what they don't, just like they have what they like to eat and they don't.
The problem with gaining such a clear choice on what i liked and what i disliked is that i figured out why i dislike certain things. Due to that dislike i don't read as many books now because i tend to want to savor them and enjoy reading them. I tend to judge other books harsher, and i find less books that i want to read.
This leads to my product placement. Remember how i said i try to savor books? Recently i have been taking weeks to read 300 page books so that i can enjoy every second, and figure out every nuance in the plot. With the Night Angel Trilogy? I am on the third book and it takes me a maximum of three days to finish one of them. Oh, and they are above 700 pages each.
So yes, i am devouring these books at a pace that makes me kind of sad, because they are complex, they are (in my experience so far) unique. And i have never even heard of the author Brent Weeks before. So yes, i am sticking some product placement in here for an author of books that i think are brilliant but i have never heard of before.
And this is my challenge to however many people actually read this blog, tell people you know about books you like, not just the ones like Harry Potter that everyone reads, or War and Peace that scares everyone away and gives you bragging rights. Share the names of authors and books that aren't known that well, and help those writers find their way into the light.
For the comments of this post i would like you all to leaves some names of books that you truly love, books that you can go back and read over and over.
For me those books are:
-The Name of The Wind
-Anything by Mike Gayle
-The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher
-Anything by Rob Thurman
-The Night Angel Trilogy
Give some of them a try. Next Post? Books that you love but only read once.
The series of books is called the Night Angel Trilogy (and unlike the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy there are only 3 books). Now i know that sounds like some kind of incredibly cheesy product placement, well that's because it is.
Time for some honesty here without the sarcastic quips. I read quite a lot, but i used to read more. I used to read 2 or 3 books a week, just devour them. The problem being that in reading so many books i developed a taste for them. I decided which ones i would like to read and which i would not. Hardly sounds like a problem, everyone has what they like to read and what they don't, just like they have what they like to eat and they don't.
The problem with gaining such a clear choice on what i liked and what i disliked is that i figured out why i dislike certain things. Due to that dislike i don't read as many books now because i tend to want to savor them and enjoy reading them. I tend to judge other books harsher, and i find less books that i want to read.
This leads to my product placement. Remember how i said i try to savor books? Recently i have been taking weeks to read 300 page books so that i can enjoy every second, and figure out every nuance in the plot. With the Night Angel Trilogy? I am on the third book and it takes me a maximum of three days to finish one of them. Oh, and they are above 700 pages each.
So yes, i am devouring these books at a pace that makes me kind of sad, because they are complex, they are (in my experience so far) unique. And i have never even heard of the author Brent Weeks before. So yes, i am sticking some product placement in here for an author of books that i think are brilliant but i have never heard of before.
And this is my challenge to however many people actually read this blog, tell people you know about books you like, not just the ones like Harry Potter that everyone reads, or War and Peace that scares everyone away and gives you bragging rights. Share the names of authors and books that aren't known that well, and help those writers find their way into the light.
For the comments of this post i would like you all to leaves some names of books that you truly love, books that you can go back and read over and over.
For me those books are:
-The Name of The Wind
-Anything by Mike Gayle
-The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher
-Anything by Rob Thurman
-The Night Angel Trilogy
Give some of them a try. Next Post? Books that you love but only read once.
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