Narrowing my Interests

Yesterday while driving to Stephenville, I decided that I have way too many interests, and I need to narrow my focus a bit. The items I have decided to focus on are the following (sorted alphabetically):

• Books
• Carolina Panthers
• Harry Potter
• Houston Rockets
• Lego
• Movies/TV
• Music
• Pokemon
• Running
• Star Wars
• Texas A&M (Sports and Otherwise)
• Video Games

So I am going to try to focus spending my free time and money on these activities, instead of other things. 

That is still a large number of things... so it probably won't be very hard to get to that goal.

First Star Wars Experience

I can vividly recall the first time I watched Star Wars. Very vividly.

While I can't recall my age, I remember visiting Abilene for Christmas. My Great-Aunt Cledith's house where --I can't remember who-- gave me the VHS set of the 3 original films. Best Christmas gift ever.

Then, we went to my grandfather's house. I was feeling very ill, so while everyone conversed in the kitchen/living room area, I was left to my own devices in the entryway/living room with the TV, a VCR, and my new Star Wars VHSes.

When it started, there was an interview between Leonard Maltin and George Lucas. These two gray-hairs were sitting in suits, talking about things I didn't know about. My first glimpse at Star Wars left me a bit disappointed. Then A New Hope actually began.

I watched all of them that night. And Star Wars has been with me ever since.

Readin'!

Hey there, Yea, Verily fans. It's almost football season, so be prepared to read about lots of Texas A&M and Carolina Panthers news. Sorry in advance for my interests. I guess?

I've been readin'. I've been readin'.

So far in 2014 I've read 18 books.

In January I finished reading the Dune Series (those books that Herbert wrote before he passed). So I read 3 books, (God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, Chapterhouse: Dune), and 1317 pages.

In February I read 2 books (The House on Tradd Street and The Girl on Legare Street) and 638 apges.

In March and April, I didn't read very much... at all. I read 22 pages in March, and 30 pages in April. I didn't finish a book in either month. Work was busy, life was busy. Blah, blah, blah. It happens.

In May I read a lot. I read 5 books (The Strangers on Montague Street, Return to Tradd Street, Thief's Magic, William Shakespeare's Star Wars, and The Empire Striketh Back), and 1354 pages.

In June I read 2 books (Rogue Squadron and Wedge's Gamble), and 879 pages.

In July I read a lot again. I read 5 books (The Silkworm, The Kyrtos Trap, The Jedi Doth Return, The Bacta War, and Star Wars 2014 Sampler) and 1560 pages.

So far, July has been my biggest month in pages, and a tie in number of books read in July and May (at 5).

I haven't had a huge month so far in August, but I've read consistently, with only 1 evening with no pages read so far, and I've already finished Snow Crash. As I said, not a huge month, but not horrid either.

The Post-Graduate Struggle

I was reflecting upon my life's journey following my graduation from university on May 13, 2011.

My initial plan was to attend law school, so I took the summer off. For the first time since middle school.

When I started Law School, it didn't take me long to realize that it was not for me. I left before I accumulated too much debt. (Though it still saddled me with a bit of debt. Law school is not cheap!)

Upon leaving law school, I went without employment for a little while. I was seeking employment, and eventually worked at Barnes and Noble for a month (November to December) while looking for more career-like employment.

I worked for Data Display (an audiovisual company in Houston) from January to May, when Allison and I got married, and moved to College Station.

When in College Station, I was unemployed for a couple months while seeking full-time employment. The Barnes and Noble here did not want to hire me, nor did other temporary employment. It was a fairly low low point, being kept from full-time employment by my lack of experience, and being kept from temporary employment by my college degree. I was stuck in limbo for about 4 months. Wow.

Finally, on September 3, I settled at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center. For 9 months. It was a lot of work for a decent amount of pay, but nothing to write home about. By that I mean that I was making more money at Data Display. The position didn't require a college degree, but was much better than sitting at home doing nothing. This sounds negative, but I really enjoyed the job, I just felt that my time spent earning my degree was wasted on this position.

On June 10 last year, I started my job in Performance Studies, and I've been here ever since. There was no time in between my employment this time, and I was moving to a better paying job with less hours. And an established career ladder!

In the 3 years since graduating, I've done a little bit of a lot. I'm glad to be where I am now. It keeps me very busy, and I have the respect of my peers. I'm glad to be here, and look forward to buffing-up my years of service at this position.

Reading in 2013

Upon posting my reading log from January, I realized that I never posted my year-in-review from 2013.

I won't put the entire chart in, because it would be quite large. I will give a brief overview of the months, though!





As you can see, March was a huge outlier as far as books and pages read are concerned. In March I read the 17 The Walking Dead collections that were out at the time. This increased both my page count and the amount of books read. I read a similar number of pages in January, because my job at the time allowed me to read at work, and I took full advantage of that. I was reading the remainder of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels in January, which are definitely page turners.

Month	# Books Read	# Pages Read
January	4	2992
February	1	484
March	17	3023
April	2	719
May	4	2078
June	4	1459
July	7	1340
August	4	1821
September	4	1796
October	1	526
November	3	934
December	3	1157
Total	54	18329

All told, I read 54 books (17 of them graphic novels), and 18329 pages. That averages out to 4.5 books per month, and 1527.42 pages per month. 

A decent number of the books that I read in 2013 were compilations of novels, holding more than 1. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy holds 6 novels, The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft holds a few novels and a ton of short stories. The Foundation Trilogy holds a trilogy. These compilations, while not adding up to the 17 books that The Walking Dead make up, still make that outlier make the books read total more normal. 

It does radically change my pages read, though. Those graphic novels are comprised of 2328 total pages, making March read as 695 pages, and my total page count read as 16001, with an average of 1333.42 pages per month. 

In the end it's a moot point: The Walking Dead graphic novels are valid to include, though they do raise an outlier in the mix. 

Reading in January

In January I read a decent amount. Let's take a look!

Day	Read	Book	Total Read	Average Read
1	64	God Emperor of Dune	64	64
2	99	God Emperor of Dune	163	81.5
3	24	Heretics of Dune	187	62.3333333333333
4	32	Heretics of Dune	219	54.75
5	5	Heretics of Dune	224	44.8
6	5	Heretics of Dune	229	38.1666666666667
7	4	Heretics of Dune	233	33.2857142857143
8	7	Heretics of Dune	240	30
9	11	Heretics of Dune	251	27.8888888888889
10	5	Heretics of Dune	256	25.6
11	6	Heretics of Dune	262	23.8181818181818
12	26	Heretics of Dune	288	24
13	27	Heretics of Dune	315	24.2307692307692
14	19	Heretics of Dune	334	23.8571428571429
15	21	Heretics of Dune	355	23.6666666666667
16	13	Heretics of Dune	368	23
17	69	Heretics of Dune	437	25.7058823529412
18	74	Heretics of Dune	511	28.3888888888889
19	75	Heretics of Dune	586	30.8421052631579
20	82	Heretics of Dune & Chapterhouse: Dune	668	33.4
21	36	Chapterhouse: Dune	704	33.5238095238095
22	77	Chapterhouse: Dune	781	35.5
23	42	Chapterhouse: Dune	823	35.7826086956522
24	42	Chapterhouse: Dune	865	36.0416666666667
25	111	Chapterhouse: Dune	976	39.04
26	41	Chapterhouse: Dune	1017	39.1153846153846
27	76	Chapterhouse: Dune	1093	40.4814814814815
28	72	The House on Tradd Street	1165	41.6071428571429
29	34	The House on Tradd Street	1199	41.3448275862069
30	43	The House on Tradd Street	1242	41.4
31	75	The House on Tradd Street	1317	42.4838709677419

As you can see from the above chart and graph, I have read a total of 1317 pages this month, averaging 42.48 pages per day. 

I read 3 books in January: God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune, and am currently 224 pages into The House on Tradd Street, which is also part of a series. 

February is going to be a much busier month at work. We have a head search going on, which will probably require some long hours, at least 1 season event, and our Academic Program Review. I hope to continue my average of 42.5 pages per day in February, but I won't be disappointed if I don't. 

Now, time for some reviews!

God Emperor of Dune

After Children of Dune, I thought that I was going to thoroughly enjoy God Emperor. It was decent, but not half as good as Children. God Emperor is set 3500 years after the events of Children, but on the same world. Much of the same mythos is involved, as well as a couple of the same characters, but so much of it is different that Herbert had to lay down a completely new exposition. It really slowed the book down in he beginning. Like the previous 3 Dune novels, it was all worth it in the end. The end was so good that I give God Emperor of Dune 3.5 out of 5 stars!

Heretics of Dune

The events of Heretics of Dune take place 1500 years after that of God Emperor of Dune, and many of the same weaknesses that this brings to God Emperor are seen here as well. The positive note is that the world is built up much more, but the climax and aftermath, while still good, don't live up to the previous 4 books. That's why I give Heretics of Dune 3 out of 5 stars. 

Chapterhouse: Dune

Finally, a direct sequel! Chaptherhouse: Dune takes place less than a decade after the events of Heretics of Dune, and as such it is much easier to get into. It is a good book from start to finish, but it suffers from the Dune curse of being incredibly dense throughout. The climax, while great, isn't as mind-blowing as the first 4 books, which is why I give Chapterhouse: Dune 3.5 out of 5 stars. 

After reading the original 6 Dune novels, I'm ready for a break from the series. There are still 2 more books in the main series, both written by Frank Herbert's son and Kevin J. Anderson. I'm taking a hiatus from the series to whet my palate, though. It'll probably be a little while before I return to the series, but I do fully intend to read books 7 and 8.