(no subject)
Today I finished reading The Gunslinger, and except for a bit of adjusting to the tone at the beginning and the lame ass Stoner Cliche bit at the end I thought it was pretty good. Time to head to Half Price books to find the rest of the series. It's amusing to read the epilogue where King claims he'll probably die before he finishes the series, knowing that it's already done. It's also amusing to read how much he disparages outlines and planning, given how ash_grey_sky writes (the same).
On Thursday we got this. It's both cheaper and gobs faster than our old cable modem. It's probably going to result in us needing a bigger hard drive though. While the internet access is amazing, the real benefits will show once they start bundling TV and other goodies with it. They're apparently already beta testing the TV portion in some markets and it too is cheaper and better than the competition.
Last week sucked for basketball since lots of people must have taken vacation and we never had enough to play our usual 4 on 4. Tuesday I ended up playing 2 on 2 and had the best hour of basketball in my life. Nearly everything I shot went in, I made good passes, played good d, and didn't get tired. It was cool. If only it had been a full game. I've come across that In The Zone feeling a lot while working, but rarely anywhere else. I had probably 2 times during aikido at CMU where I completely understood the universe, if only for 15 minutes, and that little taste was enough to keep me coming back.
I'm doing a bit better with entertaining myself lately, although I don't know whether that's because somethingawful has been particularly engaging or I'm just finding more to do. I surprised myself with how easy it was for me to sit down and read The Gunslinger in only a few sessions. I haven't had the attention span for that kind of stuff lately at all. I've been learning a few more songs on guitar (the present song I'm listening to in particular) and that seems to be going well. At lunch ash_grey_sky and I were discussing the nature of art (stemming from my dad's reaction to a recent visit to the Nasher Sculpture Garden: "There were only 4 things there I liked. The rest of was just bits of metal welded together") and I was struck with a few ideas for some Geek Art. I think I'm actually going to try to make some things and see how they turn out. I still have a hard time determining what separates Jackson Pollock from some guy who spilled his paint, though, and that makes me wonder if a) I'd only be undertaking this ironically and b) whether the whole idea of me creating anything artistic at all is hilarious. See, I haven't even begun and I'm already filled with self-doubt, uncertainty, and cynicism. Maybe I am an artist after all.