Reading!

Lately I have been reading more often again. It makes me very happy.

In October I read The Cuckoo's Calling, and that's about it... not much in October.

In November I read The Haunting of Hill House, Texas Gothic, and The Introvert Advantage.

This month, I've read Hyrule Historia, Dume Messiah, and am half-way through Children of Dune, and still have over half of the month left.

So, without further ado, a few brief reviews:

The Cuckoo's Calling is fantastic! I'm not a big mystery guy, but JK's writing style is very well suited for the genre. The book has a fantastic story, well-developed characters, and a strong voice. It's the next logical place for Rowling to go after the casual flop of The Casual Vacancy, however amazing The Casual Vacancy was, it's not what people were wanting from the author of Harry Potter. The Cuckoo's Calling is. (Except I'm sure others were wanting more in Harry's world. Now we wait.) 5/5

The Haunting of Hill House is a great story for Halloween... that I read right after Halloween. The story takes a while to pick up steam, but it was just laying the groundwork for the rest of the story. Its small ensemble of characters are very well developed, particularly Eleanor (who is the lens through which we view most of the story). 4.5/5

Texas Gothic is purely fun. Amy Goodnight was a strong protagonist, and her love interest was definitely in the Mr. Darcy archetype. It was a fun paranormal mystery, and I can't wait to read the sequel (or off-shoot, a story told by one of the secondary characters: Amy's cousin Daisy). 4.5

The Introvert Advantage is a decent book about those of the introvert persuasion. It was good to read about different things that different introverts experience, and recognize a few of the patterns in myself. The book touts itself as telling the reader "How to Thrive in an Extrovert World" on the front cover, and it definitely falls short of that. Good book to learn more about introverts, or see patterns in yourself (and know you're not crazy), but it will not tell you how to "thrive in an extrovert world" as it claims. 4/5

Hyrule Historia is a history about the games in the Legend of Zelda franchise. It is broken up into 3 chunks. First, info about the beginning of the series (the story of which was told in Skyward Sword, the newest installment in the franchise at the time this book was published). Second, the chronological telling of the entire story, which is a phenomenal feat in itself as there are over 20 installments in the series, each fitting in a different area, and a point in which the series deviates into 3 different timelines. Last, character and location sketches from throughout the whole series. This was an amazing book that tells the complete Zelda story (as we know it), but don't read it if you don't mind story spoilers from the series. 5/5

Dune Messiah is the 2nd installment in the Dune series. I absolutely loved the first in the series, and I fear that my appreciation of the first book made the 2nd book pale in comparison. It was still very good, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first book. The pacing is still definitely slow (like the 1st), but it pays off in the end. 4/5

I'm almost exactly half-way through Children of Dune, and enjoying it very much. It's a little better than the 2nd so far. I think that one of my favorite aspects are the excerpts of other "books" at the beginning of each chapter. Each excerpt is taken from a book or speech written by someone in the plot. This same thing is used in the first 2 books in the series as well, but I feel like Herbert really got it down by the 3rd book.

One of my favorites has to be the following, which is still very applicable today. It reads...

Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evolve this pattern. And as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interests of the ruling class--whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy.

In the story, the government is serving the ruling class (of which the protagonists are a part of, though they stand for those not of the ruling class) at the expense of all others. I feel like this same principle is evident in many systems -- governments and otherwise -- today. Those in power promote themselves.

But I digress. It is a great book, which has captured my imagination.

Game Systems

I must admit that I have a weak spot for gaming systems. I love playing them, I love looking at them, but I especially love looking at them when they are fancy editions. "What does that even mean?" you ask? I'm glad you asked, invisible person.

I ordered two special edition gaming consoles this month. One of them was a limited edition from a while ago, and another is a limited edition that comes out on November 22.

The first one is an Xbox 360 that came out last year. I realized that I needed more hard drive space in my Xbox, and started looking for a new hard drive, when I discovered the R2D2 Xbox. It has a 320 gigabyte hard drive, looks like R2D2, makes R2D2 noises, a C3P0 controller, a white kinect, and a Star Wars game.

That's right, it makes R2D2 bleeps and bloops!

The other gaming system comes out on November 22nd. I had wanted to trade Pokemon with myself, and the new Legend of Zelda game comes out for Nintendo 3DS, so it is Zelda-themed. It comes with a copy of the new game (electronic download, not physical copy), and is gold. Even the face is gold. It shines.

Shiny!

Now, while these are both merely pictures of the boxes, my excitement for both is immense.

We will be able to put my first Xbox 360 in the living room, which will look good in that room and enable us to move our DVD player from the living room will move to the bedroom. We haven't been able to watch DVDs in our bedroom without shuffling a DVD player between rooms. The new R2D2 Xbox 360 will go in the study!

The Legend of Zelda 3DS XL and my old 3DS XL will still both be used. I will have different save data and games on each, so both will still be used.

This is why I've been saving my spending money up for a couple months. Worth every penny!

Today was just not my day

Every once in a while you just have a day that won't give you an inch. Today was that day for me.

We had an event for work (main stage music event on Tuesday - VERY successful, main stage theatre event started on Wednesday that I haven't seen yet but still had a very decent bit of prep work, this was the third event), and crazy complications reared their ugly head... yesterday.

Months ago, I cleared with the Office of the Dean of Student Life and building proctors, etc. about having a band in our courtyard. At least 1.5 months, maybe 2. Still, much planning went into having this event in the courtyard of our building. Yesterday we found out that the building doesn't have any AC power outlets. Yesterday.

So we move the event to another space we control, which is (thankfully) free. Free both in availability and price. Massive overhauls are required to make this work, but it works. I'll take it.

The downside is that the new space has a capacity of 72. The faculty host of the event has invited her students from multiple classes... some 600 students. Now, we know that not all are going to show, but many of them need extra credit (this event gets extra credit in her classes).

I laid the groundwork to have the event stream to the monitor outside the small theatre... and found out today after lunch that the person I contacted about that (and the only one who knows how to do this) has left the university. For Dell (a fantastic career move on his part: go Jason!) in Austin. We try to hook a projector up... less than an hour before the event starts. Can you see where I'm going with this? That solution isn't going to work. Now it's 3:30pm (event starts at 5pm).

It doesn't work. Either the camera isn't sending (the bit plug/cable was one significant variable), one of the multiple RCA video cables we have chained is inoperable, a connection is loose (it's not, I checked), or the projector isn't liking the signal, or SOMETHING, but the projector doesn't work. Now it's 5:05. The event has started.

The overflow students (and there were at least 100 of them) have to listen to the band, but can't see anything. We establish an intermission where students switch out.. Leftover students got extra credit for coming and putting in an effort, and  promptly left.

The band was FANTASTIC, and those who get to see them are thrilled. The space worked (for the 72 who could fit), and all is going OK. No one is mad at me (I've tried ridiculously hard to make things work), but I'm still unsatisfied. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and I like things to go well... this event has gone horribly (in my eyes, and pretty objectively as far as I am concerned).

Then I go to my office to pack things up. I pack up my things and get ready to go...

And my keys are locked in my office. I have no way to get into my car, I have no way to get back into the administrative suite, better yet my office. There's no way to get those back until Monday (without calling facilities services on the emergency line, waiting for hours to have them break into the office, and getting my keys out; a coworker and close friend of mine gets in at 7:30 every morning, so I'll be able to get in on Monday, I'll have keys on Monday). I call Alli to see if she can pick me up.

Allison hardly EVER has anything to drink, but tonight she drank a Smirnoff. She doesn't feel ok to drive. So I walked home... luckily I live close.

My lovely wife had dinner prepared for me, and I mixed myself a Margarita. The band from tonight and former guest of the department are playing at Revolutions tonight, and I really want to go... but after the ridiculousness that was this day, I think I'm done. I'm out.

I've been listening to the band from tonight (who was AMAZING live) on Spotify. I highly recommend them. They are both The Invincible Czars and Invincible Czars on Spotify: check their entire discography out for free!

Music Faculty Recital

Last night, the Music Faculty Recital (that I've been helping with for a little while at work) took place.

There were 650 people there, largely due to my publicity. My hard work has been recognized today by my coworkers and supervisors.

It feels good to have a job well done recognized by my peers and supervisors. It truly does.

The venue had 750 seats available, and we filled up 650 seats. Multiple people have mentioned hearing about the event through avenues I've explored with this event. It was a case study... and it worked! Now I know what to do to get people to fill seats.

I think that honestly, more people were there because the end of the semester is near, and they needed extra credit/credit for class. But multiple people said that they saw the event via places I've advertised at that we weren't exercising before. So that feels like a major accomplishment.

And people at work have recognized that my efforts have translated into real people coming to our events. That is worth every bit of effort that I have put into my job. And I work very hard. 

My supervisor recognizes my hard work, but this is the first time that my hard work has gone almost universally acknowledged. It feels good. 

I spoke with my college friend Thomas tonight. He's one of my closest college friends. He and Reed are my closest, but none of us talk much together. I have a bond with them both that's kind of... close, despite a lack of consistent communication.

Every time I talk with them, it's like we continue conversations that we had the last time we spoke, no matter how long ago those were.

It is nearing the witching hour, so I am going to go to sleep. I must be up by 6:30 am tomorrow, because I am slow to warm up in the morning, and must be at work by 8:00 am. 

Reading Lately

On July 31st I began reading the Harry Potter series again.  After I reread the Harry Potter series, I read Dune for the first time!  Now I'm reading The Cuckoo's Calling and The Introvert Advantage. 

Allison got me the fancy leatherbound edition of Dune for our first wedding anniversary!

The new Pokemon games come out on October 12.  I'm hoping to be finished with The Cuckoo's Calling by then.  I'm on page 247 of 455 presently.  I need to read 52 pages a day (and 52 more pages today) to finish on October 11.  Very possible, but more than I have been reading.  Wish me luck!

Lately

Shortly after my previous blog entries, work at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center actually got busier, one of our Assistant Managers (and my friend) left the PCC, and in June I left the PCC too, for the Department of Performance Studies.  I shan't dwell upon the negatives of my work at the PCC: it was a good stepping stone that got me where I am now, and I'm very pleased with my current job.

But starting a new job, while enjoyable and rewarding, is a lot of work.  Learning new processes, becoming acclimated to new people and methods, and a new schedule.

In the hustle and bustle of April at the PCC, finding my new position, and starting my new position, I have neglected to update my personal blog (or any, for that matter).

I hope to continue updating these, it just got swept aside in all of the new, exciting things I've been up to!

Now I'm probably making myself late in my morning routine by writing this, so I must away.  I won't forget about you again, Yea, Verily!

Another idea

Another idea, this one maybe for a series of short stories about the same group of characters:

A subway accident, where all the people die.

Start by introducing the characters, independent characters with their own lives, every now and then intertwining, then in the end, have them all come together on the subway cart that crashes, gets bombed, or something, and they all die together.

Just an idea.

Ideas

I have many ideas for short stories, but frequently when I sit down to write them, the ideas either fly out of my head and I stare blankly at the computer screen, or I begin writing them down and everything on the screen looks all wrong.  To try to combat this very thing, I'm brainstorming a little bit on this, my personal blog, to come up with good short story ideas.

Wires: An IT professional, working on computers and the like, is attacked by the very wires he works with.  Right now it's more of a general idea than a plot of a story, but it's a start.

The Forest: 5 boys are stranded in a forest, and must try to survive.  At the end of the story they are found by a hiking group... less than a mile from civilization.

The Battleground: Another main topic for short stories, about going to the grocery store.  Dressing for battle, dealing with difficult people at the store, etc.

The atmosphere of a ballgame: Just what it sounds like.  Description of the sights, sounds, etc. of a baseball or football game.  Because I like those things.

That's all for now... back to work!

Elmwood Cemetery

Elmwood Cemetery was the kind of cemetery that everyone in the surrounding community of Grapevine wanted to be buried in.  It had many large trees, beautiful ponds, and ornate tombstones, everything which made loved ones actually want to pay respects to the dearly departed.

The picaresque cemetery was surrounded by a large wrought-iron gate that was closed every evening at sundown, and was the only deterrent against the local teenagers that wound occasionally graffiti the larger tombs.  In order to deface the graves, the ruffians would stay within the grounds, dodging the groundskeeper when he made his rounds at the end of each day.

One evening, some such group of teenagers camped within the grounds, waiting silently for the groundskeeper to depart.  Hearing his car fade off into the distance, each of the three emerged from their different hiding places.

"I thought he would never leave," the tallest boy sighed, producing a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and pushing his sandy hair out of his eyes.  After lighting the wilted cigarette, he passed the pack to the second boy, a small boy with a mousy face and jet black hair.

"Thanks, Griff," the smaller boy squeaked, igniting his own cigarette.  "I don't know how longer I could stand laying next to that tomb.  It's creepy."

"Don't be such a wuss, Dex," Griff guffawed.  "You weren't down there half as long as Mark," Griff said, indicating the third boy, of middle height and brown hair.  Dex tossed the pack of cigarettes to Mark, who took the last cigarette out, and crushed the pack.

"Waiting ain't that hard," Mark grunted back, throwing the empty pack onto the ground, walking to a nearby garbage can and removing a large duffle bag from within and setting the bag on the ground.  All three puffed away at their cigarettes while they removed the contents of the bag.

The two shovels from within clinked onto the ground, their sound resonating across the deserted graveyard.  The sound made Dex start, and his eyes began darting across the graveyard.  "Sssshh, someone might hear," he hissed nervously.

"That's why we brought you along," Griff replied, "to keep an eye out, just in case."

"A lot of good I'd be if we wake up the whole neighborhood before we even get started," Dex retorted.

"Shut up, we need to git tew werk," Mark drawled.

Mark and Griff lit two flashlights as they began scouring the graveyard for a particular grave.  "I know she's somewhere around here," Griff muttered.

"Why does it have to be her, anyway?" Dex asked, still cautiously examining the graveyard.

"When I was at the funeral last week, I saw that she was buried with a ton of jewelry.  I know we'll get a lot from her.  The other graves I'm not so sure about," Griff responded, "though looking at the place, I'm sure any old grave would do."

Finding the grave, they all stopped dead in their tracks.  Mark and Griff started digging while Dex looked around the graveyard nervously.  Nothing interrupted the boys as the pile of dirt next to the grave began piling up, but that didn't stop Dex from whispering, "hurry," and "come on," every few minutes.

Finally, the shovels hit the wooden casket, and the boys soon had it cleared and open.

"I didn't know she would stink so bad," Griff said, pinching his nose.  "Dex, throw down the bag, and quick."

Dex threw down the bag for Griff and Mark to fill with the jewelry the corpse was still proudly displaying.  Once the corpse had nothing more to benefit the boys, Griff threw the bag up, followed by the two shovels.

"Gimme a boost, Griff," Mark said, reaching for the top of the grave.  Once he was up, Dex helped him to his feet.

"Okay, now me!" Griff called up, but instead of words, he was met with a thunk, as Mark hit Dex over the head with one of the shovels.  "What was that?" Griff asked, not able to see over the side of the grave, but he soon found out as Dex's limp body was thrown into the grave with him.

"What the hell, Mark?" Griff exclaimed, but the only response he got was the blade of a shovel coming down into the grave.  Griff was lucky enough to evade the first thrust, but Mark soon hit him in the head as well.

With both other boys unconscious, Mark slowly filled the now over-occupied grave more slowly.  Then he placed both shovels back in the duffel bag, hid the bag in the trash again, and waited patiently for dawn.

Birthday Weekend

This Friday was my birthday.  It was an exciting day, filled with lots of events featuring George R. R. Martin.

One of the most interesting bits of the assorted lectures, interviews, and Q&As that I got to listen/participate in involving Mr. Martin was his advice to aspiring writers.  While I sometimes consider myself an aspiring writer, I have been writing less and less, so I payed close attention to his advice, knowing full well that I may not use it while I don't have a product to peddle.

The bit of advice was the importance of networking in the writing world.  When Mr. Martin was breaking ground as a writer, Science Fiction and Fantasy magazines were a big part of the cultural landscape.  And there were a ton of those magazines.

With the advent of the internet, many of those magazines have gone under, or switched to a purely online version.  They just aren't as prevalent or important in the scene as they once were.

But part of this advice was important: many of the writers we now know and love started off writing short stories.  Honing their story-telling writing short stories led to writing novel-length fiction and science fiction/fantasy, which we now all know and love.

I see this elsewhere as well.  I've been reading the Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classic of H. P. Lovecraft's The Complete Fiction for a while now.  So far it's all been short stories, which I love but it takes much longer to get through because you don't carry momentum through the book.  You get into a short story, and then it ends, and you have to get into a new one.  But I digress.  Lovecraft, a household name in the Horror genre of literature, made his name in short fiction, Edgar Allan Poe made his name in short fiction, and George R. R. Martin began his career in short fiction.

This leads me to believe that Short Fiction is a medium in which to hone the craft of storytelling, even if it's not a publishing endeavor.  In the past it was a way to get your name out there via magazines and periodicals, many of which have gone under, and all of which are on the decline.

But what we have now are blogs, forums, and more.  The short stories don't have to get your name out there in the writing world, but they do have to build a portfolio of stories, honing your craft and establishing your voice.

This is something I plan on honing on this blog in the foreseeable future.  I hope you like reading stories, because I plan on posting an increasing amount of short stories in the short future.  Whether anyone reads them is a moot point to me, because more than anything else I want to practice creating a story, and telling it over the medium of writing.

I appreciate any and all criticism, constructive and otherwise.  Another take-away from the George R. R. Martin interview yesterday was that writers learn from rejections.  At an early stage in his career, Ray Bradbury wallpapered his room with rejection slips --which are smaller than normal sheets of paper-- from submitting his writing to magazines and periodicals.  Knowing that your writing isn't quite good enough makes you want to sharpen it to being much better.  Constant praise raises nothing but entitlement and laziness.  My writing has always been met with praise and little criticism, and I think this is one of the things that has made my writing stagnate into nothingness.  And I want to write again, whether it ever gets published or not.

I don't want to be a household writing name, I just want to tell stories that I enjoy.  And I hope you, my friends on the internet, enjoy these stories as well.

Doing Nothing

Today there was a State of the Division Address for the Division of Administration, and my office (all four of us) were in attendance.  The Vice President for Administration was giving the address, and his speech was going great.

Until he froze.  At first I thought that he had lost his place in from his notes, or was trying to collect himself.  Then the silence extended too long for such a pause.  Several people went to him on the stage to try and assist, but most people, myself included, sat in shocked silence.

Dr. McClendon has diabetes, and was having a brief episode.  He recovered fairly quickly, and progressed with his speech.

What struck me most about his episode wasn't his freeze (since it was temporary and he recovered quickly), but how everyone in the audience quickly separated into two groups- the doers and the watchers.  I am ashamed to admit that I was a watcher.

I could attempt to justify myself by noting that there were multiple tables in between me and the stage, people were already up there by the time I realized that it wasn't just a pause, and many other things, but the fact remains.  I did nothing.

I've become a perennial watcher, and a reluctant actor.  And I don't like it.

Books progress.

I finished my reading challenge!  I read over 6,000 pages from October to December.  I felt very accomplished.  

I've decided that 2013 is a year for Sci-Fi and Fantasy.  

I've already finished the third in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series: A Storm of Swords, and am on the fourth installment, A Feast for Crows.  

These, these are what I'm reading.  

Once I finish A Feast for Crows, I'm going to finish catching up on the series by reading A Dance With Dragons, to be ready when the 6th book finally comes out.  Hopefully this decade.  

I think that after that I'll read either Issac Asimov's The Foundation Trilogy, Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles/The Illustrated Man/The Golden Apples of the Sun, or H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction.  Perhaps all three.  

Huzzah.  Look at my goodreads account, I update it lots.  http://www.goodreads.com/j11harms

Rumpkissed Oranges

This morning, I had a tune stuck in my head.  It wasn't a great tune, by any stretch of the imagination, but something I made up in 5th grade.  The tune went as follows...

Rumpkissed oranges, they've been kissed by a rump, yes.
When you eat rumpkissed you know they've been kissed by a rump, yes.  
Rumpkissed.  

Thinking of this tune reminded me of why I penned the stupid ditty to begin with.

I moved to Round Rock in 5th grade, and went from lower middle-class on the social ladder to interesting new kid.  People actually liked me, by and large, at my new school.  Enter Eric Rempkis, I'm not sure if that's how you spelled his name.

This kid was disliked by the entire school because he was weird.  Really weird.  Being considered a little odd myself at my old school, I tried to include him when he was around and we were doing something.  I didn't hate the kid.  Yet.

One day we were playing tag at recess, and I had included Eric in the game.  I'm not sure if he was asthmatic, but he was not very good.  I, on the other hand, was one of the fastest in the grade.  I would sometimes race against the fastest kid in the grade and it was always a close race.  He also always won.

But I digress, Eric was "it," and decided that he wanted to make me his prey.  I was able to avoid all his advances, and eventually Eric got fed up and threw a handful of the playground rocks at me, cutting my face.  I told Eric that I was going to tell on him.  The teacher was likely to find out anyway, since there were tiny cuts all over my face.

He freaked out, and rushed to the teacher immediately.  I was unconcerned:  I was going to enjoy the rest of my recess and tell the teacher when we went inside.  A short while later, the teacher was towering over me with Eric half-hiding behind her.

I lost recess for the rest of the week for threatening to tell on Eric for throwing rocks at me, while he got off without even a missed recess.

I was livid!  I wanted retribution!  What could I possibly do to combat my new foe?

Make him more socially ostracized than he already was.  That's when I penned the song against him.  People started calling him Rumpkissed, and no one talked to him for a while after that.

Looking back I feel bad for making Eric more of a loner than he already was, but I felt entitled to at the time.  No one liked him before I came around, and I tried to include him.  All it earned me was rocks thrown in my face and a week's worth of detention.  I felt betrayed.

I can only imagine how Eric felt after that.

I'm sorry, Eric.

But boy is that a catchy tune.